PROGRAMS & SERVICES
The R.I.C.K Program Reaching Inner-City Kids
Founded by Michael Gibson, R.I.C.K. — Reaching Inner-City Kids — is a hands-on youth development and mentoring program created to educate, guide, and empower young people, with a special focus on boys growing up without consistent father figures or positive male role models.
Too many young boys are trying to navigate life without the guidance, discipline, encouragement, and accountability they need. R.I.C.K. is committed to helping fill those gaps by connecting youth with dependable men who are willing to show up, share their knowledge, teach practical skills, and lead by example.
We are not simply another “big brother” program. We are stepping into the spaces where responsible men should have stepped up—providing the structure, honesty, correction, support, and real-life preparation young men need to become confident, capable, and accountable adults.
Learning With Their Hands
Landscaping serves as one of the program’s primary teaching tools. Through supervised, hands-on projects, participants will learn valuable skills such as:
Lawn care and property maintenance
Planting, gardening, and basic landscaping
Safe operation and care of tools and equipment
Teamwork, communication, and problem-solving
Responsibility, punctuality, and a strong work ethic
Entrepreneurship, money management, and customer service
Our youth will not only learn how to complete a job—they will learn how to take pride in their work, respect themselves and others, follow through on commitments, and understand the value of earning what they want.
More Than Landscaping
R.I.C.K. is about more than cutting grass, planting flowers, and maintaining properties. Every project becomes an opportunity for life mentoring.
While working side by side with positive male mentors, participants will engage in honest conversations about decision-making, education, employment, relationships, emotional control, conflict resolution, financial responsibility, personal hygiene, accountability, and becoming dependable men within their families and communities.
We will teach young men that strength is not measured by anger, aggression, or what they can take from others. Real strength is demonstrated through discipline, integrity, consistency, responsibility, and the courage to make better choices.
Our Mission
The mission of R.I.C.K. is to reach inner-city youth before negative influences convince them that failure, violence, incarceration, or the streets are their only options.
We want every participant to understand:
You are not forgotten.
You are not disposable.
Your environment does not determine your future.
You have the ability to learn, build, lead, and succeed.
Through practical training, mentorship, community service, and meaningful relationships, R.I.C.K. will help young people develop the confidence and skills needed to create opportunities for themselves.
Filling the Gaps and Building the Future
We cannot replace a child’s father, but we can refuse to ignore the empty space. We can show up consistently. We can listen. We can teach. We can correct with care, encourage with purpose, and demonstrate what responsible manhood looks like.
When we teach a young person how to care for the land, we are also teaching them how to care for their future. When we place tools in their hands, we are giving them more than equipment—we are giving them confidence, knowledge, purpose, and possibilities.
R.I.C.K. is planting more than grass, flowers, and gardens.
We are planting discipline.
We are planting confidence.
We are planting responsibility.
We are planting hope.
And with the right guidance, those seeds will grow into strong young men who are prepared to lead their families, strengthen their communities, and reach back to guide the next generation.
R.I.C.K. — Reaching Inner-City Kids
Real Skills. Real Mentorship. Real Men Showing Up.