hlo, i am pat lawson muse. after losing his father to colon cancer a local man has dedicated much of his time to ecating the community and theenefits of getting screened. according to themerican cancer society, colon rectal cancer can be the most preventib cancer. thanks for being with us.

>> thank you for having me. >> tell us, ifou ll, about your dad and your motivation for startingiving with a purpose. >> my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer back in 2010, but that's not his story, it's h l hie ended. the reality is my dad was an awesome guy tha lived life to the fullest and loved his grandchildren and kids, and youy know, example, my role model. >>h. y >> yep. >> was that your primary inspiration for starting the group? >> yes, absolutely. seeing and going through the process of being my dad's caretaker for approximately two years. i will say my dad was and they gave him six months to live and the trueht f he is he was with us for two years, o and seeing himhrough that process put me in a mind frame of what can i do to stop others from having to go throughis

and the preventive measures of we should r and what be aware of in the african-americanmu cty. >> before it struck your father, did you know anything about it orad you been screened yourself? >> no, i o had a lfriends, and this was never a topic of conversation. to be honest with you, with the number of things going on in our society, it's not one of the things at the forefront of conversation when guys get together. i quickly educated myself throughout the process of my dad being diagnosed androm there after kind of the grieving process i wanted to turn the anger i had into the action and this is some of the action i am taking. >> you had really made it your mission to raise awareness? >> absolutely.

worki working with others weave come up with a strategy to get the word out to the public and make sure folks are just aware. it's important i we are tune with fought just our bodies but all of these factors that exist way before being diagnosed with something like colon cancer, and this is about lifestyle and doin everything you can to avoid being in that situation. >> youon men the tv production. are you producing a deo? >> we did. kia, we had one event that allowed us to speak with about 100 people and view the video, have a dialogue onstage so kids were amazing in tms of making sure the package is put together in a way that connects with the audience i am looking to engage. >> one othe things y did last week is host a 3k walk and

run to call attention to coal rectal cancer. how did that go? >> itent extremely well. it was a breezy and cold day and we had people show up and participate and we got a chance to speak with themrior to the event and let them know about the importance of being screened and some of the preventive an measures then we got to it and it was a good day. y >>ou mentioned early, it's an uncomfortable topic, and you are talking about men and black men and the notion of going through the tests something that many would rather avoid, and it's not thathey don't know about the importance but don't wanto deal with it. >> i agree with that statement. the test itself is known to be someat invasive. i think educating people on the test, after t goingough the screening and that procedure

it's not what you imagine that it is. en you think about that 45 minutes to an hour of that process versus you being here or your loved ones for a much longer period of time, it kind of beces a no-brainer. i think it's just comin from somebody just like them and the same community they are from, t this should normal. >> you are talking about a colonoopy? >> yes. >> which is something nobody wants. >> no. >> but l it's ae safer? >> yeah, it has to be normalized and having that as part of our conversation. >> you are asleep when that happens. >> yeah, it's one of the best naps you'll ever have, and you don't even know the procedure is taking play. >> we are talki about the colon cancer and the work that marcus ellisoi is to save other men's lives. we'll beight back.

ellis, the ceo and f of giving with a purpose, an organization that is working to ise awareness about colorectal cancer you especially in african-american men. marcus, you talked about doing a video that you are going to be using as part of your presentation when you go out to talk to people about this very real and tough top. you to churches and y talk and other organizations. what is the main a message y delivering when you go out? >> the main thing -- recently we did a showing of the sevideo of zion church,nd it was a room full of men and the conversation was about the importance of not just tkpwgetting tested but the portance of the precipitating factors that could lead to colon encer, and we talking about the importance of diet and

exerci and not drinking too much. >> and not smoking. >> and not smoking. a lot of times folks say it's hereditary and it's about being black, a n it's always that per se but it's about some of the living habits that often we adopt because of certain societies or communities that we have grown up in. ife could change some of that and change that trajectory we could see aifference in the outcomes of our health.le >> lifes changes. >> absolutely. purpose,s giving with a it helps men another way. you are helping homeless men in our region and you have a c prograled the socks and underwear initiative. tell us about that. >> about four years ago, myself, and my wife, tas ellis, and d.j., we came a up with idea that we could give a back meaningful way to the homeless men in our city.

