Episode #8
"Field of Dreams" A Conversation With Corey Dwyer
Corey Dwyer was born on Web Street in Columbia, wedged between two trap houses, with a mom in and out of prison and a 12-year-old brother running the household. By age 10 he was carrying drugs in his socks without fully understanding what he was caught up in. His grandmother had one strategy: keep him busy — church, sports, anything but idle hands. It worked, but it didn't erase what came next. In this episode, Corey walks through the night a shotgun was pressed to the back of his head — "You saw my face" — and the prayer that got him through it. He talks about walking onto Benedict College's campus depressed and self-medicating, with no direction, until one professor, Dr. Ronnie Hopkins, refused to let him coast and signed him up for Call Me Mister, a program built to put Black men in front of classrooms. That decision reshaped the entire trajectory of his life — eventually leading him to found Forward Progression Mentored Apprenticeship Program, a 501(c)(3) built on one idea: "We don't give them a plan. We assist them in their own." Corey also opens up about marriage and fatherhood — how a couples course called Two Becoming One "grew him up overnight" after 15 years married, why he's intentional about pouring into his son after growing up with a father who was never around, and why he still needs his wife's honesty ("No. You were wrong.") to stay accountable. Through it all, he comes back to one scripture — Matthew 6:33 — as a daily operating system, not just a Sunday quote. A conversation about survival, obedience, and what it looks like to actually change the trajectory of a family. Follow 82No Live for new episodes, grab merch, and join the newsletter at www.82NoLive.com .
