ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the insights from within community, those people who consider themselves part of the immediate and extended family of African American Male Achievement (AAMA). AAMA is unapologetically Black in purpose, policies, and pedagogy. Contributors included the AAMA student leadership team, district administrators, parents, AAMA teachers, and the wide range of individuals that support the daily operations. Dream work is an overarching concept in AAMA and is a natural segue into the findings of this portion of the study. A common ethos reverberates from their testimonies: a positive cultural community is linked to health, happiness, and hope. AAMA is not a panacea or a magic bullet; it is a work-in-progress based upon an unapologetic and undeniable commitment to fight for education to be/come a liberatory force. AAMA creates spaces for African American males to "have a different definition of who they are, where they originated from, and what they can possibly become.
