Kelli Stewart Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
boys, atlanta, people, ambassadors, organization, baseball, sport, black, lead, kelli, tennis, play, program, important, understand, helping, college, life, long, world
SPEAKERS
Omkari Williams, Kelli Stewart
Kelli Stewart 00:00
The first thing that we do is connect through a saying that we have in our family, which is origin stories matter. You have to help let people understand where you're coming from. Because before you can get all the way to making an impact, or changing somebody's life, you first of all have to be able to connect with people.
Omkari Williams 00:40
Hello, and welcome to Stepping Into Truth, the podcast where I talk with people about their activist work, and how we all get free. I'm your host Omkari Williams, and I'm very happy that you're here with me today. One of the reasons that I love doing this podcast so much is that I do get to speak with people making a difference in their corner of the world, people who saw a problem and decided to do what they can to make things right. My guest today, Kelli Stewart is one of those people. Kelli Stewart was born in Atlanta and raised in Crawford, Georgia. Under the protective and nurturing guidance of her grandmother, Amy Lou Faust, she learned about work ethic and service. Kelli earned a bachelor's degree with honors in business from Kennesaw State University in 2011. In addition to her degree, Kelli holds a wealth of knowledge regarding sport based youth development (SBYD) as a resource for social justice, and the impact sports has on the social emotional development of youth. She is a co-founder of the LEAD Center for Youth in Atlanta, an organization that uses the tool of baseball to help inner city Black boys develop the skills they need to succeed in a world that presents them with obstacles every step of the way. And I am very happy to welcome Kelli to the podcast. Hi, Kelli, how are you?
Kelli Stewart 02:02
Hello, Omkari, how are you?
Omkari Williams 02:04
I am doing really well. And I am very pleased that we're getting to talk today because I've been looking forward to this conversation. Let's start with some groundwork because your organization is not one that is known in a huge way. So I want people to understand what LEAD is, why you and your husband CJ decided to start this organization. Let's start there.
Kelli Stewart 02:30
Okay, so LEAD is an acronym, and it stands for launch, expose, advise, and direct. And here at the LEAD Center for Youth in Atlanta, Georgia. We are a sport-based youth development organization that uses the sport of baseball to help Black boys overcome what we call our three curveballs that threaten their success, crime, poverty, and racism. And we started LEAD back in 2007. Really my husband's vision, CJ, in response to be really disrespectful rhetoric that Black boys don't play baseball. And I say disrespectful because baseball has just been such a part of the fabric of our people in this country the diaspora, if you will. And to say that we don't have a place in it was just very disrespectful. So we kind of set out to prove everybody wrong.
Omkari Williams 03:21
Okay, that works. So now CJ himself is a former professional baseball player. So he kind of knows where he speaks, right?
Kelli Stewart 03:31
Yes, absolutely. He played all the way, I think he started about eight years old. So I think he was kind of a late bloomer there as far as starting the game, played in college was drafted by the Chicago Cubs played some minor league ball in the Chicago Cubs organization.
Omkari Williams 03:46
And now you're using baseball as a tool to help young Black men in Atlanta, which is where y'all are based address the three curveballs as you describe them. Now, your program works with boys and young men really because you go from from middle school through high school, correct?
Kelli Stewart 04:09
And even through alumni through college and those of our boys who don't go to college but in a workforce or military. So yes, even beyond. Yeah.
Omkari Williams 04:17
Oh, okay. So they actually keep their connection to your organization throughout.
Kelli Stewart 04:22
Absolutely.
Omkari Williams 04:23
That's wonderful. It's kind of like a fraternity, a little bit. Internal Atlanta baseball fraternity. I like that.
Kelli Stewart 04:30
It is. And look, they even get a ring. I know your listeners can't see it. But there's a life championship ring, as we call it that they can earn if they complete our programming, because a lot of them wouldn't be able to afford a class ring. And so, you know, through their dedication and commitment to our programming, they get a chance to earn their life championship ring. So it's always fun when the graduates get together and those who earned their ring show off a little bit.
Omkari Williams 04:57
That's wonderful. I really like that. That's very meaningful for them, I'm sure. So you use baseball to teach them very specific skills. And would you talk about what those skills are and how you use the tool of baseball to factor into these boys and young men learning these core skills.
Kelli Stewart 05:19
So we have six core values excellence, humility, integrity, loyalty, stewardship, and teamwork. And what we always say to our boys is your core values are muscles that have to be strengthened, just like your physical muscles. They are those virtues and attributes about yourself that you need to strengthen on a day to day basis. And as somebody who grew up in poverty myself, what I know about core values is sometimes those core values can be compromised when you're trying to survive. It's not because I'm a bad person. It's not because our boys are a bad person. But when it comes down to surviving in some very difficult and seemingly insurmountable circumstances, my integrity might be challenged a little bit, you know what I'm saying?
