Skip to content
501(c)(3) · Berea, Ohio · Since 2013

Good men don't happen by accident.

For thirteen years, Boys2Men mentored boys in Berea, Ohio, and watched them grow into graduates, soldiers, fathers and leaders. We learned what it takes. Now we're putting it in the hands of every parent, mentor and church, through a free app called FORGED.

  • 13 years in Berea, Ohio
  • Free for every family
  • FORGED launches January 1, 2027
Why this matters

Boys are falling behind, and too many are doing it alone.

It isn't that boys are worse. It's that fewer of them have a man close enough to show them how: how to work, handle money, handle anger, treat people, and get back up after failing.

25%

A quarter of U.S. men 15 to 34 felt lonely for much of the previous day, more than young men in almost any other rich country.

Source: Gallup, 2023 to 2024

Every one of those numbers gets better when a boy has a good man in his corner. We spent thirteen years proving it.

Where Boys2Men has been, and where it's going

Boys2Men was local. What we learned shouldn't be.

For thirteen years we did this one room, one night, one boy at a time. It worked. But we could only reach the boys who could get to Berea. So we took everything it taught us and built something every family can use.

  1. Boys at tables during a Boys2Men lesson night.
    01 · 2013 to 2025

    What we did

    Every school-year Monday, boys in Berea came to a room with men who showed up for them. Highs and lows, a life skills lesson, dinner together, and time to be a kid. Free to every family, every year.

  2. A mentor and a boy working on a project together.
    02 · What it taught us

    What we learned

    A boy becomes a man when somebody shows him how, holds him to it, and celebrates when he gets there. Not a program. A plan, real skills, honest check-ins, and adults who stay in it with him.

  3. The FORGED app on a phone.
    03 · Starting January 1, 2027

    What's next: FORGED

    We built what we learned into a free app, so any parent, mentoring group, church or school can do what we did in Berea, wherever they are.

Read the full history
The proof is grown up now

Thirteen years. Real boys. Real men.

The boys from those Monday nights are grown. Here's where some of them went, and why we know the formula works.

13

years mentoring boys in Berea

$0

ever charged to a family

2015

a registered 501(c)(3)

11

areas of a man's life in FORGED

A young man in a red cap and gown holding his diploma.
High school graduateDiploma in hand
A young man in U.S. Army dress uniform.
U.S. ArmyServing his country
A young man in a graduation gown and stole in front of a flowering tree.
College graduateDegree in social work
A young man in a white tuxedo beside his date in a white gown.
Growing upProm night
A young man in a purple patterned suit jacket.
SharpReady for what's next
From the room to the app

Every Monday night had a formula. FORGED is built on it.

Nothing in FORGED is a guess. Each part of the app comes from something that worked with real boys, in a real room, for thirteen years.

Then: Highs and lows

Now: The Furnace

Every boy said how his week really went. In FORGED, a private daily check-in rewards honesty, not perfection.

Then: A life skills lesson

Now: Lessons that play like games

Money, work, respect, conflict. Now two to four minutes each, with real choices and real consequences.

Then: Men who showed up

Now: Adults in charge

A parent or mentor sets it up, assigns lessons, and signs off when he does the real thing in real life.

Then: Time to be a kid

Now: It plays like a game

Stages are earned, quizzes can be failed, and wins mean something. Boys want to come back to it.

New · Launching January 1, 2027

Now any family can do what we did in Berea.

FORGED is a free life-skills app for boys 11 to 18. It isn't an app a boy uses alone: it's run by the adults raising him, so mentoring keeps happening, now in every home, church and group that wants it.

  • Parents and guardiansA plan for raising him on purpose, one lesson and one win at a time.
  • Mentoring groupsRun your own Boys2Men-style group with lessons, check-ins and sign-offs built in.
  • Churches and ministriesGive the men in your church a way to invest in the boys in it.
  • Schools and group homesOne adult can guide one boy or fifty.
78days
00hours
00min
00sec
Chris Scott seated with his grown children around him.
Chris Scott and his familyFounder and Executive Director
Our founder

Boys need strong men. So we're building them too.

Chris Scott started Boys2Men in 2013 after one look at a boy who had no one. Thirteen years later he saw the other half of the problem: men need mentors too. Today Chris leads Men Mentoring Men and wrote Rebuilding the Wall, a book on the four walls every man has to rebuild.

2013 to 2025

Thirteen years, in pictures.

A boy laughing while raking leaves. A boy trying a virtual reality headset on an outing. A young man working in a greenhouse. Two boys in Boys2Men shirts with their arms around each other. Boys at tables during a lesson. Boys and mentors in front of a painted bus. A boy driving a go-kart. A crew of boys and men with rakes after a service day.
A smiling boy in a Boys2Men shirt. Boys sitting in a circle talking. A police officer helping in the garden. Boys and mentors together at a holiday night. A mentor with his arm around a smiling boy. A boy with a rake in a yard full of leaves. The Boys2Men tent at a community event. A young man in a sharp patterned jacket.
In their words

What a good man in your corner does.

I am a graduate of Ohio State University with my degree in social work. I recently started an entry-level job at a foster care agency called The Buckeye Ranch in Columbus, Ohio.
A Boys2Men alumnusColumbus, Ohio
When I looked into his eyes, I did not see anger. I saw despair.
Chris ScottOn the boy who started Boys2Men
No matter how broken things may seem, God can rebuild any man who is willing to surrender and do the work.
Chris ScottRebuilding the Wall

Every boy needs a good man in his corner.

FORGED puts thirteen years of what works in the hands of every parent and mentor. Help us launch it.