Henry Bloch's early influence on Henry Wash inspired him to make his own mark.
“I am first a servant,” Wash says. “I will give what was given to me, what I have become and what I have to give to the next generation in the hopes that they will do the same, carrying the continuum well into the future.” Henry W. Wash (M.P.A. ’06)
The second turning point in Wash’s life came when he tried to go to community college but ran out of money. Thanks to the Henry W. Bloch Scholars program, Wash made it through his associate’s degree at Penn Valley, and then earned his four-year degree in sociology and a minor in black studies at UMKC. Through the scholarship, Wash met Henry W. Bloch. In getting to know Bloch, Wash found in him a man he deeply admired and wanted to emulate. “Henry came to my wedding. I have lunch with him at least once a month. And every time I see him he gives me mentorship, guidance and direction,” Wash says. “Henry has given me so much more than money—he’s given me him.” Wash always felt inspired to help others, but didn’t know how to do it until his Bloch School experience. “The M.P.A. program at the Bloch School really helped me focus my goals and figure out what I was meant to do.” In 2003, Wash founded “High Aspirations,” a program designed to serve the social, emotional, academic and spiritual
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BLOCH Magazine
Fall 2012
needs of African-American males from ages eight to 18 through structured activity and learning. “In at-risk communities, conditions like poverty, drugs and violence can sometimes push otherwise good guys into criminal activity, whether they had a propensity for it or not. It’s a matter of survival,” Wash explains. “Our goal is to use research and innovation to create a program that places these young men on a path toward becoming productive members of society, loving husbands and dutiful fathers.” So, as Henry W. Bloch has done for Henry W. Wash, so Henry W. Wash is doing for dozens of young men: Giving the gift of opportunity. By the end of 2013, High Aspirations expects to have helped more than 60 young men. “I am first a servant,” Wash says. “I will give what was given to me, what I have become and what I have to give to the next generation in the hopes that they will do the same, carrying the continuum well into the future.”