Real Talk With Sheree Corniel: Empowering Tomorrow's Leaders

Welcome to the Prison: The Hidden Sentence podcast, where today we are going to explore the transformative impact of empowering today’s youth. In this episode, Sheree Corniel shares her story with podcast host, Julia Lazareck. When Sheree’s siblings were incarcerated, she began questioning the criminal justice system at an early age, which led to her working within it for many years. During this time, she recognized the need for a youth-focused program and developed Real Talk, also the title of her book. Tune in to learn about the challenges and successes Sheree has faced, and discover why programs like Real Talk are essential for helping young people grow into responsible, contributing members of society. Listen to this podcast, gain valuable insights, and be inspired by the positive work Sheree is doing to guide our youth.

Sheree will also be presenting at the Connecting 4 Justice Conference (formerly the International Prisoner’s Family Conference) on September 18-20, 2024.

—

Listen to the podcast here

Real Talk With Sheree Corniel: Empowering Tomorrow’s Leaders

In this episode, I’m here with Sheree Corniel. She’s an author, a retired federal probation officer, a mother of two teenagers, a collegiate athlete, a 1996 Olympian for softball, and has over 30 years of experience with youth that has brought her to creating the Real Talk Youth Impact Program. In this episode, we’re going to talk about the program and Sheree’s life experience that has created the loving, compassionate, and spiritual person that she is today. Welcome, Sheree, and congratulations on being inducted into the 2024 UNLV Sports Hall of Fame for your 1991 softball team.

Thank you, Julia. It was so great to be here. I’m so proud to be a part of this show. I’m excited to get started and share my worth with the world.

Real Talk

I’m so excited for everybody to hear your story. I’ve read your book. We’ve met. We’ve spoken and your program is helping so many people. Let’s start with your book, Real Talk: Real Stories Real Change. Where did the name Real Talk come from?

In the early or late ’90s, my cousin and I would converse. She lives in California. I’m a native of California. I was born and raised in Carson, California and now, I’m in Vegas. This is my home. I played ball at UNLV. We would converse on the phone and we’d have a good time. We’d crack up and she’s called me Real Talk. I didn’t think anything of it. As I was employed by the Juvenile Parole, I did that for five and a half years and then I went to the Federal government and stayed there for fifteen years.

As I was there, I knew what my calling was. My passion has always been with youth. I knew what my calling was at an early age. I knew I was supposed to be working with kids. I decided, not me, but God put it on my heart to create this program for the youth. We started putting it together in late August 2012. It was at that time that I met with some of the offenders on our caseloads.

We pulled up some folks that I thought were worthy of the cause by talking to other people in the office, other probation officers saying that I needed some well-to-do so to speak people on your caseload that they thought would be worthy of participating in my program and speaking to you. We came up with about eighteen people. I think it was like six people from my caseload alone and we met for the first time. I sent out emails explaining to them who I was because some of them weren’t for my caseload.

It was about eighteen of us. We met in this room. I believe it was at the Federal halfway house. I proceeded to give them all of the paperwork regarding what was happening in our city of Las Vegas regarding the kids. I’m talking demographics of how many kids were in the institutions, how many kids were being certified, what the actual charges they were being certified on, and the incarceration rates, you name it.

I wanted to make sure that when I talked to them, they understood how they were there and chosen for a purpose to make a difference with these numbers. I told them that before we leave this meeting, we are going to come up with a name. We kicked around. I knew what I wanted, but I wanted them to have ownership in it so I told them, “I have a name, but I want you guys to work collectively with me right now to come up with a name.”

We went back and forth for about probably twenty minutes. The first thing we did was that on the agenda and bounced back and forth. They didn’t like what I had. Mine was Felons Building Bridges. They came up with all different sorts of names and we couldn’t come up with a name. I finally said, “Listen, guys and ladies, this is real talk.” One of the guys says, “That’s it.” I said, “That’s what?” He says, “Real talk.” I said, “Okay.” The other gentleman in the room says, “Yeah. Youth Impact Program.” I’m like, “Okay. Really?” They all said, “That’s pretty cool. Let’s go.”

I said, “Let’s take a vote. We got three on the table. Let me know.” We came up with Real Talk. It was, “We’re going to win with this one. It’s Real Talk Youth Impact Program.” It came to fruition. After that, we went on with the meeting as far as what roles we were going to play collectively to come up with that name.

It didn’t dawn on me until numerous years later when I started speaking to my cousin again. We were chatting it up again. We were talking about it and I said, “This is crazy. Remember, you used to call me Real Talk.” That’s how it evolved. The name stuck and it’s amazing. We refer to it as Real Talk, and when we need to put the whole name out there, we go Real Talk Youth Impact Program but it’s Real Talk.

