MAN-MAKING BLOG: July 2022

July 6, 2022

Big Homie Lil Homie - Officer Homie

The term homie, as it relates to another person, is an urban slang abbreviation of home boy. A home boy is a guy who your really care about, feel a deep bond with, and who would do anything for you. A really trusted ally and friend, who is from your neighborhood, hometown, or part of your inner circle of friends. When I heard about a mentoring organization for fatherless boys called Big Homie Lil Homie, it really got my attention. I think we all need a few homies around us!

I think we all need a few homies around us!

Jamal Stroud, the man who started Big Homie Lil Homie, was a guy, who as a child, was lost in the South Carolina foster care system until the age of six. He was moved to six different foster homes in his first six years, and sometimes physically and sexually abused. He said it wasn't until his aunt finally adopted him that he was able to actually understand love. His is a story of how so much good can come from one man's trauma.

. . . shaping them into GREAT men of society.

Jamal started the non-profit Big Homie Lil Homie in 2017. It's purpose was molding and shaping fatherless boys, six to sixteen, into "GREAT men of society through mentoring." After a 2019 appearance on the Ellen Show, things really took off. Today the program has more than fifty mentors and six-hundred young men from the Columbia and Lexington, S.C. areas.

Today, Jamal Stroud is a married father of two. But out of the pain of his childhood, he is creating a program in which boys and men can find friendship, brotherhood, and lots of homies! You can learn more about Jamal's Big Homie Lil Homie program on their website (and see the clip from the Ellen Show too).

Officer homie!
Here's another homie who just happens to be a cop. In a beautiful example of community policing, Officer AJ (Anthony Johnson @ohnoitsdapopo) is working hard to connect with the young people in his community. He says "I grew up on the same streets I now protect." I think that makes him a home boy in uniform. Check out this video and see what you think. I think he's connecting big time!

Here's one more clip of officer AJ homie going one-on-one with a kid on the street. Turn up the volume to hear what he's layin down.

How do we clone this officer?

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