BLACK ROCK — A Detroit-based youth program that boasts a 100 percent high school graduation rate may be coming to Buffalo.
Kevin Kirby, a personal trainer and youth coach, and Buffalo boxing legend "Baby" Joe Mesi, have teamed up to bring the first franchise of DBG Detroit to an old library building on Niagara Street in the Black Rock neighborhood of Buffalo.
The Detroit program is centered on boxing — but it's not just about boxing.
The boxing, they explained "acts as the hook," Kirby told me.
“This is not your everyday after-school program, this is not a community center," Mesi told me on Wednesday as he and Kirby gave me a tour of the building they hope will one day house their version of the program.
DBG Detroit offers all kinds of programs for Detroit youth, from boxing and other athletics to STEM classes and the arts.
“100 percent of our students have graduated high school since we started 18 years ago," Peter Fezzey, chief operating officer of DBG Detroit, said. "98 percent of them have gone on to some form of post-secondary, formal, two or four-year education and 90 percent have gone on to some STEM career pursuit.”
The program was featured earlier this year on Good Morning America.
Mesi and Kirby are just getting started on the process of opening this program here in Buffalo in the summer of 2025. They have the building but they are seeking grants and investors.
“This is an award-winning out-of-school program that's gonna offer academic support, workforce development, cooking, drama," Mesi said. "Whatever the kids' interests and needs are, their program is gonna be developed specifically for them.”
“So it's really up to them as long as they're doing something," Kirby said.
