Marcus's Story

Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of our youth and families. The story below reflects real outcomes from real participants in our programs.

“I mentor young people because someone believed in me first.”

One Bad Night

Marcus had never been in trouble before. Not really. He was fifteen, the youngest of three brothers, and the first in his family who looked like he might make it to college. Then, one night with the wrong friends, he made a choice he would replay in his head for years.

The arrest scared him more than anything that had ever happened to him. He thought his future was over. His case was referred to The Circle — Reach For Youth’s restorative justice program sponsored by Teen Court — and for the first time in weeks, he had a place to go that wasn’t a courtroom.

Believed In

What surprised Marcus most was how the adults at RFY talked to him. They didn’t talk down to him. They didn’t talk around him. They asked him what he wanted his life to look like in five years — and then they listened to the answer.

“Nobody had ever asked me that,” Marcus said. “Not in a way that meant they actually wanted to know.”

Doing the Work

Marcus completed every requirement the panel set for him — and then some. He wrote a letter to the family his choice had affected. He volunteered at a community garden. He started tutoring younger kids in math, his strongest subject. His grades climbed back up. He stayed away from the friends who had pulled him off course.

Paying It Forward

Marcus is in college now, studying social work on a partial scholarship. On weekends, he volunteers with the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization near his campus — mentoring younger boys who remind him a lot of himself at fifteen. He tells them what someone once told him: that one mistake doesn’t get to write the rest of their story.

“The people at RFY saw who I could be before I did. That’s what I try to do now for someone else.”