Jim St. Germain

About Jim

• Born in Haiti but raised in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood, he grew up in poverty and surrounded by violence.
• Before moving to the United States, he didn’t attend school regularly—there is almost no public education offered in Haiti, and his family never had enough money to afford private school.
• His father was an addict and physically abusive toward him, his mother, and his siblings—as a result, Jim thought violence was how you dealt with problems, so he was always getting into fights.
• To assimilate into life in Brooklyn, he began hanging out in the streets, skipping school, and going down a negative path—says in his neighborhood, you were either “predator or prey.”
• Started selling marijuana when he was 14 and eventually began selling harder drugs—he’d been arrested more than a dozen times by the time he was 15.
• At 16, he was charged with two felonies, but instead of prison, he was sent to “Boys Town,” a rehabilitation center—says being in the system liberated him from the environment that was crushing him.
• Through the help of mentors and positive role models, he eventually received his GED and graduated from college with a degree in political science.
• He is now an author, motivational speaker, mentor, nonprofit founder, policy advisor, and a passionate advocate for criminal justice reform, particularly in regards to the juvenile justice system.