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Sean 'Diddy' Combs Opening Harlem Charter School

By Gary Kane | March 28, 2016 2:15pm
 Sean
Sean "Diddy" Combs, seen here before giving Howard University's 2014 commencement address, said helping lead a charter school is "a dream come true."
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Allison Shelley/Getty Images

HARLEM — Leave it to music mogul Sean Combs to extend his entrepreneurial reach beyond rapping, producing records and designing clothes.

His new venture: operating a charter school in Harlem.

Combs, formerly known on stage as P Diddy and Puff Daddy, announced Monday that he will open the Capital Preparatory Harlem Charter School in the fall.

In its inaugural year, the school plans to enroll 80 students in the sixth grade and 80 seventh-graders, according to school Principal Danita Jones. Eventually, students through grade 12 will attend the school.

The school will be managed by Capital Prep leader Steven Perry, who in 2005 founded the Capital Prep Magnet School in Hartford, Connecticut.

Capital Prep states on its website that its mission is to “provide historically disadvantaged students with the college and career readiness skills needed to become responsible and engaged citizens for social justice.”

The Harlem school will share a building with El Museo Del Bario at 1 E. 104th St., adjacent to Central Park. It will offer an 11-month curriculum to reduce “summer learning loss,” the school’s website states.

Combs told The Associated Press that creating the charter school is “a dream come true.”

Combs, who was born in Harlem, attended Howard University, but dropped out after two years. The university awarded him an honorary degree in 2014.