>>The education and leadership development of Black children is rooted in the Black church.

I'm Adrienne Cole Johnson and this is "Racism: Challenging Perceptions", a series that explores the issues of systemic racism in our communities.

On this episode, we will take a deep dive into the historical and current impact of the Black church on education, communities, and family empowerment.

>>Production funding for "Racism: Challenging Perceptions" is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

>>We're on location at Oakwood Arts in Richmond, a nonprofit whose mission is to make art and careers in creative industries accessible to all.

I am joined by Ms. Yanina James, Director of Community Outreach at The Life Church RVA, and Reverend Dwylene Butler, Executive Minister at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church in Richmond, Virginia.

So ladies, I wanna dive right in.

You know, we're talking about the Black church.

But let's start with what is church?

I think when we think about what it may have been years ago, it may feel really different.

So really curious about you all's kind of personal and working definition of what the church is.

>>I would definitely say the pandemic really changed a lot of that for us.

Most often people look at church as a building, but what we were able to see over the course of the pandemic is that really it's a gathering of people together.

We have a common interest, a common faith who want to grow in that, but also wanna serve their community as well.

>>I love that.

>>One of the taglines in our mission litany is we don't just go to church, we are the church.

And so we really reiterate that, without us, it's just a building.

And so the church is the body of Christ, the people who make up, who have professed that Jesus is Lord, and they come together for the common good.

And so that is how church is defined and is consistently being redefined in our generation.

>>Yeah, I love hearing some of the similarities in you all's definitions.

Can you all dig a bit and kind of share what your roles are?

We know what they are, but to kind of share what that looks like for the day-to-day for you?

>>I was the Minister of Youth and Christian Education at First African Baptist Church.

And then I became the Minister of membership development at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church where we were having an influx of new members.

And then as we grew, I became the church business administrator where I was responsible for the day-to-day business operations of the church.

And then a few years after that to add some ministerial components to it, I became the executive minister who, along with the church business administrator duties of the day-to-day operations, I also am now responsible for teaching and preaching and overseeing ministry as needed.

>>And even in that, I mean, you shared about three or four different unique roles that are happening at Sixth Mount Zion.

What about you, Yanina?

>>So for me, I've had the opportunity, been blessed with the opportunity to serve as director of outreach at the Life Church.

And what it really affords me is the opportunity to really sit at the table with nonprofit organizations and different schools and just different groups to really assess the needs in the community.

And so outreach is at the heart of TLC or The Life Church.

And really it gives us an opportunity to really meet the needs on a consistent basis.

>>Yeah.

Talk more about TLC's commitment to the community, especially in your role as Director of Outreach.

What does that look and feel like?

What are some of the programs that you all do?

And in particular think about just like parents, families and young people as well?

>>Sure.

So for us, really, outreach stemmed out of the heart of our pastors, Pastor Vernon and Ashley Gordon.

And Pastor Vernon shares often about his childhood story or testimony as we would say, of being a childhood cancer survivor.

And really what he wanted to see that he didn't see as a child was the representation of the church in the community beyond just the Sunday morning service.

And so out of that, when they thought about the vision of what the church could be, they thought, hey, let's go out and let's be in the community consistently.

And so we do that through a number of different programs.

We have a community feeding program where we partner with a local middle school and provide weekend bags so students have meals over the weekend when they're not in school.

We also have Storehouse Sundays where we collect donations to go out into the community.

And one of the biggest ways we do that is through fifth Sunday outreach where we pause our regular services so that we can go out and be the hands and feet of Jesus in our community.

>>I love that, I love that, yeah.

What about you all over at Sixth Mount Zion?

>>So like her pastor, my pastor is very community centered.

He also is an elected official.

But in his role as pastor, some of the things that he has led us to do was, some years ago we did, Don't Go To Church, Be The Church.

And we canceled worship and went out into the community.

And he uses as a guide Matthew 25, where it talks about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, sheltering the homeless, visiting the imprisoned.

And so we use that as our guide and try to be creative.

We've also worked with, I was telling you, Yanina, before, Interfaith Outreach United, where we partnered with not just Christians, but we called on our Muslim brothers and sisters, our Jewish brothers and sisters.

And then we all got together, partnered, each group had representations of the major faiths, And we went out into the community to do that work as well.

>>Mm, wow.

A multitude of work, right?

How are churches working together to do community work, community outreach, and just really to support the members and the folks in the communities where they sit?

>>I would say one thing is really creating space for those communities to get together.

One thing that we are a part of is the Interfaith Advisory Council, which partners with Richmond Public Schools.