Omkari Williams 06:04
Yeah.
Kelli Stewart 06:04
So we put them into our environment where it's a safe space for them to what we say "fail" and it not cost them their lives. Because we know all too often, mistakes that our Black boys make in the world can cost them their lives instantly, I mean, Black people in general, but specifically, since we're talking about Black boys in our programming. And so we set out through our programming, to put them on this, what we call a progression to performance. So the first part of that progression to performance is for them to understand that they are protected. And that's very important, because that is the basis from which we build relationship, then we move them to participation, participation looks like showing up on time, those job readiness skills, showing up in the right uniform. If you're not going to be able to come don't just not show up, because we know in the real world, no call, no show means you get fired. Call somebody to let us know, Coach, not going to be able to make it to practice or to this event. And that's how we move them from that level of protection to participation.
Kelli Stewart 07:10
Then we talk about practicing, practicing is how do you come into the training space and get the best practice out of the time that you have? It's that time management piece? How do you take care of the time that you have to train to be the baseball player and athlete that you can be? You come in here, you don't goof off in between stations, you follow the protocol that's been set out for the day. And then we go into play. So once you understand that you're protected, you understand how to successfully participate, you know how to practice, now we can start playing baseball. And we can start understanding double plays and bunt defenses, all of those nuances of the game.
Kelli Stewart 07:52
But then the last and final piece of that progression to performance is so important, because it's performance. And I say that it's so important because we have created for our boys, our Black boys, this lower the bar mentality because you have been born into difficult circumstances. So we will lower the bar of expectation for them. When at the end of the day, we all know that's not how the real world works. You have to be able to go out and perform on your job if you want to keep it. You know what I'm saying?
Omkari Williams 08:24
Yes.
Kelli Stewart 08:24
So there's this progression, that's what we call it progression to performance, we're not going to put unrealistic expectations on you, when you first come into our organization, we're going to mentor you, we're gonna guide you and lead you along this pathway to empowerment, but we need you to understand at the end of the day, you're gonna have to perform and you're gonna have to meet a standard.
Omkari Williams 08:47
I cannot even tell you how much I love that. It just makes me so happy to hear you describe that because I feel like what you're giving these boys beyond just these skills and structures is a family, you know, because ideally, this is what you learn in your family. But when you grow up in circumstances where things have been so disrupted by forces beyond your control, by racism, by economic impoverishment, you don't necessarily have those structures in place. And to have your organization come in and fill that gap in such a meaningful way has got to be huge for these boys. So, tell me how many boys do you take into the program at any one time
Kelli Stewart 09:38
250 each year, give or take. Mostly mostly give. So we have about 250 boys each year.
Omkari Williams 09:49
And the program is a one year long program?
Kelli Stewart 09:52
It is six however long the boys continue to curriculum you know, it is an earned opportunity. So When our boys first enter our programming, one of the ways we recruit is we scout the counted out. So these are Black boys who are underperforming in the areas of grades, attendance, and behavior, and who come from low income households. So as a recruiter, you know, when the boys come into our program, they really don't look like they deserve it. But those are the very boys who we want, because we're trying to help boys get back on the right track. Or we're trying to help boys who are on the right track but something traumatic happened in their household, maybe someone has been incarcerated that's in the household, or they lost someone to gun violence, which we know is very prevalent in this country. And they fallen off track, and they need something to bring them back into the fold. So when we recruit our boys, the vast majority of them are the so called problem kids at school.
Omkari Williams 10:55
And so then they can actually stay in the program until they graduate from high school?
Kelli Stewart 11:02
As long as they continue to show improvement in grades, attendance, and behavior. So to stay in is where that improvement comes in. Because we don't want them to stay the same. We want them to be better individuals. But let's just be clear, a lot of our students in general, I mean, even children who do very well in school, they don't necessarily like school, you know what I'm saying? And so far our boys is like to keep them coming for the academic piece in a positive way, we balance that out with the baseball piece.
Omkari Williams 11:38
So the baseball is the carrot. And yeah, that works. You know, I mean, it isn't required that we love every single task that's in front of us. But it's really important that we at least know how to navigate the basics of these tasks. So I think that seems fair. And it's also really clear, and the kids love clarity. It's like set the rules out, be clear, be consistent, and give them an opportunity to step up and step into your expectations of them, your higher expectations of them, rather than the lowered expectations that they too often confront. So I really, I really like that.
