Meet Kenneth McCullum
Greetings!
My name is Ken McCullum and I am the Founder & Program Director of The Men of Iron Mentoring Program (MOI).
I invested nearly 30 years of my life in the law enforcement and justice systems and realized something had to be done to prevent such an alarming number of African American males from entering the jails and prisons.
During my tenure as a sheriff's deputy, I was responsible for transporting death row inmates to San Quentin State Prison. Those inmates often shared sullen and sobering stories about their lives; the common threads were the absence of a father in the home and prominent male figures in their lives.
I decided I had a civic and moral responsibility to prevent young African American Males from becoming victims of homicide and entering the penal system and to guide them toward positive futures.
More About Kenneth McCullum
Ken is a retired law enforcement officer and holds a third-degree black belt in martial arts, with specialties in Kajukenbo, Ju Trap Boxing and Doce Pares Stick Fighting. In addition to martial arts, Ken is well versed in kickboxing, aerobics, women's self-defense and executive protection.
While his primary focus has been sowing into the lives of African American boys, he founded Kenbo Kickboxing Aerobics in 1997 - a powerful workout that combines boxing, martial arts and dance movements to create the ultimate combination of fitness and fun. He currently holds classes at two locations in Oakland and Concord, California. In 1998, he founded A.W.A.R.E. - Alert Women About Rape Encounters - a program created to educate and instruct women in self-defense and life saving techniques.
In 2007, Ken and fellow deputy sheriffs founded the Men of Iron Mentoring and Leadership Program - a program designed to instill discipline, respect and structure in the lives of young African American men. MOI was featured on the front page of the Oakland Tribune and broadcasted on NBC News. Articles about Ken's accomplishments have appeared in Bay Area Proud!, The East Bay Times, The Native American Health Center, The Oakland Post and The San Francisco Chronicle.