Milton Raiford is headmaster at Imani Christian Academy in East Hills, a K-12 religious school that takes in troubled students whom other schools cannot handle. Many of his kids live in impoverished neighborhoods and have criminal backgrounds. Nearly all of them come from broken homes.

      "I grew up poor and black, so I understand how the deck is stacked against them," Raiford said. "I also understand the mindset poverty can produce -- a mindset that says: 'All my friends are dead, so I'm not going to live very long and I may as well get as much as I can today.' ... That is a mindset that at Imani we are determined to break because it's not the truth to who these kids are."