Since 2015, BABY has helped 527 students graduate from high school
Impact
BABY has worked with more than 10,000 students across eight different Los Angeles public and charter schools. We serve approximately 1,057 students annually, including seven (7) percent who require more intensive individual interventions. Since our inception, we have provided one-on-one interventions and support, including mentorship and academic assistance, to over 750 youth in South Los Angeles.
BABY’s “Prison Letters for our Struggling Youth” program helps incarcerated individuals share their stories and have an impact on young people who may be at risk of joining gangs or engaging in other adverse behaviors. We have collected letters from hundreds of California inmates who leverage their experiences to empower youth to change their path.
“I know I’m not the only person that goes through these emotions, and a lot of kids don’t have people in their lives to guide them. BABY is helping kids. If I can help them too, then why not? I want to give back.”
— Kiyaiira, BABY Participant
Our Stories
“At first, I didn’t think anything could change for me.”
Shay was introduced to BABY during her first year of high school. “I wasn’t ready to change. I was doing what I wanted to do and falling behind with schoolwork—it wasn’t that I couldn’t do it, but that I wasn’t even trying.” At the time, BABY had a regular presence at Shay’s school, where we offered mediation and security services, mentorship, and counseling; as well as during- and after-school programming focused on academic support and skill-building. “I met Bear when he was working on campus. He kept talking to me over and over—on a level I could relate to. He was real and wasn’t stuck up. Over time, he encouraged me to change my path.”
When Shay participated in BABY’s after-school program, her support system began to grow. “There were other kids there that helped me with my schoolwork. We became friends and supported each other. Everyone there is dealing with the same stuff so you don’t feel judged—you feel like you can be yourself. It was like a getaway for me—a safe space.”
Shay stays in touch with Bear who continues to provide mentorship and support. “I still talk to him for advice. He helps me with my schoolwork and encourages me. The program helped me realize that there is more to life than all of this—this little community, this area, the stuff I was involved with. BABY helped me see that I could change my life.”
Shay, BABY Participant
James, BABY Prevention Specialist
“I don’t want to see youth go down the same path I did.”
James grew up in South Los Angeles and is the eldest of six children. At age seventeen, James was incarcerated and spent the following 28 years in confinement. “I was involved with gangs—a troubled teen. I would probably have been considered ‘at-risk’ if they had that terminology back then.”
At the time he was incarcerated, James didn’t care if he came home—he saw no future for himself outside of the prison walls. But after seven years inside, things changed. “I had a spiritual experience in my cell at Folsom and in that moment, I felt that I had to do better.” James spent his remaining years in prison rebuilding himself. “I forgave myself—not only for the crimes that I committed, but for the ways I loathed and mistreated myself.” Now, James works as a Prevention Specialist with BABY and operates his own organization—Rizilient.
“When I see kids having issues at home, with society, or other outside things, I do what I can.” James always makes himself available to help youth find the resources and support they need, and makes sure they know they are worth something. “I tell the kids that they have a right to be successful if they choose—it is every one of their rights to be something.”