And it's a way for us to be able to come together to come up with solutions and strategies to help bridge the gaps for the needs in the community.

So it's been great to be able to hear from other faith communities on what they're doing, but also to be able to partner with them.

>>I think we can do more.

There are some agencies, some organizations that do the work.

I know RISC is one that does work in the community.

They pick a social justice issue and work to that.

And there are various congregations that are a part of that.

The Baptist General Convention says there's over 1100 churches that are a part of their organization.

Sometimes I think we can be secluded in doing our own thing, but when we do come together, I think there's power in that.

And our people learn when we partner together because there's a lot of work to be done in this area.

>>And I'm gonna look at you Reverend Butler, as we think about even just historically what the Black church is, what it's represented to so many of us.

Can you dig a bit more into just the history of Black churches?

>>So the Black church started in America out of a need for or a desire to worship God without any outside influence.

At the beginning, it was illegal for Blacks to worship without the presence of a white person.

And so you've heard of or you may not have heard of hush harbors where they would get out, go down by the water and have secret worship services before the master would find out.

And it was born out of people who were told it was illegal for them to learn how to read.

And many of them learned to read using the Bible.

And that was the only thing that they could read.

So that's how many of our, the Black church started.

After emancipation, churches started developing with Black leadership.

A few of the churches that started in Richmond, First African, Second Baptist, Third Baptist, most of them started as a branch of the white church with the same name.

When you get to Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, we started in 1867, shortly after the Civil War ended.

And it was John Jasper, famed slave preacher, he was the founder of Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church, one of the first in the city that did not ever have a white pastor.

And it was started for us to worship.

The story goes that we started in a Confederate horse stable on Brown's Island.

And we moved our way over to Jackson Ward and we've been there since the late 1800s.

And some of the things that we did were born out of necessity because the Black community didn't have access to things.

So John Jasper had on staff a social worker, you know, the things that would be needed for the community were you had to get 'em from the church because the society wasn't giving it to Black people.

So from Reconstruction, then when you get to segregation and Jim Crow, the church became really the nucleus of the neighborhood.

And the center point for everything from protesting to job readiness, all of that was born in many times basements of Black churches.

>>Wow.

I learned a lot just now.

(laughing) >>So much.

>>You know, you talked about how there may be social workers and really all of these different social supports.

Let's talk about like what we've done for youth.

>>They are our future and if we don't pour into them now, we can't really hope for a brighter future.

And so really what we look to do is to find ways that we can assess the need from the source, talking to parents and families, connecting with administrators and educators to see where are the gaps that we have?

And so for us, that looks like, you know, coordinating with communities and schools, talking through coordinators who are having conversations with students every day about different things that they're going through, whether it be food insecurity or just needing additional help in the classroom, or bullying, there's so many things.

So creating a space of hope from the church to be able to say, hey, we assess that need, but we also wanna meet it.

And so we create that space for them to come in and receive whatever they need.

>>We also partner with communities and schools.

And the school closest to us is Carver Elementary School.

And they have several issues.

And we work with the communities and schools person to get information about where the needs are.

And so the biggest things that we do with them are a school supply drive at the beginning of the year.

And then for Thanksgiving they identify 10 families.

And we say, if you're hungry on Thanksgiving, you're probably hungry the rest of the time.

And so we typically will give them about two weeks worth of groceries along with a Thanksgiving meal.

And for Christmas, last year we said we were going to adopt 10 children.

And so we try to have our ear to the ground and see what is going on, how we can help beyond, you know, we teach that the holistic being is important.

So we want you to be whole.

And we believe that God says that God wants us to prosper and be in good health.

And so for us, that is not just physical health, but spiritual health, emotional health, financial health.

And we try to see what we can do to meet those needs.

>>Yeah, wow.

You know, I'm thinking about our youth and you know, all of these different experiences that they're having, whether in school or home on the weekends or at church on a Sunday or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday with all of the work that you all do.

What are you all hearing about youth that are in your sphere?

Like what's on their hearts and minds right now?

>>I would say to belong.

One of the groups that we work with now is McKinney-Vento.

And they specifically work with families and students who identify as homeless.

And one of the things that we do to help with is provide gift cards and clothing.

And so we really want to restore dignity, for every single student to know that your situation does not define you.

And so just even in that act, it's helping them to feel like they can belong and being a part of the community.

Not to say that, you know, clothing and shoes make the person, but at the same time it lets them know that they have value.

So being able to provide that type of need to help them feel more like they can belong and even helping to boost their self-esteem in their identity is something that we always wanna do.

>>Thank you.

>>I agree, belonging is a very important thing.

