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.