Learning to grow and cook healthy food is just part of what young men learn through their participation in BoysGrow, a nonprofit youth-development organization that teaches entrepreneurship to at-risk boys. Since its founding in 2010, BoysGrow has ‘grown’ into a positive, affirmative educational program. Its success was recently spotlighted nationally on the “Eye on America” segment of CBS Evening News (August 11, 2022). Dennis McLaughlin, McLaughlin Writers LLC – Sources: Interviews with John Gordon, Jr., BoysGrow founder and executive director; Sydnee Shive, Kansas Living, Kansas Farm Bureau, July 30, 2022; Seattle Times, 2012; Pitch Magazine, 2012.

BoysGrow: Hands-On Education On The Farm

Each summer 30 boys from the greater Kansas City area – ages 14 to 16 – commit to a two-year program during which they learn how to work together and develop core vocational skills that are applicable to a variety of career paths including culinary arts, construction, marketing and entrepreneurial enterprises. As the program’s name suggests, farming constitutes the heart of BoysGrow. “Through farming and agriculture,” says founder John Gordon, the boys gain pride, identity, discipline and an understanding of the business world.”

The program accepts eighth-grade boys to work on a 10-acre farm in South Kansas City, where, over a period of two years, they learn the ins and outs of agriculture, producing food that will go on to stock Kansas City restaurant kitchens and stores. During the summer, the boys work three days a week. They also have a chance to choose learning tracks that align with their interests. Track options include farming and agriculture, construction, culinary arts, graphic design and even public speaking. The youth join at least two of these teams, where they work with mentors and staff to learn certain disciplines for particular lines of work.

And they receive a paycheck. “Often, it’s the first one they’ve earned,” Gordon notes. During the summer term, the boys are bussed to the farm where they work and attend training sessions and classes three days a week. During their regular school year they meet two days a month. “They’ll have two years of applied learning and a hands-on introduction to what it means to work in those different fields,” says Gordon.

Learning to Lead

Eclipsing all the positive skills and experience the youngsters develop during their two years at BoysGrow is leadership. Learning how to be a leader is something kids don’t often get in other programs and even in many grade and high schools, says Gordon. “For the second-year boys here there is no option but to be a leader; once a kid reaches his second year, the expectation is to be a leader.”

Besides learning about agriculture, cooking, carpentry and construction, they boys are exposed to interpersonal amenities, like shaking hands with people, looking a person in the eye. “We mentor them not only on how to create and develop an enterprise or project, but we also teach them how to pitch their ideas and concepts, Gordon explains. “I think when you’re 15 years old, it’s kind of hard to get that experience.” A lot of leadership traits are cultivated through practical hands-on activities. For example, BoysGrow stages several social, entertainment and fundraising events each year. But the boys run the show, forming small teams to manage every aspect of the event.

Seeds Of Success

On the farm, the boys grow a broad range of produce, including garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, blackberries and raspberries and raise turkeys and chickens as well. More importantly, perhaps, are purposeful life-lessons embedded in the boys themselves. BoysGrow helps participants build camaraderie, discipline and business skills that will serve them throughout their lives. “We take this opportunity of having the boys for two years to give them vocational training as well as personal development,” Gordon says, “that will allow them to successfully get the next job once they graduate from high school.” Public school systems offer an array of academic basics and intellectual pursuits, explains Gordon, but soft skills sometimes fly under the radar. “We talk to the young men about the importance of soft skills – especially since more and more employers are emphasizing them as a key component of their hiring process.”

In addition to a curriculum intended to provide vocational background and training in agriculture, construction and marketing, BoysGrow offers a syllabus of what it calls The Basics:

Communication – Professionally expressing oneself; listening; public speaking.
Courtesy – Manners; etiquette; graciousness; respectfulness.
Flexibility – Adaptability; willingness to change.
Integrity – Honesty; ethics; morals; incorruptible.
Interpersonal Skills – Personable and social; sense of humor; friendliness; patience.
Positive Attitude – Optimistic; enthusiastic; confident; encouraging.
Professionalism – Business-like; good judgement; appropriately dressed.
Responsibility – Punctual; reliable; resourceful; self-disciplined; common sense.
Teamwork – Cooperative; compatible; supportive; helpful; collaborative.
Work Ethic – Hardworking; loyal; self-motivated; initiating; timely.

