- But today we are saluting the good people of Chicago,
and often all it takes is some real confidence
to make it in this world.
My next guest is passionate about that,
so he's made it his mission
to help boys in Chicago become real gentlemen.
He says it's about the simple things
just like having a pair of dress socks,
and the results are pretty incredible.
That's why he is today's Good Neighbor.
♪ Good good so good ♪
♪ Good neighbor ♪
(audience applauding)
(Kelly laughing)
I love you Jesse!
♪ Good neighbor ♪
From, I Am A Gentleman,
please welcome Jermaine Anderson, y'all.
(audience cheering and applauding)
So, first of all, I love you.
I was reading about this all last night,
and it is just the simple things
that really do and can change a person's trajectory
of their life, and so thank you for doing that
and giving people opportunity.
But what made you want to create I Am A Gentleman?
- Well, thank you for this opportunity.
I Am A Gentleman, was started in 2016.
So, my previous career I spent a number of years
as a full-time public speaker really traveling
the globe and speaking at graduations and
commencement exercises, seeing young boys,
primarily black and brown boys, make it to
graduation day but not really have hope for
their future or believe in themselves.
- Oh, man.
- So, we decided to create I Am A Gentleman and
75% of the young men we serve either come from
single parent households or under resourced communities.
So we said, you know, let's help, you know, bridge
this gap and help young men with some positive
life skills and things that they can believe in
themselves about and create I Am A Gentleman, in
our flagship program, which is called, Polka Dot Socks.
- Oh my gosh, so what-I love it.
Polka Dot Socks is my favorite name.
So, why-where did you come up with Polka Dot Socks?
- You know, it's a funny story but I'll tell it to you.
- There has to be a story.
(laughing)
It's called Polka Dot Socks.
- Absolutely.
So, there was one of our students who we are
extremely proud of, DeShawn Adams and he went through
the entire program and DeShawn, you know, made it to
his high school graduation day.
We sent him off to college and we gave him this amazing
trunk filled with all of the first time college
student necessities.
So he had school supplies-
- That's so helpful.
- Bed linen, etc.
And DeShawn said, you know, thank you to
I Am A Gentleman for this amazing trunk that
you guys gave me, but most of all, you know, I am
so excited about the pair of polka dot dress socks
that I received.
And I said, "DeShawn, why are you so excited about that?"
(laughing)
And he said, "brother Jermaine because before now,
I only owned sport socks and now that I own a pair
of dress socks, it makes me wanna wear
a pair of dress shoes and walk down a
different path in life."
- Yeah, oh my gosh. I love that.
So, the socks was kind of a confidence booster.
- The socks was a major confidence booster,
not only to DeShawn but to all the young
men and through our program, Polka Dot Socks, we're
just so excited because every Saturday morning
these young men, you know, from the neighborhoods
of Chicago, not only do they get up, they show up
but they dress up.
- Yeah, I love that.
What's your go to self-confidence booster outfit?
- First, can I just hug you?
- Absolutely.
(laughing) (applauding)
- That's so lovely.
- I have a program that I develop in schools and
I provide a similar confidence booster of hygiene.
- Mhm.
- Simple things: tooth bruses, toothpaste, shampoo,
a clean change of clothes.
You know, among other things, there's snacks
and food.
- Throw some deodorant in there, it's puberty.
- But I was one of these kids that you know,
fell through the cracks of social services
and went to school with greasy hair and you know,
we didn't always have shampoo.
We didn't have a washer and dryer so our clothes
were hand washed or not washed.
And its humiliating, so I think that boosting
their confidence with simple things.
Tooth brush, socks.
- Yeah, that's amazing you both do similar things though.
- We do.
- That's really cool.
I love that you're doing it because you've walked
that same path and you know what that's like.
So a couple days ago, we got to sit in actually
on one of the I Am A Gentleman sessions,
so y'all check it out.
(cheery music playing)
- Today we are at the Chicago Police Headquarters
and we are so excited to introduce you to
39 of the finest young men in the city of Chicago.
How is everyone doing this morning?
[All] Good.
- Today we are going to talk about image
and grooming.
We are going to talk about developing self-esteem
and self-respect.
The young men today will be learning life
skills that they can use beyond the classroom
to equip them to become productive citizens
in their communities.
