The office of College Access within the Center for Access
and Attainment hosts a range of program activities for students and
coordinators within the Male Initiative Project.
Professional
Development. Each fall, the center hosts a professional development
meeting for coordinators of the MIP programs in schools citywide,
providing an opportunity to share news and best practices and plan for
the new academic year and beyond.
School-based Male Mentoring
Forum. The center hosted the first-ever Forum on the Effectiveness of
School-based Male Mentoring in October 2011. The biennial forum focuses
on expanding efforts to promote and strengthen school-based male
mentoring as an effective practice for improving educational outcomes
for African-American and Hispanic/Latino males, as well as provides a
place to share best practices among schools that have successful
mentoring programs. A second forum took place in October 2013 that
focused on the role of technology in enriching and expanding the work of
school-based mentoring in participating schools.
D-Men
Challenge. D-Men (DePaul Males Encouraging Non-Violence) Challenge
program was created in 2011 for student participants in the Male
Initiative Project. The purpose of the D-Men Challenge is to
build and reinforce teamwork, camaraderie and collective responsibility
among the participants by engaging them in mentally and physically
challenging activities that encourage creativity, critical thinking and
reflection. Students also engage in frank conversations around the
intersections of race, gender, masculinity and violence as the
participants experience them in their daily lives. In addition, students
learn about the university and what it takes to enroll and succeed in a
selective institution such as DePaul.
The D-Men Challenge is a
collaborative effort involving DePaul's Men of Color Initiative within
Student Affairs and the Campus Recreation Department. It is coordinated
by the College Access office within the Center for Access and
Attainment. Funding for the program was initially made possible through a
successful proposal to the Vincentian Endowment Fund, which was
coordinated by Campus Recreation.