Reaching Out to Troubled Teens

Key Points:

• Sean Gates, a former troubled teenager, has started the Gates Institute, a one-on-one mentoring program for troubled kids.
• Gates embraced a for-profit model to focus on working directly with kids, not chasing grants.
• Gates believes that every teenager is “at-risk” and aims to develop personal success plans for each young person

Sean Gates knows all about being a kid in trouble.

“It’s my personal story. I got in trouble as a kid. I had a kid when I was still a kid. I did two years  in jail,” he said. 

Gates has been involved with mentoring efforts since age 19, when he was released from prison and was invited to speak to kids and tell his own story. That led him into a stint of working as a truancy officer. He completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and ethnic studies from Wichita State University and taught English as a Second Language at the Wichita Indo-Chinese Center.

“I’ve been working with kids for a long time and just about everything we do is very outdated. We need innovation. So, I asked myself – instead of sitting around offering a critique, why not do it myself?”

That led to his latest enterprise, the Gates Institute, a for-profit, one-on-one mentoring program for troubled teenagers.

He embraced a for-profit model, he said, because he wanted to be able to devote the bulk of his time and energy to working directly with kids, not chasing grants. 

“My clients are either private pay or funded by institutions or insurance,” he said. “And I’ve spent a fair amount of money out of my own pocket.”

His Own Turnaround

He is acutely aware that his ability to turn his life around stemmed from the fact that he came from a loving family in spite of the things that went wrong.

“I grew up in northeast Wichita and went to mostly White schools. My dad was not in my life, and  I got in trouble as a teen. I had a wonderful mother, but she worked two jobs to support us and didn’t have a lot of time,” he said. 

With little adult supervision, he fathered two children while still in high school.

“The only way I could see to provide for them was to steal,” he said. “My first friend was murdered when I was 14 and by 16 or 17, I figured I wasn’t going to make it to adulthood and I might as well just have fun. It all caught up to me and I was arrested for aggravated robbery and went to prison at 17.”

Finding Voice in Rap

It was in prison that he wrote his first rap song, “Let it Go,” after his long-absent father visited him in jail and told him he had a choice. He could let go of his anger and embrace the opportunity to succeed or he could hold on and be a lifetime victim.

His father told him he had to create his own success, telling him ‘You can blame me, but blaming me won’t make you more successful.’

“I decided to let it go, to find success and to use what I had learned to help be a father to my own children and a mentor to other kids who need help,” he said.

It helped him, he said, that his dad stayed in touch and continues to have an active role in his life.

As he finished his education and went to work, he continued a sideline as a rap performer, another way to try to reach out to troubled youth.

His followers know him as IZ-316 and his sixth album, “The Have Nots,” will be coming out this month.

Individualized Success Plan

The Gates Institute program calls for developing a personal success plan for each young person.

“They can log in and see the plan and know the goals. They can see the skills they need to work on and their family’s hopes for them. It helps them understand their role in becoming successful adults,” he said.

Gates said he believes that every teenager is “at-risk” because the struggles of growing up in today’s world are real. 

“A child who feels loved and supported can focus on his hopes and dreams,” he said. “A child with hopes and dreams doesn’t get into trouble. When a child feels he has no future, he can’t hope or dream. And he’s ripe for making bad decisions.”

Gates said Gates Institute was officially founded last year and he’s spent the time up to now building an infrastructure, obtaining a business license, getting a website put together and identifying potential programs and higher education programs he can partner with to help his clients prepare for adulthood.

Gates Institute currently has 18 clients. The youngest is 13; the oldest is 21. 

He said he is interested in developing special programs for foster children to help them be ready for “aging out” of the system when they turn 18.

Now 42, Gates sees a future filled with opportunity.

“I’m ready to just give the glory to God and be part of his divine plan,” he said.