Johnnie's Blog...
My SHIP Concept...
Imagine a SHIP that is sinking fast... Do you waste time shouting to the wind that you're sinking or do you begin identifying where the leaks are?
I propose the "SHIP CONCEPT" for communities around the globe attempting to address complex issues involving its youth. This concept is not a one solution, one program nor one man type of idea. The concept will require the input of many and its benefits will impact an entire community if carried out effectively.
The SHIP Concept allows everyone to participate and celebrate the success of mended relationships. This combination or multiple solution approach, first addresses the concerns and growing issues amongst youth and the causes of their disruptive behavior. Secondly, it calls for adults to step up and model the behavior and direction they’d prefer the youth to go. Thirdly, street skills must be converted into job skills as local businesses both small and large must re-open their doors and arms to its youth. Lastly, youth should feel supported academically and know that decent grades, good character, and high school completion are worth scholarship support; not just “playing ball on scholarship”, as too many young boys aspire to accomplish and often fall short.
The SHIP Concept is made up of four components with key words ending in SHIP :
RelationSHIPs: Conduct community forums to discuss the issues and breakdowns in communication.
MentorSHIP: Recruit teachers and volunteers to host programs for all age groups to thrive and grow.
Intern/ApprenticeSHIPs: Cultivate job skills with local business partnerships for youth to gain work skills.
ScholarSHIPs: Provide education grants for high school graduates from high needs areas that complete high school.
I have learned a lot while providing mentorship programs and services to youth and schools in both the US and Canada, in urban and suburban settings and for both primary and secondary students. Effective change starts with first addressing the RelationSHIP breakdown between youth and parents, youth and teachers, youth and police, youth and politicians. Once dialogue is generated, the true issues begin to surface and the proper steps (programs) can be assembled for change.
With a solid strategy laid out for change, MentorSHIP programs sail the course of progress. Taking time with our young people is time well spent and the word mentoring embodies the commitment of time to instruct someone.
But, as progress is made, as growth and maturity begin to display their presence; the community must reopen its doors to these youth and see them for who they have become and not what they’ve been. One way for the doors to open is through InternSHIPs and ApprenticeSHIP opportunities that allow these youth to activate the newly acquired skills from there mentoring programs. Ideals like respect, responsibility, accountability, teamwork, and many other life principles. How else can we truly expect youth unjustly categorize (labeled) as “At-Risk” to cultivate job skills instead of illegal street (activities) skills? This is the vital and often missing piece in youth programming. We call it the “launch”. The point when new habits and skills have a canvas to be seen, used and displayed in a venue that nets consistent results (pay stubs!).
Many would consider these components an awesome combination and stop there. But, the truth is, these youth would not qualify to work in the offices, warehouses or any industry without first reaching educational benchmarks preset. In other words “what good is a summer internship that exposes a child to a career field and/or group of people that he or she couldn’t compete with for a job?” Not for lack of ability, but lack of access to post secondary education that would afford them the credentials to compete. Thus, ScholarSHIPs should be provided for all students graduating with C grade point averages or better.
Some people would see this as too costly, but when you take a C average student from a high needs community and look at his/her opportunities; do you honestly S.E.E. promise?
S… Support them financially
E… Encourage them to get an education
E… Empower them to compete for jobs
The SHIP Concept is not a program; it was designed as our road map for change in the targeted communities; an analogy that everyone can understand and follow. This concept is not a shortcut for change, but it is the shortest route to sustained progress in dealing with youth from any financially suppressed or marginalized community.
This concept incorporates and requires other programs and ideas. It allows citizens (volunteers) from all sectors of life to see where they fit into the puzzle of change in a child’s life.
The big picture is making sure that we don't further stigmatize high needs children in the process of assisting their needs. Highlighting only the negative within a community and ignoring the positive aspects of it begin to brand low expectations of and within its citizens. Negative news articles should be followed up with a positive alternative or highlight an effective program within the same community.
What remains to be seen is if we as adults can muster up the courage to listen to our children as they expose our shortcomings as parents, role models, teachers and employers. We must explore where we have gone so terribly wrong in our own pursuit for happiness & prosperity.
It’s time to sail in a new direction or repair the SHIP containing this generation, otherwise it is doomed to sink.
“I suggest sailing in a new direction.”
Johnnie Williams
Flip Your Perspective...
S
I know I can't convert anyone into anything....
But, I can suggest or encourage a unique and different philosophy that thousands of young people have agreed makes sense to them (that's a start).
I first ask them to make a triangle with their hands with the peak pointing upward. I then ask them where success is acknowledged on the triangle and they all say at "______" (exactly, you know what they said).
