Blog
-
Stand & Deliver Partner Profile: On Point Thursday, July 15, 2010
As we get ready for Action Lab Blitz this weekend, we want to take a few minutes to introduce you to another important organization that has partnered with us in the Stand & Deliver process. We hope to see you at Action Lab this Friday and Saturday.
On Point is a youth development program that has been serving teenagers in Chattanooga and Northwest Georgia for nearly two decades. With a simple and direct goal—to build healthy teens—On Point is dedicated to the youth of our city. Their program model incorporates the 40 Developmental Assets created by the Search Institute with the goal of building 40 positive assets into the lives of teenagers as building blocks for a healthy future. Students who possess these positive assets are more likely to avoid risky behaviors as adolescents and achieve success as adults, regardless of gender, race, economic situation, or geographic location. Each year, On Point equips nearly 15,000 students with knowledge and strategies to abstain from risky behaviors.
Most importantly, On Point builds relationships with students. Educators and volunteers with On Point become friends, role models, and mentors to the teens in the program. Better yet, teens often move on to become the program’s teachers. Chris Brown (pictured below with other folks from On Point) is one of these students-turned-teachers and a member of On Point’s Teen Board. The following is his personal account of how On Point has encouraged him to be involved in the lives of his peers and, by doing so, shape the future of Chattanooga.
This is the first year that I have been involved with On Point and it has changed me in ways I cannot explain. I was raised in North Chattanooga—not the “nice side” of it, but the rural part. My mother was a single parent trying to raise me the best way she could. As a child, I craved a male figure in my life who could guide my life in the right path. At that point, I had seen my father a total of five times in my life. I never had a father figure to tell me what was right and what was wrong. I was surrounded by so many negative things and would have probably ended up on the streets. Most of my friends did.
My mother kept me in church as I grew older and it was at Sunday school that I met an extraordinary man named Mr. Ed Hines, the head mentor at On Point. He was the best teacher and he would talk to young men just like a father. As time went on I grew too old to be in his Sunday school class, but I didn’t want to leave him. I needed that father-like figure to guide me in the right direction. When Mr. Hines finally figured out that I was way too old to be in his class, I explained to him that he was a powerful figure in my life since my father was not there for me. I would become angry at my father because he didn’t love me. I had my mother, but it still felt like I was missing out on so much in my life. I felt alone.
As time went on, I was introduced to the On Point program by one of my best friends. Right away I learned and listened and told my friends in North Chattanooga that they didn’t have to live this way—they didn’t have to steal and do drugs to survive in this world. Many of my old friends who are now in gangs ask me, “Why are you so good?” When I think about that question, I think about Mr. Hines— that positive male role model. I had something in my life that they didn’t have: a mentor—somebody that I knew had my back through thick and thin.
In the future, I want to be a Politician—not for political glory but to help protect and serve my community, making sure that organizations like On Point are kept alive for teens who struggle with everyday life. Young people today need mentors to guide them down the right path. What else do we have? We need a positive force. On Point is one of those positive forces. If we can change many, we can change more; if we can change more, we can change all.
For more information about On Point, visit liveonpoint.org or call 423-899-9188.
