D.C. Programs Brings Men Together to Help One Another Leave Troubled Pasts

Around a long table in the basement of an aging building in the District, a group of men comes together every Wednesday seeking recovery and redemption. For most, the weekly reunions, part of a program called Men-in-Motion, mean escaping troubled criminal histories and embracing a future as fathers, sons and friends.

"The main thing is that we give each other hope," said Karl Andrews, an outreach worker for the National Center for Children and Families, which sponsors the weekly meetings aimed at providing men in wards 7 and 8 with parenting skills.

Men-in-Motion is part of a growing network of groups across the District and Prince George's County that provides parenting support and therapy to men, many of them ex-offenders, through roundtable discussions.

Whether it is going over potty-training methods or strategizing how to rescue a teenager from a drug addiction, the men are using weekly meetings to help former offenders and others become better fathers.

The National Center for Children and Families, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving underprivileged families in the District, launched Men-in-Motion in 1999. The group, originally for ex-offenders ordered by courts to seek counseling, meets at 6 p.m. every Wednesday at the CARA House, a therapeutic parenting center in the 600 block of 50th Street NE.

Last year, Andrews changed Men-in-Motion's guidelines so each participant voluntarily attends the meetings. News of the program has spread by word of mouth. For Andrews, the change means serving a group of men who need and want help being better fathers, husbands and friends.

Every Men-in-Motion meeting begins with a quiet prayer. Then the men embrace each other. The meeting is a sort of family reunion for many whose families have grown tired of their criminal activities.

Most men in the group call Andrews their rock. A tall, somewhat intimidating man, Andrews says his ability to keep the group of about 15 men coming back consistently hangs on his commitment to being honest.

"It's about being straight up and direct," Andrews said. "It's a respect thing for both of us. We're direct with each other. I'm supposed to support them to be successful."

Most say he does.

One of the group's youngest members, 20-year-old Maurice Lewis, credits Men-in-Motion with keeping him out of jail. Released from jail in July, Lewis has secured work through the Sasha Bruce YouthBuild Program, an employment program. Lewis dreams of one day becoming a full-time construction worker and manager.

For Lewis, the group means avoiding the temptation of the streets. He said he began breaking into cars when he was 9 and committed his first armed robbery at 10. At 11, he led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car and was sent to Oak Hill Youth Center in Laurel for seven years.