It’s for real. It’s such a great name and that’s such a great story. When you all got together and came up with the name and you came up with your plan and how you were going to work with and address the youth, who was the first youth that came into your program?

My whole mission is a proactive and reactive program. Clearly, I wanted to have more preventative kids, but I had still connections with the juvenile courts, and I was working very closely with a good friend of mine. She wasn’t a supervisor then, but she was planning to become a supervisor. It was Jody Lupo, to be exact. She was a probation officer and we became close friends. I met her at one of the softball fields so we started talking. I was sharing with her what I wanted to do. She grabbed onto this immediately.

I knew some of the administration over there over the years when I did work there and kept in touch. They were totally on board with it. It took us nine months to put this program together and then Real Talk opened its doors to the public in June 2013. We were fortunate enough to have the district attorney and the director of the juvenile courts present and some probation officers. We launched it, and we had some people from the community.

Prison the Hidden Sentence | Sheree Corniel | Tomorrow's Leaders — Tomorrow’s Leaders: Real Talk opened its doors to the public in 2013, with around 13 kids to start.

I believe we had probably thirteen kids at the start. They came out to view the program and even before we opened it up, some of the juvenile administration would come to a couple of our meetings that I have with my offenders or my members. I call them back then. I hate to use the term offenders but we have to during the process of supervising them, but I would never refer to them as offenders in my program. Back then, we were referring to them as members.

I met with them, and then we would have these monthly meetings. Some of the administration from the juvenile courts would appear to hear exactly what we were doing or wanting to do. They already knew what was getting ready to happen and this is why I think they gravitated to us because most of these people understand that we had a crisis back then with the juveniles. It’s even worse now. Any other outside resource would gravitate to see how they can make a change or how they can incorporate what they’re doing or what we’re doing with what they want.

We ended up having this meeting, and then we had a couple of them come through. Brett was one of them He was a good friend of mine that I worked with at Juvenile Parole. He was one of our Master’s students from UNLV who came to work with us at Juvenile Parole and ended up then being the Assistant Administrator of the juvenile courts by the time he left. That’s how it evolved.

We ended up opening up and the first time we opened up, we had thirteen kids. The juvenile courts loved it. They started ordering kids to our program within a two-month period and I had my first court order child through my program on August 19th, 2013 and then it just evolved from there. It started getting bigger. It started growing. Here we are eleven years later, which is on June 2013.

Organizational Changes

That’s amazing. It was such a great program. You had the vision and you engaged people around you. You told them what you’re doing, and they saw what a great idea it was, but also how it could make a difference, how you could impact others and make change and that’s so important. It’s grown so much. Could you discuss some of the changes from the beginning when you started it to where you’re at now?

We have a more formalized process, number one, and it’s all automated now because paperwork is a lot and costly. Also, COVID helped with that. I’ll be honest with you, but there hasn’t been extreme change but the idea behind it all is to provide a positive change for these kids and also for the ex-felons. It’s very seldom that you get ex-felons or people who are system-affected to be involved with an ex-probation officer or an ex-juvenile parole officer.

It’s an interesting dynamic initially because they’re still trying to figure out who I am but as I’ve always shared with them, “I’m human just like you. We bleed. If I get cut, I bleed. If you get cut, you bleed. If I’m a young lady, I sit down and go to the bathroom like you young lady. If you stand up, I’m a male, I stand up just like you going to the bathroom.” Those were the little intricacies that I embraced with some of the ladies and gentlemen that I have in my program because I want them to know that as a probation or parole officer, that didn’t define me. That is what I was. That’s not who I am.

I am a person with high integrity and understand that we have a broken system, and the system will not be broken unless people take the bulls by the horns and say, “What can I do to help change the system for the positive? How can I influence people in this world who I deal with to get them to be more positive or have more self-esteem? How can I treat them with dignity and respect so they won’t go back into the system.” As you know and I know for a fact, it’s very easy to get caught up in the system and it’s difficult to get out. It’s all based on choices.

If we don’t allow or provide any type of positive change or any type of positive influence or guidance for these people who come out of the institutions, the whole thing is a ripple effect. At the end of the day, they’re coming back into society and they’re going to be in my neighborhood and your neighborhood. What can we do to keep them from recidivating? This is a national epidemic that we have and I haven’t seen the changes yet. The pandemic may have helped reduce this, but our recidivism rate is insane for our country.

How do you have a 70% recidivism rate and then you continue to allow things to happen? You want to talk about it, but you don’t want to be about it. We’re broken. With broken systems, you get broken people. With broken people who don’t have an outlet to get themselves to the right level or the right stability and mental status, that’s when you have chaos. When you have chaos and it’s in an uncontrolled environment, you have to find ways to make chaos become a normal person coming back to this community to make positive choices.

