2016
Sons of Sophistication was founded in June of 2016 in Tallahassee, Florida. When programming first began, SOS operated as an after-school program at a local school in Tallahassee, FL. On the first day of programming, we walked into a classroom of roughly 30 boys excited to be a part of our program. Within our first year, we wrote and designed curriculum, recruited and trained over 20 mentors from Florida State University, Florida A&M University, and Tallahassee Community College, met with our boys weekly to provide programming, and organized a college tour. In December of 2016 we were recognized by Florida State University’s Mentoring Institute and received our first big gift.
2017 - 2020
IWe continued to successfully run programming at our partner school providing mentorship to over 100 boys. During that time, we were recognized by Florida State University’s Black Female Development Circle, facilitated a panel focused on Battling the Misconceptions of Mentoring Misunderstood Youth, were featured twice in local newspapers, planned and hosted a Young Kings Summit, and were featured on a local radio show. After four years of programming, many of our boys graduated from high school, some graduated from college, joined the military, began working in their desired areas, and even start families.
2021 - 2023
In November of 2021, we received a gift from a private family foundation of $10,000, which we used to restart programming in the beginning of 2022 in Houston, TX. These funds allowed us to bring on additional staff to expand our operations and services. The Summer of 2022, we partnered with Texas Southern’s Upward Bound to provide mentorship to their young men and continued to facilitate a variety of different workshops for other organizations such as Collective Action for Youth and Houston Pearl Foundation for the next year.
2024
In November of 2021, we received a gift from a private family foundation of $10,000, which we used to restart programming in the beginning of 2022 in Houston, TX. These funds allowed us to bring on additional staff to expand our operations and services. The Summer of 2022, we partnered with Texas Southern’s Upward Bound to provide mentorship to their young men and continued to facilitate a variety of different workshops for other organizations such as Collective Action for Youth and Houston Pearl Foundation for the next year.