Hope and Dreams

Raiford knows that he's not a parental figure to D'Mario. The boy's parents, Lenora and Lester Smith, have that department well covered. But he realizes that as an African-American executive in the making, he represents an unusual role model for D'Mario. As a mentor, Raiford strives to be a benevolent drill sergeant, creating math problems and assigning reading material for them to discuss, such as an article on fake Pok?mon cards. "He's got so much potential, but he needs someone to challenge him," Raiford says.

Through Raiford, D'Mario enjoys a glimpse into the demanding life of an MBA student -- a rare view for the average 12-year-old. He knows about upcoming papers, tests, and job interviews and has learned how to retrieve Raiford's homework and email on a laptop. Raiford hammers home the importance of making a good impression and coaches him on professionalism, reminding him to keep a pen in his shirt pocket at all times and to greet other MBA students, professors, and visiting executives cordially and respectfully: Yes, ma'am. No, sir. It was a pleasure to meet you. "At business school, you need to feel comfortable in different social situations," Raiford says. "I want to pass those skills along to him."

As D'Mario gets older, Raiford feels an even greater responsibility to be an attentive mentor to him, to help him avoid temptations and pitfalls -- not just in high school but in his neighborhood. Raiford learned his lesson with a Sunday-school class that he taught several years earlier in Washington DC. Two of the teenage students got pregnant. In hindsight, Raiford regrets not discussing sex and personal responsibility more candidly. With D'Mario, he's more proactive. He asks about girls, about his friends. He knows that D'Mario, who seems so innocent now, is almost a teenager, almost a young man.

When Raiford graduates from business school next spring, D'Mario will get a new MBA mentor -- or, rather, another mentor. His network within Durham Scholars will keep expanding, just as Johnson intended. Wherever Raiford winds up working, he plans to stay involved with D'Mario. "I will insist that he come visit me," Raiford says. "I think D'Mario will be with me the rest of my life."

Scholars, Structure, and Social Skills

Jim Johnson's efforts to fight poverty took shape when he befriended a man of great wealth. The two men were from different worlds, but they shared a common interest. Johnson grew up dirt poor. From the tobacco farms outside Greenville, North Carolina, he went on to earn a PhD in geography at the age of 26. Twelve years later, as an expert on demographics and poverty, he received an endowed chair at UNC, becoming one of only 100 or so African-American professors in the country to hold such a position.

The late Frank H. Kenan was born into money but became a millionaire on his own. Rather than joining the family's banking concern, he struck it rich in oil, trucking, real estate -- practically anything he touched. But he was perhaps best known for philanthropy, a family tradition. As chairman of the Kenan Trust, he allocated $28 million to help establish the business school, one of several campus buildings bearing the Kenan name. Another $20 million launched the Kenan Institute, a unit of the business school dedicated to using private-sector resources to serve the public interest.

It was there, in 1992, that Kenan, who was in his 70s, met the newest faculty member, a young professor who was as passionate and as creative about tackling social problems as he was. "One of the first times we met, he talked about how kids from the inner city needed something other than drug dealing and basketball," Johnson says. Soon after, he proposed the Durham Scholars program, and Kenan came through with a check for $3.6 million.

With enough funding to last 20 years, the scholars program reflects Johnson's long-term strategy for tackling poverty. Starting in the sixth grade, 25 to 30 children from Durham's six neediest neighborhoods are selected, and they begin the first of six hands-on years. The youngsters participate until they graduate from high school, at which time they receive a $10,000 college scholarship. (Duke has agreed to make up the difference if any Durham Scholars get accepted there, Johnson says.) During the academic year, they come four days a week for three hours after school -- the time when most teen pregnancies occur, according to Johnson. After a month off in the summer, they return for a six-week session. Along with individual tutoring, supervised homework sessions, and classes on such topics as how to do research using the Internet, the children also learn about anger management, bereavement, character building, and sex education.