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>View discussions about this entry País: United States
Organization: Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Minnesota
Year the initative began (yyyy) - 2003
YouTube Upload - Place your video embed code here from YouTube, Google Video and other video sharing websites. How to embed a video from YouTube. http://www.videohaiku.com/b2m/journeyman.wmv
NOTE: This is an hour long documentary about our program, the Rites of Passage Chapter begins at 32.34 minutes. Project URL: http://www.boystomenmn.org
Positioning in the Mosaic of solutions
Describe your program or new idea in one sentence. - We support boys ages 13-17 in their transition into manhood by building community through offering rites of passage, mentorship, play, leadership training and emotional risk-taking.
What makes your initiative uniquely positioned to create change in your community? - Boys to Men is reforging the broken links in male community by creating a place where boys and men help heal each other through deep personal work, and making profound committment to each other in community.
1) Our 2 1/2 day "The Rites of Passage Adventure" consists of 25 generative processes that address a troubled adolescent boy's lack of trust, adequate role models and support. They get permission and modeling to be authentic. Emotional breakthroughs occur for most boys. Trust and accountability are new features of boy’s and Men's lives in the BTM community . 2) The “Reclaiming the Teenage Fire” mentor training weekend helps prospective mentors to re-kindle the inherent enthusiasm for life of their teenage years. Through many powerful processes, mentors are encouraged and empowered to discover and recover the missing emotional pieces of their own childhoods, thereby sensitizing them to the challenges of mentoring teen-age boys in the twenty-first century. Participation in their respective Describe how you organize and carry out your work? - 1) We enroll a mix of challenged and healthy boys. 2. We host ongoing "character building" activites with a life check-in group component. We recruit men who we heal and train as individual and group mentors; 3) We Host rites of Passages which "jumpstart" the deep connection between boys and men. 4. Mentors commit to one year minimum mentoring. 5.) Initiated "Journeymen" then model emotional intelligence and leadership at events and Rites of Passages for new
What is your plan to scale and expand your innovation into your community and beyond? - MN-BTM has transformed the lives of over a hundred boys and men. BTM-MN is one of 15 Chapters worldwide that serve at risk boys using these innovations. Recently Charlie Borden of MN_BTM created the documentary "Journeyman" about the "Male Culture Crisis" and BTM's approach to healing boys by healing men. This film is a great mentor recruitment and fundraising tool. It is being intensively marketed around the country by an partnership with Boys to Men and Mirrorman Films. BTM National also has successful fundraising dinners and golf tournaments.
If BTM-MN wins the $5,000 "Changemakers" grant we'll do our first large fundraising dinner. If we win the $1,000,000 "Vulnerable Populations" grant we will be in a position to support the national Boys to Men Mentoring Network to scale up the activities of all Chapters in a thoughtful and coordinated way during 2008 and beyond. With more funding we can recruit, and train more mentors, sponsor more weekends, and serve many more boys. What other resources, institutional, or policy needs would be necessary to help sustain and scale up your idea? - Boys to Men Minnesota AND national are ready to move to the next phase of organizational development. Money and staff are the main missing ingredients.
Minnesota BTM needs at least three full time employees to coordinate volunteers, mentors and manage boy enrollment. Fully staffed BTM could fullfill it's vision to become a network by founding chapters in existing churches, clubs and communities. We would go to MAP, the Management Assistance Project for non profits to get the training and guidence we need to adapt our innovations into a successful business model. Finally with better national communication and support, BTM Minnesota could utilize the Journeyman Documentary film to start these chapters all over Minnesota. Describe your impact in one sentence, commenting on both the individual and community levels. - Through the creation of a multigenerational values based community, vulnerable and/or angry boys and men build self esteem, plus learn to trust and be accountable.
What impact has your work achieved to date? - Over a hundred Minnesota men and boys have had their lives transformed. Nationally 15 chapters of BTM have served thousands of boys and men. Both boys and mentors report increased levels of happiness, satisfaction, trust, willingness to be accountable, and improved life skills. Boys report better grades in school and less frequent confrontations with authority figures. Mentors report being more empowering parents. By learning the awareness and language of feelings, all participants are given new tools to communicate more effectively without violence or hidden resentments.
The innovative core of our curriculum is now being shared with other teachers, coaches and youth development organizations as our networking grows. Through the documentary Journeyman, thousands of men and boys will experience the Boys to Men Ideal of healthy male community and what it is to be a "full man" in service.
What measure do you use to gauge your impact and why? - Boys to Men uses four measures to guage our impact.
