MCJ continues to support youth mentoring programs

Members of the "What Is A Woman" and "What Is A Man" mentoring programs were all smiles during a recent group session. The Dr. King School students were chosen to participate in the MCJ sponsored programs.

Dr. King School is the home of two unique mentoring programs called "What Is A Woman" and "What is a Man." The programs are being administered by Nirvana Ministries and sponsored in part by The Milwaukee Community Journal and the Helen Bader Foundation. The male mentoring program has been in operation over a year, while the female mentoring initiative started in February of 2008.

Each program is designed to introduce positive images of womanhood and manhood through group mentoring, one on one mentoring, workshops, field trips and reward stipends. Both programs are driven by a curriculum developed by Nirvana Ministries called the 7R’s.

In the male program the 7R’s are respect, responsibility, restraint, reclamation, reorganization, reasoning and redemption. In the female program the 7R’s are respect, responsibility, redirect, relationships, reclaim, represent, and restrain. Each curriculum is designed to encourage and empower the students to make proper decisions and take responsibility for their growth to woman and manhood.

An additional component of the mentoring program will be introduced during summer activities. This program will be called "What Is A Family." The program is a family development initiative that is focused on introducing the family as the central element for stabilizing community life. Youth will understand the value in keeping the family strong and the role of each family member in that process.

Sub categories of the "What Is A Family" program will embrace male/female collaboration; money management, family safety, sexual abstinence, family health/nutrition, community development, and the significance of an active "family-focus" spiritual life. Youth participants will use hands on tools, create documents, take field trips and listen to guest as they stress the importance of family as it relates to the listed areas of concentration.

The ultimate goal for this component of the mentoring program, promotes a positive attitude in young people concerning family life. The curriculum is designed to highlight the key values of a healthy cohesive family; which in turn will support effective decision making as participants move toward adulthood and make choices relating to the development of their own personal families.

The curriculum for the "What Is A Family" initiative is also centered around a 7R format; responsibility, reverence, resourcefulness, respect, reasonability, realistic and receptive. These principles will drive program activities and support efforts in reaching goals and objectives.

The program, an initiative of Nirvana Ministries, has received support from the Milwaukee County SAY program (Safe Alternatives for Youth) to operate during the summer months. Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway developed the SAY prevention program as part of the Milwaukee County Budget. The funds were allocated to provide community-based services to young people living in low-income areas of Milwaukee County who may be exposed to barriers that could place them at risk in their community.

According to Dr. Joan M. Prince of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Chair of the SAY Oversight Committee, "We were able to help so many children with the dollars we had, demonstrating that it doesn’t take a lot of money to make a tremendous difference in our community."

The overall support for the mentoring initiative is from the "Milwaukee Community Journal," a special $10,000 grant by the Helen Bader Foundation, the Dr. Terence N. Thomas Memorial Scholarship Fund and Nirvana Ministries. The "What Is A Family" component of the mentoring program will operate on the campus of Dr, King School, where Shiron Posley is principal.