Omkari Williams 12:19
Now, I'm just gonna say that personally, I have always loved sports. I mean, I grew up in a family that watched and participated in various sports, and I am rarely happier than when the Olympics is on and I can just binge two weeks of sports.
Kelli Stewart 12:34
Yup.
Omkari Williams 12:35
Do not call me Do not text me. I am not interested for those two weeks, right. But the reality is that a career as an athlete is very unlikely for the overwhelming majority of people. And yet, especially for Black boys and young men, there's this idea that's often put out in the world, that they're going to go and become the next LeBron or they're going to become the next Steph Curry, right? And this is not a realistic vision for them. So how do you navigate using sport as a tool, without having the boys fall into the trap of thinking that they're going to have a career as an athlete, and then make a kajillion dollars when that is extremely unlikely to happen?
Kelli Stewart 13:25
Right. So one of our social emotional learning capacities that we look to build in our boys is social capital. Because when you're coming from a circumstance of generational disenfranchisement, a lot of times your family doesn't have the social capital that can aid upward mobility. And so the way that we introduce those other aspects of sports, to them is through friends in our network donors and friends in our network. We have a great relationship with the Atlanta Braves here, Derek Schiller is an executive there, he allowed one of our ambassadors to shadow him. And the ambassador who shadowed him, we know he doesn't have a future as a major league baseball player, because the talent and skill level is not there, but he could be a heck of a GM (general manager).
So how does he get to know what that looks like? By connecting with our organization, we can connect him with folks who are in the front office in baseball, so definitely connecting with them on the baseball playing piece, and then helping them put together that game plan for life. So we have academic program called Hopes and Dreams. And it is our academic and career planning program. So it's like, listen, some of y'all gonna hang up your cleats in high school, let's just be real about it. But then we have quite a few of our boys who go on to college and play. But even for those who are in college, like that might be your last rodeo in college. What does life look like? Do you want to stay around the game? There are so many ways that we can help you stay around the game from a career standpoint other than being on the field.
Omkari Williams 14:58
That's wonderful, because I think just actually someone giving the boys permission to recognize that this might not be a career path for them is really empowering. It sounds a little contradictory, but when someone says no, that's an unrealistic expectation, then you can go out and pursue something else that makes more sense for who you are and the skills that you actually have. So I really like that. And I want to go back to something that you had said right at the outset, because it really struck me as I was preparing for this conversation, which is the metaphor of a curveball to describe the battle that Black boys and men are facing. Now, you're in Atlanta, which has a very large Black population. But there's also a great deal of economic disparity in Atlanta.
Kelli Stewart 15:52
Yes.
Omkari Williams 15:52
And you grew up in poverty, your husband grew up in poverty in a really tough environment. How do you take your experiences, and connect to kids who are, you know, like 20 years younger than you are, and make them see what you've done is not only possible for them, but desirable in a world that too often tells him that even desiring something bigger is ridiculous.
Kelli Stewart 16:24
So the first thing that we do is connect through a saying that we have in our family, which is origin stories matter. You have to help let people understand where you're coming from. Because before you can get all the way to making an impact or changing somebody's life, you first of all have to be able to connect with people. And so once our boys understand that, oh, Coach CJ is from Bankhead, like I'm from Bankhead. He's from inner city of Atlanta, he played at some of the same parks that either my aunts, uncles or parents have. So these are familiar stories, these are familiar places in their minds. And to see that he was able to take baseball as far as he did, even though he didn't play in the Major Leagues, making it to the minor league system pick is a big feat. establishing that connection is very important.
Kelli Stewart 17:17
Now, I'm not saying the only way somebody can help, you know, boys who are in our situation is that you have to grow up in poverty, I'm just saying it helps if you can communicate with somebody who knows what it's like to be hungry and not know where your next is coming from, there's a shared experience there that binds you is just what it is. And so making sure that we connect with them, and we're honest with them about our stories, because too many times adults show up perfect to kids, you know, the customary career day where all the adults show up in their suits and their ties and their business attire, and everything's right with their world, you know, I'm saying and they show up, as if they've never had any struggle. And that's not realistic to our boys and to the children that we serve. So nobody wants to hear the story where you did everything right in life, and it all worked out perfect for you, because people are struggling, people are hurting. And people need to see that struggling and hurting doesn't negate you from having a happy ending.
