Local program provides guidance for black boys
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WARREN -- Creating an atmosphere where black boys learn traits needed to become men is the goal of ROPE, a program created by Pastor Jeff Stanford of Warren's Progressive Baptist Church to provide positive role models.
Stanford, 48, said he received a vision to start the Rites of Passage educational program during this time when young people have been forced to stay inside away from others.
"Black boys need something to do," Stanford said. "There is no place for them to go, and no place for them to be who they are."
With what is happening in the country with crime, police brutality, the pandemic and what they are seeing in the media, Stanford said he wants to give black youth practical and spiritual guidelines they can depend on.
The kids meet every Sunday at Progressive Baptist Church, where community members speak to them on different topics.
Stanford said there are five rites the group emphasizes during the six-week program.
"We discuss the rite to adulthood, marriage, ancestry, eldership and salvation," he said. "We have a different mentor talk about each of these topics and others."
Mentors include Joe Walker of Restoration Christian Fellowship Church; Vince Peterson of Providence Baptist Church of Akron; Anthony Davis of Genesis Church; Mario Hainesworth, a minister at Warren's Barnes Temple Church of God in Christ; and Garrick Matlock of Restoration Christian Life Center.
The meetings take place 5 to 6:30 p.m. Sundays at Progressive Baptist Church, 2258 Colonial St. SE.
"Once the COVID-19 quarantines are over, we plan to take the boys to football games, fising and provide other activities," he said. "We feed the kids and have real conversations with them."
Peterson, one of the program's mentors, talked with kids about the traits needed to grow from boys to men.
"I took my son with me to work with them," Peterson said. "We want to create relationships. During the day we spoke to them, we taught them how to tie ties, because if they don't have a father in the home they may not have someone to teach them."
Peterson said the goal is to offer resources for the youth when they have needs.
"They should know they have someplace to go to when they need support," Peterson said. "When they get older, they can provide this same kind of support to others."
Although this program began in Stanford's church, it is available to any young family with black boys needing to be mentored.
Stanford described wanting to do something since the death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland.
"I stayed in prayer," he said. "I began calling different pastors around the city. I believe God has orchestrated this for this time.
"Our hope is that these young men walk away with the tools they need to positively live life in America," Stanford said. "We want them to have a sense of self-worth, knowing how to have financial freedom and knowing each of us have purposes in life."
Stanford said he wants these kids to have the type of life information he did not have have when he was a teen.
"No one taught me about credit," he said.
John Miller, 17, a Boardman High School junior, has been attending the program for about two weeks.
"We are learning about different topics every week that will help raise us to be men," Miller said. "The mentors are telling us about their experiences and helping us to evolve to be good men in the community."
Realizing this period may not be the best for young black men due to a variety of issues from the pandemic and racial discrimination, Miller said the mentors are teaching them about the dangers that are in the real world.
Lela Decemdly, Miller's mother, appreciates the program created by the family's former pastor.
"It's very good and inspirational," she said. "It can be very relatable to the kids and provides them with a positive outlook."
"It is giving them a sense of manhood, pride and encouragement," she said. "It is providing them a positive way of thinking from a male's perspective that I cannot give my son."
For more information, call 330-766-8476.
rsmith@tribtoday.com