In an uncontrolled environment, you have to do your best to reintegrate people from behind bars back into the community and help them make positive choices. Share on X

That’s what this program is based on. Yes, we help the children. That is my focus point, but I also want to help the ex-felons. This is almost like a safe haven for them. I hate to say it or refer to it, but it’s like a treatment center. They come here. They know they’re loved. They know they’re respected. They share and want to make amends for the things that they’ve done in society. I give them that platform. There’s not a day or a month that goes by, and they don’t have to tell me, but I know they appreciate this program because not only does it help them stay on the right course, but it also gives them a sense of pride.

One of my speakers who has been with me for twelve years just got her Doctorate degree in Occupational Therapy from UNLV, and I went to that graduation. These are the positive things I love. I think that these gentlemen and ladies need to be credited for what they’ve done and stay out of trouble. I want to make sure that I continue to embrace it. That’s pretty much the background as to why I do what I do. I’m looking forward to many more years to continue to make positive changes in this community and across the nation.

You are making such a difference. That’s why you’re here on this show. I have interviewed so many different people to bring this to light, and people who tune in to it, whether they’ve been impacted or not by the justice system. It raises awareness. It opens their eyes and their ears. It makes them more compassionate because as you said, what we call returning citizens or the people that have been incarcerated are changing. By being in programs like yours and supporting programs like yours, it’s a win-win for both sides.

Program Overview

I wanted to clarify. We’ve been talking about UNLV, and that’s the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. That’s what UNLV is. I was wondering if you could give us an overview of the program. How does somebody get involved with it and what do they go through? It helps the youth. You’ve talked a little bit about the returning citizens that come in. What is their role? Give us a brief outline. I’ve been to some of your meetings and it’s amazing. I want you to share it with everybody.

We do this monthly, and the reason we do it monthly is because we offer the kids things outside of the program. We have a monthly meeting. It’s always the first Tuesday of the month from 4:30 to approximately 7:30. What we do is based on testimonies. All of my speakers who I interview come to the program or be a part of the program, once I interview them, I don’t care about your crimes. If it’s a sex offender crime, you’re not going to be in my program. If it’s violent towards women and things of that nature, I don’t particularly want you to be involved in my program unless you have a minimum of at least ten years of no record with any type of violence in your background.

At the end of the day, we have women and we have men here. We also have children from the ages of eight to eighteen. I’ll take on any ex-felons and not just ex-felons. Anybody who’s been a system-affected. You could have been arrested for a DUI spent two days in jail and then caught a probation sentence or you could have been arrested for even a bench warrant and forgot to pay it, and now you paid the price. There are consequences for your behavior. Anybody who’s been affected by the system, one day in jail, can be a part of the program. This program is about choices. These speakers get a minimum of fifteen minutes to share their stories.

I have three speakers, two males and a female, and we have an auditorium of about 60 kids and probably 20 to 30 visitors. We have that every month. The parents have a mandatory parent group, and that mandatory parent group has to come twice. The program is four months long, but they have to attend five meetings. The first time parents will go into a parent group and then they’ll sit in the room with three of my speakers in that room, two males and a female, and a therapist.

They review or talk about all of the issues they may be having with their kids, their child, or their grandkids. My speakers, who I refer to as doctorates of the streets share their direct input with the parents as far as signs and symptoms. Maybe possibly looking at how to alter some of their parenting styles before they lose the kids to the street or what have you. I give them that platform because they’ve already been there and done that.

For these parents to try and save their kids’ lives, we allow the speakers to share what things they should possibly do to continue to reel their son or their daughter in. The therapist who sits in that meeting is not there to run the show. I want my speakers to run the show, and the therapist to be there just for triage or some professional intervention if needed. That’s what happens in another group.

In the third group, we have all simultaneously running. The third group is where we have another therapist, and then two of our speakers, two male or three. It depends on how large the group is. That’s our group where the kids will review their workbooks that we have, which were created off of our affirmations and created by one of my speakers of eleven years. He wanted to create a workbook regarding our 10 or 12 affirmations.

We worked around the clock trying to get that going. It took us nine months. We did a lot of editing and whatnot, and we brought it to fruition. The kids love this. We have three things happening simultaneously. We have the big auditorium where the kids are being spoken to, two males and a female fifteen minutes a piece. We have the parents group. That’s for an hour as well. We also have the processing group where they review their workbook, share what they’ve learned from the program, and are able to speak openly and freely to the speakers about what they’ve learned. They can share conversations with those speakers in that group, along with the therapist or Dr. Keith.