Omkari Williams 18:16
Yes, that is so true on so many levels. And I love what you say about origin stories, because it is something that I speak about and write about in my own work is how important they are. Partly because I really believe that our origin stories not only give us a connection to the past, but they also direct us in the going forward in the future, by showing us what it is that is important to us and how we maintain that connection through the work that we choose to do. I feel like our origin stories really inform any work that we do in our lives, like where we come from matters who we come from matters. And it makes a difference for us. So I think that's incredibly important that you let those boys and encourage those boys to connect to their own individual origin stories.
Kelli Stewart 19:13
Absolutely so important, because if we don't, you begin to believe the lie that people like me, who come from where I come from, don't go on to do great things, and I need for them to understand that. No, I am the daughter of parents who got divorced. A dad who left, a mom who was, and still is, addicted to drugs raised by my grandmother. People like you do win and I am proof of that. Let me show you how.
Omkari Williams 19:40
Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. That's just so important. So to change gears a little here, you have two projects that I want to hear more about because I think they're just so fascinating. The first one is Safe at Home. So would you tell us about Safe at Home? What that is what the impetus was to start that project, and also about some of the results that you've seen from it.
Kelli Stewart 20:06
Okay, so we have a colleague by the name of Brad Jubin. He's with an organization called APIVEO, and he does some motivational speaking and coaching to youth. And he was going to come and talk to some of our boys in the fall. This is during our fall baseball program. And we host our fall program in the heart of the city at Booker T. Washington High School in the city of Atlanta. And this was just after the Michael Brown killing in Ferguson and all hell's breaking loose across the country. And so Brad is from this very white suburb, Peachtree City, outside of Atlanta, and he was kind of concerned. And we were like, these children ain't gonna go bother you, these people ain't gonna bother you. I mean, even statistically, like, you're a white dude, ain't nobody gonna bother you, you're almost untouchable, you know what I'm saying? I have statistics that show. So, he came and spoke to our boys. And he was just like, You know what, he just really felt mad at himself for even feeling that way. It's like, he believed the hype of society, that society wants us to believe to keep us all separated anyway. But he was like, your boys on this field are no different than my child, he has a son, he's no different than my son.
Kelli Stewart 21:19
And he was like, what's happening with law enforcement in the Black community, just hurts my heart, because he's seeing all of these riots. And I'm like, it's been like that, you know, I'm saying, and so we just had this conversation about this. And this goes back to slave patrols. You know, back in the day, this is the origin story of policing in this country. And you know, the ground that it was created on was shaky. So there should be no wonder why we are where we are today. And he said, You know, I just feel like, we need to find a way to get law enforcement in the city together with Black boys in the city. And my husband was like, I know a perfect way to do it, we got some friends in law enforcement. So we all banded together to bring the Safe at Home Game into being. And the beauty of the Safe at Home Game is we take two groups of people who are very misunderstood, society wise, but amongst each other, you know, law enforcement and Black youth in the community, specifically Black boys. And we bring them together to have the tough conversations and to confront each other with the issues that they have with each other, because that's the only way you're going to get to any sort of reconciliation and healing to move forward.
Omkari Williams 22:35
Yes, yes, indeed, it must have been quite an event, the first time that happened.
Kelli Stewart 22:42
It was really fun, because that's what sports does. You know, Nelson Mandela said, sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to speak to young people in a language that is universal. And so even though it was like, you know, that's the police, once they started showing that, I mean, cuz some of these police officers now let me just say something about the Atlanta police department. Here in Atlanta, Georgia, a lot of our officers played college ball or really played a lot of ball in high school. So when they came out, you know, we were expecting these officers who were, you know, out of shape, they showed up as some studs, I'm telling you, and so they got a chance to connect around the sport. So it really helped to tear down those barriers that were there. And so by the time the tough conversations came along, they had already bonded over the common ground of baseball. So that's just what the beauty of sport does for our communities.
Omkari Williams 23:37
That is such a wonderful story. I love it. I really have to tell you, I love the image of you expecting a bunch of sort of slightly overweight pudgy police officers, and instead you get these guys who are seriously buff, and not there to play. That that just tickles me so much. It must have been fun for the kids to to be on a level playing field, literally on a level playing field with these people with whom they have so often such a contentious relationship. It must have been revelatory for everybody.
Kelli Stewart 24:13
Absolutely. That's why we call it a game where everybody wins.
Omkari Williams 24:14
Oh, yeah.