BoysGrow appears to have hit a sweet spot with the youngsters. Although the agenda is physically demanding, intellectually rigorous and ground-breaking for the boys relative to their lived-experience in an urban setting, most of them stick with the program. Gordon says the retention rate is 90%; and he points out applicants for the program run 30% over the number BoysGrow can accept.

Down To Business

Those entering the program have the chance to specialize in curriculum tracks that align with their interests. Options include three primary endeavors – farming/agriculture, construction and culinary arts. Instruction in graphic design and public speaking is also available. Boys who join the construction team usually come to the program with some skills or interest in carpentry, according to staff. They are led by a construction crew leader and are often seen around the farm repairing or building things. But agriculture is the primary focus. Students learn about conventional farming as well organic growing practices – from planting seeds to harvesting and packaging produce.

The culinary arts team uses fresh produce from the farm and learns how to turn harvests into meals that are served to fellow students and staff during the summer. The science and art of food preparation is a skill set the boys can readily transform into a satisfying career. The curriculum includes learning the tricks-of-the-trade from local chefs who volunteer to instruct and mentor the kids. Notable among these chefs has been Lidia Bastianich of Lidia’s Kansas City. The culinary program has really taken off, touts Gordon. Recently, BoysGrow dedicated a modern 3,200 square foot culinary center to a house certified kitchen and canning operations as well as updated equipment and systems.

"The addition of the Farm Kitchen has been a game changer for us,” says Gordon. “We have better amenities for teaching our classes and washing our produce, and it doubles as an event space. We can host events out here on our beautiful 10 acre farm, this helps us generate another revenue stream but also assists us in reaching a new audience of people who may believe in our mission.”

Gordon points out that the new Farm Kitchen has been the venue this year for private dinners hosted by the American Angus Association and the National Institute of Animal Agriculture as well as for a private Board Retreat of the Kansas Farm Bureau.

Such development requires a good deal of funding. But sustaining donors and benefactors seem charmed with the organization’s mission, objectives and the resulting success in molding at-risk kids into confident, accomplished and professional young managers and entrepreneurs. Several years ago, Eric Keller, principal project manager for Cargill’s grain and oilseeds North America supply chain business at the time, heard about BoysGrow, and learned that it was raising money to buy a farm. Keller approached Cargill Cares Committee about helping out.

The Cargill committee met with Gordon and the boys and reviewed the organization’s multi-year plan. “What impressed us was its vision and direction,” recalls Keller. “They had a good strategic plan. We also liked that BoysGrow hits on all three of the primary focus areas that Cargill corporately and locally contribute to – health and nutrition, education and the environment.”

Along with many individual donors and contributors, BoysGrow is financially backed by more than 30 family and business foundations, as well as the United States Department of Agriculture. Major players in agriculture, banking, health, crop, food and meat processing and packaging are among the supporters: Kemper Foundation, Sunderland Foundation, The J.E. and L.E. Mabee Foundation, Seaboard Foundation, Smithfield, Boulevard Brewing Company, Health Forward Foundation, Cargill, Kansas City Lidia’s, Hallmark, Missouri Bank, Cabela’s, H&R Block, Gray Family Foundation, Commerce Bank, and Kauffman Foundation.

How BoysGrow Grew

The seeds for BoysGrow were sown in California, New Mexico and at a Kenpo karate dojo in the early 2000s. The sensei at a California karate school invited student John Gordon to a New Mexico wilderness retreat. Called Fathers, Sons & Brothers, the three-week workshop helped men explore the relationships with the males in their lives with a goal of improving communication and self-esteem.

The workshop was just what he was looking for, Gordon told the Seattle Times during a 2012 interview with the newspaper after he had founded BoysGrow. The New Mexico workshop improved his communication skills and bolstered his confidence. By his fourth year at the event, he had become a staff member. At that point the workshop’s leader offered Gordon a job with a social service agency working with young people in Chico, California.

There he met Paco, a 12-year-old boy who changed his life. “He was like Harry Potter living underneath the stairs,” Gordon recalls. “Nobody wanted him.” Paco was enthralled with a gang and involved in theft and other crimes. That’s when social services arranged to have him taken under the wing of a farm family. Paco’s new guardians gave him plenty of responsibilities, Gordon says, noticing a quick and obvious change in the youngster. “He went from this sunken kid who was wearing the weight of the world on his shoulders — aggravated and hard to talk to — to a young man who had a purpose.” Gordon was inspired. He moved back to Kansas City in 2008 and created BoysGrow in 2010.