From Madison’s South Side to the classroom, Michael Alston is creating the kind of support system he once needed…
For Michael Alston, mentorship is personal.
A Southside native of Madison, Alston grew up in a household with his mother and sister and learned early what it meant to protect the people he loved. But his childhood was also marked by loss, instability and the absence of a consistent male role model. After losing his brother at just eight years old, Alston says he became a loner. Without someone to show him what manhood could look like; he turned to the streets for answers.
That path led him into gangs, violence and crime. He experienced loss on both sides of gun violence and was removed from his environment at a young age. At 15, after catching a case, Alston was sent to a group home, an experience he now recognizes as a turning point.
There, he found room to change.
He became an A/B student and gained employment through Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR). At just 16, while leading a group of students, Alston discovered something that would shape the rest of his life: he had a gift for connecting with young people who, like him, were navigating difficult circumstances.
“The educator in me was born,” he says.
Today, Alston works within Madison’s schools and has spent more than 15 years working with young people. His personal history is not something he leaves at the door, it is one of the tools he uses to reach students who may be resistant to traditional systems.
“I see myself in every young Black male I meet,” Alston says. Whether they are athletes, gamers, academically driven or involved in the streets, he sees a shared experience: being overlooked.
His goal is to make sure young people are given something he once desperately needed: a real chance.
That mission became even more urgent as Alston watched gun violence affect Madison’s youth. Having lost his brother at an early age, the deaths of young people hit close to home. Rather than simply reacting to violence after it happened, Alston wanted to focus on prevention.
He created Brothers Against Odds (BAO), a program designed to provide young Black men with consistency, mentorship and opportunities to envision a different future.
“Black male youth are frequently endangered by one another,” Alston explains, making intentional spaces where young men can recognize that they are not enemies essential.
For Alston, that realization is deeply personal. As a young person, he remembers viewing other Black boys as threats when they may have been potential friends and allies.
“I could have used a friend,” he reflects.
BAO seeks to create that kind of space. Through weekly meetings, daily check-ins, mentorship, HBCU trips, college fairs and other experiences, young men are encouraged to look beyond the circumstances immediately surrounding them. The focus is not simply academics. It is life readiness. Meeting young people where they are and helping them build healthy, prosperous lives.
One student illustrates what that approach can accomplish.
Alston met him in fifth grade. The student showed little interest in school, and that attitude continued into his sophomore year. Instead of writing him off, Alston made it his mission to help him understand the value of education. Through BAO meetings, HBCU trips and college fairs, the student eventually found his motivation, graduated from high school and went on to college.
For Alston, that is the work.
It is also why he believes Madison must rethink how it understands educational disparities affecting Black students.
From his perspective, the problem is not a lack of ability. It is an issue of engagement, belonging and connection.
“Our youth don’t lack potential,” he says. Instead, many are navigating difficult realities outside the classroom while simultaneously sitting in environments that do not always validate their culture or experiences.
Alston believes schools cannot close those gaps through academics alone. It takes schools, families and communities working together and it takes relationships.
He has seen firsthand what happens when a young person has someone consistently showing up for them.
“That level of relationship-building provides hope,” he says. “Our youth simply need love and hope to manage the everyday struggles of school.”
That belief is rooted in his own story.
Growing up without consistent fatherly guidance, Alston found some of his most important male role models later in life. Two mentors, Jamaal Eubanks and Reggie Rainey, helped give him the direction he needed. Eubanks, who worked with him from his sophomore year through graduation, was the first person to tell Alston he could go to college.
That simple belief helped change the trajectory of his life.
Now, Alston is determined to offer young people those same tools…to help them believe there is something beyond their current circumstances and that they have the power to build it.
As another school year begins, his message is not only for students. It is for everyone responsible for helping them succeed.
“It takes a village,” Alston says. “We must remain available to connect, trade resources, and actively ensure the success of our future Black leaders.”
And for the young Black boys entering Madison schools this fall, his message is even simpler:
“The life you want to live is waiting for you. Start building it now.”
