More Than a Milestone: How Mentorship Brought Jadain's Future into Focus

Jadain (right) with his SC2 mentor at NewLife, Deangelo.

21 was more than just another birthday for Jadain. It meant the start of adulthood, the first page of a new chapter– but it also meant that he’d reached a milestone that he hadn’t always thought he’d live to see. “I dropped a couple tears,” he confessed during our conversation at Humboldt Park’s NewLife Center. “I have some friends who didn’t make it to that age.”

Having the confidence and stability to envision his own adult future is the direct result of his time with his peer mentor Deangelo, an SC2 case manager at NewLife. What started as the promise of a driver’s license and some extra pocket cash became a new lease on life for Jadain, built with SC2’s wraparound services.

Jadain first learned about the program through a friend at One Summer Chicago, the city’s youth summer job initiative. Though he admits the promise of a stipend initially drew him to NewLife’s mentorship program, meeting Deangelo made him think more deeply about what the program could offer.

“He became a friend, honestly. We just clicked– we’ve gotten to know each other a lot and have a lot of similarities,” Jadain says. “It was easy to be comfortable around him and get stuff off my chest.”

Prior to enrolling, Jadain noticed a pattern in his life: spending time around negative influences and engaging in behaviors that could have led to serious consequences. “It’s two options—death or jail,” he said, reflecting on the path he felt he was on. Mentorship was pivotal in opening his mind to new possibilities: career paths, further education, investing time in his personal passions.

Within a week of joining the program, just in time for his graduation from UIC College Prep, Deangelo helped Jadain get his driver’s license– opening up possibilities for work and education that had seemed out of reach. Within a month, he’d landed a job at Target while he studied Computer Science at Malcolm X College. Weekly mentor meetings with Deangelo kept him honest about his goals and his mental health, and it quickly became apparent that neither his job nor his chosen field of study were quite right.

“At the time, I was on a downhill slope, I was going through a lot mentally,” Jadain shared, reflecting on a time where things felt wrong even though he seemed to be doing everything he was “supposed to” be doing. “Deangelo helped a lot with that. He kept me on a narrow path. He wouldn’t let me lose focus.”

Soon enough, it was back to the drawing board, but with his mentor’s help, no time was wasted. Jadain stopped his studies and found a new job through connections at SC2, working on the custodial staff of a school just blocks from his home. “I couldn’t ask for a better job at the moment,” he says, mentioning the kindness of his co-workers and reasonable hours. “I’m very thankful.”

Deangelo noticed the shift in Jadain’s mindset over time as he got closer to the life he wanted for himself. “When I first met him, he had a hard time taking accountability,” he explains. “With Target it was always, ‘They did this, they did that.’ But now, he’s at his job five minutes before his shift every day. Seeing something small like that tells me he’s changed mentally.”

Steady income and a positive work environment was a major stabilizing force for Jadain, but the mentorship didn’t stop. During the week, he attended the arts program at NewLife, honing his drawing skills which he’s been developing since middle school. In the last year, he’s been commissioned to draw for a local business, and has dreams of launching his own clothing brand centered around his own designs.

In the meantime, he’s gearing up to give college another go, preparing his application for paramedic school at Malcolm X. “I’ve always wanted to do something in that area, like firefighting,” he says. “It’s a superstitious feeling almost– like it’s just calling to me. It’s saving lives, it’s helping people every day.”

For Deangelo, Jadain’s progress reflects what community-based mentorship can accomplish when trust is built. “A lot of these young guys come from the same environment I did,” he says. “It can be hard to trust, hard to let that mask down."

That shared understanding is part of what makes the program effective. As Deangelo describes it, mentors are able to connect young people not just to services, but to the community itself.

“Before we got here, there wasn’t really a relationship between the guys on the block and the people in this building,” he says. “There wasn't a lot of trust between case workers and the streets. Now, people are here at NewLife that they know. They come in every week, they know the staff, and it’s more like a community thing. Instead of keeping an eye on each other or avoiding each other, we're keeping each other safe."

When asked what he would tell someone considering the program, Jadain did not hesitate: “Go for it. It’s all positive. The world has so much in store that we aren’t ready for. Having a mentor’s guidance, someone who gets it, changes everything.”

With SC2, Jadain's 21st wasn’t just a birthday—it was proof that the future he once struggled to imagine is now within reach. With a steady job, plans to return to school, and a mentor who continues to push him forward, he’s building a life that once felt uncertain.

The tears he shed on that birthday weren’t just for the friends he lost—they were for the realization that he’s still here, and that his story is still being written. ■

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Learn more about Life Coaching with SC2 at sc2humboldt.org/life-coaching.