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“font-family: Verdana;”>“It’s an awesome responsibility. You have to live up to the dream that those brothers had back in 1922,” Cliff Franklin said of Kappa Guide Right. “It’s a national program, but it was started here in St. Louis.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Through participation in this national mentoring program, started here, the St. Louis Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi actively intervenes with and mentors young African-American boys and teens.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>They build programming around five phases: self-identity, training, competition, social and health education. They offer tutoring, career guidance, test preparation and money management, enlivened by sporting events and other enrichment activities.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I can’t even name all of the stuff that we do with these young men,” said John McCain, committee chair for Guide Right.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Started in St. Louis in 1921, Guide Right now stands as the national platform for service among more than 700 chapters of Kappa Alpha Psi around the world.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It’s a proactive program. It’s not reactive,” Franklin said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Eighty percent of our boys come from single-parent households, and they need men in their lives. We are focused on young men. As college-trained men, it is our job to focus on young men. We don’t expect any other organization to do it – it’s on our shoulders.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The boys who sign up for the Kappa League, as the core Guide Right program is known, are required to submit their grades each quarter for review – which provides an opportunity to explore their issues.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I asked a fifth grader, ‘What is stopping you from achieving?’” McCain said. “He said, ‘Everything going on at home.’ This fifth grader said to the group, ‘My home life is so messed up that I can’t do what I need to get done.’”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>This boy told the right man.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“I said, ‘We’re going to deal with that,’” McCain said. “I promise, this young kid will be in Kappa League, go to college, will finish college and be an outstanding young man.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Arthur Jackson is one outstanding young man produced by the program locally. In the 1970s he was a finalist for the Kappa Leaguer of the Year at the National Pageant.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“It exposes you to things outside of your normal social circles and helps you to not only become leaders, but you learn how to run an organization,” Jackson said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>He went on to graduate from Beaumont High School and Ohio State University. Today he has a successful career in the mortgage banking industry and is helping the next generation of Kappa League as an active member of the St. Louis Kappa Alumni Chapter.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“The Kappa League made all of the difference,” Jackson said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Being a witness to the positive influence of St. Louis Kappa men is what led real-life brothers Cliff and Michael Franklin, co-founders of nationally renowned Fuse Advertising, to become fraternity brothers as well.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We all have our corporate and professional lives, but at the end of the day we all have to go back into parts of our metropolitan areas which people complain about and reach these young men people complain about,” said Michael, who is now St. Louis Alumni Chapter president.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“So these guys spend time with vans and six, eight, 12 kids, bringing them here every first and third Sunday and having study hall when they are not making grades.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Two weeks ago, the Kappa League added 36 young men to the group of fifth- to 12th graders with the responsibilities of being accountable for their success through Kappa League.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Instead of saying all the things that the school system isn’t doing, we are going to send in some kids equipped to do all of the things that got cut away,” Michael said.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“Instead of going top down, we are going to take it from the bottom up. It’s our job to fill that void.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>McCain is also currently working with the upperclassmen in Kappa League to make sure that they identify two top picks for college and secure a minimum of $5,000-$7,000 in scholarship funds. They also aim to grow the local program to 200 Kappa League members in honor of the 90th Anniversary of the Guide Right Program.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>“We have been blessed to have great leadership in this fraternity,” Cliff said. “And that’s what it’s all about – black men leading black men and not waiting for someone else to do it.”
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>For more information on the Kappa League, visit
“http://kappaleague.kapsi-sla.org/”>http://kappaleague.kapsi-sla.org/ or http://www.facebook.com/kappaleague.stl.
