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Last month Rain and Kaye Plum sat down with Project H.Y.P.E founders Raymond Ramos and Sam Wall to discuss their young men’s initiative program.
Born and raised in NYC, Ramos was always passionate about youth development. The college grad, has served as Director of Deputy Contracts for Department of Transportation , 21 years in the National Army Guard, 20 years with the NYC Police Department, and ten years in his very own non-profit organization entitled H.Y.P.E ; a mentorship program for young men.
The mission is simple: “(Helping Young People Evolve) Transforming adolescents into adults through ‘Leadership’, ‘Excellence’, ‘Academics’, and ‘Discipline’.
Ramos discussed the importance of mentorship and why they decided to start this program.
Raymond Ramos: When I became police patrol officer. I was on patrol in brooklyn in a neighborhood that I get up in [ East New York] Rather than try to make arrests what I decided to do is reach out the community. I remember things I needed when I was a young male like the P.A.L, Man Up, etc.
At some point time, young boys are face with challenges, and a lot of it is social and hormonal. So when they begin to make these transitions, they don’t understand why certain things to happen to them. They begin to grow facial hair, their voice begins to change, their mannerisms etc. A man needs to have that interaction for someone to say, it’s okay, its normal with the changes your going through…
” What HYPE does through our workshops is that it deals with every aspect that a young male can face. We have prison and gang awareness, educational issues, we provide tutoring, and we deal with financial literacy which is getting young men to recognize that when your able to make a way for yourself, its important to save your money than to spend your money on a $100 belt and $500 pair of sneakers. “
Mr. Wall discussed the importance of ‘community service’ and what people can do to get involved
Sam Wall: A lot of times people tell us that they feel as though they don’t have something to contribute. Sometimes they won’t relate to me or Ray but they connect with someone else.…help, volunteer, because there’s something for everybody to do.
” It doesn’t matter what your walk in life, come help and or volunteer. Just your ability to connect with a young man that sustains him in the program….. Everybody has something to contribute! “
An increase in self-awareness, and their self esteem. We’ve seen ‘D’ grade students move up to ‘B’ grade students. There’s more bonding relationships…We bring the parents into the program. We have one kid that graduated from high school and enrolled in Cornell University. We also see some of our participants where they’re retreating from the street gangs.
Take a listen to our full hour show which also features, the ‘Daily Quote’, ‘Kaye Report’ of the trending weekly topics, the ‘Chat Bout’ segment and interview which begins around the [20min mark]. You will truly be enlightened!
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“(New York, New York) ‘The Rain & Kaye Plum Show’ @rkpradio airs live [via Ustream TV App] every Sunday from 2pm -3pm est. on DaMatrix Studios.com and rebroadcasts every Wednesday’s from 7pm -8pm on WLLS Radio