Natural Borne Leaders

Shaping Today's Youth Into Tomorrow's Leader

What is NBL?

Natural Bourne Leaders mentoring Academy is a community-based mentoring program serving students from ages 9-13, and high school teens ages 14-17, identified by school administration to be at-risk of educational failure, dropping out of school, juvenile delinquency or gang-related offenses. We also practice principles of character.

“A study published by economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett found that both male and female students who have a mentor behind them are more likely to succeed in the class room. The same is true for adults who have a life coach or mentor are more likely to prosper in the workforce and obtain promotions. ” Forbes Magazine

“It pays to have a helping hand to get ahead in school or the workplace whether you're transitioning into a promotion, or switching into a whole new field. Most of us can benefit from having a mentor or sponsor at our back to teach, promote and encourage us.” Forbes Magazine

Our Services

We also service college students from the age of 18 to the mature working professional adult. We operate as life coaches as well as a mentors based upon your specific needs at the time.

By partnering with the schools, and working closely with school administrators, we are able to identify, and serve the teens who are most at risk for educational failure.

Program elements include weekly in-school and after-school meetings of mentors and teens, a Natural Bourne Leaders retreat at the close of each semester to reward them of their hard work, a 24-hour experiential mentor training, and ongoing training and support for carefully selected and screened mentors.

The mission of The Natural Bourne Leader Mentoring Academy is to teach, train and educate the fundamental principles of leadership to young men & women, enabling them to identify the leader within themselves at an early age, and to achieve their dreams and become strong, responsible, productive citizens in life.
Billy E. Chatman Jr & his wife Nikita L. Chatman originally founded the Natural Bourne Leaders Mentoring program in 2011. Billy is a retired Captain of the Louisville Fire & Rescue and he also worked as Youth director of his church in New Albany, Indiana. In 2008 he was voted in to be the Youth President over the Tri-State area which includes Kentucky, Ohio, & West Virginia. He has spent much of his life dedicated to building & shaping the lives of young people. Billy has always known that this is what he is called to do; he will not give up on today’s youth until his calling has been fulfilled.

Billy & his wife gathered a team of committed leaders to create a mentoring program for teenagers. They developed a mentoring program that includes elements of community involvement, a leadership weekend outings and effective mentoring practices.

Natural Bourne Leaders is a model program that is being replicated on a community level to help young men & women throughout the nation. This program first originated in Louisville, KY and has now spread to Tampa, FL. This program has the potential to reach thousands of Natural Bourne Leaders across the nation.
The goal of the NBL Mentoring Program is to cause a paradigm shift for at risk teens and introduce role models who provide positive examples of leadership. The focus of Natural Bourne Leaders is to instill & achieve the following principles in the young men & women who take part in our programs:

Improve academic performance (usually defined through grades or standard test scores)

Improve feelings of scholastic competence and confidence

Improve relations with peers, teachers, and other school personnel

Increase attendance and class participation

Increase self-esteem

Improve Self-awareness

Improve Responsibility

Improve Discipline

Increase Patience

Improve Integrity
Students who are involved in the program will receive free haircuts depending upon the availability of the barber who is volunteering their time. Females who participate in the program will also receive pampering, which includes: hair, manicure, and pedicure. We will also have an outing called “Dress for Success”; this is designed to take the students to an elegant restaurant. This allows those students who have never dressed up in formal attire or been to an upscale restaurant to have this experience. This is also predicated on their grades at the end of each semester. Students involved in the program will also be trained on how to build a resume as well as how to be successful on an interview.
Potential mentors are interviewed and carefully screened, and must pass a Police background check as well as any additional school district background checks required.

All mentors are required to have at least a High School diploma and attend an 8-hour mentor orientation, and receive ongoing feedback and training from NBL staff before and after the weekly sessions.

The group-mentoring program allows NBL staff to monitor and evaluate the mentor’s interactions with the teens. All group leaders are trained to spot signs of predatory behavior. We frequently discuss predatory behavior at group sessions and instruct teens and mentors to immediately report ANY concerns or inappropriate behaviors to NBL staff. Every meeting has at least one NBL staff member present.
We have given away over $3,000 in small scholarships to help students with their school materials such as books, and more!
The number of teens growing up without fathers in their lives has reached epidemic proportions. High rates of divorce and out-of-wedlock births have created a generation of fatherless teens.

According to Florida’s Department of Education ninth-through twelfth-grade, single-year dropout rate has fluctuated slightly over the past five years from a high of 2.0 percent in 2009-10 and 2012-13 to a low of 1.9 percent in 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14.

