Allow Them the Opportunity to Change: An Effective Guide for Mentoring "Troubled" Youth

Allow Them the Opportunity to Change” will empower you to work with young people in any capacity and will provide proven strategies for identifying and removing stumbling blocks that limit progress. This book will allow you to relieve the frustration you experience in attempting to reach a generation of young people whom many consider “troubled". You will learn to develop quality relationships with young people; engage young people in the kind of honest, high impact conversations that lead to lasting change; allowing you to become the primary influence in their lives. Schools, parents, children, and neighbors are all challenged to answer the bell. Sidney W. Johnson is committed to helping adults become advocates for their youth, thereby empowering youth in spite of their story to “rise above their story."

Sidney W. Johnson was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. He attended Northern Illinois University where he studied English and African American studies. While a student at NIU Sidney worked for Project Upward Bound where he discovered a passion for working with young people. Awarded the Etiquette Foundation of Illinois' Humanitarian Award in 2011 for his efforts to empower youth Sidney has dedicated his career to that cause. For the past 18 years Sidney has worked in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Chicago. From Abla Homes where he rebuilt a state funded program to award winning status, to East Garfield Park, where he revived a struggling board to help keep a facility open for youth, to Roseland where he built a mentoring program that helped high risk students see improvements in grade point average, and attendance while seeing a decrease in out of school suspensions and behavioral related incidents. Sidney's passion for working with young people has taken him all over the country training youth workers on Developing Positive Relationships with Youth and Effective Guidance and Discipline.