Though colleges have focused efforts on admitting more African American students, a need to improve engagement and retention exists. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine if community college was a source of social capital for African American male students by way of early integration into an academic and social network. Relying on Tinto's Theory of Integration, the researcher examined if African American male community college students perceived that they gained access to academic and social networks, were being held to high expectations, gained clear academic plans and pathways, utilized network resources, and experienced positive outcomes including satisfaction and plans of persistence. The researcher used existing data from the 2018 three-year Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) cohort data set. Inferential statistics, namely logistical regression, linear regression, and factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), were calculated to analyze the three research questions that guided this study. The researcher found that African American male community college students found an academic and social network in their instructors who they also perceived as their main source of academic advice. As a result of the early engagement, these students perceived that they were being held to high expectations, had clear academic plans and pathways, were satisfied with their experience at the college, and planned to persist. Social capital is an actualized resource that can help people achieving goals that would have otherwise been unattainable. As such, the researcher concluded that community college is a source of social capital for African American male students. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]