Friday letters: Program seeks to uplift youth

African-Americans are 12 percent of the U.S. population but 40 percent of the prison population; the NAACP reports that 1 million of the 2.3 million inmates are African-American.

In a time when police killing young African-Americans is being more documented than ever (thanks to cellphone videos) and crime in many cities continues to rise, a different approach must be considered. The Justice Department says 56 percent of state prisoners and 45 percent of federal prisoners have symptoms of serious mental illnesses.

Mark Stringfellow and Glen Pair have taken a singular approach to finding a solution. They have created a program called “Do It 4 The Hood.” This community-centered outreach program is dedicated to fostering healthy environments for underprivileged populations; they have programs operating in Georgia, Nevada and here in Columbia. The mission is to uplift disadvantaged youth and their families by combining mental-health intervention, mentorship and life-skills training.

The group has about 10 core employees in Columbia who work 12 to 18 hours a day serving more than 200 youth. The core group lives together, works and enjoys team-building outings such as daily workouts with the coach who works with the youth; they go into the schools and community centers to find youth who need mental-health services.

Access to mental-health services is crucial in African-American communities because only one out of three African-Americans who need mental services gets them. The rest don’t for reasons ranging from from denial and lack of money or insurance to fear, embarrassment and shame.

Columbia

This story was originally published April 23, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Friday letters: Program seeks to uplift youth."