The East Oakland neighborhood where Tracy Shorter spent his early childhood wasn't the kind of place where kids could go outside and play. One set of neighbors was like the Hatfields and McCoys. "We were trained when we heard them arguing to get our siblings, run into the house and hide until everything died down," he said. "All around us it was gunshots, drive-bys and police sirens."

Shorter, 23, now lives in Pleasanton. But he returns often to his old neighborhood in the 70s near International Boulevard. When he does, Shorter, an emergency medical technician for Royal Ambulance, proudly wears his black EMT uniform.

Nequwan Taylor, 18, from East Oakland, attends a life skills training workshop at EMS Corps in San Leandro, Thursday, March 17, 2016. (Tammerlin Drummond/Bay Area News Group) ( tammerlin drummond )

"Some people look at me funny because they see the all-black uniform and think I'm the police," Shorter said. "But everyone else is ecstatic to see someone who grew up there not involved in the streets of Oakland."

Shorter is a 2014 graduate of EMS Corps. The innovative program, run by the Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, trains young men between the ages of 18 and 26 for careers in emergency medical services. It's part of a broader national effort, which includes President Barack Obama's My Brother's Keeper initiative. The goal is to create a laser focus on improving the life outcomes for boys and men of color who are disproportionately dropping out of school, facing mass unemployment, getting incarcerated and dying on the streets. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a major funder.


About a third of EMS Corps participants have juvenile arrest records. The program, in fact, started at Camp Sweeney, the county youth detention center in San Leandro, and continues to recruit from there.

According to county health officials, 139 men have completed the program since it started in 2012. Many are employed as health professionals -- EMTs, counselors at detox centers and community health outreach workers. These are the kinds of rare jobs where you can earn a living wage without having a college education.

"It's really inspiring when you have someone who is struggling, and you introduce them to a field where there is growth," said Sherri Willis, with the Alameda County Public Health Department.

The program is building a cadre of professionals who reflect the communities they serve. "So you don't have all these cultural barriers," Willis said.

The men go through a rigorous five-month academy, where they earn a monthly stipend of $1,000. They learn how to save lives. But they also undergo intensive life coaching to transform their own.

I attended a recent coaching session at the EMS Corps offices in San Leandro, where the 10th group began training earlier this month. Eleven men sat at long tables arranged in a big rectangle. Each one had a journal. Valerie Street, a life coach with the county health care agency, had given them an in-class exercise that included answering questions such as why do their lives matter to them and, "What will you do with the time, talent and love you have been given to show yourself and others that your life matters and is truly worth living?"

The men stood up and spoke of their desires to be teachers, healers, loving partners and dedicated fathers. Their testimonies were powerful and heartfelt.

Michael Gibson, EMS Corps director, said life coaching, intensive case management and mentoring are at the core of the program.

"Getting your mind right and getting you to be a better man to your family and your community is primary," Gibson said. "The career is secondary."

Gibson knows from his own experience the challenges facing many of the men in the program. His mother was addicted to drugs. He was arrested for the first time when he was 11 years old. At 16, he was sentenced to eight years in the California Youth Authority. He served 3½ -- almost one year of that time in solitary confinement.

Now Gibson is the living embodiment of a blueprint for transformation. He has gone from CYA to MPA. Gibson, who graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta, has just finished the coursework for his master's in public administration at Cal State East Bay. He has spent his entire adult life giving back to young people. Tracy Shorter also hasn't turned his back on where he came from. He returns to East Oakland to inspire kids who see limited opportunities for their lives. But it's always with a mixture of nostalgia and sadness.

"It makes me happy that God took me out of that place," he said, "but it also breaks my heart."

Tammerlin Drummond's column runs Thursday and Sunday.