Terrance Roberts
Terrance Roberts is the founder and Executive Director of The Prodigal Son Initiative Inc., an organization that offers after school programs including tutoring, mentoring, dynamic field trips, and education about healthy lifestyles. The Prodigal Son Initiative offers regular opportunities for at-risk children to be a part of positive activities throughout the metro area.
Terrance is a Denver native who was raised in the Park Hill neighborhood where he is still very active. Growing up without spending much time with positive male role models, Terrance fell into joining the Bloods gang, one of the predominant, and most violent, gangs in North East Denver. He spent the majority of his teenage years and early twenties affiliated with this group. After being shot in the back in 1993 (Denver’s “summer of violence”), and spending nearly a decade in and out of prison, Terrance realized he could spend the remainder of his life incarcerated because of this affiliation, and he decided that a life change was in order. He determined that he could take his negative experiences and use them to not only change his own life, but to also give hope to the lives of children in the community who face some of the same challenges that he had to face growing up in a gang infested community.
Terrance has now successfully created a thriving 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization: The Prodigal Son Initiative, Inc. Each year Terrance speaks to thousands of kids through schools, churches, organizations and community events. He also facilitates gang awareness and trainings for parents, law enforcement officers, community members and administrators about the true causes of gang membership for youth and ways to address the problem without alienating and further damaging involved youth. He is President of The Stapleton Foundation’s Healthy Neighborhood Council and serves on Mayor John Hickenlooper’s Mayor’s African American Advisory Commission. Terrance is also Co-Chair of “Safe Night Colorado,” a rapidly growing community event in Northeast Park Hill where members of the Denver Police Department plays basketball with local leaders and children. He has recently joined the Board of Directors for City Councilman at Large Doug Linkhart’s “Youth Link,” a summer activities guide featuring hundreds of organizations and positive activities for children and their families. Terrance has also opened the Park Hill Community Center with State Senator Michael Johnston, turning a dilapidated building into a positive center of the neighborhood and a safe place for youth in this still gang infested community.
Tyrone Beverly
Tyrone Lee Beverly is the Program Director of The Prodigal Son Initiative Inc., an organization that offers after-school programs including tutoring, mentoring, dynamic field trips, and education about healthy lifestyles. The Prodigal Son Initiative offers regular opportunities for at-risk children to be a part of positive activities throughout the metro area.
Tyrone was born in West Palm Beach Florida and eventually moved to Denver, Colorado as a child. He was raised by a single mother and did not always have a warm meal to eat as a child. Because of his situation, Tyrone’s life took a negative turn as he began to steal and fight when in school. Tyrone’s community was infested with gangs and, although he never became affiliated with a gang, he quickly became disenfranchised with school and was expelled for fighting from Ashley Elementary in fourth grade. As Tyrone grew older, involvement with sports provided an avenue to direct his aggression towards something more positive. While studying Bruce Lee and other training and conditioning philosophies Tyrone began to channel his energies and apply the focused and peaceful teachings from those philosophies to his own life.
After Tyrone graduated from high school he taught himself yoga and became a certified yoga instructor. Today, Tyrone is one of the youngest, and most popular, yoga instructors in the city of Denver! He has trained Ms. Fitness USA 2008 Tiffany Yee, former Super Bowl champion Cyron Brown of the Denver Broncos, and instructs the most inclusive yoga program in the State of Colorado. In addition, Tyrone is interested in variety of arts such as videography, music production, capoeria, acting and screen writing.
Through The Prodigal Son Initiative, Tyrone has been able to develop and implement free yoga programs for the community. Each class bridges age, ethnic, gender and cultural boundaries while helping people improve their health and well-being. In addition, PSI youth practice yoga and other healthy activities and initiatives throughout the week during PSI’s signature after-school program. Tyrone believes improving the health and well-being of our youth is the key to improving our community and affecting positive social change.
Tyrone is a visionary who strives to create positive and healthy opportunities for underprivileged youth. He was raised by a single mother - he knows the challenges our youth experience every day. Most importantly, Tyrone remains a student of life and does as much as he can to help people.