I then ask them who would like to be successful and just about every hand goes up.
I then ask them who believes that they will be successful and the majority of the hands go up (but not every hand).
Lastly, I ask the most challenging question...
Can everyone be successful under this model?
Their heads begin to drop as they reluctantly respond "_____" (exactly, you know what they said).
But, this is when I become a catalyst and express to them that they are wrong and I tell them, "It's time to flip your perspective".
We can all be successful when the triangle is flipped onto its peak. This shift in paradox is initially confusing until I explain. My concept explores what happens when a captain (a person with the power to lead or suppress people.) becomes an activist / catalyst (a person with the desire to empower people.) anything can happen.
I know that my theory strays from what most of us have accepted as the way it is. But, I was born to be a catalyst, not a follower, so I guess I see it differently.
Let me ask you this... Where do feel that you fall on the social hierarchy of our current pyramid system?
See my point, just that quick you have compared your accomplishments to a template that is more suppressive than supportive. We all seem to get caught up in comparing ourselves against this social scale and/or other people. With this model governing our "Pursuit of Happyness" (I know I spelt it wrong!), do you believe most people would help someone else get ahead of them, even if it is the right thing to do? (yes or no)
Just as a child riding a bike without training wheels learns to rely on balance, we as a society must activate the same principle to establish equality. The world we desire is hanging in the BALANCE, a balance in opportunity, a balance in human value and a balance of respect for and towards one another.
The words captain and catalyst (in my opinion) decribe the affectiveness or ineffectiveness within the other and go well together. I believe it is the intentions to dominate and direct rather than empower and support that best describe much of our modern day leadership.
The upright triangle represents capitalism and the inverted triangle reflects activism. Most of our young people prefer the activism model over the capitalist model, but most will conform to the world they've been given instead of converting it to a world they desire to hand over to their children. That is why I created Change the World Movement... A social project that will aim to Enlighten, Empower and Engage a generation equipped and qualified to change the world.
People have asked me how I came up with this whole Triangle Concept and this social concept. This is my answer...
A few years ago, I was sitting in my office looking at a (US) one dollar bill when I began to focus on the image of the pyramid with the eye on top. I wondered to myself what the eye represented. I was sure that it had some purpose for being there, maybe I had never heard about it. The image got me thinking along the lines of what society is teaching our young people; "see your way to the top". This thought has made sense to me for a very long time, but my heart exposed a very different picture.
I began to daydream, as I am a very visual thinker...
Minutes passed before I returned to my alert state and attempted to make sense of this visual journey I had just taken through images of my past, my experiences, my limitations and my liberation.
I came to the following conclusion.
Maybe the eye serves as a WARNING for us all to see the big picture. The top of the pyramid inspires all beneath it to rise (The American Dream), it also suppresses and limits all beneath it for the sole purpose of creating its own foundation. I have always been taught to build my dreams on the right foundation, focussed more on passion than my profit. But, just looking at this image as a social model, you begin to realize that in order for a person to advance, another individual must be removed, overthrown or taken down.
Everyone has or is striving to be a captain somewhere in their life as they attempt to climb the social pyramid.
Our kids aspire to become the most popular within their circle of friends, jocks strive to be the MVP, employees fight to advance up the career ladder, soldiers strive for higher rank, women have had to fight for more equality and politicians constantly campaign for higher power.
This monetary success model has pointed us in the wrong direction for too long. As we pursue artificial success that fosters fake respect while simultaneously shattering dreams, mass producing broken homes and leaving an ugly legacy of unhappy people at both the top and bottom. We must open our eyes and see this for what it is... Please remember that man created this system; therefor man has the capacity and ability to destroy it and re-create a more balanced and effective
one.
Change is waiting for you to Flip Your Perspective...
Johnnie's Blog...
Johnnie's Blog...
Where did they go..?
Where did they go?
They weren't in class... (images of old friends swirl in my head)
Where is the person that is supposed to be sitting next to you at graduation rehearsal; are they running late, did he or she get sick, what happened to them?
The answers vary...
Some will say it's Life Circumstances, others will say the Bullying was too much to handle, the classes were Boring or even more common, the statement "how does this stuff relate to my life and where am I gonna use this stuff?".
Students in both the United States and Canada are coming up misssing! It starts with missing one class and progressively gets worse when the missed class periods become days and so on.
A snap shot of this problem reveals that New York City has more dropouts than some cities have students (TIME Magazine May 2007).
Many cities face staggering statistics regarding their graduating students versus those that dropout.I have booked graduation speeches early in the school year with the expectation of addressing
300+ students and at the years end there is only 150 sitting before me.