I also think that the young people have questions that probably in my day, I don't know how old you are, but in my day it would've been, you just take it, you know?

The answer is what the answer is and you can't ask any follow up questions.

But there are young people who, if you tell them God is this or God does not allow this, then they have follow up questions about why and what does that mean?

And I think that part of what I do in working with young people, I'm not a youth minister anymore, but I still work with our dance ministry, our young people's dance ministry, is give them space for those questions, give them space for, and let them know that I may not have the answer.

Which is important because sometimes adults act like we know everything.

(Adrienne laughing) And so I try to give them space.

So they have questions about sexuality, and why are you saying that this is sinful or transgenderism?

And they have hard questions that, because I said so is not going to do it.

And if you say, because I said so enough, then you can't be mad if they say, I don't wanna be a part of this organization anymore.

Because it's not life giving, it's not gonna allow me to be who I am, and they don't have answers to the questions that I'm asking.

>>Think about you all's experience as a youth or as a child, right?

How did that experience influence what you currently do?

Uh oh, I think you have a good answer.

How did that influence who you are now and how you show up as an adult in the church?

>>I would say it really stems from my parents.

So from a very early age, my parents were very, very involved in the church, serving from as a deacon, elder, Sunday school superintendent, everything.

And so that was just a consistent part of our everyday life and our routine.

And really just coming from a heart of service and love for God to say, if I love God, I serve him and I serve his people.

And so that was really modeled for me and my siblings growing up.

But then also even beyond the church, looking for other opportunities to serve the community, whether it was with other family members.

Or I even remember there was that organization called Convoy of Hope.

And we would go and they would have ministry, like church without walls, but also they would give away groceries, they would have tournaments, all sorts of things.

And so that was just something that was instilled in me from a young age.

And the Word says, "Train up a child in the way it should go and when they're old they will not depart from it."

And so even beyond that, when I went off to college, I was always looking for places to serve because it was something that was ingrained in my heart from very small.

>>Wow, thank you.

>>So I grew up in a traditional Black Baptist church in Stratford, Connecticut.

And it was the only Black church in town.

Because it ain't that big.

But I remember the church is where my foundation was laid in more ways than one.

And so it was in the church where I learned much of the Black history that I learned as a child.

Because I have more than one picture of my school class pictures where I'm the only Black child.

And so February, I grew up in the '80s.

February wasn't a whole bunch of Black history that we learned in Stratford, Connecticut.

But in the church they required us to pick a person from Black history, learn about them, and then report back for Sunday school.

And so that's how I learned a lot of Black history from the church.

The church is where I learned how to speak publicly.

I don't like it still.

>>Doing a great job.

>>But that's where I learned in the church, they gave us those opportunities.

I laughed because the church is where I got some, what I would call some spooky Jesus theology.

(Adrienne laughing) And where I was taught things and I still pick them up and I'm like, why do I do this now?

When I became a youth minister, I didn't teach that to my youth because I had learned more.

But I think that for me, the Black church was a place where people did the best that they could with the knowledge that they had.

And they wanted us to grow up and do the best that we could.

I'll say I experienced, witnessed, not personally experienced, but witnessed some of the stuff that the church has done that has been harmful to people.

Growing up, one of my best friends got pregnant when she was 17, and she was the president of the choir and they told her she had to sit down.

And so her relationship with the church is still, that was 25 years ago, it's still not tight.

Because that was hurtful and it wasn't, there was no punishment for the man.

And there was a disconnect between saying that children are blessings from God, but now we're turning you away because you're having a child.

And it didn't make sense.

>>What do you all think is the best thing that churches can do to really support youth as they're even dealing, still dealing with some of the systemic racism, things that they're seeing on the day to day?

What's the best thing that you feel like the church can do to support our youth?

>>I would say heed the scripture where it says, "Be slow to speak, quick to listen."

Do more listening.

I think there's a lot of great things that we can share, but until we can listen and hear the heart of where people are, we really can't meet the need that they really have.

So I would say just being more quick to listen and give space, give room for people to share their needs.

>>Yeah, I think listening and not thinking that you know what is best all the time is going to be a game changer for the church.

I think that with the various things, just trying to be who they are, young people have enough that they have to deal with outside of the church to come in and have people telling them, your skirt is too short, or pull up your pants or do this.

And you know, a whole bunch of do's and don'ts.

And not giving them space to just be.

And so I think that that is going to be crucial.

Because as much as we are a part of the church and love the church, there's a whole generation and part of our generation that is saying, I'm good with God, but I can do without the church.

Like we preach that God is love.

