One local organization with ties across California is changing a potentially negative outcome for children.
Boys and girls, ages 6 to 18, are creating a positive path in life through a program called Boys 2 Men Girls 2 Women” located at the Pinedale Rec Center.
Executive Director Joseph Perry – known as “Uncle Joe” to the kids – has a calling: “To keep children in school, out of gangs, off drugs and teen pregnancy prevention. One of the reasons that those four areas are important is we discovered that Fresno County is in the top 10 in the nation in all four categories.” – Joseph Perry, Executive Director, Boys 2 Men Girls 2 Women.
Children receive mentorship with help from Fresno State students on work-study programs.
“The federal government has recognized that the curriculum and the system we use has been tested and we have measurable outcomes to prove that if you put a child in our program for 30-40 hours, we can raise the academic proficiency by 20% or more.”
Success is when a teen comes back to him at age 28, and shows him his wife, and kids and a life that has not ended up in a gang.
Perry hopes to expand: “Can we eradicate school dropouts? No. But do we continuously have to have 2000 children dropping out? I don’t think we have to go to that. I think we can go to 1900 one year.”
To give your time, talents or treasures to the Boys 2 Men Girls 2 Women program:
Email: Boys2MenGirls2Women.org
Call: 559-225-9300
