The Prodigy Project is a recently established Atlanta, Georgia, home grown, grass-roots organization. Through the use of adult African American males, with the support of the rest of the community, the members of The Prodigy Project are determined to close the academic achievement gap associated with African American boys.

Through various reading programs targeted at boys 5-9 years of age, The Prodigy Project will combat the various negative influences, and emphasize that's it's cool to be educated, literate, and smart.


Prodigy Project volunteer Lee Valentine reads to Seaborn Lee Elementary students.

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Special Emphasis
On boys that are raised in single parent households void of a steady positive male role model.

• Close to 70% of African American children are born to single mothers
• 84% of children who live with one parent live with their mother
• At the elementary school level, close to 90% of the teaching staff is Caucasian; over 80% is female; only 10% of the females are African American; and less than 2% of staff are African American male.

With those statistics, it's reasonable to assume that some boys can go through an entire day, week, and/or month without interaction with positive African American men. The Prodigy Project has the utmost respect for single mothers. It's our goal to assist these parents by allowing the children the opportunity to interact with a segment of our society that many times is missing in their lives: positive male role models.