Mission Statement
Shoulder To Shoulder (STS), was founded by Bill Coibion in 1996. Its vision was to encourage and equip men to be servant leaders in their homes, churches and in their community. The community phase was centered on mentoring fatherless young boys in the Sacramento region.
Our Vision is to equip urban fatherless young men for life, enabling them to become well-balanced, mature men in their family and community, breaking the cycle of fatherlessness.
Our Mission is to mentor urban fatherless young men from 7th grade through high school graduation and provide care for their mothers.
Description
For seven years STS focused on the first two phases of its vision by reaching men through it’s Point Men Breakfast Series and Friday Night Out, a marriage enrichment series. In addition STS sought out mentoring opportunities but was unable to find one. During this period, STS reached over 25,000 men from around the greater Sacramento region.
In December 2004 STS’s founder, Bill Coibion, met Samuel E. Harris, principal of Martin Luther King Jr. High School (MLK) located in Del Paso Heights area of Sacramento. It was during this meeting that a possible mentoring opportunity was revealed as 70% of the students on this campus were fatherless, living in near extreme poverty and less than 50% were graduating from high school.
During the first half of 2005 Mr. Harris and Mr. Coibion met and this resulted in an executive summary covering what is now called, Freedom Hall. In December 2005, Mr. Coibion quit his job to answer the call of God to mentor fatherless young men in Del Paso Heights.
In 2006 STS began transitioning to a new vision, "preparing urban fatherless young for life". By mid 2007, an MOU was signed between STS and the Grant High School District, the largest room on MLK was provided to STS for mentoring, eight mentors were recruited from men involved with Point Men, three part time staff joined STS, equipment and furniture was donated, $20,000 of start funding raised, 20 fatherless young men and their moms said YES to Freedom Hall and on November 5, 2007 mentoring fatherless young men on MLK in Del Paso Heights began through Freedom Hall.
