There’s a truth most of us have felt but far too few are willing to say out loud: Black boys are disappearing—not just from college campuses, but from classrooms, libraries, writing spaces, and from the imaginations of people who say they care.

The recent article from Word in Black titled “To Close the HBCU Gender Gap, Help Black Boys Find Their Spark” hit me like a conversation I’ve been having in my head for years finally made its way to the page. Yes, the gender gap in HBCU enrollment is real. Yes, the data shows a troubling drop in Black male student enrollment. But the issue isn’t just about statistics. It’s about belief.

At Fourth Pov, Inc., we believe Black boys have something to say. We believe their ideas, their stories, their creativity, their grief, their questions—all of it—deserves space. Not just because it might land them a scholarship or a seat in a college lecture hall, but because their voice is their spark.

When people talk about closing gaps, they often turn to solutions that treat the symptoms—test prep programs, scholarships, pipelines. All necessary. But at Fourth Pov, we’re interested in going deeper. We want to help Black boys find their spark before the world tries to smother it. And we do that through storytelling. Through writing. Through publishing. Through teaching them that their voice can not only shift a room, it can shake a system.

We’re not asking them to save the world—we’re teaching them that they matter in it.

This work is personal. I’ve seen what happens when a young Black boy picks up a pencil and finally sees it not as a tool of discipline, but as a tool of creation. I’ve seen the shift that happens when a kid writes their truth on the page and realizes the page doesn’t correct them—it receives them.

So yes, let’s close the gap. But not by pushing Black boys to simply assimilate into broken systems. Let’s help them build something new. Let’s give them journals, not just detention slips. Microphones, not just lectures. Publishing contracts, not just permission slips.

Let’s show them that their stories—raw, joyful, angry, questioning, sacred—have power. At Fourth Pov, we don’t just make room at the table. We hand them the pen and remind them: You’ve been the author all along.