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D.C. is focusing on young men of color in a big way, announcing a three-year, $20 million education plan today. The initiative includes a forthcoming all-male college prep high school and a 500-person reading mentor volunteer force.

Empowering Males of Color, announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, is a part of the White House’s nationwide My Brother’s Keeper umbrella of social programs for men of color. Its centerpiece is a planned branch of the Chicago-based Urban Prep Academy, to open in a location east of the Anacostia River by 2017, according to the Post.

Urban Prep is a superstar in the education world: The male-only school’s Chicago campuses have achieved a 100-percent college acceptance rate for seniors for the past five years in a row. Its founder Tim King, a Georgetown University alum, floated plans last year for nationwide expansion, naming D.C. alongside other interested cities including New York, Atlanta, and Memphis.

Empowering Males of Color also includes a concentrated effort to enlist 500 volunteer reading mentors for young men of color in fourth grade and under within DCPS, to be in place by next school year, and an effort to hire more black and Latino teachers. Black and Latino males make up 43 percent of DCPS students, according to city-provided statistics.

In addition, a grant program called “Proving What’s Possible” will hand out money to individual DCPS branches for programs to encourage men of color to stay in school. There will be three grant categories: Academic development; family engagement; and social-emotional support. The $20 million to fund the grants and other parts of Empowering Males of Color will come from a mix of public and private organizations, and the city is in the process of recruiting funders.