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3 Things I Learned in 2015 from the L.E.A.D. Ambassadors

December 31, 2015 by C.J. Stewart

I heard this quote the other day – Never stop learning, because life never stops teaching. I haven’t been able to find out who said it, but I do know I am in full agreement!

I took advantage of many opportunities to learn from life’s experiences this year, and it turned out to be an awesome year! I kept myself open to learning whether it was through my participation in Leadership Atlanta, or relocating with my family from Cherokee County to closer, familiar surroundings in Atlanta. I must admit though, nowhere did I find life’s learning opportunities more evident and abundant than in my work with my L.E.A.D. (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct) Ambassadors.

Over the years, I have come to appreciate the time I spend with the Ambassadors because of what I learn from them. My wife Kelli and I started L.E.A.D. in 2007 and, every year, our Ambassadors have been teaching me what it takes to inspire and empower Atlanta’s young, Black, inner-city males to live a sustainable life of significance. 2015 has been no different in that regard, and I’d like to share with you three things that I’ve learned from our L.E.A.D. Ambassadors this year.

1. Black Boys want a hero, more than they need a coach.

We live in a time where Black Males have a better chance of being incarcerated than graduating from high school. Where their lives are expendable after thoughts of those in society who are supposed to protect them. Make no mistakes about it, Black Boys in particular are in a state of crisis in this country and what they need now is a HERO, more than a coach.

This crisis is not lost on our Ambassadors, and I have learned from them that they need me to be their hero more than their coach. They need my reassurances based on my experiences and confidence that they can survive their struggles and that they have an authentic opportunity to live a significant life. They need this more than learning how to hit, field and throw a baseball.

I have also learned from our Ambassadors’ successes that I must continue to dig deep and look within myself to be the hero they need, so that they can have continued success. Ironically…soul-searching introspection to find the hero within is exactly what L.E.A.D. is asking the Ambassadors to do for themselves. So the cycle continues, what L.E.A.D. asks of its Ambassadors, they ask of me. I am honored to meet their request.

2. Black Boys want to be challenged, not chastened.

Kelli and I challenge the Ambassadors to become all that God has called them to be. That challenge along with helping them develop a sense of self awareness and core values allows them to correct themselves, most times, before being chastened by others. For example, we know that the Ambassadors are consistently making right choices over wrong ones even when wrong “has a louder voice” in their head.

L.E.A.D. (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct) also challenges its Ambassadors to lead and become heroes, especially to those young men that are coming up behind them within Atlanta Public Schools. They are accepting the challenge and are successful because we are providing them with the blueprint for positive transformation. They understand that there is a learning curve, and it will be a long and difficult road; but they also know that they will get the attention and resources they need to achieve the mission. They don’t have to dream their dreams alone; we are their allies and our belief in them fuels their desire for success and significance.

Further, as a youth empowerment organization, it is our duty to put our Ambassadors in places that take them out of their comfort zone. We extend their experiences to events at the Atlanta Opera, dining at various Buckhead restaurants, or speaking to a large group of adults about what it is to be a black male living in Atlanta, living in the world.

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors along with Atlanta City Council President Ceasar Mitchell, who is also an Atlanta Public Schools Alum.

3. Black Boys need a pathway to empowerment, not enabling.

There are a lot of aspects of L.E.A.D. that I am proud of, and this one ranks high on my list – we are a meritocracy. Because of this, we have what some believe to be a high attrition rate, around 15%-20%. Some of the attrition is due to lack of funding, but most of it is because of the high standards we set. We are uncompromising in our expectations for our Ambassadors, and when they fail to meet these standards, they are met with the consequences. One such consequence is termination from the program, and when that happens we encounter quite a bit of criticism.

My stance is this: we cannot empower our youth to overcome their struggles by enabling them to use those same struggles as a crutch. Through stories they’ve shared with me, the Ambassadors have taught me how much they respect our organization by reaching for, and at times exceeding, our standards; even more so when they accept the negative consequences for not meeting the standards. Too many times they’ve told me that being in L.E.A.D. (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct) is the first time they’ve been held accountable on a consistent basis. For some reason, when it comes to helping Black Boys, most folks throw accountability right out of the window. This is exactly what they need; trust me, I know. Not too long ago, I was a Black Boy walking the same streets as my Ambassadors walk today. I’ve overcome similar situations to theirs. The last thing they need is someone offering them benefits or opportunity without accountability.

