Summer Youth Bike Riding Program
This summer, Not On My Watch Mentoring, Inc. needs funding to create a new, comprehensive summer program called Righteous Riders Bicycle Program. Beginning on July 1st, this two month program will facilitate various youth development activities and community engagement projects for a cohort of ten kids who would not otherwise have the opportunity to participate in structured summer programming. Experienced mentors will take the Righteous Riders cohort on bike rides around Boston three-to-four times a week--using the kinds of mountain bikes that youth today are excited about. In addition to bike riding, Righteous Riders will provide opportunities for mentees to engage in conversations on goal setting, reflection, and story sharing, coupled with mentor-led physical activities, art workshops, and civic impact projects.
Your gift will help Devon purchase bicycles, food, books, and other necessary supplies for running the Righteous Riders program, as well as provide funding needed to offer stipends to formerly-incarcerated mentors for their time. Your support will provide mentees with an important opportunity to engage with their community and have fun, while also learning from mentors and building responsibility and self-confidence.
ABOUT NOT ON MY WATCH:
Not On My Watch Mentoring, Inc. (NOMW) is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit mentoring organization providing guidance and fostering a sense of direction for Boston youth at risk of falling victim to an increasingly inequitable criminal legal system in Massachusetts. NOMW is unique, as it pairs at-risk mentees (ages 12 to 20) to mentors who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system and mass incarceration and have grown to demonstrate a commitment to justice and community repair. NOMW’s mentors build relationships with their mentees, encourage productive conversations on the effects of crime in their communities, and help mentees build skills for making healthy and safe choices, which will better society more broadly.
Developed in the summer of 2020, NOMW is fearlessly led by Devon McNeil, who was incarcerated for 20 years and only recently released. A skilled organizer and self-published author, Devon is passionate about returning to the neighborhoods where he grew up to positively impact the decision-making of Boston’s youth. Since his release, Devon has participated in a prestigious program through Tufts University’s Education Re-Entry Network (MyTERN) in which he has furthered his own education through college-level courses and connected with a community of other justice-oriented formerly incarcerated college students and professors.