We do that for about an hour, and then we take a break and feed everybody. The program is free by the way. We feed everyone and then we have a closing guest speaker at the end that gets fifteen minutes a piece. This is someone who hasn’t been arrested. This is someone who decided that they were going to do well in their lives and stay out of trouble, but they could have been in an environment when they were growing up that they could have gone the other way.

They were just one to two minutes shy of getting or catching a case and they decided to say, “No. I’m going to go in this direction.” We’ve had attorneys and we’ve had some of my Federal judges come in and speak on behalf of the program and how they became judges. When I brought certain speakers in, I had Justice Lee from Nevada, who was the first African-American and female justice in the history of the Nevada court. She came and spoke to our kids.

I’ve had police officers. I’ve had lay community people who owned businesses and entrepreneurs. I’ve had fabricators come in. I’ve had people who own security companies come in and talk to the kids about choices and how they evolved. We paint the picture like this. “Here’s what happens when you follow the rules. Here’s what happens when you don’t.” There’s no reason for these kids to leave us saying, “I didn’t know,” because every time they come back, they hear four new stories. Three from our permanent speakers, and then one from our closing guest speaker.

That’s the nuts and bolts of our program, except there’s one caveat that we offer to these kids. Any child that comes through the program can sign up for any activity they want like baseball, football, or basketball. They fill out a request for activity form, and we will pay for that as long as they meet our criteria. A 2.0 or passing grade, remain in compliance, and give us a thank you letter expressing gratitude. I need a W-9 from the vendor, and I also need an invoice.

If they get that to me in the time allotted, we will fund that child within eight days of $150 to the vendor. Thus far, we’ve had over 300-plus kids we’ve sponsored, and we’ve given away over $283,000 of kid’s activity funds in nine years because we didn’t get funded until 2014, a little bit after we opened up the following year. That’s what we do in a nutshell. We’ve had over 1,200 graduates. We’ve had over 2,200 kids through the program and I have currently to date about 15 to 16 speakers. About 4 or 5 of them have been with me for well over six years and three have been with me for ten and a half.

Getting Into The Program

I’ve been to your programs, and I like the way that you brought it all together, letting everybody know about the three programs or the three things that are happening simultaneously. I did have a couple of questions. We will talk about statistics. You have wonderful statistics. Just some of the numbers that you said about the over 300 youth because we know that when youth stay active, they have a belonging, it changes their mindset, they’re with others, and it keeps them out of trouble.

They get to do something that maybe they wouldn’t have been able to do, and being active is important to the youth. All of the kids that have been through the program. I’ve got two questions. If somebody wants to get into the program if I’m a parent or a youth that’s tuning in who wants to get into the program, how do they do that?

The process is pretty simple. It’s just a follow-up that’s going to probably drive them insane. They just go to our website and click on the programs. On our website, it’s Change One Meetings, it’s under. All they have to do is follow the prompts to register. Once they pre-register, they get an automated email, “Here’s your next step.” They have to follow all of the guidelines and fill out all the paperwork that we require before they enter the program.

It’s not very difficult to get in. They have to get the pre-registration done on the website and then follow the instructions in the automated email that they receive. Once they do that, they’re just pending the next meeting. They might not be able to come in until three weeks later, because we only do this once a month and that is for kids to get involved in activities. They then go to their activities. They go to their activities, and then we can also get them funded after they’re involved in the program.

The whole idea is for them to get involved in a program that keeps them active while they’re away doing their Taekwondo or Muay Thai boxing. When they come back, they hear 3 or 4 more stories and hopefully, it still resonates with them like, “I don’t ever want to end up like Mr. Jack, Mr. Larry, or Mr. Cynthia. I’m going to stick with my chosen athlete or my chosen sport and make something of myself. That’s the biggest part of this once-a-month deal.

I know sports, especially softball, were very important to you, but I want to let everybody know that the website is RealTalkYIP.org and that’s for the Real Talk Youth Impact Program. It’s dot-org. This is a nonprofit. Is the program just here in Las Vegas right now?

It is. The goal is to take it national. I did have one open up. It was one of my other gentlemen who lives in Texas. He had it open in El Paso. He is also an ex-felon. He loved it so much. He took it under his wing. We licensed it out to him. Unfortunately, it opened up in November 2019, and then COVID hit in 2020. It shut down. My goal is to open this up in every state or at least one in every state not because it’s my program but because it’s needed. It’s not just for the kids, but also for the people who are coming out of the system or have been totally clean, cleaned their life up, and they’re still ex-felons and they want to do something to give back.

This is something that I think that they should look into and be a part of and saving lives. It’s been very effective for me and for this community. We have tons of parents and families coming here thanking us so much. I went to the schools. We don’t go to school as much, but when they call us, we go out and I share my testimony and my motivational speaking, and then I introduce Real Talk. We get hundreds of thank you letters from the kids and they’re very impactful.

