Makai williams is 15 and a freshman at suitland high school, and hes now in the mentoring to manhood program. Welcome all of you. Thank you. Makai, let me ask you how do you like it . I love the program. Youve been in about six months or so . No sorry five years i got the timing what has it done for you in the years youve been there . You sort of grown up in it. Yes. Its slowly turning me into a man literally. I grew up in it so ive been physically turning into a man. Also mentally. So yeah. I like going there. You were going to grow up anyway, but you have extra help as youre growing up. Yeah. Deion, you work with middle and high school youngsters. Tell us what makes mentoring 2 manhood so successful. Just our ability to match like what we have here, a young man with another older man, and mentoring is so walk all of us through stages in life like we talk the about. So you know, i think thats what makes mentoring 2 man so successful is it just works. And you not only hold mentoring classes but on saturday, but you do a whole lot with these young men. Well go on fieldtrips. Weve done College Tours flag. Weve gone to museums in d. C. Weve taken them to study entrepreneurship. Well take them to see local companies and businesses and see entrepreneurs started their company and progressed through the stages of development for their company. We just really try to give the boys a wellrounded amount of information, just so they can begin to make their own decisions and walk the path that theyre deficstineto walk. Theyre getting a lot of expe brandon, youve been a mentor for how long . Since august, 2016. Thats where i got it six months. You were actually mixing mentoring, education, training, and church. Tell us how that works. Actually, its quite simple. You know, in terms of mentoring it, you know, for me, i grew when i was in college. I started tutoring. So thats where i started the education part. I was tutoring inner city youth at the university of pittsburgh. Thats where the educational part came from. As i started that, kids started asking me questions, more personal level. Thats where i started getting the tutoring from. And bringing that to this program, you know, meeting up with every saturday, well sit there and me and makai will talk about school. Well go to a Football Game and have fun. And then well go to the Training Program plus, i think tomorrow going on a Training Program in ft. Theres allh combined. Its great. You said makai is your m mentee. Makai is my mentee. Ive been assigned to him since day one. Makai, what are some of most interesting things youve done . Well, like the field trips or regarding with brandon yeah. Both. Oh. Well well, weve goo movies, bowling, workshops and different activities like that. Do you look forward to it every saturday . Yes. And you look forward to getting together with your mentor . Do you look forward to being with the other boys my friends and my mentor. Uhhuh. Uhhuh. And you said its sort of helping you to become a man. I mean, what are some of the things that you deal with that this group is helping you with . Well, starters, homework. You humid a big one. Yes. Hmm. What do you what do you like about school which classes are you most interested in . Wl what do you want t do . Science. I like biology. Thats a great place to be. All righty. Were talking to mentoring 2 manhood. Well continue after this ba y27mky y16fy were talking with mentoring 2 manhood. Your young men are from 12 and 19 whampth a 1 oe ms rn is to help them earn data cabling certification . Yes, were really excited about this program because not all of the boys that come out of high school will go to college. We sensed the need to begin to offer opportunities to enter the work force with marketable skills. One of our mentors, his name is richard nighti cabling company decided that he wanted to offer this certification for young men and young women that would be interested in this certification. So for six weeks, theyll meet consecutive saturdays. And at the end of the sixweek certification program, theyll have a certificate with the electricians technicians association. That wi allow them to then be marketable to comcast or at t or verizon. Theyll also get an osha safety card. So coming out of this sixweek program, they are marketable. They can actually, you know, get a job that would benefit them in the long run. We just are excited about the program. We feel like this is going to be a stepping ste, first of many Certification Programs that we can offer our young men. In terms of measuring success, you had you just started the classes. How many young men have gotten jobs already right. We had six that went throu t program. They all graduat a a they all got their certificates. They passed their certificate exam. They also passed their osha safety. They got their osha safety card. And then four of the six are working now. Already . Alreadiy. Thats fantastic. Brand a, rineral kffm emoynt rates, incarceration rates, poverty rates. Mentoring cant fix all those programs. Its just one piece of it. Uhhuh. Like you said, the black community suffering from high incarceration rates. The black community suffers from positive role models. Lack of male role models. And we at mentoring 2 manhood, you they dont have positive role models, they dont have the visualization to try to get to how do they guide to adulthood, get to adulthood. Many fathers are not in the home. A huge d. Hood comes in. We help fill the gap and visualize how to be an adult, how to be a man. How to to inspire, how to go to school, how to where a student tie like ma tie, how to get a makai, how to get certification. They can see with myself and deion, they