O'Dell Jackson III was on the brink of being expelled from middle school when his library teacher, Andrea Dixon, pulled him aside and suggested he meet a friend who could help. "Is he black?" inquired a wary Jackson, then 14. "Yeah," she said. "Has he ever been shot?" asked Jackson, who had taken a bullet in the leg a year earlier. "Yes, he has," she replied.
The friend in question: Tyrone Flowers, a mentor and advocate for troubled youth who, in his day, was as angry and lost as any of his potential charges. Flowers runs Higher-M-Pact, a Kansas City, Mo., nonprofit organization he launched full-time in 2003, where he serves as role model, job coach and, when necessary, disciplinarian to young men from 11 to 18. His kids volunteer at local housing projects, work Saturdays for a lawn-care company and meet monthly with CEOs of banks, law firms and other businesses. The results? Better grades and more participation at school. Three of the young men he mentored have gone on to college. "Tyrone has a God-given gift to engage, motivate and influence people's lives," says Philip Hickman, 30, a school vice principal in Belleville, Ill., who heard Flowers speak when Hickman was a teen and stays in touch with him to this day. "He can see past the kids' present situation and see what they can become."
Due, perhaps, to his own ability to overcome obstacles. Flowers's teenage mother was unable to care for him and, when he was 2 years old, left him with his grandmother. After being removed from her home, he spent the majority of his youth in foster homes, reform schools, psychiatric wards and treatment centers. Diagnosed with a behavioral disorder at age 10, Flowers recalls being so medicated, "I was drooling." Later, he got kicked out of class for fighting with students and shouting at teachers. "I'd break something, hit something, destroy property, whatever," he says. At 15, he was locked in a filthy 6-ft. by 4-ft. concrete cell in a juvenile detention center. "That was the last time that I had tears," he says of his closed-off manner.
And then it got worse. At 17, Flowers found shelter with a drug-addicted aunt, stealing candy and selling it for cash so he could buy clothes and food. Yet he made decent grades and became a star center on his high school basketball team. Then he got into a fight with a jealous teammate over who had more status at school. The teammate pulled a gun on him and fired three shots. One hit Flowers's hand, one tore into his leg, and a third went through his neck, nicking his spinal cord and rendering him paralyzed from the waist down. Through four months in the hospital and rehab, Flowers had one goal: to kill the man who shot him. "I was mad at people thinking he had one up on me," he says.
That attitude changed when he moved in with another aunt and uncle, who had jobs, children and stability. "It was truly a home," he says. "I said, 'I want this.'" He became more spiritual, forgiving his attacker. He also excelled at community college and transferred to the University of Missouri-Columbia, where he earned a law degree. While there, he founded a Bible study group, where he met Renée Rose, a pretty math-education major "who had a sense of humor, was smart and demanded respect."
They married in 1995. It's a union that makes a positive impression on Flowers's boys when they come to hang out once a month at the couple's single-story home in a neatly hedged neighborhood 15 minutes outside of Kansas City. "It shows them that you can commit yourself to one person and have fun with marriage," says Renée, who, with Tyrone, has gone on several double dates with boys and their girlfriends.
Flowers also coaches his wards about how to make small talk with coworkers ("Ask about their week") and succeed in business: smile, make eye contact, shake hands firmly and wear appropriate attire (belts, yes; do-rags, no). "I know walking around with a tight belt goes against being cool," Flowers tells them, "but you don't want to keep pulling up your pants. It's about perception."
His young men make a good impression. At Ryan Lawn & Tree, three show up for their apprenticeship in pressed khakis, clean red T-shirts and company caps. They immediately hustle into a garage to bring out lawn equipment. As they mow grass and blow leaves, Flowers watches from his van and calls out advice: straighten a cap, or put a cell phone into a pocket. By giving them his constant attention and introducing them to business owners, Flowers gives his young men both the means and motivation to push for success. It's something he hopes to achieve with O'Dell Jackson, now 16 and aiming for college. Flowers took him to a Kansas City law firm, where he was inspired to try to become a judge. "I never used to think about where I'd be 20 years from now—I was just worried about living to see another day," Jackson says. "But now, I feel like the sky's the limit."
Know a hero? Send suggestions to HEROESAMONGUS@PEOPLEMAG.COM. Please include your name, phone number and return e-mail address. For more information on Flowers's organization, go to www.highermpact.org
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