A mentoring group for African-American males led by men of color is to debut this spring at Kalamazoo's Douglass Community Association as part of new Executive Director Cheree Thomas' plan to have the outreach center provide more programming to strengthen families, she tells WMUK's EarleneMcMichael today on the WestSouthwest public-affairs show.
In the interview, Thomas, who started on Dec. 19, also details other parts of her vision moving forward, the existing services at the Douglass Community Association, and plans for maintaining the current financial stability, among them looking into an endowment.
Thomas says she is recruiting right now for the upcoming Douglass Young Men of Promise that will serve ages 12 through 25.
"This group is going to focus on young African-American men recognizing and understanding what internalized racism is, systemic racism and how they can work to overcome and actually create change within their community, for their community, to be the community they desire it to be and to help them to achieve the promise, whatever that is for them," says Thomas, who replaces Sherry Thomas-Cloud, who left to lead Family & Children Services in Kalamazoo.
The goal will be, for this group of young men, to be in connection with other African-American men who are in various career paths
"The goal will be, for this group of young men, to be in connection with other African-American men who are in various career paths, be it education, be it a trade, be it entrepreneurship," Thomas says, "but who may have had some struggles along the way themselves, who can connect with these young youths, share with them their own history, connect them with information, with their history as African-American people -- the positive things that have been done and the contributions -- and their responsibilities to themselves and to their community to make it better."
Thomas says she hopes the group is "a platform" for young men of color to be heard, noting she envisions members making presentations about their involvement.
"There isn't often where we get to hear from young men, particularly young men of color, the positive things that are happening in their lives -- the struggle but then all of the good," Thomas says. "We hear so often about all of the negative that is happening."
She says attention also needs to be paid to "the good at the end. We don't talk about the sustainability of that good. We don't talk about how we wrap around and support the good."
The majority of the youth that I have come in contact with...they're all real good kids. They just have some struggles, and they need us to wrap around them
"The majority of the youth that I have come in contact with this month, and before, they're all real good kids. They just have some struggles, and they need us to wrap around them. I am a firm believer in 'The Village.' And the Douglass is a village. And because we are a village, it's our responsibility to take care of the other members of the village."
How can the community help?
In addition to needing male mentors for the group, Thomas says the 97-year-old Douglass Community Association could use assistance with fundraising, parking lot repair, the community garden, food-distribution program and youth programming, such as with tutoring and providing activities.
Prior to the Douglass, Thomas, a Toledo, Ohio, native, was a program manager at the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic & Sexual Violence, and before that a program manager at the Douglass.
She had previously worked at the YWCA of Kalamazoo for 14 years in several roles, eventually rising to director of women's domestic violence and housing services.
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