KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Missouri, man is empowering boys in the community through a weekly mentoring program.

"It's important to show (the kids) the pitfalls out there in the community — what not to do, what to do; be a leader, not a follower," Taylor said. "We're able to tap into something, things that we went through, and try to lead them through a different path or show them something different."

Every Monday night Taylor hosts about 20 kids at his home. They listen to guest speakers and mentors talk about their careers and learn life skills, such as how to save money and pay bills.

They also eat dinner together.

The program has seven male mentors.

"Everybody has a part to play," Taylor said. "It just depends on what part they want to play."

The mentors help the kids with homework, take the boys on field trips and offer a $100 reward to those who get a 3.0 grade-point average in math, science, history and English each semester. The goal, according to Taylor, is to "raise strong, productive young men, and re-establish accountable and productive members in the community."

"Their minds are impressionable, so if you can get to them beforehand and curve their thinking into something positive as opposed to in conflict resolution, then you can decrease something from happening in the future," he said.

The Males to Men mentoring program is free. It is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 19.