1. We test boys before and after their rites of passage to measure their emotional intelligence using a psychological profile since low emotional intelligence is usually a part of an at risk boys profile. 2. We track the numbers of men and boys that have completed our trainings. 3. We wish to track the academic performance and incidents of recidivism of our boys to see the impact on their lives. How is your initiative currently being financed and how would you finance further expansion and/or replication? - Boys to Men Minnesota gets it's money from five sources.
1. We have won grants from the Minneapolis Foundation. 2. We have won grants from the John Rooney Foundation 3. Parents who can afford to pay an annual program fee of $600.00 4. Mentors contribute regularly to program expenses. 5. Boys to Men holds fundraising events like the Zephyr train ride. We intend to use screenings of the film Journeyman to share word about our program and as a central part of annual fundraising dinners. We are writing grants to a variety of funds and individuals to help us expand and replicate our program. Provide information on your current finances and organization: - a. annual budget
b. annual revenue c. sources of revenue (please provide percentages if known) d. number of staff (full-time, part-time, and volunteers) BTM MN 2007 Budget Proposal INCOME Staff & Mentor Tuition Fees $2,000.00 Total Income $42,925.00 EXPENSES Mentor and staff training Mentor program budget Adventure passage weekend Community Meetings Administrative expenses Total Expenses $35,160.00 Net $7,765.00 Who are your potential partners and allies? - We are working in Churches like Unity Church of St. Paul and Golden Valley
We are working with the Minnesota Mentoring Partnership We use the facilities of Minnesota Boys Scouts and YMCA's We draw many mentors from the Minnesota Mankind Project Organization. Boys and Girls club locations would be ideal homes for chapters of Boys to Men We could use administative coaching and support from the Minnesota Management Assistance project Who are your potential investors? - The human resource departments of major corporations who wish to encourage their staff in mentoring
Philanthropists looking for innovative and human approaches to healing youth. Grant funds who are interested in developing accountability, integrity, and emotional intelligence in at risk boys. Individuals who are inspired with stories of ordinary boys and men who are changing their communities. What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story. - The innovation was first conceived by Craig McClain and Joe Sigurdson of California. As adults they went through a men's rites of passage experience and had their lives changed. They realized that they wanted to see boys get this gift as teenagers. The Updated the ancient model with a combination of tools and processes designed to address psychological wounds and develop trust. They structured processes that created safety in which to teach emotional intelligence to boys that were starved for authentic relationships.
In 2002, Charlie Borden and Tony Dulski of Minnesota were looking for a program that combined rites of pasage with youth development activities and one to one mentor matching. They found the California BTM program and decided to help build. The Minnesota Chapter joined forces with the California group in2002 working to further refine the processes, structure, mission and goals under the California chapter's non-profit umbrella as the second Chapter. Minnesota had a hand in developing many of the processes that are now core to the rites of passage weekend. Minnesota BTm also mentored 6 of the the other 13 chapters that followed them. In 2003 the Minnesota Chapter was formed as a separate 501(C)(3) non-profit. Thus the Minnesota Chapter had a strong influence on the program as it is delivered now. Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material. - I graduated magna cum laude from Macalester College. I founded the Green Party of Minnesota and was founding president of the RiverHayven Intentional Community. My 5 years as director of the Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Minnesota inspired me to produce the documentary "Journeyman" about mentoring, rites of passage, and male culture in America. I'm currently coordinating a national release of the film with Mentoring Organizations around the country as a mentor recruitment and fundraising tool.
Contact Information:
Charles Borden
Board Member Boys to Men Mentoring Network of Minnesota (501(C)(3) qualitifed Minnesota non-profit) Discussions about this entry |
Rites of Passage for At Risk Teenage Boys-- The Ancient Path of Initiation and Mentoring to Empowered Feeling Manhood
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Mr. Borden,
Your program is especially exciting because it goes to what is, in my view, the most powerful and pervasive problem boys face. Yes, jobs are important -- but how can we expect them to apply themselves diligently to jobs requiring sacrifice and delayed gratification when their hearts are in desperate need of solace and healing now?
I love your references to
- male community
- boys and men helping to heal each other
- deep personal work
- profound committment to each other in community
- generative processes
- addressing boys' lack of trust, adequate role models and support.
- permission to be authentic
- the connection between boys being vulnerable and being angry
- the falseness of the current popular ideal imanhood: success, power, money and sex.
I know this question looks beyond the scope of your program, but does your work give you any ideas about what changes need to occur in the culture to keep boys from being so deeply hurt on such a massive scale in the first place?
BTW, the link to your video is not working. Can you get it fixed and let us know?
Best regards,
Jack (John R.) Kammer
University of Maryland
Current student, MSW/MBA Dual-Degree Program