Again, no date for this article, although I'd venture it was originally published earlier this year...
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The Toledo Journal'Change' agent leads walk to downtownby The Toledo Journal
Shawn Mahone, along with more than 80 children and adults, some carrying signs for Young Men and Women For Change, get set for their walk to downtown Toledo.After shouting out "double-time, double-time!'" to his young charges, Shawn Mahone Sr. wasn't pleased with their speed in lining up or how they were not in standard formation.
As parents and others watched, he ordered the kids to drop and give him 10. They dropped to the floor of the gymnasium and proceeded to do 10 push-ups.
"One, sir! Two, sir! Three, sir! ..." the 22 young people called out.
Mr. Mahone, director of Young Men and Women For Change (YMWFC), was getting ready to lead the children, their parents and supporters of the discipline program he founded in 2006 on a five-mile "Walk for Youth" fundraiser.
He had program participants gather at the Friendly Center on North Superior Street, then had them walk a route to a specific location in downtown Toledo: the Juvenile Justice Center, where young offenders are locked up.
"To let our youth know that this is a place that they do not want to come to," Mr. Mahone explained."'My job is to help deter some of our youth from reaching downtown.
"And if I can get my kids to understand what it feels like to walk up to that place," he added, "it'll give them a sense of reality, to know that that's a place where they don't want to be."
YMWFC's mission is to help young people become leaders – productive, responsible and law-abiding individuals. Helping keep young people out of the criminal justice system, to encourage them to embrace the importance of education, and to get them to recognize self-defeating behavior are among the organization's goals.
"Our program is desperately needed in the city of Toledo and surrounding areas," he said. "I want this community to understand that we are an organization that cares about our youth."
Pam Auger was among the parents walking with their children. She and her husband several years ago adopted two boys, brothers, who are now ages 7 and 8. Both felt the effects of fetal-alcohol syndrome, she said, and it resulted in "somewhat of an explosive personality" in both of the boys.
"When I saw those little tendencies, I kind of wanted to cut it off at the pass," said Ms. Auger, who added that friends recommended signing up with YMWFC.
The program is 12 weeks long for each youth, and parents are required to participate for at least two weeks. Ms. Auger's sons were in the fifth week of the program when last week's walk was held.
She's noticed a difference in her kids, she said.
"They think before they speak," she said. "They think about what they're doing now rather than having that instant reaction to something."
She said her sons will take turns pretending to be "Mr. Shawn" at home, and will discipline each other when need be. "They'll do camp with each other," Ms. Auger said.
"Camp" is boot camp, the term Mr. Mahone gave his program as a secondary name, initially only for boys. Local government officials, from whom he sought support, did not like the connotation of "boot camp," he said. He said he responded by noting that America's soldiers fighting overseas all went through boot camp, were disciplined, well-trained and were fighting for freedom.
Neither Mr. Mahone nor any of his YMWFC assistants lay a hand on children. He's told officials that "boot" stands for "Behavior Obedience Observational Training."
"We're just firm, fair and consistent with our kids," he said as parents and children gathered at the Friendly Center for the start of the fundraiser walk.
Ms. Auger called YMWFC "an excellent program" and said the positive changes in her sons are being illustrated at home.
"They think about 'what would Mr. Shawn want me to do?' " she said about their behavior and respect for authority and what is right.
Margaret Lawless was another parent participating in the walk, along with her 13-year-old son now enrolled in YMWFC. She and her husband realized that their son "needed some direction" but that their own efforts alone weren't working.
"I thought it was the right thing," said Ms. Lawless, adding that she was referred to the program from a juvenile court worker. "I think [her son] knows that that he was headed in the wrong direction."
Mr. Mahone said he is on duty "24 hours a day, seven days a week." He will make school visits on behalf of his program's youth, make visits to their homes or take their calls any time of the day, he said.
Ms. Lawless vouched for that. Her son has placed calls to the YMWFC director at least twice, she said, and once Mr. Mahone made a house visit to address a distressing circumstance, she said.
"He's just real positive," she said about Mr. Mahone, a Toledo native who once worked as a drill instructor for the Kentucky Department of Corrections. "And he acts positive. He kind of reinforces that 'I'm not going to get you out of anything. I'm going to try to steer you into the right direction.' "
Mr. Mahone demonstrated that last week when he ordered the kids to do push-ups, then line up correctly.
"Sir, yes sir!" the youngsters responded.
Mr. Mahone said well over 100 youth have been enrolled in YMWFC since its start, and that it has had an 80 percent success rate based on observed, long-term behavior of the boys and girls who have graduated from the program.
Among his prize graduates is a student at St. John's Jesuit High School, who earned entry through academic excellence. Mr. Mahone said school officials asked him how he was able to turn his academic performance around, based on his earlier scores.
"He said, 'Because my mom put me through the [YMWFC] program,' " Mr. Mahone said.
The program director, who earned a degree in 1990 from Owens Community College and who said he managed to stay straight and true growing up in Toledo's central city by focusing on positive activities, said he wants all of the children in YMWFC to become "productive leaders for tomorrow's future and tomorrow's success."
His "boot camp," even though some might reject the term, will continue to reinforce the importance of self-discipline, integrity and good character, he said. If it means having children obey orders from adults, so be it, he said. It's for their own good in the long run, he said.
"I break them down in order to build them back up," Mr. Mahone said. "I'm stripping off everything that is negative and beginning to put positive reinforcement back in their life."
The 22 kids now enrolled in YMWFC, even if slow in lining up at the Friendly Center, and their parents and supporters were evidence that Mr. Mahone's program is having a positive effect in Toledo.
The group planned to walk to the Juvenile Justice Center and back, a distance somewhat short of five miles. Mr. Mahone, a father whose daughter has juvenile diabetes, said he planned to continue walking alone, first to Sylvania by taking Monroe Street. He planned to get a ride to Holland-Sylvania Road, then continue his trek to Maumee, then Perrysburg, then Rossford, and then back to Toledo. His walk was an awareness mission, he said.
"And I'm going to walk it if it takes all day and night," Mr. Mahone said before the walkers started off from the Friendly Center. "Why? Because I am tired of our kids falling to the wayside. It's time for somebody to step up. Who's going to follow my lead?"
Copyright 2011