WASHINGTON, D.C., USA —
Just a couple of years ago Robert Butler was staring back at this reflection behind bars.
“Just walking through the neighborhood that we live in, the trauma that we deal with... I had a lot of friends who have been murdered, and it's still happening all the time," Butler explained.
That trauma he saw growing up in Southeast, D.C., eventually got to him and in 2012 he was convicted of armed robbery.
Before that "bad decision," Butler said he spent five semesters at St. Augustine's College. Unfortunately, he had to drop out when both of his parents lost their jobs in the financial crisis of 2008.
Butler said his mistakes stem from the mental trauma he endured growing up and the added pressure from a community that expected him to be successful.
"It's dealing with the ways of the world, not really living up to the expectations of those around me and allowing those pressures to kind of weigh down on me," he said.
A year after he was released from prison in March 2017, Robert decided it was time for a new routine. After persuasion from his parole officer, Butler joined D.C.'s first ever Pathways Program. The district’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement created the program to help vulnerable young men in city get back on their feet by giving them the support they're lacking.
The program is split into two annual cohorts of 25 people. As long as the participants show up five days a week for nine weeks of classes, mentors will help set them up with food stamps, identification, and anything else they need to succeed.
Robert Butler's "pathway" to success
"Ya'll going to change the perspective of convicted felons in the city, and that's what we're trying to do man," Butler said.
After being promoted in the program and accepting a job as Community Outreach Specialist in the very office that helped him change his attitude; Robert got the opportunity to empower the next class with a charge at the end of Friday's ceremony.
“We are D.C. We the streets… and for a long time, we went out there, and we took that attitude that we are the streets in a negative way,” Butler said. “Now we have the opportunity to say that 'we the streets' and make that a positive."
With a new attitude, Butler said when he looks in the mirror, he likes who is looking back.
Butler told WUSA he also won the program's Shark Tank-esque competition and earned $1,000 for his clothing business—Evolution of Kings. He said he’s hoping his story motivates others from his neighborhood to treat themselves like the kings—or queens in his new daughter's case—that he knows them to be.
If you want to keep up with the progress of Robert’s business, you can follow him on Instagram.
