Who started The G Program?

My name is Kenden “Mustaqiim” Dean M.Ed. aka K.M. Dean. I am a writer and youth activist. I have been working with children and teens in schools, group homes, and youth groups for over 30 years. With my skills as an entertainer, I make skits, songs, and games to teach character.

What inspired The G Program?

I may risk turning some people away but since honesty is one of our 70 Good Values I need to tell the truth. The G Program was inspired by one of the fundamental teachings of the religion I converted to years ago, the religion of Islam. It may be a surprise to some people to hear that this is a way of life with a focus on doing good deeds to benefit yourself, your family, and your community. Some branches of Christianity also highlight the doing of good deeds like the Methodist Church. We all should agree that if everyone would join in the doing of good, that is doing things that help, and avoid doing bad things, that is, things that are hurtful, we would have peace on earth and less suffering.

In 2008, I was faced with the challenge of being a youth Director at a mega-mosque in North Texas. I had experience working with adolescents with behavior problems for many years in group homes run by the state. There I was given treatment plans and behavior management programs to follow. Now I was working with kids that I was allowed to use religion to help improve their behavior. Looking back now, I see that my basic understanding of Islam worked to my advantage. I didn’t know many hadiths and could not give a long lecture to the kids, so I focused on the character-building teachings from the Quran. I structured my program around doing good deeds, avoiding bad deeds, and getting, good rewards in this life, and in the next life.

I quickly realized that most Muslim teachers interpreted, the words “good deeds“ as mainly spiritual deeds such as fasting, making the five daily prayers, and reading or memorizing the Holy Quran. These deeds are important but I found other good deeds referenced in the Quran that I knew I needed to focus on with the kids. They are deeds like being patient, kind to parents, being modest, showing appreciation, and giving charity to name a few. I realized that by teaching them the meaning of the word patience then they can learn how to be patient. If I taught them the meaning of modesty then they can start being modest. First came the word then came putting the word to action.

When did you start the G Program?

Building their Character

I know that the goal of my job was to build the character of the youth I was working with. I found that good character was what mattered the most according to a saying of the prophet Muhammad that states, "The best among you are the best in character". And I thought of Martin Luther King's dream of wanting all of the youth to one day be "judged by the content of their character". My plan to guide them to good character would be to show them 3 sequential steps. It starts with step 1, understanding the value, believing in it, and embracing it. Step 2 is putting it into action with a deed, that is, doing it. Then the third step is made if you do it consistently because that is when it becomes a part of you, your character, it describes who you are. I called these The 3G steps.

The G Program in Action

The G Program seemed to be working with the kids and the parents really appreciated it. We had a website with game-like quizzes where I would post for them “G Work” for them to complete at home and earn “G Points”. On the weekend we would have events where kids would do Good Deeds and earn more “G Points” with which could all be converted to “G Dollars” with which they could buy rewards in a big cabinet full of prizes we called the “G Store”. If they misbehaved, that is, did Bad Deeds they would be given “B Points” and lose G dollars. This taught them accountability and helped deter their negative behavior because they felt like they had something to lose.

When the funding for my position ran out, I decided to pursue a master’s in education where my focus of study would be character education. It is during this program, that I wrote the first edition of my book Dictionary of Good Values. I graduated in 2012 with a master’s in education my book in my hand and lots of knowledge about character education, its importance, and plenty of ideas of how my program can have an advantage over other programs that were in schools.

What happened to The G Program?

That is a good question. It is 2023 now and 10 years have passed. Well, all I can say is I wish I had more support behind me back then. For one thing, I had to take a full-time job which left me with limited time and energy to find support and knock on the doors of public schools. I was doing all of this by myself and got burnt out and switched to other things in my spare time. I let piles of my book sit in storage for years. I wasn’t really happy with the edit anyway. It had a lot of mistakes in it since it was printed prematurely by a mistake. Also, the nonprofit organization Professional Good Doers that I founded specifically to support The G Program never really got a strong board of directors and remained stagnant for all these years. However, I always held on to the dream. I kept thinking about The G Program and the different ways I could teach good values. I did a few character classes here and there in schools and after-school programs. I did a Saturday G-Pro Game Show in a family-friendly cafe. Every year. I renewed the nonprofit tax status for the day that the right people would come join the board to make it a functioning organization to support this mission. Another thing I realized back then was that people didn’t really take values seriously. They didn’t see what the consequences of losing them could have on their children and society. They figured we would always have them ingrained in our dominant culture, morals that is.

Now fast forward to 2016 and to the present day with Donald Trump and his followers, the damage that they have done has now shown us the consequences of not holding on and standing up for these important words and principles. He caused a movement to erase basic universal norms, societal norms, and ethics. My hope is since people have seen the damage that has been done, maybe now I have a chance to get the support I didn’t get back then.

It's a Good Time for The G Program

So last year I decided I needed to fight back. I had done so much work on this beautiful and powerful program and I was ready to focus on doing whatever it takes to put it to use to replace what has been lost in our world. I decided to first sit down with my book Dictionary of Good Values to rework it. I said, “Okay, what am I going to do with this? I need to fix it up once and for all and publish it." With the book published the next step would be to produce content based on the 70 words in the book to be posted on The G Program Youtube channel and other social media platforms. With these in motion, I can gain popularity and reach the parents and kids directly, bypassing the schools. With this success, the school might even come knocking on my door.

Join the fight for Goodness sake!

So this is where we are now. Get your free copy of our book and read it. If you have kids read it with them. Take a look at the other pages on this website to learn about the other exciting unique products and activities we have planned to implement this program. Watch the content on our YouTube channel. If you believe that, we have to fight against the evil people who want to wipe these good words away, join us. We need volunteers and financial support to win this fight. Help us make The G Program a success,

K.M. Dean - Founder