TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man started a non-profit to help at-risk teenage boys who don’t have father figures in their lives.

The program called "Father Figures Mentorship" seeks to give teenage boys an outlet to express their negative experiences in a constructive and healthy way. 

Many of the young boys live in group homes, have been incarcerated, and/or do not have father figures in their lives. Founder Barak Amen said he is able to connect with the young men because years ago, he walked in their same shoes. 

“My mom gave me away when I was 5; she had an addiction to drugs but I still made something of myself,” said Amen. “I feel like I can relate to them because at one point in my life I was the guy who I mentor now - the guy who wanted to level up and make it to the next level of life but didn’t know how.” 

Amen started ‘Father Figures Mentorship’ in 2012 and has since mentored over 500 young men. 

“One of the things I noticed in life is when you keep doing the right thing but get an undesirable result, that takes a lot of energy and mental toughness. I like to show these young men that it’s possible,” he said.

Amen said Father Figures Mentorship doesn’t seek to fill a void in these young men’s lives but seeks to help them identify their needs, process what they’ve been through, and help to fill the spaces with positive interaction and attainable goals. 

“I lived in everyone else’s house for a few years,” said Amen. “I grew up homeless from the ages of 14-17 but I graduated high school early, at the age of 16. I saw that I could overcome obstacles no matter what I was faced with and I want my boys to have that same understanding.” 

Stacey Mathis of the SNH group home said that Amen’s willingness to share his past has made a huge difference in the lives of the men who live there. 

“He is needed and appreciated,” said Stacey Mathis of SNH group home. “He opens up his heart and lets them see his journey from being abandoned as a child, getting in trouble with the law as early as 12. For him to show them his journey by a timeline it shows that “I am not my past.” 

In addition to mentorship, Amen takes the young men on camping and fishing trips as well as different places around the Tampa Bay Area. 

If you’d like to get involved, click here.