Photo taken at Booker T. Washington High School, Atlanta Public Schools

Our Pathway2Empowerment model for our Ambassadors includes a K-12 education from Atlanta Public Schools, Core Value training via Habitudes®, and access to higher education via the military and/or the two to four-year college/university system. Ambassadors who work within our model and hold themselves accountable to it, go on to be employed at industry leading companies like Home Depot and Aerotek, and are well on their way to living a sustainable life of significance.

Kelli and I wish you a very Happy New Year, and encourage you to include an Ambassador game or two in your 2016 schedule. The Ambassadors love a crowd to cheer them on. Our summer schedule will be posted later in the spring on our website: www.lead2legacy.org.

Click here to check out our end of year edition of L.E.A.D. For Youth.

Seeds Sown and Expectations Set for Success at L.E.A.D.’s Annual Celebrity Baseball Clinic

November 16, 2015 by C.J. Stewart

Seeds Sown and Expectations Set for Success at L.E.A.D.’s Annual Celebrity Baseball Clinic

At-risk Atlanta Public School Students Groomed to L.E.A.D. (Launch, Expose, Advise, Direct)

“Today you are the primary celebrities out here…” That is the message that Kelli Stewart will deliver to hundreds of at-risk Atlanta Public School students anxiously awaiting in the stands early morning November 20th at Turner Field. They will be there to participate in L.E.A.D.’s 9th Annual Celebrity Baseball Clinic. For the past 8 years in our capacity as L.E.A.D. co-founders, Kelli and I have counted on this message to get the attention of the young people attending our annual baseball clinic. We know from years of experience that if the message gets through and we can get our young people excited about the game of baseball, then we will have a better chance to plant seeds of success in those young fertile minds. Consequently, this will allow us to set much needed expectations regarding how much we need them to not become successful, but most importantly significant.

The proof is in the pudding as this year’s clinic will be facilitated by past participants who have gotten the message and have gone on to become L.E.A.D. Ambassadors. They are now becoming celebrities in their communities, as more and more Atlantans become familiar with L.E.A.D. and our work. The Ambassadors’ celebrity is valuable because it creates credibility with the new clinic participants. Credibility is key for the Ambassadors to pull off an unforgettable experience for their young charges.

Through L.E.A.D., we currently serve 31 high school Ambassadors – the program runs from November through July of the next year. These are 31 young black males who attend Atlanta Public Schools and who are being groomed to lead Atlanta and the world. By 2020, L.E.A.D. hopes to serve 100 Ambassadors annually. The goal has always been to have L.E.A.D. Ambassadors set a good example for, and lead, their peers within APS high schools. They are being specifically trained to be influencers within their schools and inner city Atlanta communities, and for good reasons – the Ambassadors know their schools and communities better than any adult mentor could. With 100 Ambassadors, L.E.A.D. will be able to provide peer leadership in 11 APS high schools, and continue to assist APS to realize its mission of creating “… a caring culture of trust and collaboration, [where] every student will graduate ready for college and career.”

Words of wisdom for the Ambassadors from CJ Stewart’s mentor Major General Ronald Johnson (U.S. Army)

Not only are the young black males that L.E.A.D. serves being positioned as leaders in their communities, they are being groomed to be career ready when they graduate from college. They will need three things along the way from their Atlanta community to guarantee their success in this regard:
Access to other influencers and decision makers;
Constant encouragement (time and prayers); and
Financial investment

They will also need:

1. Internships and shadow opportunities while they are in high school and college;

2. Interview opportunities for open, and newly created, positions upon graduating from college; and

3. A yes after the interview. If L.E.A.D. does its job right, and the Ambassadors do what they are charged with, a “yes” will be inevitable..