And if that is true, then we should be loving.

The scripture says that they will know that we are Christians by our love.

And too often the church is not expressing love, they're expressing a variety of different emotions and thoughts and opinions and political things that have nothing to do with the love of Christ.

And so I think if we listen, accept, and love, then I think that we would be good.

>>Wow.

We could drop the mic right there.

We won't, but we could.

But it kind of goes into my next thought.

What is the church's biggest opportunity right now?

So I heard a lot about just kind of speaking from love, but what would you all say is the biggest opportunity that Black churches have right now?

I love how thoughtful you all are as well, let me say that.

>>I think that we have so many opportunities.

As we talked about with the pandemic, prior to the pandemic, we had never live streamed.

We didn't want to, well, I didn't want to.

And part of that is my pastor is an elected official.

And I told him, you just say one thing and they'll slice that up and your next opponent will be on it, putting it in commercials and things like that.

And so, but the pandemic required us to go online.

And that has opened up so many different avenues.

We have people who watch us from Alabama and California and they check in on Sundays and they are part of our virtual family.

And so I think we have the opportunity to expand, whereas Jesus said, go out into all the nations and baptize and everything, we at this point don't have to leave Richmond.

>>I think that's great.

I would definitely agree, just even opening that up because I think it was a new thing for a lot of Black churches to really be streaming and be beyond just the four walls.

I would say in addition to that is just rewriting the narrative of what it means to be a Black Christian in America.

I think a lot of what we see now in terms of shifting away from Christianity is that there's been this narrative of, you know, really African-Americans only encountered it once they were colonized.

When really there's a strong and long history of Christianity being in Africa, well before coming to the United States.

So I think as we create more avenues for us to have access to information is rewriting that narrative to let people know what the true story is of why our faith is important and how it's been with our people for so long, and what that can mean in terms of how we advance our faith going forward.

>>I love it.

So beyond your personal connections, beyond everything that you've shared, like what's the strength that the Black church is leading with?

And even on a personal level, like how is that, because you all have been playing it consistently from your stories.

But what strengths do we have at the current time?

>>I would say community.

I see the Black church, yeah, it's a pillar of culture, but it's a fellowship and community.

And a lot of times you'll see that not only do, in the Black church do people come to church together, but they do life together just beyond church.

So I think that's one of the strongest things, people are looking for community.

And so that if they can find that while also growing in their faith, that's a big plus.

Especially people are moving from different cities and states, they're looking for community.

And that's something that's a strength.

That's always been a pillar of what you can find there.

>>And I would say consistency.

We have endured, we are a people of endurance.

And getting through and coming out on the other side, we may be a little tattered, but we are better for it.

And I think that whether we'll be 156 years old, how old is The Life Church?

>>2016.

>>So we, young and old, we are doing the work that God has called us to do.

And you can go to any community pretty much and find a Black church.

And so I think that that is a strength that we have.

>>Wow.

I just wanna say thank you all so much.

Not just for this interview, but everything that you all do Sunday through Sunday and showing up in the community, representing and supporting our faith communities.

And we are so much better to have leaders such as you all in our Black churches.

So thank you all so much for joining.

>>Thank you.

>>Thank you.

(upbeat music) >>We are now turning our attention to career preparation and career development.

We will discuss creative approaches Black students and their families are taking towards post pre-K through 12 life preparation.

Joining me today are Dionne Henderson, president and CEO of Partnership for the Future.

And Royal McCargo, founder and owner of 1010 Post Construction.

Welcome to you both.

>>Thanks for having me.

>>Thank you.

>>Let's get started about your personal journey and pathway.

And so talk to us about how you've gotten to the roles that you're in, whether CEO or owner.

And the kind of career opportunities that you've been able to create considering your pathway.

>>Sure, so for me, when I got outta college, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do.

So I was an English and African-American Studies double major.

And so working in Black communities was very important to me.

Initially I wanted to go into the sports industry and wanted to sort of be in community engagement, in community affairs.

And in that industry you sort of either work your way up or you sort of parachute in.

And so one of the things that I saw in some of the jobs that I wanted in 10 years was work in the community.

And so I figured, let me start working in nonprofits and then eventually I'll get to sports.

And the main reason for me, sports, is because professional athletes have a platform in Black communities.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, children usually gravitate towards athletes.

So once I started in nonprofits, it was supposed to be temporary.

And I actually started working with adults.

And so although I enjoyed the work that I did, unfortunately some of the adults that I worked with had very limited career opportunities, typically based on criminal background.

And so from there I decided to transition to working with young people.

And so I figured if I can start with them young, I could have a greater impact.

