In a city with a legacy of black political activism — where the unarmed Oscar Grant was fatally shot by a police officer in 2009 at the Fruitvale BART station and #blacklivesmatter was germinated — the initiative begins with the premise that the words “black male” and “achievement” go together and that a college degree can be a part of their future. The philosophy might be encapsulated in a greeting scribbled on a whiteboard at Oakland High School: “Welcome Kings!” — the somewhat grandiose title a shorthand for holding oneself to a high standard and being responsible for others.

Think of it as #blackmindsmatter.

The mission of the Office of African American Male Achievement is to support all of Oakland’s black male students, which it strives to do through a variety of initiatives, including peer mentoring, a student leadership council and conferences that bring together role models and students — a sort of uber school assembly that has the cacophonous energy of a revivalist meeting.

In addition, two Afrocentric core courses have just been introduced — in English language arts and history — that meet the strict prerequisites for the University of California. And a career academy is in the works at Oakland High called the Khepera Pathway, which will steep African-American male students in entrepreneurship, social innovation and civic engagement, with help from a $750,000 grant from Google.

While the programs are too young to be assessed, in the last two years chronic absenteeism and suspensions have dropped for black males in the district (come July, defiance will no longer be a suspension infraction). Last year, more than half the 52 students who started Manhood Development classes as freshmen — the first graduating class — headed off to college with scholarships from the local nonprofit East Bay College Fund.

Perhaps most encouraging is the African American Male Achievement’s honor roll for black students, male and female, with grade-point averages of 3.0 or above — an accomplishment celebrated every year at a raucous event attended by thousands at a gospel church. The percentage of young men on the roll has risen from 16 percent to 25 percent over the past three years.

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Each school day, Rahsaan Smith travels the city’s vast economic, social and psychic divide, leaving the flatlands of East Oakland, synonymous with violence, for a middle school perched on a steep hill fragrant with eucalyptus. He is one of the few boys in Mr. Jennings’s class with both a dad and a mom at home.