Understanding the power between a caring adult and a teenager needing guidance.
A school-based counseling and mentoring program is helping those overcoming obstacles and living in low-income families to learn the skills they need to succeed. And it’s having a profound effect on reducing violence and increasing graduation rates.
During school vacation week, a group of teens were focused on their future, with resume building and mock interviews. The nonprofit Youth Guidance Boston, led by Executive Director Shawn Brown, held the workshops for teens in its Becoming a Man and Working on Woman programs—known as BAM and WOW.
“Youth guidance creates and implements programs that enable young people to overcome obstacles and succeed in school and life,” said Executive Director of Youth Guidance Boston Shawn Brown.
The school-based counseling program is currently offered in the Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville school districts—and it’s not just mentoring—it’s an elective the students take year-round. A study of the BAM program shows just how effective it is.
“BAM reduces violence by 50%, increases graduation rates by 20%, and decreases overall crime rates by 35%,” said Brown. “The study also showed for every dollar invested in the program, there was a $30 return just by keeping our young men out of the system.”
Rich Baez credits the BAM program for teaching him important core values.
“Accountability, integrity, respect for womanhood, positive anger expression, like a lot of things,” said Rich Baez, a senior at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. “So using those things, using those tools, those deep breathing skills, like they helped me a lot, get through a lot of tough situations that I thought I wouldn’t get out of.”
“WOW was like a stepping stone that’s helped me in my life since my mother wasn’t really present in my life and gave me the female guidance that I needed in my life,” said Jade Reed, a junior at English High School.
The counselors go through over 300 hours of training and coaching to help guide scholars like Jade Reed. Because of the WOW program, Jade says she’s not as nervous and now recognizes the possibilities right in front of her.
“If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t be introduced to these many opportunities that would help me get ready for college,” said Reed.
And it’s that circle of trust among their peers and mentors that really helps them connect.
“It’s always good to talk to a person who’s been through what you’ve been through, who’s experienced what you have, so you have that reliability, you know you relate to that person,” said Baez.
Shawn knows this firsthand. He grew up in Dorchester and had a mentor who turned his life around--now it’s his goal to set the younger generation on the right path.
“Our young people are wired to be connected to something,” said Brown. “And if we don’t connect them to something positive, there is a whole host of negative things for them to be engaged in.”
Brown was named the New England Patriots Foundation Person of the Year Award in 2023. He directly serves about 14,000 youth in the community. He’s in talks with expanding the BAM and WOW program to other school districts in the area.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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