We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cameron Miles a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cameron , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a time you helped a customer really get an amazing result through their work with you.

Imhotep Simba started the program when he was seven years old. His mother said he had behavior problems, would not listen and wanted to hang with the wrong crowd. He came to the program on a consistent basis but living in a rough area in West Baltimore made some poor choices. He stayed in the program until age 18 and went on to Coppin State University and graduated. He wanted to visit other countries so we connected him with the Peace Corps where he served in Ecuador for two years. Imhotep continues to help me on Saturdays and he brings his son. He is currently working at the Annie E. Casey Foundation and will be starting graduate school soon.

Cameron , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started the program in 1996 with 5 boys. I was working for the Baltimore City Department of Social Services. Young men were coming into the building out of control and I thought to myself, I can start a program to assist these youth. I wrote up a one page proposal and asked if I could use space on a Saturday to work with these young men. To date we have served over 3,000 young men. I run a group mentoring program. Young men are referred by the Department of Social Services, Department of Juvenile Services, and the Baltimore City School System as well as by parents who walk in with their youth. I and my staff try to solve behavior, attitude and self esteem issues. Some of the services we offer are group mentoring, individual mentoring, exercise,field trips,drug awareness, STEM camp, free lunches and so much more. I am most proud that I have been able to keep the program going for 27 years.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

In initially starting the program, I used a lot of my own money and when we took trips some families were able to help out. Being a non-profit organization also helped us a great deal

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Without a doubt, keeping your word has helped me build my reputation. Also being consistent has helped a great deal. Many people will call me looking for a program and tell me about programs that never returned their call. I return every call and each person who sends a check, I send them a thank you.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.mentoringmaleteens.org
• Instagram: Bmorementoring
• Facebook: Cameron Miles and Mentoring Male Teens in the Hood
• Youtube: Various