see strong, black men getting to be positive. They dont get that. And it does make a difference for them, doesnt it . I think so. I really think so. Without vision, without being able to see an example of what it means to get up every morning and go to your job, without seeing, that you dont knoh to accoli i but when we model it for our young men, it just opens up a realm of possibility that they wouldnt necessarily have. Uhhuh. Makai, so what do you want to do when you get out of school and when you get out of this group . I like engineering, but i also like producing music. So i would something in that field. When y you pick role models, who were your role models . Who do you look to and say, i want to be like him . Professional basketball players yeah, Michael Jordan. Okay, okay. Probably Michael Jordan and lebron james. These two. And thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Its making a big difference in your life. But youve got a long way to go. What kind of advice would you give to other young men your age who are struggling, you know, with peer pressure and all of the social media and all of the other stimuli around them . What would you say to them to help them stay on track and be focuse focused . S what about your own commitment . What do you have to how do you have to think yourself think i just think of my mom being right there. What she would say if i think of a bad decision. Anything like that. Uhhuh. Thats the best accountability. You think of someone that you have to answer to. Yes. You dont want to let her down. No. No. Okay. We know youre not going to let her down. Youre going to stay in this group, and youre going to do well. Someday youll be better than lebron james. Maybe. All right. Dion johnson, brandon cole, and makai, thank you all. You were in the philanthropic category of philanthropy for 2016. So youre doing youre doing great work. Yes. Thank you very much. Keep it up. I will. Thank you. Thank you. When we come back, were going to be talking to a group thats helping boys and girls fight belowing and build building hope, inc. , is an organization that helps displaced families move from displacement to independence. Every year, the Group Sponsors a special pageant called princess for a day. More than 150 girls with escorts get to walk the red carpet. Its part of a comprehensive program and an exciting journey toward building their selfesteem. Joining us are eric hawkins, whos a board member at building hope, inc. Carrssa williams is founder and executive director. Alexis fletchman is a princess for a day participant. Shes 14 years old. And shes wearing her tiara this morning. Welcome, all of you. Thank you. Caressa, you cater to children and teenagers. Tell us about what youre teaching them and how youre doing it. Well, the purpose of the princess for a day, its an empowerment program, its to let beautifully and wonderfully made. We take on ages from 3 to 16, and i tend to believe that if you continue to tell someone youre wonderful, you continue to tell them that youre beautiful, you embody that and believe that. We hopefully and believe that when they get into their teen years and after their long after theyre out of prinss for day tt empowerment is with them, they know that i can do and be anything. They told me im beautiful. So its just part of them knowing and being confident in who they are. The pageant that happens every year includes children and teenagers. Yes. What are the stages the age range from 3 to age 16. The girls do get all dressed up and walk the red carpet . Oh, with the boys. Their escorts . Yes, you have to see. They go all out. I mean, they are just beautiful, and they go all out and really look absolutely amazing. And you can see them there in the pictures. What do youdo well, we have the pageant we have four rehearsals. We start rehearsing as early as october. We start remgsterring them and start rehearsing with them. With the princess for a day, we have the pageant, local pageant winners, miss marilyn, miss d. C. , and miss maryland, miss d. C. , and virginia counterparts. They end to as well and teach pesticid poe etiquette. We break them out into workshops to show them challenges they may be facing during school. We prepare them with the four rehearsals and do the side workshops, as well, leading up to march 4th. I mentioned that your program at building hope, irc rk, inc. , comprehensive. The pageant is one piece of a really big pie. Youre doing a lot of other activities and some of the workshops that you participate in in the summer are exciting. Exactly. I have to give credit to mid williams. Her energy is unbelievable. G summer project like the basketball camp. Ive known her for eight years. Weve partnered for a good eight years. I was in corporate america, but i left that. And i found something more fulfilling helping the kids. For example, i was fortunate enough to know michael graham, former georgetown basketball player, who in turn called his buddies, nba players like fred brown and david wingate, michael smith, with their cousin who was a trainer at university of maryland mens basketball basketball. Were doing Basketball Summer Program for the kids. One thing they said to me, they said, were going to do this, we want to make sure we get a chance to emphasize the importance of education. And i said, mike, that is mis a vision and what well do. Not only did the boys and girls have a great time exercising and learning the fundamentals, there was an emphasis. And fred brown gave a great speech on the importance of education. And also the tennis programs. Im proud to at least be part of that. Every year. I just cant say enough. Im glad to be part of building hope. Thats exciting. Alexis, you have participated in the princess for a day pageant for two years now. Yes. So tell us what that experience has been like for you. It was very fun. I liked going places with the kids and theyre friendly and im just very excited. Im happy. I cant wait until march. Now youre 14 years old. Where do you go to school . I go to school at walker mill middle school. You sound like you like school. I hear you have a 4. 