"You can do better."

That's the message that Realtor Oral Lee Brown has drummed into at-risk students in East Oakland, California, to get them thinking early about attending college.

Seventeen years ago, Brown found a hungry little girl who was skipping school. Her heart was touched, and she realized it doesn't have to be that way. The key to preventing and rising above poverty, drug dealing, and other societal blights is in education, so Brown went to Brookfield Elementary, a local elementary school in a troubled area of East Oakland. Stunned and delighted school officials saw her make the first-graders there a promise - "Stay in school, and I will see you through college."

Brown was born in poverty and saw herself through college. To help others, she established the Oral Lee Brown Foundation which helps at-risk students stay motivated to stay in school. Today, the foundation manages about $375,000 annually in contributions. She pays for their college tuition through annual fundraising banquets, held each August, and through donations.

Last year, the first wave of those first-graders graduated from colleges across the United States, and Brown was there in person or in spirit for each ceremony. Of the 23 students in that original class, 19 went on to college, and most are still enrolled. Brown hopes that number grows each year.

This May, four more of "her" students graduated.

Some students have pursued other dreams, such as one little boy who now is a firefighter. Another little girl didn't make it. She was shot down on the street when she was 21 years old.

But despite the pain and hardships, others are getting there - a step at a time. Brown works with the local school to get candidates for her program, who are then qualified by staffers at the Oral Lee Brown Foundation. The criteria is need.

"If we have a child with two parents working making $100,000 a year, they don't need Oral Lee Brown," says Brown.

The Foundation operates a tutoring center, where students can help with subjects such as math and science, and SAT preparation.

"We have a group now that next year will be seniors," says Brown proudly. Her next wave is 20 seventh graders and 30 third-graders for a total of about 89 students under her wing at a time.

At an age when most people would be fondly eyeing retirement, Brown still sells real estate, but she has found more and more of her time taken with the foundation, and the kids' needs.

"I have to keep the real estate to keep paying for the foundation," says Brown, who contributed $10,000 of her own money annually from 1987 through 1999.

As with her students, money is always a problem. Some need clothes and food, as well as a dream. Brown's prayers are answered in unexpected ways.

"I was just on the Today Show with Katie Couric, and she asked the viewers to send a dollar," says Brown, "and we received $30,000!"

Editor's note: If you would like to make a contribution to the Oral Lee Brown Foundation, write to Jo Ann Baker, president, 9901 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, California, 94605 or call 510-430-3041. Visit the foundation online at www.oralleebrownfoundation.com.

Published: June 16, 2004

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