Access to these necessities for success should be a no brainer, and L.E.A.D. should not have a difficult time finding opportunities for its Ambassadors. After all, Atlanta is the home of Coca-Cola, Delta, UPS and Chick-fil-A. Additionally, the world’s newest athletic venue is being built in Atlanta and will bear the name of Atlanta’s newest corporate resident, Mercedes Benz. Porsche has recently acquired an Atlanta address for its North American headquarters connecting its proximity to the world’s busiest passenger airport – Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

But . . . here’s why you must help:

· ON THE DOWNSIDE: Youth from inner city Atlanta zip codes 30310, 30315 and 30318 grow up to represent 80% of Georgia’s State Prison population. About 60% of black males either will not graduate on time or at all from Atlanta Public Schools while the state of Georgia ranks 31st in education in America. It takes an investment of $3,500 per young man annually for L.E.A.D. to develop an Ambassador, and it costs Georgia tax payers $100,000 per year to incarcerate one of them. Do the math! And if the numbers don’t motivate you, maybe your sense of humanity will. Did you know that Georgia is number one in America in incarceration and America leads the world in incarceration?

· ON THE UPSIDE: When the percentage of blacks graduating from college and being gainfully employed increases, there will be a substantial economic return to the city of Atlanta. Additionally, it follows that the higher the graduation and employment rate, the lower the incarceration rate.

It stands to reason that if we don’t participate in the lives of young black males and empower them to live a sustainable life of significance, then Atlanta will never truly become a world class city. I recently stated this very sentiment to several of my Leadership Atlanta 2015 classmates at a CEO Roundtable discussion. Woodruff Foundation chairman, Russ Harden, was there and he agreed with me.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson, Ceasar Mitchell, Courtney English, Byron Amos, Vernon Jordan, Herman Russell and Andre Dickens all achieved a high level of celebrity in their own right. We have every reason to believe that given the right opportunities our young black men can hold similar careers, with the potential for even greater successes. We fully expect by 2020, our Ambassadors will lead in positions such as Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools Board of Education, Atlanta Police Chief, Atlanta Fire Chief, Georgia College and University Deans and Director of Athletics, Atlanta Mayor, Atlanta based Fortune 500 Company Executives, L.E.A.D. CEO, Clergymen and Atlanta Public Schools Teachers and Principals, to name a few; and, we believe that it all starts with Kelli’s message to the eager young baseball clinic participants each year.

Safe At Home Game 2015

With that said, let’s raise the profile of over 50,000 Atlanta Public School students to celebrity status by sharing this blog, and come out on Friday, November 20 to Turner Field between 10:00AM and 2:00 pm, to meet L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and join in the excitement with 300 new young celebrities. You are also welcome to worship with the Ambassadors on Sunday, November 22nd at 12:00PM at Elizabeth Baptist Church (4245 Cascade Road, SW, Atlanta, GA 30331-7245)

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6AM AND IT’S A NEW DAY . . . OR IS IT?

November 2, 2015 by C.J. Stewart

FOR ME, when my iPhone alarm sounds at 6AM, I’m ready for a new day. I have a purpose. . . what I believe to be a God given purpose. It is to do whatever is necessary to help Atlanta Public Schools (APS) realize its vision and fulfill its mission, to ensure that young black male students in the APS system have every opportunity to graduate from high school, go to college, and have career choices to live a life of significance.

ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Vision “A high performing school district where students love to learn, educators inspire, families engage and the community trusts the system.”

Mission “With a caring culture of trust and collaboration, every student will graduate ready for college and career.”

FOR APS, when 6AM rolls around on any given day students, teachers and stakeholders are met with critical issues resulting from an educational system that has been grossly mismanaged. The state of APS is not just an Atlanta problem, it affects the entire State of Georgia.

POVERTY, GRADUATION RATES, AND INCARCERATION

· 80% of the 51,000+ students APS services live at or below the poverty level.

· Sixty percent of black males attending APS high schools either won’t graduate on time or at all

· Youth from inner city Atlanta zip codes that are served by APS, grow up to represent 80% of the Georgia Prison population.

· Georgia ranks number one in America in incarceration and America ranks number one in the world in incarceration.

