Season 10 of The Heart of Detroit is now airing monthly!
Ed: We realize that boys live in a confined area. Their whole perspective is shaped by what they see. So we started this as an exposure tour because we believe if you see more, you believe you can do more.
Over five days, 40 young men and 10 adults travel to Washington DC and New York City making stops at places like The Smithsonian Museum, The MLK Memorial and Yankee Stadium.
Mitch: What percentage of the kids would you say that this is their first trip out of Metro Detroit?
Charles: Wow. I would probably say 90%.
Mitch: So 90% have never been outside of Metro Detroit before.
Ed: Yeah, well, it really becomes a shared experience. So that’s the bond, right? And so it starts to build trust from the beginning.
Charles: On our first trip, we were on our way back. It was late, and everyone on the bus was asleep except one boy and he was FaceTiming his mother. And he was saying to her, whispering, my life would never be the same.
Mitch: I think I saw somewhere where you said they begin the trip saying, I don’t know, but they end the trip saying, I think I can become.
Charles: At the beginning, we see 40 boys, none of them knowing each other, none of them knowing what to expect. At the end… Brotherhood.
Opening their eyes to what is possible, Charles Thomas and Ed Boyd are Men on a Mission right here in the heart of Detroit.
