Twenty-first-century urban schools face unique challenges in being culturally responsive and providing quality education to culturally diverse and low-income students. The academic achievement gap for low-income and ethnic youth poses the need for new and innovative interventions by educational institutions. School counselors are in a unique position in schools to assume leadership roles in reducing academic disparity. This article discusses the experience of urban youth identified as being at risk as well as some of the realities facing African American students in inner-city public education, and it describes the need for school counselors to emphasize a group counseling approach from a multicultural perspective. The article presents the Empowerment Groups for Academic Success approach that aims at preventing high school dropout and improving academic performance for youth identified as being at risk.