And so started with young people, actually took a detour to health.

And so that was important for me, seeing the whole person and the whole self.

And then about two and a half years ago, I began my career partnership for the future as a CEO.

And for me, a critical part of building my career was making sure that I looked at what are the skills that I was missing at each level, what skills I could obtain from the places that I was working, and how can I make sure I stay grounded.

And so, even though I'm a CEO, it's important for my students to know who I am.

It's important for them to know that they can call me if they have issues, which some of them do, show up to their schools to let them know that not only does the organization care, but I care.

>>What about you, Royal?

>>Well, it's completely different.

My path is definitely unique.

Let's just say starting out or coming out of college, I was offered an opportunity at entrepreneurship based on relationships that I developed at the university I attended.

And they offered me a opportunity to be an entrepreneur the day after I graduated and I turned it down.

I chose to go into corporate America and take that path.

That's the route that most people during that time, you know, my generations were taught, you go to school, get a good job, start a family.

So that's sort of the path that I was on.

Once I got into corporate America, I quickly realized that it wasn't a good fit necessarily because they weren't reaching the segments of the population that necessarily resonated with me.

And just various things within how the system of corporate America works, I didn't like it.

So it was at that point I knew I wanted to do something for myself, and I wanted to have a certain impact within the community, within the city.

And it's from there where I chose to start on an entrepreneurial journey.

It was a long path, many different avenues.

But one of the things that I was focused and hard set on was impacting community.

Not only developing opportunities for myself and family, but recognizing where I came from.

I wanted to be able to lend my talents and services back into the community.

So it's from there, through that type of initiative, through that type of understanding, I was able to connect with local nonprofit, community based organization.

And they helped me to start the company that I currently own, which is 1010 Post Construction, LLC.

And with that it's still, it's about lifestyle.

>>And so you all both kind of talked about what you do, but I wanna dig a bit deeper into, tell us what 1010 Post Construction is.

And I want you to tell us a little bit more about what Partnership for the Future does.

>>1010 Post Construction is a full scope post-construction cleaning service that incorporates hauling and dumping, debris removal, cleaning through all stages of construction process, demolition.

That's what it started out as.

Now it's a little bit more detail.

We actually offer full scope residential health building services.

So everything from foundation to roofing, you know, we're able to take care of.

And we've increased the capacity in which the services that we originally offered.

So now we're operating dump trucks, and you know, things along those lines.

So we've taken transportation and hauling to a different level.

But it's still all upon the foundation which it was built, which was family, community, you know, keeping these things in mind, providing opportunity for those that are most needing, and yeah.

>>Okay, awesome.

>>So a little bit about Partnership for the Future.

We are a college access and college success program, primarily serving African American, first generation, low to moderate income students.

And so we are now in our 29th year of serving students, starting with 12 students in Richmond Public Schools.

And so that is near and dear to my heart as a Richmond Public Schools graduate.

Our goal is really to help get our students not only to college, but through college and beyond.

And so when I took over about two and a half years ago, I mean, we've always been a very strong organization.

Two of the areas that we've really increased our services is around our collegiate students and really looking at what are some of the key interventions that help students become successful, not only through college, but beyond.

We have about 500 students in our program right now.

We serve Richmond, we serve Henrico, Chesterfield, and Goochland right now.

>>Yeah, I love it.

You know, in hearing the really unique paths, there's opportunities and places for folks to land.

And so talk about how, just like networking and making connections shows up.

'Cause whether you go to college and get a degree, two year, four year, you know, post-college or whether you wanna go right in the trades, we know that relationships have a lot to do with how far you can go.

So talk about how that works, one, for the students that you work with.

And then Royal, think about, I know you have some pipelines that you try to put in place for folks that work on your team.

So talk about what that looks like.

>>Alright, I'll start.

So network, let me preface it with how important it was for me and the importance of networking and building relationships and fostering those relationships.

I really got a first idea of what that looked like when I stepped on a college campus.

It was at that time that I was now exposed to people of all ethnicities, races, creeds.

And it opened my eyes up.

I could no longer look through a singular lens.

So it was there that I start to introduce and get to know various individuals, and then later on, you know, finding out people that they were connected to.

So I'm like, okay, maybe this is something.

So as I moved into corporate America, I followed those same trends.

You know, get to know the people, found out who's who and get to know who's who.

When I first started my business, the first part, the first three to four months all I did was attend network meetings, going into a place and introducing myself, telling my story, letting them know the services that I had available.

It's through those type of opportunities and occasions where I landed my first jobs just based off of, you know, building relationships, opportunities that are being given.

