Mission

The purpose of Rising Black Men is to uplift the Black community at Michigan State University and the Greater Lansing community through mentorship of black freshman males, and black males in the K-12 Lansing school system. The goal is to connect the freshman black males to Michigan State University faculty and staff to increase their social capital while providing them with support via one-on-one mentorship as they navigate a Predominately White Institution (PWI). We have worked with over 80 Black men at Michigan State University and a number more have graduated.

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Meet our Executive Board 

Dantevius Branigan 
​President

Bruce Sales
​Vice ​President

Jalon Martin 
Secretary 

Jayden Lewis
​Community Service Director

Ronnie Dawson
​Treasurer 

Christian Huddleston 
​​Social Media Chair 

Deon Bennett
​Outreach Director 

Tory Lee (left) &
Anthony Little-Smith (right)
Members at Large

Meet our Mentors 

Dantevius Branigan
Christian Huddleston 
Bruce Sales
Ronnie Dawson 
Tory Lee 
Jayden Lewis
Deon Bennett
Jalon Martin 

Meet our Greek Liaisons 

Andre Reed (ΦΒΣ)
Phi Sigma Beta Fraternity, Inc

Treveon Vaughn (ΩΨΦ)
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. 

Rich Winston (ΙΦΘ)
Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. 

Meet our Advisors 

Student Advisor/Founder
Tim Herd 
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Faculty Advisor 
Dr. Chezare A Warren

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Mentor Role

  • The role of the mentor is to establish relationships to bridge the gap and establish that support system and brotherhood.
  • The mentoring pipeline is established at the university and spread throughout the Greater Lansing Community, deriving from Black faculty and graduate students down to elementary students. 
Statistics 
  • There is a higher level of toleration for the acceptance of failure with Black males through individuals tasked with educating them (Howard, p.29, 2014) 
  • Black male students receive some of the most adverse beliefs from teachers through primary to postsecondary (Milner, 2010)
  • Low expectations and deficit mindsets can make it difficult for educators to develop learning opportunities that challenge students cognitively (Milner, 2012) ​
  • One in three Black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2016) 
Learning Objectives
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  • Learning Objectives occur every other Friday in Brody Room 175. Our learning objectives are used to inform and challenge our Rising Black Men to think critically and articulate themselves in a way in which contributes to a paradigm shift.
  • Discussions cover a wide array of topics, from financial literacy to addressing Black issues that affect the Black community.