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Jerone Shell

Jerone grew up with no father and his mother was a crack addict.; Having to fend for himself, he committed petty crimes to survive.; After several offenses, and the "3 Strikes" law, he was facing 25 years to life imprisonment.; While waiting for sentencing, Jerone participated in a Create Now! Theater Workshop at Central Juvenile Hall, co-starring in a play written by Mario Rocha, another resident.

Create Now! set up Jerone with a one-on-one mentor, Stuart Sender, an Academy-award nominated producer and director, who helped him develop his writing skills.; Stuart generously gave him a laptop computer, but the track ball was broken.; Without any guidance, Jerone easily opened up the computer and fixed it.; We discovered that he had a natural affinity for computers and was able to work on them without any assistance.

When he was sentenced to three years at Centinela State Prison, both Stuart and Create Now! corresponded with him, sending books and writing materials, which he couldn't get in prison.; When Jerone was released from prison, he got to meet his four year-old daughter for the first time.; Jerone not only had the support of Stuart Sender and Create Now!, but we also found him a new mentor, Thomas Lewis.; Thomas had grown up on the same streets as Jerone and had gotten into trouble as a teenager.; He wanted to reach out to help at-risk youth.; Thomas was studying Computer Science at Southwestern College.; He and Jerone hit it off like brothers.; Through Thomas' help, Jerone was accepted to Southwestern College to attend classes in Computer Sciences.; He was also offered a job at Southwestern College as a "Peer Counselor," and was asked to start a "Poetry Slam Club" so that other aspiring poets could have a forum to express themselves.