Mahogany Youth Corporation

Mahogany Youth Corporation (MYC) works with at-risk youth that live in under-served areas where the impact of pollution, poverty levels, and a sluggish job economy has been the greatest. Our goal for the “Teach a Child to Fish” project is to empower at-risk and disadvantaged youth to expand their possibilities through teaching them to fish and enjoy the outdoors. We identify inner city children living in South Florida neighborhoods that experience the highest crime rates and economic hardship. We introduce these youth, through close mentorship and guidance to explore a safe, fun world of sports fishing, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving and boating. Our youth are offered the opportunity to develop skills and enhance their self-esteem in order to stay in school, off drugs and out of gangs.

Since 1994 Mahogany Youth Corporation (MYC) has fished with over 10,000 children. MYC’s founder and director was a drug counselor for over 20 years. His work with juvenile offenders in the prison system pushed him to explore ways to intervene in at-risk children’s lives before they end up in the criminal justice system. Fishing was a way to get children involved in healthy outdoor activities while offering mentorship and teaching life skills. Hooked on our fishing program, youth began to stay out of trouble, while their grades and self-confidence visibly increased, and in turn their futures are much brighter. Fishing reinforces a lifelong connection with the outdoors that improves family communication, self-esteem, and creates a feeling of responsibility to the community. The purpose of the project is to help youth overcome conditions in their environment that lower self-esteem and could possibly prevent them from meeting their potential. MYC offers participants valuable tools to resist drugs, gang violence, and general lack of achievement.

We provide community-wide core services that include our widely acclaimed program “Teach a Child to Fish”, basic swimming, snorkeling, and diving along with tests and certifications to ensure and prove the youth have acquired these skills.