Tim King - Education Excellence Award

Tim King is founder, president and CEO of Urban Prep Academies, a nonprofit organization operating a network of public college-prep boys schools in Chicago (including the nation’s first all-male charter high school) and related programs aimed at promoting college success. 100% of Urban Prep graduates - all African American males and mostly from low-income families - have been admitted to four-year colleges/universities. Tim also serves as an Adjunct Lecturer at Northwestern University and has published in the Journal of Negro Education, Chronicle of Higher Education, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times, Huffington Post and New York Times. King was honored at the BET Awards as a recipient of the “Shine A Light” award and has also been named ABC World News “Person of the Week,” Chicago Magazine’s “Chicagoan of the Year,” People Magazine’s “Hero of the Year,” and to Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” list. He has been featured on Good Morning America, The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Moth/USA Networks’ Characters Unite series, highlighted in Discovery Channel’s Rise: The Promise of My Brother’s Keeper, the documentary film All the Difference, and the major motion picture Barbershop 3: The Next Cut and recognized by Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton for his work with youth. Tim has completed post-graduate work in Kenya and Italy, holds the Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Adler School and has received the Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service and Juris Doctor Degrees from Georgetown University. Tim, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., serves on several boards including the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners and is the co-chair of Chicago’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. Tim became the guardian of a former student orphaned when his mother died. That student was once homeless and now has graduated from college. Having a positive impact on this young man’s life is the achievement of which Tim is the proudest.