"It gives them responsibility:" Program helps young people who have been in trouble turn their lives around

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- On a Saturday afternoon, about a dozen young men gather on the city`s north side. Operation: MindRight is a mental skills workshop aimed at arming these youths with a new ability to resist the temptations that surround them. After all, each of these young men has made a serious mistake, which is why they are here.

"The biggest mistake I`ve made was injuring people," said Devonte Evans.

"Biggest mistake I made was committing an armed robbery," said Julius Moore.

"I got expelled, expelled from school because I put a nude picture of a girl on Facebook," Elijah Johnson said.

The weekly sessions are the foundation of the Face Forward program, which the Wisconsin chapter of the WestCare Foundation runs from its office in the Harambee neighborhood. The program is for city residents, between the ages of 16 and 24, who have committed a juvenile offense and/or have been expelled from school.

The program`s director, James Ferguson, says the first step is self-awareness.

"There`s a crime that was committed. We know you committed it. You have an opportunity right now whether you want to change your life around or whether you wanna go down this path," Ferguson said.

In addition to holding the enrollees accountable for what`s happened in the past, Ferguson says it`s equally important to influence present and future thoughts.

"What kind of system in my mind, my thinking, do I have in place to check those thoughts, to counter them because they`re gonna come up," Ferguson said.

Another one of the steps to empowerment is employment. As the teens and young adults progress through the program, they have another weekly session: Career Cruising. In one February session, the group used an online program that surveys one`s interests and based on the responses, compiles a list of careers that match those interests.

16-year-old Devonte Evans has been in the program for two months. Despite his missteps, Evans says he wants to be a police officer.

"I might not like the police, but that`s what they need someone like me for -- to like, change their perspective to young people," Evans said.

When Evans finished his survey, the top two suggestions the program offered were police officer and corrections officer. Case manager Eric Allen says that type of moment provides something many inner-city youths don`t have: a tangible reason to think twice.

"It gives them responsibility, you know what I mean? It gives them a sense of hope knowing `hey, I can do it. Just because I made a mistake doesn`t mean I`m wrote off,'" Allen said.

"They give me a father figure I didn`t have -- a secondary family and I honestly feel if I was to do something otherwise or do something to disappoint them, it`d be a big disappointment," Evans said.

Ferguson says there are currently 85 teens and young adults enrolled in Face Forward. He says about another 90 students participate through a satellite program that runs through Milwaukee Public Schools.