two of the most nee d ite were socks and underwear, things we don't really think about, right? we have a very fun event and it's basically a day party where approximately 200 people come out and w have a really good time, and we have giveaways and things of that nature, b the concentration of the event is all of these people bring sks and underwear out, and from there we connect with a homeless shelter in the city and come to their holiday party immediately following, and every man in that facility, approximately 150en receive a gift bag serving as their christmas presentnd it has useful items and we take the remaining items on a random night, just passing out the items to those in need. >> items many of us take for granted but so necessary and appreciated. we should say although your wory primar focuses on men, it

doesn't exclusively focus on men? >> not at all. again, my wife who is my partner this this work, she works as it relates to women empowerment and it's another branch, and we are getting it off the grod now, and it will range from financial literacy and conducting yourself on inteiews, and she's focusing on a teenage young adult population, and just giving them tool sets as they go out into the workforce. >> i was reading your website, giving with a purpose, and you said something that s out to me. you say that people should never stay in a comfortable place just because they can because there's o changemuch moral >> that's a true belief of mine. i have not written many quotes but that is one of mine, and i

try to livey it we can get to a place and become complacent, and i don't feel like wre good if those around us and thoseca pour into aren't. there's a saying, and i might get it wrong, by muhammad ali, he says you give so you can exist like rent, and i try to keep that in mind throughout everything i do. >> you are giving your part and doing your par to make change happen in the world. marcus ellis, give us you website? tell us how viewers can reach you. go to our website, gwac.com. >> the oanization is giving with a purpose. ank you. next, celebrating a

milestone for organization that has sent 31,000 students to college.

the d.c. college acc is progra celebrating 20 years of helping public and private -- charter high schools, i shoul say, high school students enroll and graduate. the ceo of d.c. cap, welcome. >> thank you. >> i know this is a very exciting time. we will get to the most exciting time in a moment, but first the folks at d.c. capitol hi was adg aem pro >> when we started, only 25% of public school students and charter school students were enrolling inollege. today, thanks to all the help we have had in our community, about 60% of students enroll in

college and we also almost tripled the graduation ra, and tripled the graduation rate to 50% in six years. >> that's your success marker. very important. >> very important for students. >> tell us the passing of the d.c. tag legislation by congress sort of helped to level of playing field in d.c. >> it was instrumental, because our students were disadvantaged, if you are in illinois, california, you have dozens and hundreds of public institutions, and our studes only had us, and so the legislation aowed students to really open their minds and hearts and tir abilities to go to different institutions, and whether it was a large, small, predominantly white, and it opened up for our

students. >> you provide financialli coun to students and their families. where doe your funding c from? >> our funding is private, from ,corporations in the cind from boeing, capital one, many others. we have had funding from the gates foundation and it's privately funded and it has allowed us to orate continuously without disruptione use while sometimes school budgets and the city budgets, there's negotiations that have to happen and sometimes things are cut off. for us, being able to be privately funded allows us to run with stability and we are able t stay with the students in and out every year. >> tell us how d.c. cap >> we have centers in all 38 public and public charter high hools, and in those centers we have computers and catalogue and advisers that workenith the

st to understand the importance of higher education, and how you enroll, scholarship and financial aid,wo and w with the parents because the parents are a big part of the equation. while they are in high school we help them with financial aid and then when they, enro we stay with them for six years to help get them out. it's o thing toet them in but it's harder to get them out. it's a long-termelionship with the students and the parents we have. >> the push is to get students stem and steam ready to get them prepared for careers in those disciplines. what is d.c. cap doing? >> we have a scholarship program and the idea is to establish au cu of stem achievement the way we were able to do over the st 20 years for college growing, and we want a stem culture,tand ouring in stem, i think we are about 30

