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School-community connections positively impact adolescent Black boys’ well-being and school achievement. Social psychological “mattering” emerges from perceiving value and significance from positive interpersonal engagements in ways that underscore adolescents’ well-being. Yet little is known about how school-community connections foster adolescents’ perceived mattering. We deployed in-depth focus groups with five Black adolescent boys through our school-university partnership called The Black Boy Mattering Project. Findings draw from the boys’ description of interactions within school, illustrating how a poor connection to Black boys valued, or important, communities, elicits a sense of “marginal'' mattering. Implications support scholars and educators in fostering affirming schools where Black boys’ can perceive their “comprehensive” mattering.