Kelli Stewart 24:17
You know, Atlanta wins. Everybody wins. Even though technically, law enforcement has beat us the last two years. We're trying to get the trophy back this year. But I mean, really, you know, we all win because what happens is, is these officers and this year we have additional law enforcement of all we have the sheriff's department, Fulton County Sheriff's Department, we have Georgia Tech police because we're playing it on the campus of Georgia Tech. And we have Atlanta public schools, police officers. So these are the school officers that they see in and about their schools every day. So what we're trying to do is to help our boys establish a deeper relationship with law enforcement. So when they see them out in their communities, or they see them out at school, and something goes down, we're trying to broker the benefit of the doubt, respect and trust those three things between our boys and the officers, so that an altercation that happens, doesn't end up in somebody's being arrested and booked, it ends up being, let me call coach CJ, or let me call coach Kelly, so that we can intervene in such a way where they don't have to be put into the system.
Omkari Williams 25:31
That's wonderful. That's amazing. And that makes me really happy to hear. Because once you're in the system, it's, you can forget it. Yes, you really can. So yeah. So the other project is your ambassador project. And what's the purpose of that project? How do your boys become ambassadors?
Kelli Stewart 25:55
So our ambassador program is our flagship program. So when we started LEAD in 2007, we started with 18, boys, 18 families, just doing travel baseball in the summer, mixed in with a little community service. And you know, when the summer was over, and we were out of money, and we were like, This has been great. See you guys next time. And then we're gonna decide what's next. And so we went back to some sponsors and funders to begin a year round program. So that's how our Ambassador Program came to be. And it's our high school program. And the way you become an ambassador, is you have to come through our middle school program, which is our Junior Ambassador Program, so you matriculate up to become an ambassador.
Omkari Williams 26:40
And then, so they literally go out and recruit new kids to your program, or they find sponsors, or what is it that the ambassadors do?
Kelli Stewart 26:50
So the ambassadors are definitely a recruiting resource for us that are in the schools. The ambassadors receive a higher level of intense training, they are the face of LEAD in the city of Atlanta. If anybody knows anything about LEAD, or the LEAD Center for Youth, they know about our ambassadors, they wear red, red, and black. And so we have red jackets, you know, and they're like, oh, the guys in the red jacket. Ambassadors are exactly what the name entails. In fact, the program was named after Ambassador Andrew Young, my husband just really looked up to Ambassador Young, as a mentor from afar. I mean, we don't know him personally, but just what he stood for, for Atlanta, especially in his role of bringing the world to Atlanta through the Olympics. And so that just really stuck with my husband.
And so our ambassadors are the official representatives of LEAD. They go to school board meetings, they go to neighborhood association meetings, they go to the places in the city, where decisions and conversations are being had about them. So they understand what's going on. Because again, our role is to make sure that whatever path they choose post high school is that they are prepared to be what we call Major League citizens. And Major League citizens know what's happening in their community, helping them understand that you just don't go to work, come home and shut the door and that's it. Great communities are made and maintained by people who are invested in them. So in addition to the baseball, in addition to the practices and games, and all of that good stuff from the athletic side, they are called to a higher level of responsibility as ambassadors to be seen in places in Atlanta, where quite frankly, a lot of people don't think they should be, but that's what we specialize in.
Omkari Williams 28:42
Okay, I like it. And I especially like it because I think something that people underestimate the importance of is the actions that people take inside their communities. And that what you're doing inside your community is so important. People pay a lot of attention to, you know, just using politics as a sort of example, they'll pay a lot of attention to a presidential election, but they won't pay that much attention to a school board election. And I'm telling you, for most people, that school board election is as important if not more important, than the presidential election in many ways, because the people on the school board are determining what your kids can read, what's happening with meals in your school. I mean, they're all these things that get decided at the local level. So I think that you're helping these young men understand the importance of engagement at the local level and also their power to make a difference at the local level is incredibly important.
Kelli Stewart 29:47
Absolutely. You know, civic engagement is one of our four pillars that we focus on athletics, academics, civic engagement and commerce. And we say things to children and we expect them to just understand fluently, what they mean. Be a good citizen. What does that mean? What are citizens doing? How is the citizen different from just a resident, you know what I'm saying. So we have to put meat on the bones of these terms. When you say someone is a good citizen that person is, could be on the PTA, that person could be a member of the school board, to your point about those things affecting more than something that's far away like a presidential election. Right now what we're dealing with is the government has cut out free and reduced lunch. So it's like when you were a title one school, this was something that was automatic. So now the local school board and people who are more local are having to fight that battle. You want to know who those people are, so you can sound off to them so they can understand what kind of hardship this is causing for your family.
