Catherine Harper for Keepers (CH4K) is advancing its mission to “prepare tomorrow’s leaders today” by focusing on at-risk youth who dream of a better future but lack the resources to realize their full potential. In alignment with the goals of President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper initiative, CH4K is working towards reshaping life outcomes for underserved boys and girls over the next few generations. The four pillars of CH4K are Family/Fatherhood, Mentoring, STEM, and Jobs.

CH4K’s programs are focused on academics, college and career preparation, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Our strategies include tutoring, experiential learning, character education, parental involvement, and mentoring. CH4K participants are held to high standards as scholars, communicators, and student leaders. We instill in our participants the importance of perception and we push them towards being confidently prepared for opportunities. To reverse some of the disturbing trends in disadvantaged communities, CH4K programs emphasize the importance of the family institution as the bedrock of viable communities. We expect youth to emerge from our programs as critical thinkers who are not only committed to empowering themselves but also to improving their communities. Over time, we envision communities that are transformed one household at a time as our students achieve academic and career goals and become positive role models who invest in others in the same manner we invested in them. In this way, CH4K intends to create exponential impact for generations to come.

The guiding principles that undergird CH4K’s work include 1) using evidence-based programming to deliver intended results; 2) centralizing and standardizing our operations to ensure consistency and quality for our programs across the nation; 3) staffing our programs and operations with credentialed, top-performing professionals; and 4) measuring program metrics and effectiveness via sophisticated software.