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Service…the topic of today’s Men In The Making session. We ended the year strong with one of our most informative gatherings of aspiring young men yet.

A special thank you to BayNews9 anchor, Erica Riggins, who stopped in for lunch to celebrate our program success in preparation for our “Day With The Bucs” next Sunday. Erica graciously serves as a Men In The Making ambassador.

Dr. Ricardo Davis, lead with his talk “My word is my bond.  Speaking from the heart”  to a room full of captivated youth.  Imparting the importance of education and being true to your promises are just a few of the lessons that were conveyed.

TBABJ to honor veteran journalists at Nov. 17 banquet

The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists (TBABJ) will honor five veteran journalists next month at its annual Griot Drum Awards & Scholarship Banquet.

Larry Cotton, Dayle Green, the Rev. Kenny Irby, Josh Thomas and Denise White will receive TBABJ’s 2016 Legacy Award at the organization’s banquet on Thursday, Nov. 17, at the Tampa Marriott Westshore, 1001 N. Westshore Blvd.  The Legacy Award is a tribute to trailblazing journalists who have made outstanding contributions to Tampa Bay. 

Larry Cotton

Cotton retired this year as WFLA-TV’s senior production cameraman and photographer. He also was a restaurant review correspondent of “Larry’s Good Eats’’ for 12 years on WFLA’s “Daytime’’ show. Cotton, who moved to Tampa from Cleveland, Ohio in 1986, worked at WFLA for 28 years and has been in journalism about 40 years. His involvement with the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists started when the organization was known as the Suncoast Black Communicators.

Rev. Kenny Irby

Irby was Poynter Institute’s visual journalism and diversity senior faculty member from 1995 to 2015. In 2016, he was hired by the City of St. Petersburg as its community intervention director. Irby also is the pastor of Bethel A.M.E. Church in St. Petersburg. He recently formed Men in the Making, a program that pairs boys with role models. Before joining Poynter, he worked as a photojournalist for Newsday and media outlets in Boston and Michigan.

Dayle Green

Greene came to Tampa in 1972 and became one of the first African-American on-air talents at Fox’s WTVT-Channel 13. He has the distinction of being the first black news anchor in the area. Green also has hosted a public affairs show for Cox Radio. He currently is a career manager at the Tampa Bay Workforce Alliance.

Josh Thomas

Thomas retired from WFLA this year as an anchor and reporter. He began his broadcast career as a reporter in Rockford, Illinois, and worked as an anchor and reporter in Peoria, Illinois; New Haven, Connecticut; Atlanta; Baltimore, Maryland; and Birmingham, Alabama. He became a weekend co-anchor at WFLA in 2003. Thomas won numerous awards for reporting in Atlanta and Baltimore and was named the best anchor in Alabama by the Associated Press in 1997. He also has served as a visiting faculty member at Poynter Institute.

Denise White

After 25 years at Fox’s WTVT-Channel 13, Denise White retired from her full-time position in 2015. It also marked 40 years in the broadcast industry. White left a Miami station to begin her career at Tampa’s Fox network. She was part of the first female anchor duo in Tampa Bay television. For some time in the 1990s, White was the highest-profile minority anchor in the local market and the only black journalist anchoring a weekday evening newscast.

At the Nov. 17 banquet, TBABJ also will present awards for the best media coverage of people of color and award college scholarships to students studying journalism.

The cocktail hour is at 6 p.m. The dinner and the awards ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. Tammie Fields, an anchor and reporter with WTSP 10 News, will be the emcee. Jarrett Hill, a former Tampa journalist who is now a correspondent with The Hollywood Reporter in Los Angeles, will be the special guest.

Tickets to the Nov. 17 banquet are $30, $10 for full-time students, and $300 for a table. They can be purchased through TBABJ’s website at www.tbabj.com.

For more information, call 813 419-2490, email [email protected], or visit www.tbabj.com.