So I would say that networking is probably one of the most vital things before you can even get to the work.

It's one of those foundational things that's necessary in order for you to, you know, aspire to whatever it is that you're aspiring to.

>>And I would agree with a lot of what Royal said.

I mean, networking has always been very important to me.

I look at it more as relationship building.

And I think one of the reasons I've been successful in networking has been because I really try to go into it with not just what I need but what I can offer.

And I like to use the term mutually beneficial.

And so, you know, not having transactional interactions, even if there is something I need or want, but being intentional about that relationship piece.

Our program is year round, so we work with our students all year and networking is a big part of what we do with our students.

I can think of countless examples where networking has become important to our students' future.

I think about a student we have now who is working at McGuireWoods.

And one of the persons who've helped to found our organization, Jackie Stone, this very prominent Black lawyer at McGuireWoods, and reminding that student, reach out to this person, make those connections.

This young lady is now going on to William and Mary.

Our board chair graduated from William and Mary Law School.

So making those connections.

And when I think about myself personally, I found out about this role through networking.

>>Dionne, thinking about you, and I'm curious about, 'cause I know you all work with a lot of first generation students.

What are have been some of the most successful strategies that you all have used to really help these students navigate the college application process?

Financial aid, all of the things that can feel really daunting on your own.

>>So the first thing we do is start early.

So our students apply in ninth grade.

And I tell people, our students already wanna go to college, so we don't have to spend time convincing.

We're really helping them build their toolbox to get there.

The other thing that we do is make sure we layer on the skills that they'll need.

So starting their summer after ninth grade, they're learning about goal setting, they're learning about public speaking, they're working on essay writing.

That is a continuous part of our program.

And one of the things that is most helpful when they do become seniors is we actually pair them directly with a college educated mentor who's usually a professional or retired person or community leader volunteer in our area.

And they work with them one-on-one.

And so that person sits down with them and just lays out a map of where they wanna go, what are the schools that they're interested in.

The other thing is research early.

So I tell this to any parent or student that approaches me, if you wanna go to this school, figure out, you know, what's the average GPA?

If they have SAT scores, what are those scores?

Looking at financial aid, I mean, that's a big part of the college discussion right now.

And when I stepped into this role and people sort of said, well, maybe some students shouldn't go to college, my rebuttal was, our students wanna go to college.

So I'm big on, and I love that we have Royal here because I always say, young people need to have a plan.

Whether it's college or not, it's just there needs to be a plan.

And so for me, it was not that our students didn't need to go to college, it's how can we support them in fulfilling their dreams and talking about things like financial aid?

>>Because it's a big ask, and you all really do some significant wraparounds for your students in your program.

So talk to us what collaboration looks like with other organizations just to ensure some access to some of these career and educational opportunities for your students.

>>Absolutely.

So we have a lot of corporate partners that we work with who are invested in our students.

A big focus for me is that our students just know all the careers that are available to them.

I think oftentimes if you are in communities that there may not, you know, you may not see as many of the different professions.

It's important for me that our students know, a lawyer doesn't just mean the courtroom.

Or if you wanna be an educator, you know, if you get to a place that you say, I don't wanna be a teacher anymore, these are all the career paths that are in education.

If you wanna go into medicine, there are all these different opportunities.

And so that is where the collaboration comes in.

One, from a workforce development standpoint.

We also offer paid internships to our students every summer, starting the summer after their sophomore year.

And so those partnerships with other organizations.

We work with organizations like Higher Achievement who serve middle school students to say, how can we let your students know about our program even when they are in middle school so that when they get to high school, they have a goal.

And when they're thinking about their grades, they're thinking, hey, I need to keep this GPA in place so that I can go to this school.

And of course, we work with the school divisions.

>>I'm thinking about what you shared and even when you talk about partnerships, networking, I'm thinking about you Royal.

I mean, but you went from your college degree to corporate to starting your own in trades.

And so what would you say to educators and employers about preparing Black students for careers and high growth trade opportunities?

>>It's similar to what Dionne just spoke about.

It's preparing early.

Initially I started identifying juniors, seniors, and looking at those age groups as a potential opportunity to start to invest and offer mentorship.

But I wholeheartedly agree with that.

And I think the earlier you start with it, it helps you to be able to identify, and you can actually implement the things that are needed.

Skills building, leadership, conflict resolution, mentorship, those sorts of things.

So the barriers are mainly, you know, those things.

So we have to be able to create programs or build the relationships with the local working community to identify those companies, to identify those schools that are interested in taking on the task and starting those type of relationships.

