About Us

OUR ORIGINS

 Trez conceived of "Good Heart Youth" almost 15 years ago when he was barely even a teenager himself because he believes that "no child is born bad, and that ALL youth have a "Good Heart". Trez believes that the trauma experienced during our childhood is primarily the cause for the disturbing behavior that we later display as we grow into adulthood. Armed with this wisdom early on, and having experienced so much childhood trauma firsthand, Trez decided to break the cycle and became involved in community activism, youth mentoring, and eventually became an inspiration to everyone whom he came in contact with and continues to be a role model for our youth.

Demetris was 28 and was into his 10th year of a life without parole sentence in the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC). While in prison, Demetris studied the religious teachings of Noble Drew Ali and The Moorish Science Temple of America, and had voluntarily attended numerous self-help classes where he earned numerous certificates in area such: Effective Communications, Mediation, Conflict Resolution, Facilitation, Anger and Stress Management, Men Concerned with Youth, Family and Friends, and Leadership, amongst others. Soon, Demetris had completely turned his life around and became a mentor and inspiration to other prisoners. Demetris had realized just how many "Great Minds" that he had been blessed to have been mentored by, and blessed to have mentored to, while in prison, he conceived "The Great Minds Project" and envisioned one day being released from prison to introduce his project to the world to inspire change. After 28 years, Demetris was released from prison in October 2018. This is when he got to see his dreams begin to form into reality.

In 2021, after numerous productive meetings with one another to discuss merging their respective unborn organizations, Trez and Demetris made the merge official, and thus, was born, "Good Heart Youth-The Great Minds Project".

Good Heart Youth-The Great Minds Project is committed to the following:

• Ending the school-to-prison pipeline that overwhelmingly affects youth from impoverished communities.
• Teaching our youth life skills (i.e., communication, accountability, responsibility, anger and stress management, conflict resolution, substance use awareness, etc.) in order to empower them and ignite their great minds so that they can make better decisions and not give in to negative peer pressures that tends to pave the way to a life of crime, prison and death.
• Teaching our youth to aspire to be great, aspire to be community builders and not destroyers, and aspire to be great leaders of our communities.
• Working with other community-based organizations, as well as clergymen/women, and local and state officials, in our efforts to rebuild the character and safety of otherwise impoverished communities.
• Getting youth off of the streets and providing a safe space where they can utilize our computers, participate in youth self-help and mentoring programs, (including poetry and spoken word classes, 1-to-1 meetings, and group meetings, at our office), and the opportunity to participate in other events sponsored by Good Heart Youth-The Great Minds Project, such as basketball games, bowling, etc.
• Providing a safe space for children of incarcerated parents and parents of incarcerated children and/or children lost to violence, to come to and participate in support group meetings in an effort to assist one another to a place of healing.
• Sponsoring fundraisers to assist youth from impoverished communities with basic necessities in life, such as clothing, hygiene products, etc.

If you want to see our youth empowered with life skills necessary to succeed in life, and not become a victim of the school-to-prison pipeline, and not become a victim to violence, or a prisoner of the State, please join or support Good Heart Youth-The Great Minds Project as we promise to end the school-to-prison pipeline one child at a 

time because we are fully investing in the hearts and minds of the people. 

If you want to see children with incarcerated parents, parents with incarcerated children and parents who have lost a child to senseless violence, counselled and supported through their trauma, anger, stress and unfortunate loss, please join or support Good Heart Youth-The Great Minds Project as we promise to guide and mentor families and youth through their traumas because we are fully invested in the hearts and minds of the people.