GRO Community transforms lives with mental health aid for Black boys

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) -- GRO Community is working to improve the lives of boys and men across Illinois and Ohio with mental health and social services.

Some of those services include psychiatric, re-entry and school-based social emotional learning with a focus on Black, Brown and low-income communities. "If there's a way we can have African American male practitioners, clinicians to fill this void and create this change," said Founder and CEO Aaron Mallory.

GRO stands for God Restoring Order. Mallory's background as a social worker was a catalyst for GRO. "Oftentimes I would be the only positive male figure going into the household and being able to help their sons," he said. "And just how the kids would gravitate to me. I'd go to these schools and oftentimes the only African American male