· In Atlanta, if you are born into poverty you have a 4% chance of making it out.

It’s not hard to see that we are indeed in a crisis situation. We continue to lose far too many young, black boys and men via the cradle to prison/cemetery pipeline. As a Black man who grew up in Atlanta, the state of my City is always on my heart and keeps me up a lot of nights. Even still, my faith in God gives me confidence that my determination to work His plan in my life will yield benefits for all of Atlanta’s citizens, and we will finally come to realize the true promise for young, Black males – a sustained life of significance.

L.E.A.D. Ambassadors serving with Lt. Col. Rooker and the APS JROTC for the Empty Stocking Fund

To that end, I am sounding the alarm for a new day in APS. We must wake up as concerned citizens of Atlanta, and work consistently and diligently each day with purpose for the right results. I offer L.E.A.D. as a viable solution . . . tried and true . . . getting consistent results that are already benefitting the City.

Through L.E.A.D., Kelli, myself, our board and a host of supporters have built a positive culture amongst Black boys in APS; a culture built on dreams that some call crazy due to what they see as lofty ideals. Ideals such as viewing the Black boys in APS as viable candidates to run some of this City’s high profile companies. Crazy as it may seem, based on our experience over the last 8 years, we have confidence in our methodology and we’re seeing it yield results for APS and its students.

Here are a few ways that L.E.A.D. is empowering APS students and teachers:

L.E.A.D. AD CONNECT – On Thursday, October 22nd at 6:00AM, my alarm went off and I suited up in my red and black. Not just because those are Ambassador colors, but because we were headed to my wife’s hometown, Athens, Georgia, to spend quality time with members of the University of Georgia’s Athletic Staff. Through our AD Connect Program, we are empowering APS Athletic Directors (ADs) and coaches by leveraging relationships we have at the college level. In addition to providing a closer look into the operations of college athletics, we are helping the ADs and coaches meet their annual continuing education requirement. Ultimately, L.E.A.D.’s AD Connect Program demonstrates the District’s desire to develop quality ADs and coaches who will mentor APS student-athletes. That morning, 10 ADs and coaches traveled with me to Athens for a dose of empowerment courtesy of the amazing UGA Department of Athletics under the leadership of Director of Athletics, Greg McGarity.

Atlanta Public Schools Middle and High School AD’s – Some of Atlanta’s finest people.

In addition to UGA, the L.E.A.D. AD Connect Program collaborates with Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Mercer. Georgia Tech and Kennesaw State were the first two schools to come aboard.

SAFE AT HOME – The first, annual Safe at Home® Game was played on the first Saturday in August this year at Georgia Tech and it was a huge success! It was the final activity of the Safe at Home program – a collaborative effort of L.E.A.D., APIVEO and the Atlanta Police Foundation designed to build rapport between Atlanta’s inner city youth and Atlanta’s Cops.

Safe at Home was created as a response to the growing tension between the Black community and police officers that has resulted in death and violence in many inner-cities across the country. We have been extremely fortunate to not have a Ferguson like incident in Atlanta and Kelli and I wanted to be as proactive as possible to help ensure we never have one.

As part of the program, L.E.A.D. Ambassadors and Atlanta Police Officers got the opportunity to interact on a level playing field, through joint practices, a picnic and a Braves outing. As a result, the officers saw the Ambassadors as potential leaders, with purpose, and hope for a better future. Additionally, the Ambassadors connected with the police officers and gained a better understanding of the dangerous situations they face each day. Each party saw the human side of the other.

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. was considered crazy by many to believe that blacks would be able to live in prosperity in America, but he had a core group who believed in the work he did. They worked tirelessly to help him realize his dream. Some think, that Kelli and I are crazy to believe that, through L.E.A.D., we can empower an at-risk generation of young, black males from the inner city of Atlanta to lead and transform their city of Atlanta, and eventually the world. Like Dr. King, we have countless amounts of friends around the world that we count on to pray for us, to hold us accountable for fulfilling our calling by God as well as challenge us to do more than we believe that we’re capable of accomplishing.