Where did they go?
I did not pass them in the hallway. I did not see them as I pulled up. I cannot say that I saw 150 kids hanging out on the corner.
Where did they go?
Many of these students are at home, in shelters, at the mall and on the streets just trying to get through the day. Many of them have been affected by something outside of school that made school less relevant, less of a priority. Some students leave because they are older than their peers (classmates).
I know first hand how innovative programs for older students to recover loss credits needed to graduate can change a negative situation back into a positive.
I work with a special young man right now that reached out to me 2 years ago as I passed through his school as a speaker and mentor trainer.
This young man reached out to me, challenging me to step up as his personal mentor just days after losing his father. His strength during the painful days before and after the funeral amazed me. But, the consistent family problems that he faced just seemed to dominate his life. Going to class became more and more of a chore and his level of focus while in class was not high enough to net results. Life problems really do effect these kids chances to succeed.
The solution came in the form of new girlfriend who attended school each day and encouraged my young 15 year old mentee to do the same. Furthermore, her parents saw this young mans need for structure and consistent support and did the unthinkable... They took him into their home and added him to their family.
Let me tell you, he has excelled in this new "positive" environment. He now attends school everyday. He has registered in a new credit recovery program developed by his school board. His success in the program has gained the attention of school board officials and this former problem student is now their new poster child. High school principals have even begun recruiting him from his alternative high school to attend their school next year.
Change in this young mans life began with the removal of the negative influences in his life and the new friends who opened new doors for hope to re-enter his life.
To read more about this topic, visit www.silentepidemic.org and take a real hard look at whats happening in our schools. If you have a friend that needs to be encouraged to stay in school, to attend each class so that they're sitting with you at graduation, log onto www.boostup.org and read stories of how other teens have gotten support and helped inspire their friends to stay in school.
If you're still wondering "Where did they go?", take a look at MTV's web feature "The Dropout Chronicles" at www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1558684&vid=147258
Oh yeah... If or when you find them, make sure to step up to the plate and do something to help them. Who knows, you may just be re-inspiring the next great leader, a future research doctor, another teacher or just a person that becomes productive in our society instead of destructive.
Until next time,
Johnnie Williams III
Johnnie's Blog...
Act Your Age !
"Act Your Age!"
We hear that phrase a lot growing up... I know I did.
My 36th birthday just past on the 15th of March and I was thinking about the fact that I am now closer to 40 than I am to 30. All my life people have told me that I think and act like a person twice my age. But, many others have commented that I don't look my age; I look much younger than I actually am.
"Houston, we have a problem".
On my 36th birthday, I finally felt like an official adult and I even have a few gray hairs. There was no special ceremony, nor did I receive a certificate welcoming me into adulthood, but it did feel official. I felt like my lower 30's allowed me to hang onto my late 20's, but 35 just puts you out there!
So here is the scenario:
* I'm 36, but look like I'm 27 and the kids say I'm cool... (that's a good thing)
* I'm 36, but I think like I'm 45 to 50-ish and my elders
seem impressed... (that's a good thing)
* I'm hearing that 50 is the new 35... So does that
make 36 the new ___? (let's say 21)
I don't know the answer to that, but I do know that for most of my life I have seen the world through a lens of optimism. So many people see all the things that are wrong with our world, I see the "what if".
What If:
Every financially stable family sponsored the basic needs of a struggling single parent so their kids wouldn't show up at school hungry and would have their basic needs met...
What If:
Success was not measured by ones ability to consume; would divorced parents that were more focussed on getting there than getting there together have worked it out for the stability and benefit of their children...
What If:
There was already an answer to our most pressing problems... And there were people and organizations that have prepared themselves to meet these challenges, but you did not know about them or how to find them...
What If:
A group of optimist minded people pooled their collective knowledge and resources to create a website catered to informing you of both the problems we face locally, nationally, globally and some effective solutions for overcoming them...
What If:
I built a website on the ideal that inclusion of all people is a must; a web portal that displays respect for all positive movements by creating one of the largest "social service search engines" online. A website offering name recognition and acknowledgement to all vistors that commit to changing the world, one good deed at a time on a 'Great List'.
What If... I started building it today
www.changetheworldmovement.org.
A project 36 years in the making and getting better everyday!
What can I say, I'm young, I'm fearless and I'm tired of sitting around waiting on the world to change itself.
I'm just trying to act my age,
Johnnie Williams III
Youth Speaker
International Speaker
Conference Speaker
Parent Speaker
Educational Speaker
