Local businessmen help lead Passport to Manhood course
Program helps chart a course for success for young men as they prepare for adulthood
TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – In the computer lab, young men are learning about a destination they will all eventually reach.
Getting young men on the path to becoming responsible and productive adults is the goal of the program known as “Passport to Manhood.”
Local businessman Ray Shoemaker, who is also a member of Omega Psi Phi, helps teach the program. Shoemaker said it’s important to reach the young men early.
“There are more tools providing peer pressure and bullying. In my day, there wasn’t social media, so we had to get in here and get involved early,” Shoemaker said.
This session focused on integrity, peer pressure, and leadership. Shoemaker said the young men are also taught the importance of hard work, good grades, and rising above circumstances and problems.
“We want to show them we care, no matter where they come from, no matter their circumstances, the community is here to support them,” Shoemaker said.
Local Banker Chip Ashford said it is important for young men to have mentors who can help guide and lead them.
“Having good, influential men in my life, who came around and helped me out, and when I made a mistake, to say, ‘hey, you need to do this, and at some point I took heed to it and started listening,” Ashford said.
Organizers say they are always looking for teachers and mentors for the Passport to Manhood program.
Passport to Manhood has been used for years by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.