I bring at least one of my speakers with me because the whole time, I’m talking about my life story. No one knows my life story until I tell it. I get one day a month every year. I tell my story at our anniversary. At our meeting, I’m the closing guest speaker. A lot of people have never known anything about my story. When I break it down to them and share that not only was a probation officer or juvenile parole officer with juveniles. I was a Federal probation officer.

I’ve done many things in my life to change people’s lives but no one knew my background. No one knew. I grew up in a family of twelve. No one knew that I had eight brothers and six of them were in the institutions. No one knew the struggles that we grew up with, and our family suffered. We were poor and all of these things. A family of twelve with no money but my brothers ended up getting involved in the system. I was the why person. Why would you do that? Why would you join a gang? I don’t understand. Why would you do this and why would you do that knowing the effects?

Me being the why person, eventually, life has its turns, twists, and whatnot. I had an epiphany in 2012, and God said, “It’s time to do that program I told you about.” Here I am almost eleven years later because that’s what I was supposed to do. Thankfully, the Batistas, who I pay homage to every single year, they’re the reasons why I am in Las Vegas, Nevada. They took me under their wings and that’s the whole reason behind me giving back as well. They showed me a life that I would’ve never been exposed to had I not gone in the direction or seized the moment when they took me and said, “You need to start playing fast. Pitch competitive softball.” I didn’t even know what that was.

How old were you?

I was fifteen and a half and they took me under their wings when I joined the high school softball team. I made the varsity team. Their daughter was a senior. I was a tenth grader in California at Phineas Banning High School. That’s how I ended up. I was a basketball freak. I loved basketball, but I was very blessed with basketball skills and softball skills. I wanted basketball in college. I didn’t even know they played softball in college.

It’s a whole different round but I’m so glad that I didn’t say no. I said, “Yes, okay. You got to talk to my parents,” and that was the history of everything else. I ended up in Vegas. I got a scholarship. I played for the Puerto Rican National Team. They hooked me up with that as well. They said, “Do you want to play?” “No, I’m done. I’m a parole officer. I’m hanging my cleats up.” “It’s a chance to go to the Olympics.” “What?” “Okay. Where do I go?” They set me up with the president. I flew out there. I tried out for the team. I made the team. I was traveling all over the world. This is why I give back.

Book

Yeah, a 1996 Olympian. There are so many things that you’ve done and I wanted to tell people to hear more about Sheree’s amazing story. Where she’s been, how she’s gotten to where she is, testimonials, and things that people have shared here other people’s stories. Her book is called Real Talk: Real Stories, Real Change. Can they get this on Amazon?

Yes, they can get it on Amazon and all the proceeds go to the program. I wrote that book not for me. It is a partial autobiography. People have been telling me to write a book for years. I’m like, “It is time to write a book.” It came out and the Lord said, “It’s about that time.” I’m like, “How do I go with this?” I created and wrote that book in nine months, and it was out and put on Amazon. It was self-published. I need to start marketing it more because I’m trying to get money into the program. We have a big, beautiful building, but we have no money.

We don’t have any money for staff but we give money away like crazy to kids. That’s a plus but I’m a person of faith. I don’t test. I don’t question God. I know that what I’m doing is going to get blessed. I keep doing what I’m doing. The people in my program are blessed. As I said, all of my speakers, I can’t speak highly enough of them. They’re amazing. They love this program. They give back to this program. They’ve done wonderful things with the building.

It has truly been amazing and I believe that all of their great efforts now with giving back, they want to give back to pay their amends for what they’ve done. That’s why I’m excited about it. I never go without saying that although the victims of these crimes have happened with some of these people who are in the institution and getting ready to get out, I always want to pay homage to them too because they were victimized. Some of these offenders or some of these people from the system weren’t in the right state of mind clearly because if they were, they wouldn’t have done that.

I want to recognize the victims as well because we don’t want to ever forget what they’ve gone through. I always share this in my program and it’s even in my book. I want to recognize them in the hopes that they understand that this is not about just bringing all the people from the system to another higher level. This is about us helping the people who are getting released so they won’t commit those crimes or have victimization again in the cities, the states, or the towns that they’re living in as far as the victims are concerned. That’s the main thing.

We’re trying to educate these folks a little bit better to do better. If you don’t know better, you don’t do better and that’s what people need. The misconception of, “Why do they come out and they re-offend?” Do you think that that person woke up and said, “I think I’m just going to go rob a bank because I want to go back to prison?” If you don’t have the proper tools to get yourself back in order, desperate people take desperate measures. We need to understand that as a society. I’m not condoning anything. As I said, even my brother’s things, I don’t ever condone what they’ve done, but I understand.

