ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jermayne Myers is turning his pain into purpose. The president of Black Men Achieve of Greater Rochester, Inc. has been working for the past 10 years to help young people reach their potential.

“My father was murdered when I was 12, and my mother died when I was 17,” Myers said. “I love working with these young men because I see myself as them. The same thing they are facing I’ve already went through.”

Myers founded Black Men Achieve of Greater Rochester in 2015 along with his twin brother Jamar.

“It was hard not having people who you could go to talk about those experiences. Also, trying to avoid the criminal justice system. We made a lot of bad choices when we were young because we did not have a lot of people in our lives providing us with guidance. So that’s what we do here,” Myers said.

The nonprofit helps transform the lives of children and families by providing mentoring, life skills workshops, and a safe space to socialize. The goal is to break the school-to-prison pipeline and prevent African American boys from being recruited by gangs.

“You have a lot of these kids out here stealing cars, robbing people, committing crimes, committing egregious crimes, murder, armed robbery. But we have kids who are here that choose not to do that,” Myers said.

Over the years, the organization has provided mentorship programs and youth development services to over 3,000 Black and brown kids, ages eight to 21, in the City of Rochester. Myers is working with 250 kids now and has 200 more on the waitlist.

“He’s like a father figure in my life. After I lost my father he was, like, really there for me and, like yeah, I’m happy, I’m happy for that,” said 14-year-old Cameron Grissom, who has been in the program for over two years.

“Jermayne is like an older brother. He’s someone I can talk to,” said 15-year-old Jonah Flow, who joined the program a year ago. “We do, like, many lessons where you get to talk about hygiene and how to know good friends from bad friends and stuff like that.”

News10NBC caught up with Grissom and Flow selling tote bags at the Black Men Achieve Youth Entrepreneur Marketplace. They spent a month learning about culinary arts, marketing, business operations, and financial skills. From desserts to cookies, sunglasses, ties and much more, 100 teens led over 25 businesses and marketed products to the public.

“He teaches you a lot that you need to know in the real world,” said Antwan Spivey, who has been a part of the mentorship program for the past two years.

“He teaches me a lot about workshops and lessons to just get through life. He’s a good person,” said Michael Harrington, who joined the program this year.

“You put in a lot of hard work with the kids, you see what they go through and for them to be here today overcoming all of those obstacles — it’s a blessing, it’s emotional,” said Myers, overcome with emotion.

Jermayne Myers is one of News10NBC’s ESL Jefferson Award winners for his work empowering kids and setting them up for success.

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