Cassio Batteast

Cassio Batteast decided to pursue a career in education because one of his mentors was a teacher.

After teaching for a year, this Tougaloo College grad with a degree in Child Development, began working in social services.  Being involved in foster care and seeing children with behavior problems, his desire was to establish a program for young men "because that’s our most vulnerable population”, Batteast says.

Cassio wanted to design a program that incorporated everything! His goal was to offer mentorship, tutoring, life skills and recreation so when a parent brought their child, "it would be everything that they needed” he proclaims.

K. I. N. G. S. Leadership Institute was created by Cassio with this goal in mind. Its mission is to develop young black men into twenty-first century leaders by exposing them to positive leadership models, equipping them to be spiritually grounded to make a difference within humanity and empowering them to become passionate about lifelong learning.

The institute consists of five programs.

* K. I. N. G. S. Academy is for 1^st - 8^th grade boys and provides basic mentoring, tutoring and life skills.

* K. I. N. G. S. Pre-University is designed to provide college or career preparation to young men in grades  9^th – 12^th.

* K. I. N. G. S. Institute attempts to increase and improve college retention and graduation rates among         black males.

* K. I. N. G. S. Re-Institute is designed to decrease the recidivism rate for young men ages 14 – 18 years old.

*Fathers’ University addresses the issue of men not being substantially involved in the lives of their children. It is designed to train, educate, encourage and assist fathers in assuming the responsibility for the nurturing, growth and development of their children.

Cassio says his ultimate goal is to start an all male charter school “to work with young men who are behind… who fell behind and to work with them to bring them back up”.

“One of the reasons I started this program is kinda selfish on my end. I feel like if I want my daughter to marry a productive young man, I gotta be in the business of producing those type of young men”, Batteast admits with a laugh.

To learn more about  K. I. N. G. S. Leadership Institute and ways you can help please contact Cassio at kingsleadershipinstitute@gmail.com or 601-862-4772.