It’s so important too to bring that out because even in the support group Prison Families Alliance, where we’re supporting the families and youth, we always say that we love the person who is incarcerated or who has done that but not the crime. We do respect the people who have been victimized. I think a lot of us have been on both sides and understand both sides. I think that was important that you brought that out.

Program Statistics

One of the things that I picked out of your book, there are a lot of things, but you put good in there. Giving others opportunities daily. You talked about opportunity, and it’s so important. We didn’t talk about this before but you might have it handy. Do you have any of your statistics? First of all, I’ve heard your story and we could talk a little bit about that in a little bit but do you have any statistics handy you did talk about the over 1,200 youth who have graduated and 2,200 have been through your program. Not everybody graduates because it’s a commitment and I’m sure some of them go through and they come back so that they can finish.

There’s a plethora of statistics that I have. I work for the Federal government. If you take a pen out of a storage box, you’re going to have to document that. I knew going in that I needed to have statistics not only just for my records but also for funding. I’ve been keeping stats since 2013. We have surveys pre- and post. We’ve taken those surveys for the last eleven years. With our end-of-the-class stats coming in and then leaving, we have basically between 75% and 80% of our results are positive.

The information or the parents are saying that their relationship with their child is better. The kids are saying they respect their parents more since the program. They’ve set goals since the program. They talked to their parents about the goals they’ve set, and the parents are saying the same. “My child is now speaking more with me about their goals.” That’s the Likert scale, but we also have the Qualitative scale where we want to get in the kids’ heads. I want you to write down what you’ve learned.

With reading some of those things that are from the kids, I think it’s powerful to read the things that they shared even if they’re from the courts. They may have a chip on their shoulder. They come in and they don’t want to be there. Here’s the thing. “I know you don’t want to be here. It’s okay,” but at the end of the day, you’re not sharing with your boys who are in the program with you or you may know some people in the program, you’re not sharing with them what you wrote on the exit interviews or the exit surveys. I’ve read them. I know what you got out of it.

If you want to sit in here and act like you still have that chip on your shoulder, I still have that feather in my cap because I read what you said. You can act here and play games and think that this is a stupid program, but I already know what you said so I’m not going to bother the kid and say, “Why are you acting this way? I’ve read this. I know you don’t want to behave this way, but you have this image upheld, images will get you killed or get you back, or get you put in prison so let’s be a child. Bring it down some. It’s okay to like this program.”

I’ve had some kids from the courts who appreciate it and said, “Thank you so much. I enjoyed this program.” The stats are here. I have tons of them. The unfortunate thing with this right now or the only thing that drives me insane and I’m working hard to boost this is out of all the kids we have 2,200, we’ve only had 14% of the kids getting involved in activities. Do I have money to fund 100% of these kids or even 50% of these kids with an activity? No, I don’t but my goal is to get it up to the minimum. I would love to see at least 20% of our kids getting involved in activities because the time that the kids had, idle time is the devil’s workshop.

My goal through my experience in being an athlete and being active all the time as a child. I never could stay in the house. I was the biggest tomboy you could name. I was in the streets with the boys and with the girls. We were playing football and basketball, you name it. I was an athlete so I know I could have gone another way too. It’s because they also had cholas. They had the gangs. They had the Black gangs. They had the Mexican gangs. They had the Asian gangs where I grew up, and all of that. Also, half of my brothers were in gangs.

I could have easily taken the wrong route, but I knew that there was a calling in my life. I just didn’t know what it was. I just knew that I wanted better and that’s where the whole arena of being an athlete came in. I took the bull by the reins and said, “Not me.” There are a lot of different things I could share but I’ll tell you this. I think I have this in my book, Julia, but I’ll share this with the audience.

I remember vividly when I was probably 9 or 10 years old, maybe 11. I can’t recall. There was a time when we were getting our house raided by the Carson Sheriff’s Department. I was there. I don’t know why I was still in the house, but the officers came in and my family all were athletes. There were eight boys. We all participated in sports until a certain time. My brothers too but we had this trophy wall, and we had about 100 trophies. I’m number nine.

That specific time, the officers come in and I’m standing around looking like, “What is going on?” One officer looked to the right and saw the trophies, and he just smirked. He said, “At least some of them are doing good.” That statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked at this guy and I said to myself at ten years old. I said, “He thinks that all the Corniels are a piece of crap.” At that very moment, I said, “Nope. It’s not true. I’m going to show you,” and that evolved to where I’m at now.

