It's YOUR Choice is a program that targets hard-core youth and gang-bangers. It helps them to take a close, hard look at where their actions (or inaction) are leading them. By the time they complete the program, they must make a life-altering decision... They must choose between a life of crime, violence, and prison, or a life as a respectable, productive member of society.

    When at-risk teens have reached the point where they are already involved in the system, and/or our Mothers Against Gangs program has identified a youth who needs to be scared straight, then this is the program we get the youth involved with.

    These teenage boys are paired up with ex-offenders who have done their time and are willing to share these experiences with youth who think they are hard-core tough guys. Since this is a program that also operates within the prison walls to help ex-offenders make the transition from prison life to the streets easier, we have other men (non-offenders) who pair up with parolees who are being released after serving their sentences as well.

    This program uses a variety of resources, from furthering education, and gaining marketable skills to make the participants job ready when they are released from prison. Additionally, assisting with housing, transportation, rides to and from their parole office are services we render. Still, other services we provide might be: arranging for educational grants, on the job training, appropriate attire, plugging into support groups and/or churches or whatever else is needed to keep them optimistic about their futures, and working on a successful transition.

    This has been one of our most successful programs with ex-offenders. This keeps them from going back into the prison system as repeat offenders.

    When a youth is headed for prison and our Mothers Against Gangs volunteers have identified them as potential risks for trouble, our last effort comes into operation. This is a 12-month program, and it has strict guidelines. If a kid isn't able to successfully complete the program, more often than not, that one will wind up doing some prison time. When he does, he usually contacts the Mothers Against Gangs volunteers who worked with him, and he also contacts his ex-offender mentor. The mentor will get the kid plugged into the It's YOUR Choice program where he is incarcerated, and, if there isn't a program at that facility, the mentor, with the help of the MAG volunteers, will help get one established. If the kid participates in the program, he'll more than likely at least have his GED when he gets out, and will have learned at least one new marketable skill while he's incarcerated. The ones who work the program are the lucky ones. They'll do their time and get out having something to look forward to, something to build on. Those who don't work the program, well, they will learn the hard way. Our MAG volunteers write and visit sending books and other useful information to the youth that work the program. Our ex-offenders are not allowed to visit until they are off parole completely. They have usually told the youth about what it's like inside and schooled them in a no-nonsense way about what it takes to survive and stay out of trouble at the same time. The rest is up to the youth. We don't save them all from going in, but those who do go into the prison system are very likely to stay out of it once they've successfully completed the program.

    Those who work the program without going into the system are the ones who recruit others into the program. Much like the My Sister's Keeper program, they are expected to go to school, be responsible for themselves, work for what they want, and participate in the counseling program that has been put into place for them. The goals start out small at first for these youth, gradually building up to the point where they become self-reliant on the right track. There is a lot of tough love going on in this program. These youth have often been given up on by their families and by the system. There are heated discussions between the youth and their mentors in the beginning because of course, the kids never want anyone telling them what to do, but they need to hear it anyway. They are never forced to do anything, they are always given clear choices to make, however, and they are also given a no-nonsense look at the consequences that are attached to each of their options. This gives them a lot to think about. Because they are kids, they do make mistakes. We don't condone any bad decisions, but we don't place blame either. We discuss the matter in terms of what they learned, and what might have happened had they made a different choice. When their decisions are sound, there is a sense of accomplishment and hope for everyone who works with that kid, even more so for the youth himself. He knows he's one step closer to his goal.

    An example of this is when a youth is looking for employment. We explain to them that appearances have a great deal to do with whether or not they will ever even get a call back, regardless of how well they fill out their application and conduct themselves in the interview. If their hair is too long, their clothing sagging, they speak using Ebonics or they look as though they might be dangerous, they will not get the job. On the other hand, if their hygiene is good and their appearance neat, and they look and act friendly, they will have a better chance. This usually meets with an argument from the youth, because they feel that it should not matter what a person looks like, if he goes in looking for a job. They feel that the fact they are looking means he wants to work, and that's all that should matter to an employee, having someone who is willing and able to do the job. After learning the hard way, we usually see kids start to change their appearance, sometimes even cutting their hair and wearing a suit and tie in for an interview. We let the kid take as long as necessary to learn their lessons. This is one of the easy ones to learn. The most difficult is trying to tell a kid (in their words) what kind of associations they need to avoid. No kid wants to be told who to associate with and who not to associate. That's like trying to pick their friends and, of course, they no better about their friends than we do. Again, because our ex-offenders often know the same people the youth knows, our ex-offender has a pretty good idea of which kids are detrimental for our youth to associate with. He will sometimes start off by asking the youth, man, why do you hang with that loser? The youth becomes defensive and on-guard (as expected). Here begins the lessons on choosing friends wisely. It's difficult and the youth may wind up having to learn the hard way more times than not, but eventually, he starts to look at his associations more closely and putting some distance between himself and the trouble. This transition is a time when the ex-offender becomes more of a friend to the youth, who starts to see that this mentor has more of his best interest at heart than any of his friends. This is where we start seeing kids make a lot more sound decisions on their own, and playing things out in their minds before acting. They make great strides from now on and we know this one will successfully complete the program.