We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Johnrice Newton . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Johnrice below.
Hi Johnrice , thanks for joining us today. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
In the early beginnings of what would become Tapestry Ministries, the YES (Youth Expecting Success) Program was in it’s infancy. The program began as a coming of age or type of “debutante” program for teens in the inner city of Dallas. These youth were typical teens with that were navigating the life they had been handed from living in broken homes, struggling parents, dysfunctional households and all of the other poverty strongholds can have on children and families of color. For three years these teens had been coming to an inner city church plant in the central Dallas area as a place of safety, bible studies, and a sense of belonging. That particular year the YES staff noticed several of the young ladies were never in the same location when our van went to pick them up. They were either at a relative’s house or each other’s house, sleeping on borrowed couches and pallets. When your youth minister investigated further he found that some of the girls had parents that were incarcerated or not present because of active drug use. One girl in particular, I’ll call her Mary, was never at the address she gave us and seemed distant and withdrawn. She was very smart but was producing poor grades in school because of frequently missing classes. Our youth minister found that she was staying with a friend’s family because her own mother had been incarcerated for several years, and she was supposed to be in the care of her disable grandmother. The young ladies friend’s mother was often not home and was not particular regarding the girls attendance or nutrition.
I had just sent my last child off to college and had been enjoying a month of “empty nesting.” When our youth minister informed me of the young ladies situation, my heart would not let go of how difficult it must be for this young lady to try and finish high school without parental support and have any type of success in life. I took a chance and reached out to her about coming to live with me on a short term basis until her mother was released and she could become stable.
Mary was reluctant initially and I gave her a few weeks to think the offer over. After two week she came to me and asked if the offer was still on the table, and I told her yes. I picked her up the next day from and the rest was history or “herstory.” I had only a few rules- keep your room clean, no skipping school and no company in the house without me there. All that she owned was in a broken duffel bag and most of it was unhealth snacks- sodas, chips and candy. She eventually told me that the snacks were in the event her friend’s mother did not have food. I cooked her healthy meals, and showed her how to be a young woman in this world. Because she had missed so much school and her GPA was low, she narrowly missed being on the honor roll to graduate with honors. She was an excellent student and was hungry to better herself, and wanted to attend college. Her mother eventually got out of prison before she graduated, but did not want her home with and only visited once. I would encourage her to visit her mother, but would call me before the evening was over to pick her up. She no longer wanted to be in the noisy, chaotic environment. She choose a college in Mississippi and later transferred to Arlington. She was able to complete college with her BA degree and has been working in the insurance industry for years. All of this was not easy for both of us, but she calls me Mama and she is my other daughter. When I look back on Mary’s story, it let me know that God had stretched me beyond my expectations and had called me
to be open to love the youth sent to me beyond how they presented. My life has been tremendously blessed by Mary and my family has embraced her as part of our family.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
I am founder and president of Tapestry Ministries that was established, with the help of faithful board members and community members, as a 501c3 non-profit organization in 2009 and have conducted the YES (Youth Expecting Success) Program since 2000. I am a native of Lubbock, TX and have lived in the Dallas area for 30 years. I have been a registered nurse for almost 40 years and prior to becoming a nurse I was a social worker. I graduated from Texas Tech University with my undergrad in social welfare, and Texas Christian University’s Brite Divinity School with a Master’s in Divinity. Because of my history of being raised in a struggling single parent home and became a single teen mother at age 17 and raised three children alone I saw the need to help other young girls not be in my situation. In 2000 I started the YES (Youth Expecting Success) Program as a program to assist teen with setting goals, striving towards higher education, had having the tools to make informed decisions regarding their behavior. In 2016 the Tapestry Women’s Ministry was started to provide safe shelter, resources and education to women affected by domestic violence through. I too am a domestic violence survivor. In 2016 I published the book “Healing Voices: Women of Faith Who Survived Abuse Speak Out, Volume 1” that is a collection of 11 women’s stories of their survival of domestic abuse because of their faith. My story is one of the 11 stories. Each year the Tapestry Women’s Ministry host a conference for domestic violence survivors and those that support them to being about awareness, hope, and provide valuable resources.
The YES Program offers yearly classes to teens ages 13 to 18 that are enrolled in public, private, charter or home schooling. The five month classes include classes on SAT/ACT preparation, reading and math improvement, sex education, money management, career development, etiquette and grooming, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and health and wellness. Upon graduation the youth are celebrated with awards, and participate in a fashion show where young men are presented with a dress suit and young women presented with parting gifts as well. The youth are mentored by the YES staff and volunteers though out the program and beyond. In its 21 year existence there are approximately 35+ youth that have graduated from the YES Program who are attending colleges throughout the county who are first generation college attendees, and about 35+ that have completed colleges, and several that have went on to obtain advanced degrees.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In the early beginnings of what would become Tapestry Ministries, the YES (Youth Expecting Success) Program was in it’s infancy. The program began as a coming of age or type of “debutante” program for teens in the inner city of Dallas. These youth were typical teens with that were navigating the life they had been handed from living in broken homes, struggling parents, dysfunctional households and all of the other poverty strongholds can have on children and families of color. For three years these teens had been coming to an inner city church plant in the central Dallas area as a place of safety, bible studies, and a sense of belonging. That particular year the YES staff noticed several of the young ladies were never in the same location when our van went to pick them up. They were either at a relative’s house or each other’s house, sleeping on borrowed couches and pallets. When your youth minister investigated further he found that some of the girls had parents that were incarcerated or not present because of active drug use. One girl in particular, I’ll call her Mary, was never at the address she gave us and seemed distant and withdrawn. She was very smart but was producing poor grades in school because of frequently missing classes. Our youth minister found that she was staying with a friend’s family because her own mother had been incarcerated for several years, and she was supposed to be in the care of her disable grandmother. The young ladies friend’s mother was often not home and was not particular regarding the girls attendance or nutrition.
I had just sent my last child off to college and had been enjoying a month of “empty nesting.” When our youth minister informed me of the young ladies situation, my heart would not let go of how difficult it must be for this young lady to try and finish high school without parental support and have any type of success in life. I took a chance and reached out to her about coming to live with me on a short term basis until her mother was released and she could become stable.
Mary was reluctant initially and I gave her a few weeks to think the offer over. After two week she came to me and asked if the offer was still on the table, and I told her yes. I picked her up the next day from and the rest was history or “herstory.” I had only a few rules- keep your room clean, no skipping school and no company in the house without me there. All that she owned was in a broken duffel bag and most of it was unhealth snacks- sodas, chips and candy. She eventually told me that the snacks were in the event her friend’s mother did not have food. I cooked her healthy meals, and showed her how to be a young woman in this world. Because she had missed so much school and her GPA was low, she narrowly missed being on the honor roll to graduate with honors. She was an excellent student and was hungry to better herself, and wanted to attend college. Her mother eventually got out of prison before she graduated, but did not want her home with and only visited once. I would encourage her to visit her mother, but would call me before the evening was over to pick her up. She no longer wanted to be in the noisy, chaotic environment. She choose a college in Mississippi and later transferred to Arlington. She was able to complete college with her BA degree and has been working in the insurance industry for years. All of this was not easy for both of us, but she calls me Mama and she is my other daughter. When I look back on Mary’s story, it let me know that God had stretched me beyond my expectations and had called me
to be open to love the youth sent to me beyond how they presented. My life has been tremendously blessed by Mary and my family has embraced her as part of our family.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
My senior year in high school was one I was looking forward to, planning to attend the University of Texas in Austin, major in Social Work and save the world. But life did not go as planned, I became pregnant with my daughter that year. I felt I had not only let myself down, but my mother and family as well. In the 70’s teen pregnancy was poorly looked upon, and I was almost treated like a leper by the community. My mother loved me unconditionally and I am forever thankful for her support. My mother informed me early on that she was not going to take care of my child while I went off to college, I would have to step up and own my responsibility and go to school locally. I was heart broken, and a victim of my own poor judgement. . I did the only thing I knew to do, go to work. After my beautiful daughter was born, I started college at Texas Tech. I had a job on campus in the library, cleaned offices with my mother on the weekends, and worked at the State School full time. I had only four hours a day to spend with my daughter and sleep. My body was tired and worn, but I had a child depending on me. This grind would continue for seven long years because I could not always take a full class load due to my work schedule and classes. My grades were not what I wanted them to be, but all I wanted to do was pass and get my degree. I knew that I would need a college degree to feed my child. I envied the other students that lived in the dorms, had social events and joined sororities and fraternities. I wanted that life, but it was not to be.
During my seven year journey in college my sweet mother passed. I wanted to die with her. because all my life it had just been she and I. She loved my daughter dearly and they were the best of friends. I had to keep working to keep food and shelter in place. With help from by grandmother and aunts I had great babysitters. Without them I would not have made it. My graduation from college was to be my gift to my mother since I had robbed her of the pleasure of seeing me walk across the stage, but she would not be there for me to honor her. For two years after my mother passed I could not pass by the hospital where she died and would intentionally take alternate routes to avoid seeing the building. It was the same hospital my daughter has been born in. As I walked across the stage at Texas Tech as a first generation college graduate, the moment was lack luster because my mom was not there to see her dream come true. I promised myself that my children would graduate from college, and my grand children, and so on. I wanted to start a new thing in honor of my mother who worked so hard to support me. Today my children are college graduates, and my grandson is graduating this year. And I have lots of YES Program youth that are graduates too, so Mama I’m keeping my word and hope you are proud.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tapestrycares.org
- Facebook: Tapestry Ministries
Image Credits
Rainwater Foundation Be A Steady Hand James and Lillian Webb Charities CitySquare Cornerstone Baptist Church, Dallas, TX College Mode Academy Church of Disciples United Methodist Church, DeSoto, TX Llano Fence Company