(piano music playing)
- I'm very excited about learning all
these lessons because it's going to make me be
more successful in life.
- What are some ways that you would try to help
make your community safer?
- What is the one thing you would do differently?
- I'm gonna make sure that when I leave the house
I'm gonna dress to make a statement.
- I've been coming to this program for a year now.
I thin it's important because when you go to job
interviews, you have to present yourself.
- Nobody can tell you how to feel.
Nobody can tell you what you should feel.
I've seen with no equivocation, I've seen the
changes that happen with young people when they
find that there is a safe space to speak their mind.
It just transforms everything.
- What I learned today, is to listen to your dreams.
- I learned that it is important to present
yourself very well wherever you go.
- I learned that we shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.
- It has been such an amazing day.
Rich conversation.
Interactive dialogue.
Everyone say, "I am."
[All] I am.
- "A gentleman."
[All] A gentleman
- "I am successful."
[All] I am successful.
We're taking 5 of the young men to Pearl's place
restaurant, here in the city of Chicago to
demonstrate what they learned.
- It's so nice to see you.
- Good to see you as well
- You too.
- These are the young men.
I'm turning the boys over to Lequisha.
She's gonna give them a wonderful dine-in and
etiquette session.
- Thank you so much, Keith.
(playful music)
I'm just happy to be here, to break bread
with you guys and talk to you guys about just
some dinner etiquette.
You did such a beautiful thing by taking out
my chair and allowing me to sit down.
So you get an A, so far.
It's perfect, I love that.
(heavy piano music)
When you're cutting your food, just cut it just
enough for you to eat at that moment so that way
you don't have too much food in your mouth.
- What do we do with our napkins if we have to get up?
- You wanna fold it up and then you wanna
put it to the left of you.
- My dad, he's not really around so I've never
been taught those etiquette lessons before and
this program will help me become a man.
- These things are not just something you will
learn for today, you will be doing this for the
rest of your life.
- I always tell these young boys, it's not
how you start in life, it's always how you finish.
It's been a pleasure you guys.
Thank you so much.
- It's been a pleasure.
- I'm excited about my future because of this program.
I feel like I'm ready for success.
- So we actually have a graduate of the mentoring
program with us.
Everybody say hello to, Isaiah.
(applause)
So Isaiah, how did you end up-okay shoes!
I just saw his shoes, you look nice!
All right, I actually have similar polka dot
socks as well.
But how did you end up in the mentoring program,
I Am A Gentleman?
- So my mother, she told me about a program that
was made for young black kids on the south side
of Chicago that wanted to be a gentleman and
didn't exactly have that necessary father
figure in their life.
- Yeah.
- So, I was like, "all right, okay, when is it?"
She was like, "8 AM, Saturday, at the police station."
I was like, "No."
(laughing)
- You're like nope.
- I stay from school 8-8, no it's not happening.
So, she kept bugging me about it.
I was reluctant I joined it.
And the first lesson because I thought I was
a gentleman, first lesson, was how to tie a tie and
boy was I embarrassed?
I didn't know how to actually tie a tie and I
was embarrassed to tell Jermaine about it and
he was like you know what son?
Just come here and let me show you.
And he showed me how to tie a tie.
He taught me how to iron shirts.
He taught me how to fold clothes.
Taught me how to groom, as you can see.
- (laughingly) As you can see.
(applause)
- And the biggest lesson-
- So you had to do it all over?
- And the biggest lesson he taught the whole class,
was how to respect woman.
On the south side of Chicago, we don't see that
too often.
We see more disrespect than respect.
And that was like the biggest lesson that stuck with me.
And- (breathes heavily)
- That's all right, it means something.
That's what tears mean.
It means something.
- And with all those lessons,
I ended up becoming
the most outstanding student in the class.
- Wow.
(applause)
- And I became the most outstanding student
and now I sit here today with my mentor and
Kelly Clarkson.
- I love it!
(applause)
He's like, I'm moving on up.
Is there anything you wanna say after
being in this program?
I mean like, it probably made a profound difference
in your life.
Anything you wanna say to Jermaine?
- You have tissue on standby?
- Yes I do.
You know what, I'm about to reach for it for myself
man, I'm not lying like I'm dying over here.
- Yeah, so (crying)
- Its all right, you take your time.
