Mack Caldwell (left) and Nico Reed at a recent ARCHS' Adult Basketball/Life Skills awards banquet. Both Caldwell and Reed have found employment with ARCHS' partners.ARCHS is known across the State of Missouri for managing programs that impact the lives of thousands of the area's most vulnerable citizens. However, when ARCHS' program participants begin finding careers within ARCHS' partnership umbrella, it's a testament to the extra mile that is taken to truly change lives.

St. Louis residents Mack Caldwell and Nico Reed, who are participants in ARCHS' Basketball/Life Skills program, have recently found employment with two of the organization's partners. Caldwell serves as a Youth Facilitator with Fathers' Support Center and Reed is a Youth Support Worker in the ASAP after school program at Langston Middle School.

"I take a lot of what I learn at basketball and apply it to my job," Caldwell said. "I see the camaraderie the guys have while playing basketball and things we learn in the life skills classes and analyze what I can so I can teach the kids I work with some things."

"I love working with the kids," Reed said. "It's a big responsibility because they look up to you and you have to set an example. I try and take the positives out of Adult Basketball and teach the kids I work with some things they can relate too."

Basketball/Life Skills is a partnership between ARCHS, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis Department of Parks, Recreation and, Forestry, and Fathers' Support Center. Hundreds of men between the ages of 18-35 form 10 teams for an 11-week basketball league. The participants are also required to take 10 life skills classes coordinated by Fathers' Support Center, which teach the young men about finances, building credit, nutrition, employment, and housing.

Another benefit is the relationships built between the men in the program and the police department.

"The friendship I've made with the St. Louis police is amazing," Caldwell said. "So when I go to work, I try and put that perception in some of my kids' heads that they can trust the police. I am going to have an officer come in and talk with them soon."