When Joseph Johnson decided to leave the Army, he knew he wanted to do two things.

“I knew I wanted to get a master’s degree, and I knew I wanted to do something to work with people, and it kind of sprang upon me to go in to social work or counseling.”

The Vicksburg native and Vicksburg High School graduate got his master’s degree in community counseling at Mississippi College.

Sixteen years ago, after working in programs in Vicksburg and Jackson, he found his vocation.

With help of others, he founded Central Mississippi Prevention Services, a program dedicated to helping at-risk children get an education and learn the proper life and social skills that will help them succeed in the world. Johnson is the organization’s executive director.

“I really had a vision to do something for students,” he said. “I did pretty good in school; quite well, in fact, and it allowed me to go to whatever college I wanted to go to. I grew up around folk and still live around folk who sometimes academics don’t come easy to them and sometimes also (don’t have) the social and personal management skills that are needed (to succeed), so we concentrate here on both those things.

“What we’re looking for here is the student who’s failing, whose struggling,” he said. “We really need the student who’s really trying to find their own way academically and socially.”

People are told they need a good education to succeed in life, he said, but “school is going so fast; folks get behind and it’s just so hard to get caught up. So in talking with a number of superintendents over the years, they know a school has a major role, but a school can only do so much. Agencies like ours are needed to fill in the gap for those students who need that extra help beyond what the school hours can provide.”

Central Mississippi Prevention, he said, works with children ages 5 to 12 years, with programs during the fall and summer. “As long as they’re in school, we will find a teacher who will work with them,” he added.

“One of the programs we’re most proud of is the summer camp we’re doing now,” Johnson said. “It’s an established fact that numerous things negative can happen during the summer, more so than during the school year.

“They’re (children) unsupervised more, for one thing (during the summer), so everything from their first use of alcohol, drugs, teen pregnancy, all kinds of delinquency can happen. So we try, even during the summer to provide a net for those students, where they are safe, they have a nutritious meal, which is an issue in and of itself.”

Besides providing meals, the program provides an academic plan overseen by assistant Vicksburg High School principal Dr. Temeka Johnson, who provide guidance to the program’s teachers in the areas of teaching reading and math.

Life skills are taught to help students learn self-control and self-management to be able to deal with life’s challenges and develop character.

Character, Johnson said, affects everything else, adding if a student lacks character traits such as self-discipline, and finds school work difficult, “Then they’re going to quit or they’re not going to stay after school to try and talk to a teacher and try and get extra help. So they don’t work hard or don’t study hard as much as they used to, and we parents are at fault because we don’t want to push them too much.

“We don’t want to work them too hard, and the coaches are afraid of working them too hard. Students are just unmotivated. The kids somehow get the idea it should be easier or it should be given to them.”

Many children also struggle with broken and single-family homes, which sometimes make it difficult to find an identity, sometimes relying on outside sources that may not provide the examples they need, Johnson said. Toughest thing, he said, “Is getting kids who are off-track back on track. The human mind, once it goes sideways, it’s difficult to get children to have a different perspective.”

And that means helping them develop a set of basic values.

“We came up with do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and that’s a big deal, because students who don’t see it like that, think it’s OK to bully; it’s OK to take what doesn’t belong to me, it’s OK to cheat.”

And valuing education, Johnson said has to start early.

“You’ve got to take time as a parent to teach them (children) how to get along and how to go forward in the right manner, and you’ve got to do your best. The parents have to set the example,” he said.

“When they see parents find a way to cut corners, and it’s unlawful and unethical, it’s kind of hard to tell a child to be ethical. You need to do it the right way, to lay the foundation. We’ve got to do more at early ages.”

He said his biggest fear is Vicksburg will pickup the problems he’s seen affecting other communities, such as drug, delinquency and crime; they could have a negative effect on the city unless steps are taken to change, like more involvement by the entire community to do a better job raising children, stopping crime and having more positive programs for children and families.

With the challenges facing him, Central Mississippi and the community, Johnson said hope keeps him going.

“Hope that someway, somehow, we may find the solutions we need to find to turn back this tide of social ills. Because we’re headed the way others are headed if we don’t find some unique or broad or innovative ways to serve the underserved with more than band aids. We need long-term solutions.”

And he doesn’t plan to stop creating interest or working for the community.

“This is far more than just employment; it’s far more than a job,” he said. “This is a life’s hope and a life’s venture that I can serve as best I can to make a difference. It’s nice to be in a position to try to retire, but that’s not my aim and not my goal. I like to continue making a contribution long after retirement eligibility comes.”