now rked among national surveys, and, you know, those countries don't necessarily have better schools or teachers but a culture where expectations, students are expected to achieve in science and math. every student it's not just for the smart kid. everybody has stem capacity. particularly being in d.c., a lot of people don't know that d.c. is only second to silicon valley to stem and stem-related bs, about 800,000. so we have our population heree and want them ready to take advantage of this great opportunity for employment in the nation's capital, o while we continue to work on our primary focus which is higher education for students, and it's college, vocational, it's two yearnd we want to stir them towards stem. >> it's so important. many want togediscoutudents

from steering clear of that area because it's, you ow, it's the great frontier. >> yeah, it's a stigma and scary thing, but it's a subject that you work at, it's no different than when you sit in front of the video game forours until you move to the next level. it's the same kind of commitment t takes time and everybody h the capacity >> they are doing it. >> yeah. >> we are talking about d.c. cap and getting students rea for college and what we are going to tell you about next. it'sal , really good show. we'll be right back.

we're talki with d.c. cap, avat's the d.c.'s college access program and a big program coming up on wednesday, april 10th, you will be holdinghe biggest fund-raiser of the year, and i would likeo say it sounds a lot like a tv show, a

lot like "the voice" andam ican's got talent and all that rolled into one. >> yeah, it's a gala teugs, and we are showing students artist eu artistic. it's at the k cnedyter. very exciting for the studes. >> you have whittled it down to 10 finalist out of 40, but started with 40. >>250 students from around the city, and they auditioned in fron of professional judges, choreographers and voice coaches and piano teaches and et tera, and then 40 are selected as semifinalist and weren pute gala website at dccap.org.

>> they have celebrity judges that will be determini who wins. >> uh-huh. >> who are some of the judges? >> this year we have kenny lattimore, denise graves who has a it befo they vote, 50% of the vote is from the judges and 50 from the audience. >> you have had a lot of t big namet helped you with the program? >> yeah, we have had deon warwick, jordan sparks,is the goes on and on. people genuinely admire the students and appreciate the talent and it's a funightor everybody involved. >> so it's a fun night but with a very serious cause. there will be how many winners and tell us what the winners get? >> the semifinalist perform in thepening finale, and ten

finalist get dscholarships, theirst placeets $10,000 for college. it's our fargestd-raiser and the money goes for operations and counseling and scholarships, so we're very excited and very appreciative over the. yea it's become very popular in the city and we are veryornate. >> we are very excited to send one of our talents. yes, leon harris has hosted this for the past eight years or t, and so the audience, they always look forwar seeing him and he makes the evening even more special. >> ye p, him onstage and get him to perform for you. >> i will try. >> can people get tickets. yes, goo. dccap.o

the stitickets are $35 for the community. >> 7:00 p.m. at the kennedy center. >> yes. >> you wantet to your tickets by going on the website, dccap.org. your best pitch for the sdents competing, give themdvice. >> trust yourself, you didn't get re because you didn't have talent, but you got here because you have talent a trust yourself and this is the bigge stage you performed on so let us see it. >> you heard good luck. >> thank you. >> good luck and thank you for all you do. >> for your sunday program, log on to nbcwashington.com. i am pat lawson muse.

thank you for watching. we'll see you next week.

"news 4 today" starts now. new this morning, one man is dead after a crash in prince george's county. we're learning new details. l> a day at thee ends with one man drowning. we're going to tell you why he went into the water. plus, blossom the cherry blossoms are reaching peek bloom. >> yeah, should be pretty busy down by the tidal basin and on the national mall today. eif you're uply with us on this sunday morning, getting ready to possibly go down there, thank you for being here with us. i'm adam tuss. >> i'm meagan fitzgerald. packed down thereyesterday. tried to get down, but too many people. today might be a better day to go down there, because it looks like the weather won't be