But it creates a pipeline to, you know, potentially not only scale the business, but have a real impact on the student as they're building up all their years.

It gives 'em an idea of a path that they could potentially take on.

>>You know, it's interesting.

Options keep coming to mind, right?

We want to ensure that our young people know that you have options.

And it might be both, and, or, right?

So you may do both.

You may choose, you know.

And so just making sure that they're aware of that.

I feel like the educational system is more open and accommodating when you look at creative workforce opportunities, especially when you think about trades.

I did a trade in high school coming through RPS as well, cosmetology, because I didn't wanna graduate early, right?

But again, knowing that I had the option to do something to add to me also going to get my four year degree.

And so I think having that kind of dialogue with our young people makes it more comfortable for them, right?

If someone is just saying, college, college, college, college, but you know you're not ready for it, what does that do for your psyche, right, as you're looking to execute that plan for your life?

You all have kind of, were you gonna jump?

>>I think more than anything, kids need to see real live examples.

You can see it on TV all day, but when it's someone that you can actually put your hands on, not necessarily touch 'em, but they're in your face and, you know, they come from a similar path, it adds a little more credence to that acceptance that this can happen for me as well.

So I think just having the more real world examples, real live examples, close examples that we can provide, the more that it'll start to click that, hey, there really are options out here.

This guy, his path was this way.

He did it a different way.

>>I think we've mentioned barriers, but I wanna go back there.

What barriers are in the way for our students, whether when you're looking at going to college, completing college, going into trades, you know, finding a career that works for you?

What are barriers that you all would say are in the way for some of our young people?

>>I would say just the information itself.

If we aren't really paying attention to what it is that we're seeking to do, whether that's getting to a trade or go on a college path, knowing what's available to you, what sort of resources are available to you.

Many people may not know that there's a tech center out here.

So it's how do we get the information to them, that's one of the biggest barriers.

And then once we get that, it's, you know, what do the resources look like that are actually, you know, in place to help those individuals?

So it's accessibility, it's resources.

And then I would say those are the main two, but you know, those.

>>So I would say, similar to you, you know, young people have a lot of information at the tips of their fingers, but that also means they have a lot of information coming at them.

>>They can't process, right.

>>That they can't process.

And so I think, to be honest, one of the barriers is systemic racism, at least in the space that I'm in and looking at education.

I like to use the terminology may not have or may be less likely.

Because I do know the communities that our students live in typically have a lower rate of college educated individuals.

And so how can we empower them to dream big?

I've heard someone share at a forum recently that dreaming is a luxury.

And so how can we make sure our students have that luxury?

Because that is something that their peers who are higher income and or white have that luxury of not, you know, seeing this is the ceiling.

And so for me, that's very important in our work is to make sure they have that space to dream big, to have hope, but then we also give them the tools that they need to get there and make it practical.

>>To build up that confidence, for sure.

>>Back to that access, resources, seeing other people, right?

And so removing some of those barriers so that they can, you know, kind of touch those things.

You know, you talk about dreaming.

And I think about the continuum of exploration that we do in careers, right?

And so sometimes what I think I want to eat at 8:00 AM changes from dinnertime at 8:00 PM.

But when you think about that continuum and of young people really exploring where they will land, how do you measure success in the work that you're doing, right?

And so how do you measure success or your impact with Partnership?

You know, how do you measure success for some of the young men and women that you're working with in 1010 Post Construction?

>>So for me, it's the long game, right?

And so, although it's important for our students to get to college, I want that to not be, you know, the measure of success.

And so that is one thing that we do chart, but also, do they feel like they belong when they get there?

Are they able to navigate their campuses?

Are they able to take advantage of the resources that are there?

Do we sort of give them some of the rules of the playbook that they may not have had?

IE interning while you're in college.

How can we make sure that a lot of the advantages that their wealthier peers have, that they have access to those things?

So that's one of the things we look at for our students.

But we're starting to look more of, again, what happens after college?

Do you have the financial literacy to, when you decide to purchase a home, do you know what that looks like?

Do you know about credit scores?

Do you know about down payments and percentages?

Do you know about investments?

So all of these things about life that some people just learn growing up or have people within their families or their networks to sort of give them the game, how can we make sure our students have that?

And then for me, the big goal is to close the wealth gap.

And so the wealth gap for Black Americans continues to grow, even though the percentage of college educated Black Americans also continues to increase.

And so from where I sit, I mean, there's a lot of reasons that this is happening.

Again, systemic racism is always gonna play a role in this, but some of it is understanding the college process.

So for a first generation student, sometimes the goal is to just get into college.