Kelli Stewart 30:54
I always tell the boys, there are people in this city who are making decisions about you and for you and don't know you. Don't know anything about you or your family. We are going through rapid gentrification here in Atlanta and the pushing out of poor Black people, and you have a voice. Don't let somebody make you feel like because you are in a certain economic bracket that you don't matter. We always push our boys and encourage them to understand that poverty is situational, it's not a forever stamp on you, you can overcome that. And in order to do that, you're gonna have to know why it even exists, you know, you're gonna have to go a little bit deeper. We have a cultural literacy program called Know Your Truth. And through Know Your Truth, we talk about things like redlining, why does housing look like it does? You know, black folks just ain't lived in, started living in project because we want to live in projects. You know what I'm saying? That that's not how that came to be. So helping them understand what being a good citizen means. And helping them see their duty to make their communities better, is a part of what we do as well.
Omkari Williams 32:07
And I think that the other piece that goes with that is they get to see their duty and their responsibility, but they also get to have a sense of their power.
Kelli Stewart 32:18
Yes.
Omkari Williams 32:19
And that is so important to know that you actually have power in this world to make a positive difference, that you can use your voice in a way that is going to help someone else, help your family, help yourself is really important. I think that that's a really significant piece of what you all are doing and very grateful that you're doing this work. And it sounds honestly like a ton of fun. And if I get back to Atlanta, I'm gonna come visit because it looks like fun.
Kelli Stewart 32:51
Come on through.
Omkari Williams 32:52
So I want to ask you this, you've had some great success with lead. What are the biggest challenges that you are facing with this program? And how are you tackling those challenges?
Kelli Stewart 33:07
Is meeting the demand we have. And I think that's almost with anything, right, you have more of a demand that you can serve, and you have the capacity to serve. But just meeting that demand, raising the funding, you know, Black led organizations are funded at a far less rate than white led organizations. That is not me playing a race card. That is statistics. And unfortunately, it took what I call human sacrifices from the Black community and brother George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and Tatiana Jefferson, to open people's eyes to racial disparity, post Obama, because everybody thought we had made it to the promised land when we had an African American president here, and it's like, no, is still out of balance, the playing field is still not level.
Kelli Stewart 33:58
And when those tragic murders happen, it's like now we're shining a light on this trust base philanthropy and all this and all that is great. What I'm saying is a challenge that I have is, you know, going out in some places and helping people to see that we are a Black led organization. We come from the circumstances, you know that our boys come from, the answers to what ails us lives within our communities, but we don't have the money. And we all know we don't have the money. It's just a little thing called racism and disenfranchisement and all those little things. So, you know, we need the money from outside sources to make things happen. So just fighting that battle. In addition to being Black led, it's the intersectionality of it all being a Black woman. Being a Black woman who doesn't present as feminine, as what feminine is supposed to be. I mean, these are all things that I face when I walk in the room. And I lobby on behalf of my organization and my boys and I have to fight these things. And these are things that, you know, a lot of people don't think about because they don't have to. But I do.
Omkari Williams 35:04
Yeah. Yeah, it's totally true. I think that one of the things people don't necessarily understand is that part of privilege is all the things you don't have to think about. Not just the obvious battles that you're fighting, but just the freedom from thinking about all of these little things that are as a whole, really oppressive. So I understand every single word you just said.
Kelli Stewart 35:35
Yeah. And that's from, I guess, a leadership perspective, I would say one of the other things that's really hard, just from a focus on the boys is having people really believe that they can do the things that we are setting the standard for them to do. This lowering of the bar, that lowering of expectation is just so rampent I mean, I even had someone who was affiliated with our organization, when we were talking about, we are preparing our boys to become school board president to become mayor of Atlanta to become leaders in business here. And the question from this person was, do we really think we can do that? Oh, it's like, yeah, you won't be here long. And it's like, why would we be able to do that? You know, because we go to the private schools here in Atlanta, have kids who are of the same age 6th through 12th grade, and the kids in the private schools here in Atlanta are automatically thought of as the next generation of leaders in their city. But our boys, and our youth in general, in Atlanta public schools, they're seen as the kids on which the charity will be poured, and I'm like, No, that's not what we're doing. We're gonna flip this, we're going to create this brotherhood and soon to be a sisterhood because we are bringing in tennis for girls. But we're going to create this fraternity, where when you look for the next level of leadership, here in Atlanta, you don't just look for at the private schools, you can look at Atlanta public schools, and the ambassadors are leading the way.
Omkari Williams 37:10
So you beat me to the question about, you're bringing in tennis for girls, and that since I grew up in a family, my dad was a tennis player, one of my brothers was a really, really good tennis player, he probably could have done pro if he'd wanted to. So tennis is like, I mean, my other happy place are the four major tournaments in tennis every year.
