Harlem native, music super-mogul, and entrepreneur Sean “P-Diddy” Combs has founded a charter school in his old neighborhood. Combs formally announced on Monday that Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School is slated to open August 2016, with 160 students enrolled in grades 6 and 7, eventually to have a fully enrolled high school through grade 12.
The new school will be managed by Steven Perry of Capital Preparatory Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut. Capital Prep Harlem will be modeled off Capital Prep Magnet, which has impressively led 100% college acceptance rate of its graduates since its founding in 2005, according to its website. The mission of Capital Prep schools is to “provide historically disadvantaged students with the college and career readiness skills needed to become responsible and engaged citizens for social justice.”
The school provides college preparatory education while developing a lifelong love of learning, leading, and social change. Capital Preparatory students work to foster five learning goals and core beliefs, including: collaborative engagement, problem solving, empathetic citizenship, research expertise, and exemplify characteristics and knowledge to be pillars of community. The school will operate on a year-round 11-month curriculum schedule to prevent “summer learner loss,” which according to Capital Prep’s website, is a prevalent problem among minority and low-income students.
Located on Museum Mile in Manhattan, the Harlem charter school will share a building with El Museo Del Bario at 1 E. 104 St. off of Central Park. The school will also offer on-site after school arts, athletics, and academic programs in partnership with the Boys and Girls Harbor.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Combs said creating the school “is a dream come true.”
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