0 grade average. Yes. 4. 1 excuse me. 4. 1. That would be an aplus. What have you learned and what have you gotten out of participating in this pageant for the past two years . I learned that youre never too young. You can do your thing, believe in yourself, have selfesteem. Its was that a problem for you before you joined thepansion p . Really, but some people say things about me. But i never let them bring me down. And one of the components of the program is to teach you all to resist bullying. Not to participate and to resist how to handle it really. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Well take a break. Well continue our talk with building hope and tell you more about the princess for a day pageant after this. Welcome back. Caressa williams, youre working with displaced families and single mothers who are struggling to make ends meet and sort of burst it a and sort ot it all together. Your programs help comprehensively from housing to getting kids ready for school. Tell us more about that. The core of the program started with housing. We received calls from either social services, child protective services, or organizations. We process that family, and when we have available housing, we bring that mom in. And our goal is to tax cut through some of the red tape. If theyve been a victim of Domestic Violence or are displaced, the last thing they need is to just go through a lot of cumbersome paperwork. We cut through the red tape. We find affordable housing, suitable housing so children dont have to be disrupted from their school zone. We contact furniture partners which will provide full entire furniture for the entire house, thats the property of the moms. Then we work with the children to expose them to all of the outreach that is in our organization because we want to we have to stabilize the mom. Then once we stabilize the mom, we get rid of that burden. She doesnt have to worry. So we get them in all of the outreach programs that building hope offers to the Community Even school supplies, backtoschool supplies . We do we want to make sure we always have it the third saturday in august. If theyre going to prince georges county, they always start the fourth monday. So we always want to make sure that we have it prior to the school, that they get their supply list and purchase everything, and they have it ready for the first day. The annual projects, tell us about those. Youve got the christmas drive the drive, exactly. And the backtoschool drive. The drive, i love doing that. My wife and i took walmart and toys r us in clinton, maryland. We manned that location. Saying with our Christmas Tree drive, each kid gets through gifts. Three gifts. This year i believe we did, what, took care of at least 400 to 500 kids . A little over 400. Gifts of their choosing. The look on the kids faces when they get the gifts and kids who might not have otherwise had the chance is amazing. Alexis, i think of mentoring program, since were talking about mentoring, thinking of girls need mentoring. Would you say, that and why would you say girls really need that extra support . Some of your friends, for example . Well, i believe that girls need mentoring because sometimes we go down the wrong path. We just need to go gods way no matter what. No matter what anyone says, you know, weve got to take that route. Theres a lot of pressure, isnt there, with youre in school and have got friends with and you have social media to deal with. Yeah. So its a lot. The pressure at school is crazy because some kids want you doing this or that. You know what youre supposed to be doing, but its hard to ignore when theyre in your ear or they keep saying it and you said let me try it. Thats not the right path to go down. The social med thing, ive i found that find that depressing because a lot of crazy things happen on social media. I think thats like a little crazy. I know you have a li youre going to be taking part in the pageant which comes up on march 4th . Yes, saturday, march 4th. Well be there, starts at 12 00 noon. Theyll arrive around 11 00. And they get to experience the red carpet even in the lobby of the event. Is it too late to get in . No, we have more spaces left. When people hear this or see it, we always try to add we did add ten spaces so its not too late to register to participate. And the cost is the cost is 50 which covers everything for them in the pageant. All right. Thank you for the great work youre i thank you very mh. p of you. Thank you. Keep up that 4. 1. All right. All right. You will find a link to both organization, open the nbcwashington. I cant and click on mentoring. Thats your sunday viewpoint. Stay with us. News4 today is next. Immigration crackdown. Right now on news 4 today, protests from Dulles International to airports coast to coast. Were going to have a very, very strict ban, and were going to have extreme vetting. We are a great country. Thats not who we are. Travelers left in limbo, and more than a hundred detained. The tense moment as protesters and immigrants make their voices clear. America is a country for all. Travelers detained, a country divided. Protests at airports from dulles to l. A. X. With hundreds
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