Lonnie Lockhart Bey knows what it looks like when a kid grows up without anyone telling him he could be more. He spent 26 years in the Missouri Department of Corrections, starting at age 16 — and it’s part of what pushed him to build something different for the next generation: the PEACE and HOPE Center for Youth, an after-school program in Columbia that has spent years quietly building a safe space for local kids, KOMU 8 reports.
The center is a family effort. Lockhart Bey founded it; his wife, Stephanie Lockhart Bey, serves as executive director, with board member Miles Gibson helping guide the program. Together they’ve built something that goes well beyond homework help.
Kids in the program earn $10 in play currency each day based on their behavior — good choices add up toward eligibility for regional field trips. Alongside homework support, the center runs classes in financial literacy and sex education, and works to expose kids to careers they might not otherwise picture for themselves. The center recently added a therapist who now meets with students weekly, addressing needs that go deeper than an assignment sheet.
For Chris Gonsalves, who came through the program two years ago and is now on staff, the center’s promise is simple: “They do listen to you, tell you that everything’s going to be all right.”
Lockhart Bey has said the center exists in part to show kids faces like their own succeeding in fields they might not know are open to them — doctors, lawyers, and beyond.
The PEACE and HOPE Center for Youth is based in Columbia. It does not yet have a page in our local directory, so readers who want to learn more about volunteering or supporting the program should look the center up directly.
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