Dr. King cut a nice trail for our L.E.A.D. Ambassadors to finish paving, so that millions can travel on it living a sustainable life of significance.

So, every morning my iPhone alarm goes off at 6am. When it does, I have a few choices, I can:

wake up feeling blessed that it’s a new day to serve, get going and produce results;
hit snooze, buy a few more minutes, then get going;
or, stay in bed, pull the covers closer, and do nothing.

Listen. Can you hear that? It’s 6:00AM and APS’s alarm is sounding loud and clear. What are your plans to help APS realize its potential and provide for a bright promising future for its students?

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The New-Old Way To Show Love – Accountability

October 15, 2015 by C.J. Stewart

In Lean On Me, Principal Clark cleans house by dismissing the troublemakers who have prevented the school from achieving the district’s expectations on test scores.

Most of us saw Morgan Freeman portray Joe Clark, the once doomed principal who is now heralded for turning around a low performing, inner-city school named Eastside High in Paterson, New Jersey. Most of us remember this intense scene in the movie when Mr. Clark placed students identified as “troublemakers” on the stage to publicly and formally dismiss them from the school. He qualified what he meant by troublemakers – 5+ year students, drug dealers, drug users, gang members etc. Although Morgan Freeman’s performance in the auditorium was one of the best parts of the movie for me, the best part of the auditorium scene is the elation shown by the students seated in the auditorium as the troublemakers were escorted out of school. And did you catch the relief and joy on the teachers’ faces when they saw this demonstration of support from their leader? It was the boost that Eastside High needed to propel them to defy the odds and do what everyone said low income students can’t do – achieve.

Now all that sounds good for the movies, one may say, but what we can’t forget is in this instance – art imitated life.

So I pose this question: How long will we continue to hold our students and teachers hostage by not holding students with habitual behavior offenses accountable?

Let me be clear before I proceed, this conversation is not about who’s right, but what’s right. I implore you to process and comment in that context.

I won’t be long winded on this, but I do want to leave you with a few thoughts to get the discussion started:

Is it possible to do a Joe Clark “dismissal” in our urban, low performing school systems today?

I am told that students cannot be suspended more than 10 days in a school year, what happens when students commit another offense that warrants suspension? I’m asking for the professional protocol that teachers/administrators have to go through when this happens.

Are there any consequences for parents if their children continually demonstrate they cannot behave at school?

Are schools supposed to be in the business of rehabilitation or education?

CJ and I speak with CEOs, COOs, heads of Human Resources, managers, supervisors, College Athletic Directors and Recruiting Coordinators all over this City and State. One of the main complaints we hear as it pertains to Black male applicants is they generally do not protect or do right by the opportunity.

Let’s look at the baseball angle for example. Black males make up about 6% of baseball student-athletes in the NCAA. Regardless of the lie that the media tries to sell this country – BLACK BOYS DO PLAY BASEBALL – especially here in metro-Atlanta. Why is our representation so low? Consider this. Black athletes carry with them the PERCEPTION of laziness, lack of discipline, lack of loyalty and a social mesh of issues that most coaches prefer to pass on. Such is the perception that all Black folks have to fight, but let’s stay focused on athletes for now. When you see a Black Athlete at a predominately White college, rest assured that he/she is working his/her buns off to fight off a perception that they may not even embody. For those who do embody this negative perception, however, where do they get this notion that they can come to practice any time they want to (yeah, we talkin’ about practice), wear their uniform however they want (if they have on the correct uniform at all) and curse their teammates and coaches out, but still get to keep their scholarship?

Could it be that they have been raised/educated by public school systems that have allowed them to run amuck for so long that they think this is how the world works? Could it be they can’t keep a job because they have become accustomed to bucking authority while still being able to enjoy the benefits as if they have met and kept the standard?

These are all questions and thoughts that are heavy on my spirit right now.

We must remember as adults the discipline that we endured as children that helped us to become the accountable citizens we are today. Accountable, not perfect.

Accountability doesn’t mean giving up – it can be one the best demonstrations of love we can show our children.

I welcome your comments.

