COMMITTED TO OUR YOUTH – Mentors on the move

by Kimberly Bailey-Tureaud

Staying busy during the week as co-owners of Do For You Life Coaching, Thamani Godbolt and Tiffany Beard mentor a class of young girls on their weekend time away from the new business.
“We call our group 100 Committed Women Helping Girls, and we meet every Saturday and mentor 25 young girls from the ages of 12 to 21,” explained Godbolt. “We are a subsidiary of 100 Committed Black Men, founded by Mike Waller, and were asked to hold the Saturday positive action classes.”

Given the long hours they put in to keep their company growing, the partners initially had reservations about making the commitment; but once they met the girls, it was an easy decision. “The young girls come from all kinds of backgrounds,” Godbolt said, “and need just a little attention for their physical and emotional growth.”

Added Beard, “We work in unison with juvenile facilities, foster programs and community organizations to recruit girls who are in need. One of our goals is to help build character, and teach the girls how to cultivate positive relationships. We want to make sure that the young girls we work with are given the techniques and guidelines needed to make positive choices and have purpose in their lives.”
Asked what the young girls find right or wrong in their lives, Godbolt said, “What they really think is so right is that there is a day called tomorrow. No matter what hardships they have previously experienced, they always have tomorrow to look forward to. What most of the girls think is so wrong is that their life is unfair. Once they realize that life is not really unfair — it is what you make it — they will understand the basis of our teachings.”

Under the leadership of the Las Vegas chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc., the Kappa Leadership League has a stated mission to “Prepare young men for college, career, build self-esteem, political/social awareness and to embody a total respect for women.”
Founded in 1989 by director Michael Garrett and County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly, the organization assists young men from eighth-12th grade. In the past 21 years, nearly 1,000 young black men have graduated from the Kappa Leadership League. Among the alumni: City Councilman Rikki Barlow, State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and NFL player Steven Jackson.

“I received a call from (Weekly), who said he had an idea to have the Kappa league compete in the UNLV competition with a speech that answered the cry in the book/movie/play ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf,’ written by Ntozake Shange,” said Angel D. Washington, author of the children’s book “Always Remember You Are Loved.”

“The goal,” said Washington, “was to write an apology for the black men who caused the women in the play so much pain.”
The result was a first place award for the young Kappa league men. “You hear so much about domestic violence locally and nationally, we thought this theme for the competition was a winner,” said Garrett. “Hands down, our Kappa league really did it. Their delivery was dramatic and powerful.”