Kelli Stewart 37:34
Yes.
Omkari Williams 37:35
So talk about that program and what that's going to look like.
Kelli Stewart 37:40
So again, in this origin, stories matter, tennis has been such a gift to our family, our two daughters, Mackenzie and McKenna play tennis. And Mackenzie is a senior this year at Southern University in Baton Rouge, where she's on a tennis scholarship there. I mean, in tennis has just helped them in their growth and maturity as young Black girls and as their emerging into young Black women. I mean, you know, you know, the game, you got to call your own lines, if somebody's cheating you, you got to be able to stand up for yourself. And it's just so much going on in the game of tennis. And so as I think about what our Black girls here in Atlanta are going through the responsibilities that they have to bear in a household, just by virtue of gender roles that are put on them, not being able to participate a lot of times in extracurricular activities that are after school because of those roles that they have in the household. I just think about, you know, even myself, when I was growing up how I had a lot of responsibility, that should have been an adult responsibility that was put on me and I didn't get a chance to take part in sports, you know, when I was a kid, and looking forward to getting our girls involved in helping them see that, you know, what, there is a pathway for me to in sports, there's a pathway that can lead me to help get some money for college, you know, to play. I'm an advocate of HBCU tennis, and yeah, so we're looking forward to starting our tennis program next year.
Omkari Williams 39:12
So 2023.
Kelli Stewart 39:14
Yes.
Omkari Williams 39:14
That's wonderful. I can't wait to see what you all do. And hopefully Coco Gauff will lead the way.
Kelli Stewart 39:21
Come on Coco Gauff. Right. So as a tennis lover, like myself, how are you feeling about Serena's announcement?
Omkari Williams 39:29
You know, I'm just so proud of her. And she said two things that really struck me. One is that she thought she should have won 30 majors. And I really appreciated that because I think she should have won 30 majors and in most of the ones that she didn't win, she beat herself. Yes. And so I appreciate the honesty in that statement from her and I also appreciate just her willingness to say, I can do something different, my life is not a small life, my life is a big life. And I'm going to dive into a different area of my life. And I'm not going to simply be defined here. So I'm kind of curious as to what she's going to do next. Because I don't really see her just sitting on the sidelines and fading into the background, that does not seem like what's going to happen. So it will be interesting, but I'm gonna miss watching her play, that's for sure.
Kelli Stewart 40:31
It's like I'm mourning her already like that miss her, you know, already from being there. But I will say what struck me about what I did read of her magazine, her Vogue issue is when she said, If I were a man, I wouldn't even be having this conversation, because I could still be out there playing and you know, my wife would be at home, right, you know, with the kids and, you know, helping to keep the family going. And thinking about as we talk about bringing girls into our organization, you know, those are conversations that we will have to have with them. Because career planning, from a male standpoint looks very different from a female standpoint, especially if you want to have a family,
Omkari Williams 41:14
It does, and figuring out how to narrow that gap and make it more equitable, I mean, we're talking about huge societal changes. But those start internally, when you say, this is what I'm interested in, and I'm going to do this thing, and I'm going to figure out how to make it work. And I'm going to have around me people who are on my side for this, rather than people who are obstacles to this. So it's a moment, it's a moment.
Kelli Stewart 41:46
I call her cousin ReRe. Cuz it's like, I'm like, Look, you know, we don't know how our ancestors got off the ships, we could be related. (laughter)
Omkari Williams 41:56
Okay, you know, this is true. I mean, she and I have the same last name. So you know, it could be that she and I are actually fourth cousins once removed on our father's side, I don't know.
Kelli Stewart 42:10
Go for it.
Omkari Williams 42:11
Why not? So we're almost out of time. And I want to ask a couple more questions. Since I know that now you're going to bring this tennis in for girls, which really makes me happy. One of the things I just want to comment on, because this is going to wind up being the same for girls I'm sure as it is for the boys is how successful you all have been with your rate of kids finishing the program, and your rate of kids going to college.
