Cobb group grooms black youths for success

Sprayberry High School senior Jarel Billups plans a career as a defense lawyer. He’s not waiting until law school to hone his career skills.

Billups is one of 50 Cobb County students in the Blacks United for Youth-Cobb leadership academy. After three years in the group, he is ahead of his peers in knowing business etiquette, how to dress for success, shake hands and start a conversation, network and interview for jobs.

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Hyosub Shin/hshin@ajc.com

Nathan Wade talks to students in Blacks United for Youth-Cobb’s Leadership Academy.

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“I’ve met people I never thought I’d meet,” Billups said. “I met a man who drives a Bentley, motivational speakers, people who own their own businesses. All of that makes me work harder.”

BUY-Cobb, the county’s equivalent of 100 Black Men, has 25 members and likes its independence. “We have complete autonomy. If it makes sense and benefits the kids in Cobb, we’ll do it,” said one of its founders, Don Johnson.

About 50 students participate in the leadership academy annually, said another founder, Winston Strickland. BUY-Cobb puts its money where its training is. It has awarded $250,000 in scholarships since it started in 1992.

This year, students have made field trips to the University of North Carolina and to Duke University, which a former academy participant attends on full scholarship, said academy coordinator LaMuriel Adams.

Saturday, 500 people are expected to attend BUY-Cobb’s annual scholarship breakfast at the Cobb Galleria. Democratic Congressman David Scott of Atlanta is the keynote speaker. Leadership academy students are in charge of the breakfast and present a well-rehearsed program, this year in the format of CNN’s “The Situation Room.”

“We set the direction and give them parameters, and they come up with the program,” Johnson said.

The students are masters at keeping the program content secret, Adams said.

Billups gave up only one clue. He will be the United States attorney general in “The Situation Room.”

One Saturday a month students attend the leadership academy, which is conducted at Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta. Successful and influential black business people volunteer to lead the training. Students practice extemporaneous speaking, prepare a live television production, learn money management and write business plans.

“They have to convince us they know what they’re talking about,” Adams said.

Academy participation was in decline when Adams took over its leadership but has rebounded. This year, the economy is affecting scholarship fund-raising, Johnson said.

Johnson finds satisfaction in the success of academy alumni and the number who return to help the students.

For Adams, it’s the students’ progress. “I like to see them come in shy at the beginning and to watch the process unfold to the end and see them leaving with self-confidence,” she said.

It’s all that and more for Billups, who enjoys joking with BUY-Cobb members. “You formulate a very lasting and comfortable relationship with the adults,” he said.