DJ Ekin comforts Janyssa Vaughn as she reveals her story to the I Care About Me group during a mixer in Brandon recently. Janyssa said the group has allowed her to set aside her anger and realize her own self-worth.
Janyssa Vaughn, seventh-grader from the Plant City area, was doing poorly in school and had no clue how to "handle" people. She cried a lot, burned herself and even thought about committing suicide.
The 12-year-old pushed back when her grandmother, Voneta Largent, suggested last October she attend an organizational meeting for a new group dedicated to helping young people find their own self-worth.
Janyssa went to the meeting anyway, and walked out with a new outlook.
"The first day, she didn't want to smile," said Rhiannon Capling, one of the organizers of the group, I Care About Me.
"She had nothing she cared about. From there, she has grown."
Seeing Janyssa smile during a recent mixer for the group at The Regent was "just awesome," Capling said.
Janyssa openly wept that night, as she shared her story through a short documentary clip with other members of the group.
"I've let go of my past, and I've succeeded," she says in the piece.
One big change has been learning to talk out her issues with some of her peers.
"I know I don't have to be angry. If someone approaches me in a bad way, I can just walk away," she said.
I Care About Me is a social program, where kids get together and talk about what's happening in their lives and work on ways to better resolve conflicts, build self-esteem, reduce violence and tackle other common issues.
Each week, 15 or 20 students between 12 and 19 from across Hillsborough County, along with a few younger siblings, meet at a donated space at Mount Moriah Ministries in Plant City; organizers say the group, which has been meeting since September, is a pilot program; they hope spurs can start up in other areas.
Before I Care About Me came into her life, Janyssa said she had no friends, nobody to talk to about why she was so angry. I Care About Me has changed that for her and helped her to realize who she really is, she said.
"She has opened up a lot," said her grandmother. "She's getting along better with her mother, not fighting, has more control. She used to cry every single day, and she said she had nothing to smile about. Obviously, this group has something that's helped to turn that around."
I Care About Me grew out of ConnXions, a nonprofit group that teaches young people to network and develop relationships, which DJ Ekin started while he was with WBTP-FM 95.7 the Beat. The announcer, whose real name is Bobby Hack, took rapper Maino to a halfway house for troubled teens in Tampa, and the rapper talked about how so many kids get into serious trouble because they don't care about themselves.
That was the impetus for I Care About Me: teaching kids that clothes and jewelry don't matter as much as morals and values, said Ekin, now an announcer at WPOI Hot 101.5.
I Care About Me took the program one step closer to the kids, giving them a place to go and meet with peers, share their ups and downs, talk things out, Ekin said. The program also teaches kids how to develop relationships, he said.
"We don't claim to be doctors or anything," Ekin said. "We just want to be the cool, central place where kids can go and mingle and do positive things. The kids have stopped caring, period. We want to bring that back."
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