As an experienced community leader, chaplain and accomplished public speaker, Maurice Winley founded R.E.A.L. Solutions for Youth to train, consult and motivate other youth leaders, youth organizations, educational institutions, and systems with innovative missional approaches for youth engagement.

We are an activist consultancy that exists to break the destructive cycle of father absenteeism and recidivism in urban communities.  R.E.A.L. Solutions for Youth, a subsidiary of The Winley Group Inc., will be the mechanism for the progressive delivery of relevant, effective, authentic, and livable solutions to the crisis of father absenteeism through advocacy, community awareness campaigns, mediation between fathers and sons, offering counseling and support for single mothers, providing transitional services for ex-convicts, providing one on one mentoring opportunities for adolescent males, implementing workforce development initiatives geared to providing access and to increase the number of youth of color in strategic labor markets.

They call him “Rev,” and they know he’s around for the long haul – after office hours, beyond graduation from St. Christopher’s, and into a future that many thought was out of reach. 

Here’s how one former student, now a college freshman, put it in a recent note to the Rev. Maurice Winley:  “I always second guess people about what they say they are about, and how long they are going to stay in my life. Thanks for showing me that you care sincerely about me.”

Winley, Director of Spiritual Life at St. Christopher’s for nearly four years, has been awarded a full scholarship to the DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative, a national faith-based organization that provides training opportunities to urban youth workers nominated by their peers and community leaders. The program’s mission is to make a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged urban youth by investing in workers who are considered emerging leaders in their communities. Winley was one of 13 in the New York metropolitan area and 62 nationwide selected for the program.

The life lessons Winley tries to impart are many, and they include forgiveness and reconciliation.  “The main thing I try to teach the young people is to understand the power of choices. The choices you make are the choices you’re going to live by,” Winley said. He encourages them to tap into their potential and move forward despite an often painful past, saying, “Don’t become a prisoner of your own bitterness. Don’t become what has hurt you.”
“Strive for independence, but recognize that you need help – your perspective is limited and you’re still growing. Be open to guidance.”

The teens he works with have seen some dark days. “These are kids who are hurting,” he said. They arrive at St. Christopher’s guarded and cynical. He shows them compassion, lets them know he won’t give up on them, and is rewarded with something that is hard to come by – their trust.

Winley has remained a spiritual guide for the college student who sent him that note of thanks. He hopes to stay connected to the teens he mentors, to be a part of their lives far beyond the confines of St. Christopher’s. Perhaps, he says, he will perform their wedding ceremonies and dedicate their children, joyfully watching as the cycle of life takes those who were fractured and helps make them whole.