In this episode of The REAL Mentors Podcast, Belinda Ramos, now Executive Director of Community Connections for Youth in the South Bronx, reveals why the most effective way to prevent youth incarceration is hiring people who've lived through it. Her organization staffs 80% formerly incarcerated adults as mentors—"credible messengers" who understand the streets, the system, and the trauma—cutting recidivism rates by 60%.

You'll discover:

→ Why her brother (dark-skinned, Black Puerto Rican) was scapegoated by their own family while she (lighter-skinned) got opportunities

→ The "arrested development" phenomenon: how incarceration freezes emotional growth at the age you entered

→ Why schools and families don't teach emotional regulation—and how this fuels the prison pipeline

→ How Newburgh, NY (violent crime 198% above national average) became her training ground for justice work

→ The gratitude practice Sean used in his prison cell that works anywhere

→ Her brother's redemption arc: from decades of cycling through incarceration to age 55, now working at Fortune Society

→ Why "the answer is in the community"—and why distant experts keep failing marginalized youth

The uncomfortable truth: Most youth don't need punishment—they need adults who've been where they are. CCFY meets families at crisis moments (first arrest, probation) before deep system involvement creates compounding barriers: homelessness, employment discrimination, fractured relationships, shame.

Host Sean Martin (formerly incarcerated) creates the rare space where both guests speak the same language—lived experience of trauma, systems, and redemption. As Sean shares: he didn't learn about processing FEELINGS until prison anger management workshops. That's how emotionally stunted poverty and chaos make us.

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Community Connections for Youth:

📍 149th & 3rd Ave, Bronx, 7th floor (walk-ins welcome 9am-5pm)

🌐 www.cc-fy.org | Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cc4y/

📧 Serving South Bronx families for 16 years

💼 Programs: Youth diversion, parent support, court advocacy, transformative mentoring

Follow REAL Mentors Podcast

Instagram: www.instagram.com/realmentorspodcast

Host Sean Martin: www.instagram.com/theseanmartin

Beyond The Bronx Book: https://www.instagram.com/beyondthebronxbook/

Grab Your Copy 👉 https://a.co/d/gKLMhg9/

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TIMESTAMPS:

00:00 - Opening: "The Bronx is crushed. But I see beauty in that."

02:22 - Growing up in Newburgh, NY (one of America's most dangerous cities)

04:44 - Church as sanctuary during 1980s racial marginalization

09:14 - Faith as justice framework: Christianity without dogma

10:09 - The day her mother died and her brother disappeared

15:02 - "His experiences were a grown man's. Who he was was a child."

17:18 - Why prison taught Sean about feelings (after earning six figures)

20:30 - Rock bottom before finding purpose at CCFY

22:05 - Brother's journey: 33 when they reconnected, 55 when he found stability

25:25 - How credible messengers work: 80% staff are program alumni

30:03 - Self-actualization: "You want to get this clean or get this filthy?"

31:52 - Emotional literacy as violence prevention

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About The Real Mentors:

REAL = Real Examples Altering Lives. Host Sean Martin interviews leaders and people whose lived experiences—incarceration, addiction, poverty, trauma—inform their work transforming systems. Authentic conversations about redemption that don't sugarcoat the struggle.

Subscribe for stories proving transformation is possible no matter where you're starting from.

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