On May 20, 2019, a group of boys from Kingston graduated from MAVERICKS, a three-month violence prevention research study and mentoring program. Lead principal investigator, Yu-Mei Schoenberger-Godwin, PhD said, "Perceived neighborhood violence, hearing about violence in one's community, and being a victim of violence contributes to adverse psychological conditions." We are studying how a combination of social and emotional learning, mentoring, and community service can positively impact youth behavior," she added.
Working hand in hand with the boys is the local mentoring organization, Determined To Be (D2B). Founder and head mentor, Milton King said, "We are addressing emotional ignorance, which I believe, is at the root of many of the problems in our community. This emotional ignorance and the inability to deal with emotions can lead to frustration and can escalate into violence," he continued. One of the younger mentees agrees. "I could have been in a real bad situation," he said. "But because of what I learned as a MAVERICK, I stopped to think before I acted," he said emphatically.
King and the MAVERICKS mentors celebrated the boys' success at a ceremony at the Morton Simpson Community Center. The boys received D2B neckties as a reminder of their commitment and were invited to continue their mentorship with D2B following the completion of the research study.