As more and more youth make headlines as both victims and perpetrators of violent crime across Baltimore, the everyday efforts of some to change their trajectory often slip through the cracks.
That's not the case for the founder and CEO of For My Kidz in Baltimore.
He sat down with WMAR2 News sharing his decades-long work to impact kids in charm city so the stories they make in the headlines are good ones positively impacting others.
Every day at For My Kids in Baltimore begins with a mantra.
"I'm important. The world needs me. Today I choose happiness I believe in myself," they chant.
It's so kids like Bryson Wilson knows what he sees on the screens aren't who he sees in the mirror.
"It's a good environment for kids my age and they help out a lot and they help you if you need things," Bryson shared.
Often teens are shot and killed, some on school campus while others are arrested and charged for murder before they ever get to graduate.
It's a cycle within Baltimore that could chip away at hope for our youth but not if Jerel Wilson has his way.
More: Listen to the '2 BMore' podcast featuring Jerel Wilson of 'For My Kidz'
He and his late best friend NFL safety Keion Carpenter launched the nonprofit to address the same persistent problems with youth we see today.
"I have interviewed and talked to hundreds of our youth. I was drunk I ain’t mean to do that I was mad. I was on this I was on that and I’m like you know the next day is a totally different day," Wilson explained.
Impulse, Wilson says, is at the heart of the problem which he believes played a major role in the murder of jeremiah brogden on mervo high school's campus.
"One guy’s like was taken and another guys life is getting ready to get thrown away cause he’s not going to get rehabilitated. He in there for life.
We’ve got to offer more programs. We’ve got to offer more people we’ve got to get these kids and show them versus telling them, executing," shared Wilson.
That's why he invests time in dozens of kids each day like Bryson.
"Me and Mr. Wilson got a big bond overtime and became really close. You can talk to them about whatever you need to. If you have to get something off of your chest, you can talk to them," Bryson said.
They invest not only through their after-school programs but through expanding their community operations...offering resources like emergency services for families struggling with medical or financial emergencies where they get help applying for assistance programs.
They host food give-a-ways throughout the week for families suffering from food insecurity throughout Baltimore and housing.
"The really cool thing about the housing program is that we started that program last August and currently we stand second in the state with getting people housed with families," Sarah Wallace, the program director shared.
She's has been key in expanding that effort.
"It gives them hope that their story doesn't end with this situation, hope that their story doesn't end with a statistic, helps them not become one of the narratives you see in the headlines. All the things we do help these families grow and flourish, become self-sufficient and hopefully thrive regardless of what's going on," Wallace said.
The work they put in rubs off on the kids they serve teaching them the importance of paying it forward..
"If I help out and teach others that they will look up to me and have to set good examples for the kids that are younger than me so that they don't do the wrong things when they get older," said Bryson.
To connect and help advance the mission of For My Kidz Baltimore, visit their website https://www.formykidzbaltimore.org/
