Youth Guidance: Becoming a Man Program.
Youth Guidance creates and implements school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education and, ultimately, to succeed in school and life.
Their Mission.
Youth Guidance creates and implements school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education and, ultimately, to succeed in school and life. It’s Becoming A Man (BAM) program serves young men of color in grades 6-12 who’ve been exposed to adverse childhood experiences and are experiencing risk factors associated with school dropout and justice system involvement. The curriculum BAM counselors utilize helps the youth with regulating and controlling their emotions, helps them reframe their situation so they can make better decisions to effect positive change in their lives, and gives them tools for coping with stress and challenge.
Program Summary.
BAM places highly skilled and engaging Counselors on each partner school campus to deliver culturally responsive and trauma-informed services for up to 55 participants per Counselor. BAM is currently delivered through the following activities:
BAM Circles (counseling groups) – Young men of color are rendered 50-minute group counseling sessions, every week, throughout the school calendar year. The main focus of group counseling is to provide a supportive environment where young men of color can work on their problems and improve their mental health and well-being through shared experiences, mutual support, and guidance from a trained mental health professional.
Brief encounters (check-ins) – BAM counselors routinely meet with young men of color throughout the school day to promote positive behaviors and to instill in young men the program’s flagship core values which include a) integrity; b) accountability; c) positive anger expression; d) self-determination; e) respect for womanhood, and f) visionary goal setting. Young men of color are also encouraged by their BAM Counselors to exhibit hard work in the classroom, to reflect upon their imminent futures, and to consider pursuing higher education.
Young men of color enrolled in BAM receive 1:1 trauma-informed counseling, as needed (in addition to weekly group counseling supports), to address any trauma that may be instigated by community violence and to instill in young men of color a new perspective on life.
BAM Counselors provide wrap-around support among young men of color and their guardians in the forms of 1) crisis intervention, 2) school/behavioral health team interventions, 3) basic needs assessments, and 4) basic needs referrals (both internally and externally).
Field trips – Young men of color partake in community outings which include visitations to state parks, historic sites, art museums, and universities across the nation to attain real-world experiences beyond the classroom setting and to spur interests in careers and education.
As a result of participating in BAM, youth experience greater social-emotional well-being, academic attainment, and utilization of healthy behaviors.
Demographics and Outcomes.
BAM served 8,387 youth nationwide in five cites from July1, 2021 – June 30, 2022. Of these youth, 58% African American, 31% Hispanic/Latino, 2% White, 1% Asian, and 8% Mixed Race/Other. In 2017, the Chicago Crime Lab at the University of Chicago published results of a study that found participation in BAM reduced violent crime arrests for youth in the program by 45%. And BAM increased on-time high school graduation rates by 19%.