Ryan
A new life in charge and connected.
Ryan is a 15 year-old African American male who has custody of his 2-1/2 month old son. Ryan’s mother was reportedly a crack addict and a prostitute, his step father was in the Waupun Correctional Institution, and his older brother was in the Kettle Moraine Correctional Institution. Ryan had few, if any, positive and affirming role models in his life.
The Street Beat outreach team first made contact with Ryan at a North side roving outreach site. The Street Beat team had weekly contact with Ryan to assist and support him in sustaining a secure and stable home for him and his son.
Within seven months of having contact with the Street Beat outreach team, Ryan returned to school, secured full-time employment at a church as an assistant custodian, and stopped smoking marijuana. These positive behavioral changes can be attributed to the assistance and intervention of the outreach team along with Ryan’s own internal motivation to improve his life and the future of his young son.