One in three children are born to unmarried parents.

An estimated 24.7 million children do not live with their biological father.

43% of urban teens live away from their father.

42% of fathers fail to see their children at all after divorce.

Since 1960 the rate of U.S. teens without fathers has quadrupled.

It has been determined that 73% of at risk teens come from broken homes.

1 in 6 black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, 1 in 3 black males born today will spend time in prison in his lifetime.
A Newsweek article “The trouble with many teens“ states one of the most reliable predictors of whether a teen will succeed in life rests on a single question: does he or she have a mentor in their life to look up to? Too often, the answer is no.” These are the consequences of fatherless homes:

85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.

71% of high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.

80% of rapists with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.

63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.

Gang membership increased from 50,000 in 1975 to 1,150,000 in 2008.

90% of homeless children are from fatherless homes.

85% of children with behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.

90% of adolescent repeat arsonists live with only their mother.

Fatherless teens are 4 times more likely to need help for emotional or behavioral problems.

“When young people are connected to caring adults, communities do well .”

— Mark Edwards, Executive Director, Opportunity Nation

Young People Report Mentoring is linked to Higher Educational Outcomes and Aspirations

A rich body of research supports the concept that quality mentoring is associated with positive outcomes for youth. The benefits of mentoring can be seen across many facets of an individual’s life, including better attendance and attitude toward school, less use of drugs and alcohol, improved social skills and interactions with peers, more trusting relationships and better communication with parents, and an increased chance of continuing on to college.

Based Mentoring, explains, “Virtually every aspect of human development is fundamentally shaped by interpersonal relationships. So it stands to reason that when close and caring relationships are placed at the center of a youth intervention, as is the case in mentoring programs, the conditions for healthy development are ripe.”

A recent and comprehensive meta-analysis of more than 73 independent mentoring program evaluations published between 1999 and 2010 found positive outcomes across social, emotional, behavioral, and academic areas of youths’ development. In comparison to the positive gains of mentored youth, non-mentored youth were actually found to exhibit declines in some outcome areas, suggesting mentoring can function as both intervention and prevention.
After-school meetings: Students voluntarily attend these weekly after-school groups.

In-school meetings: Students with academic and/or behavior issues are required by school administration to attend NBL group session during school hours. Natural Bourne Leaders staff work closely with school administrators to provide additional support for these extremely at risk teens.

Evening groups: Open to all Tampa Bay area students.
Every week NBL mentors show up at elementary, middle, or high schools to offer students:

A community of mentors and role models who listen, & encourage them and believe in them.

A community of men who model integrity, accountability, compassion and respect.

A community where students are empowered to speak their truth, and encouraged to take responsibility for their choices.

A community where students feel supported listened to and valued.

A community where young men & women see their peers are facing similar challenges, and they are in their struggles.

The weekly meetings combine learning, fun, leadership opportunities, peer mentoring and self-esteem building exercises. All meetings are facilitated by one or more NBL staff members, and supported by volunteer mentors. The group meetings range in size from 1 to 25 students with an average ratio of 10 students to 1 mentor. The meetings follow a curriculum in accordance with each semester designed to help youth cope with typical problems and issues at home and school, and bring awareness and intention to the important choices all teens face in their adolescent development.
What are your goals in life? What are you doing or not doing to achieve those goals?

What kind of leader do you want to be? What will you need to do to become that leader?

What are your biggest fears in life?

What masks do you wear to hide what is really going on inside you?

How does peer pressure affect you?

What are you most proud and least proud of?

Have you ever been bullied or been the bully?

Each meeting begins with an accountability check. A mentor models this by being transparent about his experience on that week’s topic. One of the most important tenets of NBL is the mentor doesn’t lecture or tell students what to do. He just tells his story and talks about the feelings he had when he was a teenager, the mistakes he made, the lessons he learned and the long-term consequences of his actions.

This approach gives the teens permission to tell the truth about the challenges all teenage youth face, make their own decisions on how to deal with those challenges, and begin to take responsibility for their choices and the consequences of their actions.

Every third week the after school groups participate in fun, physical activities ie: dodge ball, touch football or basketball. Playing together is an important program component that deepens the connection between teens and mentors, and develops team-building skills.

At the end of each semester of group meetings, the teens and mentors are invited to attend the NBL Weekend outing. Requirements for outings are based on grades and conduct. This powerful weekend experience further deepens the trust, and connections between teens and their Mentors. Additional program elements include bi-monthly weekend activities, including community service projects, fishing trips, football games, camping, serving at the homeless shelters, and leadership development weekends.