2 Detroit Leaders Among Knight Foundation's BME Award Winners

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (WJBK) -- Black men are making a difference in Detroit every single day, but you don't always hear about the work that they're doing. The Knight Foundation is giving a group of men the respect they deserve and helping them take their work even further.

"People talk about Detroit, but there are men that love this city that do great things all the time," said Andre Dandridge.

He and Curtis Lipscomb prove that every day. They have different missions, but together they're redefining Detroit.

"Our whole goal is to help these young men become responsible fathers," said Dandridge.

He knows just how hard that can be.

"I became a father when I was 21 years old. She was born my last semester of college," Dandridge explained. "I was not thinking about being anybody's daddy. I was not responsible."

However, Dandridge stepped up to the plate and today he's showing other young men how to beat the odds and be great dads. He created NewYoungFathers.com. It's an interactive website where young men can find advice from other dads on every kind of topic.

He even holds workshops using hip hop to reach young men who have been handed a very big responsibility.

"When you tell a young man who has no involvement with his father be a man, man up, he does not know what that means, so we spell it out," Dandridge said.

"I'm not going to New York. I'm not going to San Francisco. I love my city," Curtis Lipscomb explained.

He said being black and gay in Detroit isn't always easy.

"You can lose your job. You can lose federal funded housing. You can lose a lot of things that are important to you, so a lot of people live in fear and live in isolation," Lipscomb told us.

That's why he launched KICK, a non-profit that provides free advocacy and educational workshops to Detroit's black LGBT community.

"I try to tell the story of the African-American movement from a gay, lesbian, bi point of view, and people like it," Lipscomb said.

What's brought these leaders together is the Knight Foundation's Black Male Engagement Challenge. The contest was designed to spotlight black men who are making a difference in Detroit and give them a helping hand.

More than 1,000 entered, 20 were chosen, together they were awarded more than $200,000.

"We're capturing 22 young people and we're going to train them on social justice issues, community building," said Lipscomb.

"It's allowing us to serve more of these young guys," said Dandridge.

And they are sending a very clear message.

"Look at us and say okay, I can take the high road and not the low road. I can be a positive man and have a positive effect on the community and still be a man," Dandridge explained.

The Knight Foundation is considering launching another Black Male Engagement Challenge. For more information, visit www.bmechallenge.org.