After more than two years guiding young men in the Kent area, Glover Empower Mentoring (G.E.M.) is eyeing a new location that would help the organization expand its programming to better serve the community.
G.E.M. has been meeting weekly in the Kent Parks Community Center – housed inside the Kent Phoenix Academy on the East Hill – since November 2014.
Kendrick Glover, who along with Sylvester Craft founded G.E.M., said the organization is grateful for the in-kind donation provided by the city, but it is time to put down roots.
“We are at the mercy of their schedule, which means that when the building is closed we can’t have formalized group settings because we don’t have a space to do that,” Glover said. “In the wintertime, it is cold. Usually, in the summertime we go to the park and just do group outside. We make it work for us. … Our youth need us more than just one day a week.”
G.E.M. is raising money to lease space off of North Central Avenue in the Kent Business Campus, owned by Bellevue-based Rosen Properties. The facility would provide space for classrooms, a small computer lab and offices.
Glover set up a GoFundMe page, gofundme.com/GEMBUILDING, with a fundraising goal of $10,000 to help cover some of the costs of getting into the new facility. So far the campaign has brought in $785.
G.E.M. aims to be in the new space by the end of February, Glover said.
While he hopes community members will help cover some of the costs, moving into the space is not dependent on meeting the fundraising goal.
“If it comes down to it, I am willing to put up my own money to make this happen because I believe so much in this, and I believe in so much of what it could do for these young people that I am willing to make these sacrifices,” he said.
The rent for the new space is $3,100 a month, and G.E.M. hopes to cover about half the cost with funding from the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office and Best Starts for Kids to create a diversion program for youth caught shoplifting at Westfield Southcenter Mall in Tukwila.
G.E.M. is one of three organizations to take part in the pilot program geared at ending the school to prison pipeline.
Fulfilling G.E.M.’s mission
The youth in the community need a place to hang out, Glover said.
“We are noticing, throughout the day, as I am heading from meeting to meeting in the city of Kent, I am seeing a lot of people just hanging out,” Glover said. “I am like ‘You should be in school, right?’ And they are like, ‘I am suspended. There is nothing for me to do.’ And even after school on the days we are not having G.E.M. these people are still hanging out walking aimlessly throughout the community.”
Glover said he hopes to work with the Kent School District to develop a program for suspended students to take part in. Those who successfully complete the program could receive a reduced suspension.
“My goal and vision, as it has always has been for G.E.M., is to provide some programs throughout the day and throughout the evening so that young people – whether they are in school or not – have an opportunity to engage with some caring adults that could advise and suggest some programs that would help build some skill sets for them,” Glover said.
The number of young men, age 16-21, attending G.E.M.’s weekly meetings has increased from 10 to 12 a week to close to 25. The organization recently added six new mentors bringing the total to 17, and four new volunteers started for a total of 10.
Glover said in the new space G.E.M. will expand to include programming for young women, as well as a 10-week leadership academy for 25 young men and women this summer.
A new space would also mean additional volunteer opportunities.
“All these people are looking to be involved in the work we are doing and trying to accomplish, but we don’t have the space to utilize everyone’s talent and expertise,” Glover said.
To help furnish the new space, Glover is looking for donations of furniture including, tables, chairs and computers.
For more information, or to get involved, visit gempowermentor.org.
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