He became politically active.
He started working for the Department of Social Services.
There, he says he saw "the angriest young men" walking through the hallways, cussing, fighting. He wanted to do something about it. So he picked five boys and, in the cafeteria of the social services office on Biddle Street, held the first meeting of Mentoring Male Teens in the Hood.
They meet monthly, now at Coppin, and take trips when Miles can raise the money. Two years ago, they traveled to Philadelphia.
One of those original five youths was Antoine "Woody" Diggs, whose aunt was raising him. "He was a knucklehead," Miles remembers. "He wouldn't listen to anybody. He was out of control."
Woody grew up under Miles' wing. Now a 19-year-old sophomore at Morgan, he has gone from program participant to mentor.
It is difficult to measure the success of Miles' program by numbers. With a full-time job as organizing director for the Baltimore group Advocates for Children and Youth, Miles runs the mentoring program in evenings and on weekends.
He says he barely has time to apply for grants, let alone keep tabs on his former charges.
He knows that three young men have been shot to death over the years.
One was mentor Wanda Powell's son, Darrell Smith. She has been involved with the group since her son was 16, sticking around long after he decided to stop attending. He was shot to death in April 2007 in Baltimore, at age 21, during a fight over a girl, she said.
"Too many of our young men end up in the penal system or the cemetery," Miles says frequently. And that is his motivation.
The police commissioner says that Baltimore is filled with people "we don't know about," people who are trying to make a difference in some way.
Still, Bealefeld said, Miles stands out.
"He doesn't grandstand. He just gives selfless service to the community. You can't ask people for more than that," Bealefeld said. "We throw that word 'hero' around a lot. But that man, that guy is a hero. He's a hero of mine."
Bealefeld said he had "no qualms" about writing a personal check to Miles.
Other leaders, including Department of Juvenile Services Secretary Donald W. DeVore - a man whose policies Miles, in his day job as a youth advocate, frequently criticizes - have also written personal checks.
The rewards
The trip to Connecticut cost $18,000. The exposure the boys got to life outside Baltimore, Miles says, made it money well spent.
