SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Education and friendship take center stage this weekend in Sacramento. A local nonprofit, serving more than 4,000 young men and teens of color, is hosting one of its biggest events this year.
Improve Your Tomorrow, an educational nonprofit in Sacramento, is celebrating its 10 year anniversary and throwing its first "Sneaker Ball" at the Safe Credit Union Convention Center in downtown Sacramento, Saturday.
But their work is 24/7 and it's all about helping the young men realize their full potential.
"Our young men face a tremendous amount of pressure every day to engage in a system that is not always directly for them," said Charles Bolton, Director Of Strategic Partnerships, Improve Your Tomorrow.
Bolton and his team at Improve Your Tomorrow want to change that.
"We're able to show them, ‘look, there is a plan, there is love for you in these systems.’ And ‘we know the way so let us guide you,’" said Bolton.
Mentorships are one of the biggest ways Improve Your Tomorrow uplift and inspire young men of color from middle school through college.
“Our young men come from places like me. I went to Valley High School here in Sacramento before. Right now I'm one year away from my doctorate degree at Howard University,” said Bolton. “To see young men that walk the streets that I walked growing up, to see them and being able to take them camping, to go on these college trips makes me feel so so happy, so excited and empowered.”
But before Saturday’s fundraiser and gala is a full day of events for the 7th annual Brotherhood Conference.
“It's opportunities like this, where they get to see all of us in one place, doing good things. and because of these events, our young men continue to come back, they continue to strive for more, they're going to go back into their schools empowered on Monday and ready to succeed," said Bolton.
Improve Your Tomorrow serves 53 school sites and also just expanded to include the Bay Area.
The event will have open activities like: sports, a silent disco, gaming, wellness activities, financial literacy, coding, art and music. It is scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. Find more information HERE.
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