Most black males students living in “urban” areas in Chicago have never even visited downtown Chicago which is a different world in comparison to Englewood, Chatham, Roseland, or Austin (“urban” areas in Chicago). Downtown Chicago is where the skyscrapers, beautiful parks, and horse & carriage rides reside. If most of these kids never get the opportunity to be tourists in their own cities, you can imagine the last thing on their minds would be traveling abroad.

Even in college most of the people taking advantage of the study abroad programs are not black males, less than 2 percent. Although not taking advantage of studying abroad is something I personally regret, the women I know who have studied abroad are frequent travelers. They travel in the States and abroad several times a year.

Which is why The Now Boarding Corporation is such an amazing idea. In 2015 Rickkay L.T. King knew he wanted to increase the number of black males experiencing life abroad. King the President and CEO has officially launched The Now Boarding Corporation which is a 501(c)(3) non-organization.

They are looking for African American males to participate in the program. If they are exposed to travel in high school they are more likely to study abroad once in college. The program is designed to hold monthly meetings with the participants to teach them about the country they will be visiting. Then the young men will travel to that country during the summer.

According to the Huffington Post, it cost about $8,000 to send each child with a goal taking 10 teens on the first trip to London. They recently held a fundraiser and raised $7,500, this is just a stepping stone. The Now Boarding Corporation is just getting started.