E4 Fellow Featured in Local News

Ten years ago Blakes was the most prominent rapper on the Austin hip-hop scene… These days, he’s positioned himself as a rap scholar, reclaiming the energy of the urban art form to empower youth.

E4 Youth Teacher Fellow, Bavu Blakes, was featured this past weekend in the Austin American Statesman, for his innovative approach to educating underserved youth.

Mr. Blakes incorporates E4 Youth’s Soft Skills Curriculum™ into his core classes and is then joined by trained College Mentors after school that coordinate creative activities and projects. Through our Fellowship Program, E4 Youth currently serves over 500 students in greater Austin and is looking to double that number in the coming year.

Bavu was already an amazing educator. Our goal is to provide teachers like him with a suite of resources – curriculum support, mentors to help shoulder the load, guest speakers, tours and access to industry events like SXSW help us create an ecosystem where underserved kids stay engaged and thrive” says E4 Youth Executive Director, Carl Settles. “We are so proud to be working with Mr. Blakes and all of the dedicated educators that partner with us”.

Are you an educator or administrator working with creative youth? Email us atinfo@e4youth.org to see how we can bring E4 Youth to your school.