I remember reading that and it stuck with me because with us dealing with families in the Prison Families Alliance, a lot of the families are stigmatized. You gave the best example of it and just by doing these episodes and raising awareness people need to realize that people are people. What you’re doing is keeping youth out of trouble. You said, “When you know better, you do better.” You said something like that but I think I’m paraphrasing. That’s so important.

If anybody wants to learn more about Sheree’s story check out her book, Real Talk: Real Stories, Real Change. It’s an amazing story of her journey. It’s amazing stories of some of the people who come and speak at her meetings. There are amazing testimonials about youth that have been through the program. I know I’m saying the word amazing a lot because it is an amazing program. We need to get it out there. We need to get it funded, and we need to have it in other cities because by helping our youth, that is how we’re going to make change and that’s how we’re going to make a better world.

Better Parenthood

Thank you so much, Sheree. I want to close with just a few questions. In everything that you’ve said, I’m interested especially, in the parents that might be tuning in when you have the parent groups, and I know a lot of parents are like, “What do I do? I can see that my kid is heading this way or that they’re doing this or that.” What is one thing that you can say to the parents that might help them be a better parent, better listeners, or a better way that they can support their youth?

While that’s a loaded question, I’ll give you the best answer that I can think of at this point. Number one is never to be the kid’s friend. Yes means yes and no means no. A lot of times with these parents, it’s easier for them to say yes instead of no because they don’t want to deal with the issues that come with the no and the responses that come with the no especially as these kids get older. That’s one of the main reasons that kids become defiant because if we don’t have the boundaries set if we don’t have the structure set, they don’t know when to stop. We have to mean what we say and say what we mean.

Parents must never be a kid’s friend. Your yes must mean yes, and no must mean no. Share on X

That doesn’t mean they’re going to like it. That’s the main thing. We have to make sure that we are paying attention to what they’re doing, number one. Cell phones are a cancer. I just try to make sure, and even the people in the parent groups don’t know how to deal with their kids because they waited too late to try and discipline them. Some do discipline, but then they get mixed up in the wrong crowd. I think for me in sharing and hearing these stories from the parents and even with my own kids, you have to make sure that they know who’s in charge. If we lose control of our house, then we lose control of our kids. They can still be in the streets and have issues. You may be the greatest parent since sliced bread.

It’s not just a program for at-risk kids. The academia version of at-risk kids, it’s not that definition. My definition of at-risk kids is any child that leaves your house and my house and hits society, they are at risk. That’s it because I can raise my kids to the best of my ability, strict and stern. I’m consistent but as soon as they hit the streets and they meet up with Johnny Smith or meet up with Larry so-and-so, they possibly can be corrupted, so to speak, and put in that situation of harm.

I’m so glad you said that because we know that even in your family and in my family, we have the same parents with the same rules. If a youth does get into trouble, a lot of parents do their best. They could that followed some of the things that you spoke about. If there are parents out there, I know a lot of parents feel guilty. It’s the would’ve, could’ve, or should’ve, but there are circumstances that everybody’s on their own journey. I think that the advice and what you said is so important for parents to hear but I wanted to also clarify that parents also, like you said, they’re at risk. Once they get out the door, you know as a parent that you’ve done everything you could do.

The main thing is just staying involved. If you have a child that’s in an activity, don’t just drop them off and leave. You got to be able to put something into what you’re giving these kids. The kids may say, “It’s okay, mom. It’s okay, dad. Don’t come.” Don’t take that from the kids. I grew up not being able to have my parents with me because we didn’t have any money. I had to travel with my parents who were my parents on the road. I’m Black and Puerto Rican, and all I had was adopted White parents on the road. That’s a lot to deal with when I was a kid.

I look up in the stands, everybody has a mom and her dad there and I don’t. I always stress the fact that when we’re paying for your child to do Jujitsu or this or that, show up. Show that you support them. Don’t just take off, “I’m going to go get my nails done,” or “I’m going to go get this done. I got to run errands.” They need to see you in the stands regardless. Take the time out because you can’t get yesterday back. You can’t get two weeks back and they’ve been playing for three weeks and you have never seen them practice. You show up at a game and then you’re wondering why he or she may not be performing the best. There’s a lot to being a parent. We all know that. Be consistent.

When you are paying for your child to do sports, be sure to show your support to them. Share on X

Don’t be their friend. Allow them to speak, but that doesn’t mean you have to agree with them and share that with them. “This is my decision. Here’s why. If you have something or you want to ask a question about it, let’s talk but keep in mind that just because I’m going to listen to you doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind. I’m going to listen to you though.” They may not like it, but we were all kids before too. We didn’t like a lot of things that our parents did, but we had to respect it.

Episode Wrap-Up

I think that’s great information. Thank you so much. I’m so glad we met and I’ve learned so much about your program. There are going to be people tuning in to this that are local that are in other places that might want to start something that may want to donate and want to be a part of this. Is there an email that they can send information to or request information from?