And I've seen situations where students are, you know, going to a college where they are gonna have $30,000, $40,000 of year student loan debt.

That's when we're having the conversations and talking about those students where it's, you know, was college really worth it?

And so for me it's, how do we change the trajectory of their lives, right?

So when we look at students who graduate and who are going on to pursue their dreams and being in positions where they can lean back and help other people from their communities, that's sort of how I look at success in terms of our students.

>>I measure it a little bit differently.

I have just a quick story.

There was a young man, when I first launched my company, again, the majority of the people that I hire come from all the public housing.

So I'm very intentional, I like that word.

I'm very intentional about the type of hires that I make, the type of opportunities that I provide.

This one particular gentleman, he hadn't worked three, four years.

Started working with me.

We get into one year, you know, doing well.

Year and a half, he's getting promoted.

About year two comes around, he's like, I think I might want to do something for myself.

I'm interested in this particular thing.

So now it becomes a conversation of how do I start this?

It's a different relationship now.

So success to me is defined in terms of seeing personal growth within the individuals, whether that be the student, the employee, just the growth and them on their path.

I tell people all the time, we have to celebrate the small wins.

We don't wait till we get to the end and celebrate, you know, because it's really not guaranteed if we're going to get there.

So learn how to celebrate the small wins.

And the more small wins you accumulate, before you look at it, you're right where you were looking to be.

So I measure it in terms of incremental growth as opposed to overall growth.

So, okay, you're thinking about becoming an entrepreneur now.

Three years ago you was sitting on the couch, that's success, you know?

So that's success.

So, you know, I don't look at it from a grandiose perspective.

You know, small wins.

>>And I just want to just piggyback on the small wins.

I totally agree with that when you're looking at success.

Just this past week we had what's called Decision Day for our students where they formally announce where they're going to college.

And we have each student walk up to the mic and just share where they're going, who they're thankful for in their village.

And as I was sitting down, the students were walking past me and I had countless students before they went up, I'm so nervous, I can't do this.

And they got up there and they absolutely did it.

>>Killed it.

(laughing) >>And so for me, that's part of success, is our students getting to the edge of where they feel comfortable, but still deciding to make another step forward and having that confidence to do that.

>>Seeing that shy kid in the back now up front giving a one minute speech.

>>Absolutely.

>>Celebrating each of those steps along that journey.

What advice would you all give to young people or parents as they're exploring just career opportunities?

What would your advice be?

>>I would start by saying, you don't have to have it all figured out.

I think that is a huge piece.

Even in my world, working with students who are higher achieving, there's an assumption that, I have to be a lawyer, I have to be a doctor.

If I don't do these things, I'm not gonna be successful.

And I want them to know that success has very little to do about your title.

It has more to do about who you are.

And so I think that's the first thing is not to put all of that added pressure on them to have it all figured out by day one.

The other part is to have a plan.

And so, you know, figuring out, again, if this is my plan, then these are the steps that I need to take to get there.

I find sometimes with young people it's very important to dream big, but also making sure you know the steps to get you to your goal.

>>Again, the preparation is key, it's key.

I can remember, you know, eighth grade people were talking to me about college, you know, to put the idea into my mind because no one in my community was talking about college.

So the more we're able to expose our students in these communities, in these schools, to the unlimited potential that that's within them, I think it'll make it a lot easier.

Parents, I would just say be as supportive as you can.

Don't try to push your own thoughts and dreams on your child.

You know, pay attention to what it is that they're into.

And let's create a plan based off of that.

And, you know, done properly, you'll end up right where you wanna be.

>>And success doesn't just look one way.

Again, I think that's the thing.

I can think of students that say, I wanna be an engineer, but I hate math.

So, you know, to go back to Royal's point, what are your gifts?

What are the things that you're passionate about?

And making sure that the community, whoever their community is, is supportive of their gifts and talents.

And there's value in that.

I think sometimes we value certain things more than others.

But really looking at our students from an, I like to look at everything from an asset based lens.

And so I think that's important to parents and folks that are in students' village.

>>So grateful for you all, I mean, just for being pillars in the community, for being the strong support that you are for our students and families as they're exploring these opportunities, whether it's college or whether it's a trade.

And so, again, just really wanna thank you all, thank you both for the conversation.

And thank you for watching this episode of "Racism: Challenging Perceptions".

If you'd like to stream previous programs, visit our website at vpm.org/talk.

And there you will also be able to learn more about our panelists and explore additional topics from the series.

I'm Adrienne Cole Johnson.

Thank you.

>>Production funding for "Racism: Challenging Perceptions" is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat music)