Written by: Guest Blogger – Kelli Stewart

Till Before You Teach

October 13, 2015 by C.J. Stewart

I had the privilege of meeting with a gentleman named Steve Mayers who serves as the Director of Guest Relations at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. As a kid, I’ve always been fascinated with the airport – how people and things were always in constant motion, going to different places yet seemingly always in sync. I learned the latter part of that statement not to be so true when I started flying a lot as a professional baseball player.

During my time with Steve and his team, I wanted to know his top priority in his role as Director of Guest Relations. In summary this is what I heard him say: his goal is for every guest to have an enjoyable experience while on his property. That is an impressive goal to have, especially when you think of all of the different scenarios attached to people’s travels at Hartsfield-Jackson. Some are soldiers leaving loved ones for a long deployment, some are parents saying goodbye to children as they go off to college, some are family members there to receive the remains of loved ones while others are leaving for honeymoons, weddings and graduations. Such a myriad of emotions can be pulsing through guests as they hurry around the airport.

Since Steve and his team cannot service the millions of guests at Hartsfield-Jackson by themselves, they must rely on the talent pool available to them in metro-Atlanta. Since Atlanta Public Schools serves over 52,000 students, the system should be a prime target for employment talent at the airport. While I don’t know the stats on
the percentage of employees at the airport who attended/graduated from APS schools, I do know that the airport has a high turnover rate for vendor employees. Most of the jobs for the various vendors require basic educational qualifications such as a high school diploma or GED. While most are not jobs that one would want to make a career out of, they are, however, entry-level opportunities that could lead to higher positions if a job candidate has the right awareness and make-up.

Here’s what I mean by make-up and awareness:

Make-up:

Candidates must possess CORE VALUES, a guiding set of principles that govern their behaviors regardless of the environment. CORE VALUES do not produce perfect people, however a person who embodies CORE VALUES will be a more disciplined and accountable employee.
Candidates must possess APTITUDE, the ability to learn information and apply it appropriately.

Candidates must possess COGNITIVE learning skills that allow them to expand their APTITUDE from one discipline to another. This skill makes them valuable across organizational competencies.

AWARENESS

· Candidates who know how to create and maintain healthy relationships are building networks for their future and their posterity’s future.
· Candidates who know to ask, “What’s next” are positioned to properly evaluate opportunities. Understanding the “What’s next” of an opportunity can help the candidate decide if he needs more information (from a mentor or family member) or if this is an opportunity that he should pass on. Understanding how to EVALUATE opportunities is a vital life skill.
· SEIZING an opportunity includes the acquisition, maintenance, and execution of the opportunity. This is a critical step where most candidates fail.

I’m sure there are more bullets to add, but these are the top three points that affect the young men I encounter each day through L.E.A.D. As a side note, I want to be clear that the young men I serve in Buckhead through my for profit company, Diamond Directors, don’t always make the grade when it comes to having the best make-up and awareness either. However, they have access to strong generational networks that can mitigate their poor handling of relationships/opportunities. For my Ambassadors, if they handle an opportunity poorly, their first shot is often their last; their margin for error is slim to none.

In my next blog(s), I’ll layout L.E.A.D.’s methodology for developing the necessary make-up and awareness in our Ambassadors so they are properly equipped to make the most out of college and career opportunities and ultimately win at the game of life.

As we continue on this journey of proper alignment with Atlanta Public Schools for the purpose of empowering our students, it’s important to keep our mission statement front and center along with that of APS. The updated mission of APS follows ours.

L.E.A.D.’s Mission: To empower an at-risk generation to lead and transform their City.

APS’s Mission: With a caring culture of trust and collaboration, every student will graduate ready for college and career.

We had an amazing lunch today at Sylvan Hills Middle School (Atlanta Public Schools). From left to right: Ralph Berry (Physical education teacher, Sylvan Hills Middle School); Keshun Freeman (GA Tech student/athlete (football); Tre’ Jackson (GA Tech student/athlete (football); Kele Eveland (GA Tech) and CJ Stewart (L.E.A.D., CEO)

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L.E.A.D., Inc. | L.E.A.D. Center For Youth