The main focus of the Big Up Brethren Program is to teach boys and young men what it means to be a gentleman in today’s world. Many young men, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds grow up with absentee fathers and are left without guidance and a proper role model to follow. Some boys and young men who have present fathers still face the issue of masculinity between generations and are unable to connect on a personal level with their fathers, ultimately being left alone to decipher social norms.
The goal of this program is to deconstruct established stereotypes, norms, and codes of what manhood means. We help boys and young men by encouraging them to become the person they wish to be. By doing this we hope to break the generational cycle of fatherlessness, incarceration and the feeling of being a burden bearer that is present within most men today.
To accomplish this goal, we organize workshops on several topics including promoting gender equality, man-to-man bonding, toxic masculinity, and steps that can be taken to help control anger and better express feelings. The goal of these workshops is to teach empathy, resilience, inclusiveness, reflectiveness, non-violence, and resourcefulness in order to leave long lasting legacies on future generations.
The Program targets boys and young men from neighborhoods qualified as sensitive in order to better prevent school failure, unemployment, incarceration and exclusion. Support for the boys and young men will be provided by actions such as our mentoring program and citizens’ actions.
The citizens’ actions aim to provide:
Real world work situations in an environment other than that of the neighborhood.
Learning of the required professional behaviors (punctuality, respect of rules and the hierarchy...)
The fight against assistantship by the development of teenager autonomy.