Kelli Stewart 42:41
So 100% of our boys who progress through the program. So 100% of our boys who have made the sacrifice made the commitment in the discipline, to continue on to be ambassadors, have graduated from high school. And that's not everybody, because everybody's not willing to do what it takes. And also there are circumstances that are beyond our control. Like we have a high, I forget the term for it, but a lot of our boys are moved and displaced for very different reasons that they don't have any control of. Whether it's eviction, or whether it's a landlord no longer takes a housing voucher, and they have to move. So for every boy that continues in our program, who has graduated with us, from the time we've started, we have 100% graduation rate. What that says, what that should say to funders, is we have to make sure that this organization has the resources that it needs to keep boys involved as much as we possibly can. If a child moves because they have to move, there's nothing that we can control. But if a child doesn't stay in our program, because the parent lacks transportation to get them to and from activities because we do have an attendance policy, because it's like school, if you're not here can't learn. If you're not with us, the transformation can't take place. So then that means we need dollars for transportation. We need a van you know, we need things that remove those obstacles. And of our boys who have graduated from our program in high school, 91% of them have enrolled in college, 91% of them receive scholarship funding, whether that's need based, merit based, or athletic money. But we also track what we call a secondary pathway opportunity. Some of our boys aren't going to traditional four year colleges. We have boys who go to Atlanta technical colleges who enter into the carpentry program or the criminal justice program because they want to become a police officer here in the city. So about 14% of our boys, even the military, so military workforce involvement, or they go to a two year school or apprenticeship. So we're not a college for the sake of college organization. Again, that goes back to our Hopes and Dreams program where we help our boys put together a game plan for life where they can make a healthy transition into adulthood.
Omkari Williams 45:02
That's so wonderful. Because you're giving the power to them, you're saying, What do you want your future to look like? Okay, we're gonna work with you to make that a reality. But you are the driver of this particular vehicle.
Kelli Stewart 45:15
Absolutely.
Omkari Williams 45:16
So the last thing I'm gonna do is ask you for three actions that people can take to support your work. And honestly, I'm so impressed with what you all are doing, it really makes my heart warm to just hear about what you're doing and the successes that you've had.
Kelli Stewart 45:35
Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, I really thought about this when you posed this to me. And so I think the first thing that I would encourage your listeners to do is to support SBYD where you live, and SBYD is sport based youth development. And so it's a form of youth development that's different and specific in that it focuses on delivering a sport in a trauma informed, healing centered way. So it's not just for the sake of winning trophies, it's sport to help children who are living in very difficult situations, cope with those situations, and develop the SEL (social emotional learning) skills and the executive functioning skills that they need to cope. So this is a very specific discipline. So when you look for organizations to support, look for SBYD or sport based youth development. So that's the first thing. The second thing would be to follow us on social media, we're very active on all platforms. But if you go to Instagram, lead2legacy_ATL, you can find us there on Instagram, and you can find your way to our other platforms from there. And the last thing I would say is to become a recurring donor to support LEAD. I mean, $5, $10, $15, $20 a month, it really goes a long way, when a lot of people band together to do that. I mean, yes, the gifts of $25, $50,000 from foundations are great, but it's when people band together to become a recurring donor. And even those smaller amounts, that makes a big difference. I can hear people saying, what can you do with that? Haircuts, transportation, for MARTA, our public transit system here, it can go a long way, meals for families who are experiencing food insecurity, it can really go a long way. So those are my three call to action for your listeners.
Omkari Williams 47:29
Thank you. I will put links to all of your social media in the Episode Notes for this. And I just want to reinforce what you said, Kelli, even a small contribution on a recurring basis really helps, also because it allows you to plan, it gives you information, and you can say, Okay, we know we've got this $5 a month coming in from these 50 people over the next year. And we can plan what we're going to do with that money. So even if it's $5 a month, it matters. So I just want to encourage people not to dismiss the importance of a small consistent contribution.
Kelli Stewart 48:10
Yes.
Omkari Williams 48:11
Kelli, this has been such a delight.
Kelli Stewart 48:15
It has.
Omkari Williams 48:16
This is just such a great model for supporting under resourced, and marginalized Black boys and young men. And sport has always represented a way out of poverty in the Black community. But this is a different path out and a really important path out. And I'm so grateful that you all are doing this. And I just want to say thank you so much. And maybe we'll talk again, when you've got your girls tennis program up and running.
Kelli Stewart 48:45
Yes, and you can come take a few swings.
Omkari Williams 48:49
That will be ugly.
Kelli Stewart 48:51
But it will be fun.
Omkari Williams 48:53
There is that. Thank you so much.
Kelli Stewart 48:57
Thank you so much for your time and for allowing me to be on your show. I really enjoyed it.
Omkari Williams 49:02
Oh, me too.
One of the things that I love about what Kelli and CJ have created is that they chose to take action in their own backyard. Too often we think that what we do locally doesn't really count. I think local is where we should start. And I hope that you let their story inspire you to look around and see what needs doing right where you're planted. Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode of Stepping Into Truth very soon. And until then, remember that change starts with story, so keep sharing yours.