In a high school classroom on Madison’s near east side, Korbey White and colleague Aaron Broadwater stand before 25 young men of color, talking about something deceptively simple: showing up. They urge the students to take their attendance and grades seriously, field questions about college and careers, and help them map out steps toward the future they want.
For White, this is where transformation begins. As the executive director of Improve Your Tomorrow Wisconsin, he believes preparing successful adults starts long before graduation caps are tossed in the air.
Improve Your Tomorrow—founded in 2013 in Sacramento, California, by two young men of color, Michael Casper and Michael Lynch, and now operating in Maryland, Minnesota, Mississippi, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C.—offers up to 12 years of continuous mentorship for students of color with GPAs of 2.0 or lower. Beginning in sixth grade and staying with students through college, the program pairs them with near-peer mentors and provides academic coaching, emotional support, family engagement, college advising and campus visits.
“We stick with the students from middle school through college and help them find career pathways,” White said. “That’s what sets us apart from other mentorship programs that focus on only one stage of life.”
White first learned about Improve Your Tomorrow through Dr. Ruben Anthony, CEO and President of the Urban League of Greater Madison. Anthony knew the organization wanted to conduct a landscape analysis of marginalized students in Wisconsin to help leaders understand the depth of need in the state.
White was well equipped for the challenge. He serves on the boards of Madison College, the Verona Area School District and 100 Black Men of America, Inc., and has more than 15 years of experience in education, public health and youth advocacy. Still, even with his background, the data he compiled over 6–8 weeks stunned him.
Wisconsin faces some of the most severe educational disparities in the country. Dane County ranks near the bottom nationally in math and reading outcomes for Black students, posts the lowest graduation rates for Black and Brown students in the state, and leads the nation in incarceration rates. When White presented additional data comparing Dane and Milwaukee counties to the rest of Wisconsin, the gaps only grew starker.
White shared his findings with Improve Your Tomorrow CEO and Co-Founder Michael Lynch. The two met at Madison’s Black Business Hub to dig deeper into the numbers and discuss what launching a Wisconsin chapter might look like. Convinced the program could fill a critical need, they brought the data to Madison Metropolitan School District Superintendent Joe Gothard and Verona Area School District Superintendent Tremayne Clardy.
“Both said, ‘Yes, we need this program in our district,’” White recalled.
Afterward, Lynch approached White with a new question: Why not lead the program in Wisconsin himself?
“Every state that offers Improve Your Tomorrow has its own executive director,” White said. “He told me the work I was already doing as a consultant was the work of an executive director. So when he asked if I’d take the role, it was a no-brainer to accept and do this full-time.”
White officially stepped into his role in October 2025 with the first recruitment of Brothers. Since then, Improve Your Tomorrow Wisconsin has launched at Capital High School and La Follette High School, serving more than 50 students. Twenty-five additional students from Verona Area High School will join next semester. Programming runs in-school, after school and on weekends.
“We offer workshops for the Brothers and help them through their day-to-day coursework,” White said. “We also support them outside of school, addressing needs like food insecurity and housing.”
That holistic approach is central to the program’s philosophy. Mentors work closely with students to identify individual barriers—academic, social or emotional—and provide targeted resources and guidance. They stay in close contact with families as well, checking in weekly to share progress, challenges and plans.
The overarching goal is college readiness, whether that means a four-year degree, an associate degree or training at a technical college.
Achievements, such as passing a test, improving attendance, finishing a challenging project, are celebrated through Brotherhood Enrichment Activities like laser tag, Milwaukee Bucks games, pizza parties and basketball outings. These shared experiences help build peer relationships that may become a support network beyond high school.
The results speak for themselves. For more than a decade, Improve Your Tomorrow has delivered measurable results in closing opportunity gaps: 99% of participants graduate high school, nearly 80% enroll in college, 94% show improved classroom behavior and 97% say Improve Your Tomorrow made college feel possible.
Those numbers motivate White to keep doing what he’s doing and drives him to expand the program to more schools and counties across Wisconsin.
To make that growth possible, he is developing fundraising partnerships and hiring additional mentors and program managers. The Wisconsin team currently includes four mentors, including White, and he plans to expand that number significantly. He recruits from local colleges, seeking students and educators who can serve as relatable role models.
“We extensively vet each candidate,” White explained. “They need mentorship experience, but they also need to know how to support young men in this environment. They must be confident and capable of reaching the students we serve.”
White is looking for more mentors like Aaron Broadwater: “I will put myself out there and say that we have the best program manager I have ever seen in Aaron. Watching him engage with our young Brothers and his authenticity is simply breathtaking.”
Early feedback from schools has been positive. Educators at both Capital and La Follette High Schools report increased engagement among participating students.
“Young Black and Brown men are knocking at the door to be part of this program,” White said. “And once in, they’re committed and enthusiastic. In this short time, we’ve seen young men engage in classrooms who never have before.”
For White, that shift—students seeing themselves as capable, college-bound, positive contributors and leaders—is the clearest sign that Improve Your Tomorrow’s approach is working, and in Wisconsin, its momentum is only beginning.
