Boys to Men North Minneapolis
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Gun violence is up 30% in my neighborhood. Even as I write this (Saturday Sept 27th 2014) my family was awoken by gun shots right in front of our home.
Hopelessness is rampant.
The boys around me are silently crying out for strong male role models.
Our hope is that today’s 8 year olds won’t be making the same self destructive choices 10 years from now when they are 18.
We are creating Boys to Men Club.
An inner city boys activity group that gives inner city boys in North Minneapolis the opportunity to:
* Be challenged
* Give back to their community
* Earn some money
* Have fun
The project’s main tenets will be:
“With not for”
“Caught not taught”
“Heroes not victims”
Our main goal will be facilitating weekly visitation to families---building relationships is always the way forward.
Then each week the boys do things like:
---fix and give away bikes
---shovel walks
---sell candy
---build things
---shoot off rockets
---Hot sauce challenge (see who can eat the hottest)
---Coke Mentos Challenge
We seek to do everything right out in the neighborhood--on their turf, so that we had the best chance to have the neighborhood and these boys really own this program. We also are hopeful that this gives us best chance for "repeatable" behaviors that continue well beyond the hours that the boys are participating in our activities.
We ran a "pilot" program in November of 2014 with a $970 microgrant from Sanctuary Covenant Church (thanks SCC!) and hope to continue the work we started.
Here are the numbers from 2014 pilot:
--Over 150 House visits to make relationships
--18 volunteers put in 100+ hours over 6+ weeks
--38% of volunteers were non-white
--0% of the volunteers didn’t show up---everyone came!
--17 families on our roster with 32 kids
--25 kids participated in our Saturday events
--Average attendance of 14 over the 4 sessions
--Hundreds of bagels, cookies, donuts, pieces of pizza, and candy were consumed smile emoticon
--25 pizzas were given away to neighborhood residents on our way to becoming heroes not victims
--Gave away countless pairs of gloves, hats, and boots to boys who needed them
--Each boy earned $8 on our “earn” day selling candy door to door
--The boys were so brave during the hot sauce as well as the mentos/coke challenges.
--We shot off 4 rockets, threw hundreds (if not thousands) of snow balls, and played countless pickup games. We sword faught, tripped one another, rough housed, and did everything you’d expect when boys and men are together.
--2 girls participated and we learned never to hit a girl and to look out for them a little bit.
--2 Volunteers came from neighborhood and both came multiple times
With the $9,000 that we seek, it will facilitate:
--dozens of boys lives transformed
---hundreds of house visits
---dozens of service projects performed by these boys right out in their neighborhood
---tools, shovels, and other items that the boys will keep that they can use to continue their good deads
Here is specifically what the dollars will go toward:
Jr. Leader Compensation $1000
Visitation gifts x 45 weeks $750
Swag, pickup games, and name tags x 32 weeks $2000
Snacks x 32 weeks $850
Challenge Materials x 16 weeks $1200
Sell Materials x 12 weeks $1200
Give Materials x 10 weeks $1000
Fun Weeks (inc fieldtrips) Materials x 6 weeks $1000
Seek a receipt or tax write off?
Donations can be made directy to Sanctuary Covenant Church with “Community Ministry Fund” designated in memo.
Mail to:
1201 37th Ave N
Minneapolis MN 55412
Or online:
http://sanctuarycov.org/give/give
Gun violence is up 30% in my neighborhood. Even as I write this (Saturday Sept 27th 2014) my family was awoken by gun shots right in front of our home.
Hopelessness is rampant.
The boys around me are silently crying out for strong male role models.
Our hope is that today’s 8 year olds won’t be making the same self destructive choices 10 years from now when they are 18.
We are creating Boys to Men Club.
An inner city boys activity group that gives inner city boys in North Minneapolis the opportunity to:
* Be challenged
* Give back to their community
* Earn some money
* Have fun
The project’s main tenets will be:
“With not for”
“Caught not taught”
“Heroes not victims”
Our main goal will be facilitating weekly visitation to families---building relationships is always the way forward.
Then each week the boys do things like:
---fix and give away bikes
---shovel walks
---sell candy
---build things
---shoot off rockets
---Hot sauce challenge (see who can eat the hottest)
---Coke Mentos Challenge
We seek to do everything right out in the neighborhood--on their turf, so that we had the best chance to have the neighborhood and these boys really own this program. We also are hopeful that this gives us best chance for "repeatable" behaviors that continue well beyond the hours that the boys are participating in our activities.
We ran a "pilot" program in November of 2014 with a $970 microgrant from Sanctuary Covenant Church (thanks SCC!) and hope to continue the work we started.
Here are the numbers from 2014 pilot:
--Over 150 House visits to make relationships
--18 volunteers put in 100+ hours over 6+ weeks
--38% of volunteers were non-white
--0% of the volunteers didn’t show up---everyone came!
--17 families on our roster with 32 kids
--25 kids participated in our Saturday events
--Average attendance of 14 over the 4 sessions
--Hundreds of bagels, cookies, donuts, pieces of pizza, and candy were consumed smile emoticon
--25 pizzas were given away to neighborhood residents on our way to becoming heroes not victims
--Gave away countless pairs of gloves, hats, and boots to boys who needed them
--Each boy earned $8 on our “earn” day selling candy door to door
--The boys were so brave during the hot sauce as well as the mentos/coke challenges.
--We shot off 4 rockets, threw hundreds (if not thousands) of snow balls, and played countless pickup games. We sword faught, tripped one another, rough housed, and did everything you’d expect when boys and men are together.
--2 girls participated and we learned never to hit a girl and to look out for them a little bit.
--2 Volunteers came from neighborhood and both came multiple times
With the $9,000 that we seek, it will facilitate:
--dozens of boys lives transformed
---hundreds of house visits
---dozens of service projects performed by these boys right out in their neighborhood
---tools, shovels, and other items that the boys will keep that they can use to continue their good deads
Here is specifically what the dollars will go toward:
Jr. Leader Compensation $1000
Visitation gifts x 45 weeks $750
Swag, pickup games, and name tags x 32 weeks $2000
Snacks x 32 weeks $850
Challenge Materials x 16 weeks $1200
Sell Materials x 12 weeks $1200
Give Materials x 10 weeks $1000
Fun Weeks (inc fieldtrips) Materials x 6 weeks $1000
Seek a receipt or tax write off?
Donations can be made directy to Sanctuary Covenant Church with “Community Ministry Fund” designated in memo.
Mail to:
1201 37th Ave N
Minneapolis MN 55412
Or online:
http://sanctuarycov.org/give/give
Organizer
Nate Streeter
Organizer
Minneapolis, MN