If you visit our website, we have an Info@RealTalkYIP.org. You can feel free to reach out to us on the website if you are local. You can reach out and get involved. We have a Get Involved button to see how you can participate or be a part. If you are a system-affected person or you want to be a monthly speaker in our program, click the Get Involved button. We’ll reach out to you and someone will be in contact with you. We can set up a time and we can chat. I want everybody to know as well. We have a great building and whatnot, but we don’t have a ton of workers here. I’m the only paid employee in this whole building because we don’t have the funding for staff but we welcome people who want to volunteer.

If that’s you, and even as a closing guest speaker, if you’ve never been arrested, you want to share your testimony on how you could’ve gone the wrong way, but you didn’t and now you’re this cardiologist or now you’re this attorney, whatever the case may be. We are always looking for new closing guest speakers or more closing guest speakers in that realm and if you want to donate, we will not say no. As long as it’s legal money, I’ll take it. It’s tough.

You have a beautiful facility. It’s very comfortable, engaging, and inviting.

Thank you so much and that was a blessing too. A gentleman donated this building to us. He bought it for us in 2020, a 10,000-square-foot building and he doesn’t live in Nevada. He saw the vision. He loved what I was doing and he believed in this so he bought me a building for $1.4 million. He gave me money to renovate it the way I wanted to. God is good. I’ve been blessed immensely. That’s why I keep doing what I’m doing because it’s not me, it’s Him. This is my will. This is my calling and I’m going to continue to do it to save lives. Lastly, without opportunity, there is no change.

You could reach out to Real Talk at RealTalkYIP.org. I think we provided a lot of information, so reach out if you’re interested. Get more information. Stay compassionate and open because as you said, that opportunity can change someone’s life. Lastly, you told me to seize the moment. Thank you so much.

Letter

Thank you. I appreciate it. Do I have time to read one thank you letter from this child?

I think that’ll be a great ending. Go ahead.

There are two, but I’m going to give this to you and it’s pretty impactful. As I said, Julia, we don’t normally go to the schools, but I’m trying to do that again at least one time a week and bring one of my speakers because they all work. We went to Clark High School. They had issues. They called me. We go over there. I give him my testimony and then we go into Real Talk and what I do. This gentleman says this. It’s very interesting.

He came twice. He says, “Real Talk Thank You Note. The first time I heard your story, I didn’t believe a thing and I didn’t like how bossy and controlling you were, but the second time I heard it, I was understanding. You were so unbothered. I wish I was that way. When you started talking about suicide, it got me because I attempted it a few times. You said killing myself would do nothing to anyone. I’d just be hurting in my family.”

“I have mental health disorders and I have a story of my own. Though it’s personal, I thank you for telling your story. I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through. I thank you and the guest speaker as well. I will not be doing drugs or selling any drugs anytime soon or at all. You’re inspiring and amazing. Thank you.” That’s just one of about 200 stories and thank you letters that we’ve received from these kids.

You’ve got another one in your hand. Why don’t you read the other one and then we’ll close.

This one says, “Dear Sheree. I thank you for coming to our school and giving us a wonderful speech. I do appreciate you a lot because this touched me and it made me realize that I am important and that I matter. I have values and I have to value myself. I don’t have to care about what other people say about me. I am thankful for you and hope that God keeps blessing you to change and save more lives. Thank you so much. Graciella.”

You matter. They matter. We all matter. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate you, Julia. God bless you and everyone else.

Important Links

About Sheree Cornie

Sheree’s professional career consists of a State of Nevada Taxicab Authority Officer for two years, a Juvenile Parole Officer for the State of Nevada for 5.5 years and a Federal Probation Officer with the District of Nevada for 15 years. While employed with federal probation, she was a defensive tactics instructor, background investigator, ethics trainer, and search coordinator. After hours, Sheree taught at the University of Phoenix for 12 years in the Criminal Justice Department and she currently is an adjunct instructor for the College of Southern Nevada in the Criminal Justice Department.

Sheree is the Founder and Executive Director of her nonprofit for at-risk youth, Real Talk Youth Impact Program which she opened in June 2013. Sheree has also authored a book, Real Talk, Real Stories, Real Change and she remains very active in her community coaching youth and doing motivational speaking.

She has two teenage children and 21 nieces and nephews. She enjoys working out, cooking, the outdoors, seeing positive change, and speaking life into people.

Sheree firmly believes that she is doing the will of GOD and she is extremely passionate about youth. Her motto is, without opportunity, there is no change and if you know better, you do better!

Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!

Here’s How »

Join the Prison: The Hidden Sentence Community today: