- Program:
- Allegheny Youth Development
- Area:
- North Side
Dominick Jones-Moriarty and Warren Butler are working to create a positive intergenerational tradition, improving the lives of several at-risk youth in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Though both are just 22 years of age, Dominick and Warren have acted as mentors and role models to about two dozen at-risk boys as volunteers for more than four years in the group mentoring program at Allegheny Youth Development (AYD) in Pittsburgh.
Dominick and Warren serve as inspirations to others because they are both AYD graduates themselves, having joined the group mentoring organization when they were 11. Today they help ensure that the nonprofit program continues to effectively reach North Side teenage boys.
Dominick and Warren launched AYD's basketball, Boy Scout, and fitness and weight training programs. Since 2003, they have directly mentored about 70 AYD members in group settings and recruited program alumni and other adults to serve as mentors.
Their enthusiasm and energy have proved to be infectious.
Both Dominick and Warren relate especially well to mentees because they are close in age and share similar backgrounds with many of the boys participating in the program. When they were teenagers, Dominick and Warren were profoundly impacted by their AYD mentors, and now they diligently seek to affect others in the same positive way.
Eric, 16, Donnie Ray, 17, and Luther, 15, are three representatives of the boys in the group mentoring program run by Dominick and Warren. Their tenure at AYD ranges from five to seven years. In the fall of 2007, Eric, Donnie Ray, and Luther enrolled in a training program run collaboratively between AYD and the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania to become mentors themselves.
These three frequently use words like "friend," "father," and "big brother" in describing their relationships with Dominick and Warren, and credit them as the individuals having the greatest influence in their development as young men.