(applause)
- Oof.
(continues crying)
- I mean, first of all, okay you take a minute
because isn't it amazing like people look at
that and go, "oh well just etiquette and manners
at table or oh how to tie a tie," they think
of that as such a simple thing.
But look at what it does to people.
It changes their life.
It makes them feel more confident.
It makes them feel like they can be successful.
They can literally be anything they want to do
and achieve it.
Isn't that cool that you're apart of that, man?
- You know, its amazing just being given the task
of helping transform lives.
- Yeah.
- And especially lives that were neglected and
overlooked for so long.
It's a humbling thing just to know that you
made a small difference and a small impact
for one young man's life.
- Yeah, I mean, I'm a young lady but I mean I
didn't have a dad either.
I didn't have anybody teaching me that either.
So I get the gravity of that.
And I get why you're so emotional about it.
- And sharing the emotion, being able to let it out,
I think that-I come from a difficult background
and I can say that I find that, that was
the hardest for me in coming into myself was
actually being able to cry because you're
just pushing everything out and you're shut down
and so I think that this is incredible.
Its not-its actually wonderful that you're
sharing this with us.
Really beautiful
- Absolutely
(applause)
- Now, I think I'm composed now.
(laughing)
I would like to thank you Jermaine.
You know, for a lot.
You taught me a lot of lessons, you know, that
you don't see in a classroom setting everyday.
Those lessons are actually like really important
life lessons and as a student, you know, now
at Hampton University, I felt more prepared
than I probably would've been if I didn't
take the class.
You taught me so much about how to be a gentleman.
And people notice that at my school.
They was like, this kid is from Chicago but
he doesn't act like it.
And I always have to explain to them that I was
part of a program called, I Am A Gentleman.
And I wear those letters, I wear that meaning
by me everyday.
This polka dot, white tie, means a lot to me, you know.
Made me feel like, you know, no matter
the circumstances at any point in your life, your
life can turn around for the better.
- Absolutely.
- Amen, yeah. Well said.
So, there are many other young gentleman that
want to share their experience and we have some
current mentees back in Chicago with our good friend,
LeeAnn Trotter.
Let's check back in with them right now.
LeeAnn, hi again!
(applause)
[All] Hi!
(laughing)
- So LeeAnn, you have a few students who'd like
to tell us about their experience's right?
- That's right, I do. I do.
- Hello Kelly, my name is Keymari.
I'm in seventh grade and I am a current member of
I Am A Gentleman.
I started when my friends told me about it and I
really thought it was cool, so I joined.
One thing that I learned about it, is that it's
very hard to learn how to be a gentleman.
Another thing that I learned about it was from
a previous session, where the police officers
came and I learned that I can do more things
for my community.
One thing I wanna do for my community is
raise money for foster homes.
- Wow.
- I wanna thank brother Jermaine for helping
me out and believing in me and I wanna thank him for that.
- Oh my gosh, yes!
(applause)
Yes, sir.
Who do we have here?
- Sup Kelly, my name is Jaquillian.
I'm a junior in high school.
My favorite lesson from Saturday, we were discussing
our dreams and goals.
I didn't know it was okay to fail when you're
on your path to reaching your goal.
I actually would get discouraged when trying to
reach my goals and I didn't wanna do it anymore.
But now it just makes me wanna work harder.
I Am A Gentleman had impacted my life a lot.
Hopefully I'll be able to take over and take
Jermaine's spot.
(laughing)
And continue to impact young men's lives
as it impacted mine.
- Aw, that's amazing.
(applause)
Y'all are some great young men.
Wow.
I mean Jermaine, seeing all these boys transform
into young men, I mean, this must be so gratifying.
- You know, it is so gratifying, so amazing.
You know, we started in 2016 and today more than
4,300 young men have been touched and impacted by
I Am A Gentleman.
- Wow. Oh my gosh.
(applause)
Shania, we actually talked about your program,
Shania KidsCan, earlier.
So what's one of your more like, the moments you
feel like success has really come out of it?
What's one of your most proudest moments?
- We have one child that just didn't speak and
after just a few months in the program, she-
when I visited the school-she stood up and spoke
for the class.
- Wow
- So, I see this with my kids all the time.
They're self expression just changes very rapidly.
- That's beautiful.
It's a beautiful thing.