Young men reflecting on the importance of learning from their history. Dr. Basha Jordan Jr. was an amazing inspiration and held the young men of Men In The Making responsible for their futures.

We also honored Reverend Williams for making it to Capitol Hill to deliver the Congressional opening prayer. His presence and that of the other accomplished mentors helped solidify a lot of the principals we try to convey each month.

NFL Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy, Reverend Kenny Irby,  and Assistant Chief of SPPD Luke Williams after The Pinellas County Schools Day of Dialogue presentation at Gibbs High School.

“Shiny Shoes” and “We All Look The Same Inside” are just a few of the unique quotes gleaned from Men In The Making’s first session in the 2016-2017 series.  Doctor Steven Epstein, a renowned trauma surgeon, gave insight into his profession and was amazed by the pointed questions being asked by the young men of Men In The Making.

Aspiring mentor, Norm Scott, shared a story from his career as an executive with Bank Of America.  Following his retirement, Scott was enlightened by a top Bank of America executive who stated, “The reason I initially hired you was your Shiny Shoes”.  Further commenting that he and the other executives were so impressed with the amount of care Norm had taken in shining his shoes they hired him on the spot.   Doctor Epstein echoed this sentiment by explaining in-depth different medical procedures and the way in which “We All Look The Same Inside”.  Doctor Epstein closed by explaining that the amount of care we give to even the most menial tasks defines who we are.

We’re on our way to an amazing start and seeing all the new faces in our ever expanding program is awe inspiring.

Men In The Making’s 2016-2017 sessions are about to begin.  Today, potential mentees and mentors met at Greater Mt Zion AME Church to learn more about the program.  Following a bit of thought provoking conversation and sharing a meal, the boys signed the Men In The Making Creed confirming their intentions to join the program.

ST. PETERSBURG — Right choices.

For Men in the Making, it’s more than a good idea: It’s a mantra.

Born out of tragedy, the Men in the Making program now mentors 40 young men from south St. Petersburg neighborhoods.

Officer David Crawford was one of three law enforcement officers killed in St. Petersburg during the early months of 2011. Crawford, who was investigating reports of a suspicious person near Tropicana Field, was shot and killed by then 16-year-old Nicholas Lindsey, who is now serving a life sentence.

“There was something we needed to do to keep other youth from falling into that same path,” said St. Petersburg Police Maj. Antonio Gilliam, who works with the program. “We created a program mainly focusing on middle school age minority youth.”

Mentors meet with boys one Saturday a month, spending time with them for about seven to eight hours and teaching life skills.

Dominic Rosado, 16, who has grown up without a father said the group makes him feel like he has several dads.

“It’s provided me with not one father figure role model, it’s provided me with many,” he said. “And it’s really been instrumental in my growth and development.”

Professionals from the community and police officials work with the teens –  teaching everything from tying ties and speaking in public to developing writing and critical thinking skills.

“Left to their own devices, young boys will find something to do, often unproductive,” Gilliam said. “If you occupy their time with something positive, you can have experiences that will have a long-lasting affect on them.”

The group has had speakers from ESPN, gone to restaurants, visited museums and had demonstrations from St. Petersburg police.

On Saturday, 40 boys in the Men in the Making program toured the Bay News 9 studio. The teens learned about television and online news, had a Q&A session and enjoyed lunch with Bay News 9 officials.

The teens, as well as mentors, said the experience was beneficial.

Often tempted by other teens or from broken homes and facing difficult choices, several of the boys said the group has taught them how to avoid trouble, to work towards a goal and yes, make the right choices.

“What we are doing is hopefully creating future leaders,” Gilliam said. “We want to fill in the gap for those kids that don’t all have a positive male role model in their life.

“We know that it is critical that they have consistency and have someone they can turn to when they need it. Then during tough times, when it’s time to make difficult decisions, they can revert back to some of these lessons and make the right choice.”

By Rod Gipson, Digital Media Producer
Original Story