Good News in South Florida is a free, not-for-profit Christian newspaper distributed in Palm Beach, Broward and Dade counties. Last month I had the honor of writing an article for them on the Faith and Community Based Delinquency Treatment Initiative housed at the Broward Intensive Halfway House.  This initiative is a one-of-a-kind mentorship program that assigns incarcerated young males a mentor based on their interests and religious preferences.  This gives Christians a golden opportunity to witness to confused youths desperate for guidance and direction. 

The program is headed by John Sherman who I had the immense pleasure of meeting and interviewing while I worked on this article.  Throughout our conversation his humble demeanor and love for these young teens shone through.  I sincerely believe the success of this program is largely due to his leadership and commitment.  The best part is that he wasn’t some bureaucrat who applied for the job, but a former volunteer himself. He first mentored a troubled teen five years ago; a relationship that has since budded into a lifelong friendship.  A few years after he began mentoring he gave up his fast-paced corporate job to work with the youth his heart felt such a burden for.  If only more Christians were so willing to give up the pursuits of this world for a higher calling!

I plan to write more about this program in the coming days, but, for now, here is an excerpt from the article:

The program coordinator of the Initiative, John Sherman, has plenty of experience counseling young men. In 2001, he started volunteering as a mentor at Broward Intensive Halfway House as part of a church outreach. Three years later he was hired as the program coordinator.  His experience with mentoring troubled youth has allowed him to see firsthand the importance of introducing a positive male role model into the lives of these young men. “We find the common theme with almost every single youth that comes into our care is that they don’t have a solid male role model in their life.” he said. “We think it has a huge impact on their life. There’s a lot of research that really proves beyond a shadow of doubt that having a strong mentor influence in their life can make a huge difference in their behavior later on.”

Darius Poitier, the treatment coordinator for the Initiative, agrees that most of the troubled young men residing at the Broward Intensive Halfway House have not had a positive male influence in their lives.  “It’s evident that there was some kind of lack of male role models,” he said. “They are striving to be like somebody. Unfortunately, the person they chose to be like happened to be doing criminal activity. That’s why we have our mentoring program here, to try to give them someone else to strive to be like.”

Good News is distributed at several churches and businesses throughout South Florida.  To view the complete article, please click here.