The Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to enhancing the lives of the young men and women of Detroit. Our mission is to extend the discipline, dedication, respect, and focus learned in the boxing gym into the classroom and community. The best chance for these young athletes to succeed in life is by ensuring they graduate from high school, stay drug-free and learn the value of giving back to their community.
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"Detroit Public Schools reported a 58 percent graduation rate in 2008-09, compared with a statewide rate of 89 percent. An Education Week report in 2007 put Detroit's graduation rate at 24.9 percent, lowest among the nation's 50 largest districts."
— The Oakland Press, April 26, 2010 -
"Dropouts are 3.5 times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates and more than eight times as likely to be incarcerated."
— "School or the Streets: Crime and America's Dropout Crisis," 2008 -
"Last year, Michigan allotted on average $7,600 per pupil, but spends about $35,000 a year to house, feed and provide medical care for each of its prisoners"
— Ken Winter, Detroit Free Press, July 2011 -
"In some neighborhoods on the east side, as many as one in four births in a three-year period ending in 2007 was to a mother who hadn't celebrated her 20th birthday."
— Detroit Free Press, 2010 -
"The percentage of teens agreeing that "being high feels good" increased from 45 percent in 2008 to 51 percent in 2009, and those who said "friends usually get high at parties" increased from 69 percent to 75 percent. Thirty percent of students surveyed strongly agreed that they "don't want to hang around drug users," down from 35 percent in 2008."
— Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 2009 -
"The use of pot and prescription drugs rose. Of the study's 47,097 students, 20.6 percent of 12th graders said they used pot within the past 30 days. In 2008 the figure was 19.4 percent, and in 2006, 18.3 percent. Tenth graders who used pot came in at 15.9 percent in 2009, up from 13.8 percent in 2008"
— University of Michigan, 2009 -
"We have a critical issue with obesity. The obesity concern is not just physical activity, it's nutrition, it's access to areas where kids can engage in physical activity or physical education or sports or just play."
— Eunice Moore, Detroit Public Schools -
"Ninety-six percent of dropouts in 14 school districts in seven regions of the nation were NOT participating in activities programs"
— National Federation of State High School Associations -
"Athletes do better in the classroom, are more involved in school activity programs, and stay involved in the community after graduation. Based on an analysis of data collected from the U.S. Department of Education' s High School and Beyond Study, girls receive as many benefits from sports as boys, the "dumb jock" stereotype is a myth, sports involvement was significantly related to lower dropout rates in some school settings, and minority athletes are more socially involved than non-athletes."
— Women's Sport Foundation -
"The best economic stimulus is a high school diploma," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia. "From the individual student to the bank branch manager, new car salesman, or realtor, everyone wins when more students graduate from high school."
— Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education -
"The sad part is, no one is seriously looking at the (high school dropout) issue, and the sadder part is they're not putting the resources needed to improve the graduation rate."
— Jay Smink, Director of the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University -
"One half of welfare recipients are dropouts. Nearly half the prison population is dropouts."
— "Dropout Rate Shows Slight Improvement" 1998
