I am the Director of Frontline Dads. A community based program that provides mentoring, leadership development and crisis intervention for at risk youth. I am an ex-offender who spent 15 years in prison. I promised myself that if i ever got out, i would use that opportunity to make a positive impact in my community. While in prison, i fought for custoody and visitation of my son and won. I co-founded Frontline Dads to help other men in similar situations who were disconnected from their children and dealing with issues of custody, visitation and child support. Once i got out, i went back to school and obtained my Master's Degree in counseling and became a therapist. I lead others to make my community better by taking the time to work with the youth no one wants to work with. I lead a feed the homeless project. i work with ex-offenders returning to the community. And i provide support for single fathers. I am a leader, role model, entrepreneur, educator, and advocate. the results i see from this are improved relationships, and reconnected families. i see youth doing better in school and at home. I see fathers rebuilding their self esteem. i see ex-offenders become self sufficient and independent while contributing to society. I work at the ground level and roll my sleeves up every day with no rhetoric, no funding, and no BS. I live my life for one purpose, and that is to make a difference in the lives of others.
The Frontline Dads Comprehensive Transformation Initiative is a mentoring/intervention program that will engage African-American youth in a variety of skills building exercises and workshops that will enhance their development as young men and will promote positive self-image from a communally responsible/cultural perspective. Frontline Dads provides mentoring for youth from challenged backgrounds (single parent homes, incarcerated parent, PTSD, ADHD, etc.) as an effort to prevent youth violence and intergenerational incarceration. many of our young people currently find themselves involved in the juvenile justice system and then matriculating into the adult prison system. My program seeks to prevent that by engaging them with mentoring that offers cultural awareness, critical thinking skills, conflict resolution, creative expression, family counseling, individual counseling, cognitive development & behavior modification therapy, goal setting, and leadership development. Our program provides a comprehensive approach to prevention based intervention to redirect youth from criminal justice involvement to personal transformation so they may reach their potential as community leaders and positive role models. By breaking this cycle of dysfunction, we create leaders who in turn can continue the work of rebuilding communities.
A comprehensive bio/psycho/social assessment will be conducted for each participant as well as a needs assessment. Activities will include weekly mentoring programs, in-school visits, home visits, family counseling, individual counseling, group therapy, field trips, creative writing exercises, journaling, life mapping, goal setting, vision board development, college visits, community service, cultural awareness class, decision making, critical thinking, crisis resolution, and social etiquette development. The mentoring/intervention program will last one year for each participant with four phases of development with a comprehensive assessment at the end to determine the progress of each participant. A parent meeting will be conducted each month in which parents will engage in a parenting workshop and a parent/child project collaboration. a weekly home visit and a weekly school visit will be scheduled to assess the youth behavior in each environment.
I will diminish the number of young african american males who get involved with the criminal justice system. Through developing the myriad of skills listed and developing a cultural identity, the participants will gain a greater appreciation of their culture and thus a greater realization of their obligation to their communities. We will improve their social awareness. We will improve their academic performance. We will lower their incidences of violence and acting out. We will lower the school suspension rate. We will lower the acts of violence committed by gun. We will improve their retention rate in school and will lower the dropout rate. We will lower the recidivism rate for those who have been involved in the criminal justice system.
up to $25,000
Reuben Jones
This mentoring/intervention project will partner with other organizations and programs to link the participants in a productive manner to engage in community service projects the benefit the larger community. Additionally, this project will act as a public service campaign for black men to get involved with the lives of black youth. And, it will help to rebuild the trust in our communities by demonstrating positive aspects of manhood and leadership through engaging the young people involved. This project will also partner with the city of Philadelphia and the school district to provide the service as needed and seek referrals for youth who may benefit.