Jul 15, 2009 7:23 pm US/Pacific
Guiding Oakland's Boys Into Responsible Manhood
Jefferson Award Winner: Jon Gilgoff
OAKLAND (CBS 5) ―
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Jon Gilgoff introduces Brothers on the Rise to a new group of Oakland students.
CBS
Jon Gilgoff is growing boys into men.
"That's our process -- constantly providing support and encouragement so they have not only hope but a concrete path to success," Jon explains, after a quick-paced hour with a group of middle-schoolers at Oakland's Edna Brewer Middle School.
Using games and honest talk, Jon teaches the boys how to cope with tough issues like name-calling and conflict. The workshop is part of the non-profit mentoring program he founded a year ago called "Brothers on the Rise."
More than eighty 11 to 14-year-old boys, like Alonte Biggins and Randall Coleman, learn to become responsible and caring citizens.
"I've had a lot of fights in elementary and the beginning of middle school," Alonte remembers. "Without the support, I'd be doing the same thing."
"I basically had no one to talk to," Randall adds. "But now I have young brothers like me that's going through the same thing that I can talk to."
At Edna Brewer and Frick Middle Schools, 6th and 7th graders at risk for getting into trouble take part in Brothers on the Rise programs at school. By the eighth grade, boys like Alonte and Randall become mature enough to do service projects and teach what they've learned to younger students like Solomon Pope and Rayjohn Young.
Soloman explains, "For men, choose your words, not your fists. And choose your words wisely."
And Rayjohn says, "It's teaching me to move on and stuff.. like picking the right friends."
Jon, a licensed social worker, says he started Brothers on the Rise because he remembers struggling through the middle school years himself. School mental health officers like Susan Andrien say as a man, Jon can often reach boys in ways women can't.
"He's really able to provide both that empathetic caring relationship while maintaining firm boundaries and expectations," Susan explains.
Jon's reward is helping to shape the lives of young men.
"We don't claim to work with boys and that there won't be anymore conflict in their lives, but the tools we give them enable them to deal with the conflict in a much more productive way," he says.
So for training middle school boys to live peaceful, healthy lives, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Jon Gilgoff.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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