Listen Up with Host Al Neely
Hi, I'm Al Neely. I've spent most of my life asking, " Why do people behave a certain way? Why don't people understand that most everyone wants basically the same thing? Most everyone wants their fundamental need for peace of mind, nourishment, shelter and safety."
What I have learned is that because of an unwillingness to open one's mind to see that some of the people you come in contact with may have those same desires as you do. We prejudge, isolate ourselves, and can be hesitant to interact, and sometimes we can be belligerent towards one another. This is caused by learned behavior that may have repeated itself for generations in our families.
What I hope to do with this podcast is to introduce as many people with as many various cultures, backgrounds, and practices as possible. The thought is that I can help to bring different perspectives by discussing various views from my guests that are willing to talk about their personal experiences.
Hopefully we all will learn something new. We may even learn that most of us share the same desire for our fundamental needs. We may just simply try to obtain it differently.
Sit back, learn, and enjoy!
Listen Up with Host Al Neely
The Greater Men Foundation: Youth Mentorship Beyond the Barber Chair
What happens when your barber becomes more than someone who cuts your hair? For many young men in College Park, Virginia, the chair at Dreams Barbershop has become a confessional, a counselor's office, and ultimately, a lifeline.
Brothers Derek and Dwayne are transforming their neighborhood through an unexpected hub of mentorship and guidance. Derek, who's been cutting hair at the same location since 2007 and became the owner in 2016, noticed something profound happening in his barber chair. Young men were opening up about challenges he never expected to address as a barber – from online predators targeting them through social media to grief over lost friends and the complexities of navigating a digital world their parents never experienced.
"Kids are dealing with stuff that we didn't have to deal with," Derek explains, describing how today's youth face bullying that follows them home through their phones, exposure to violence, and pressure from social media that previous generations never imagined. Where once confrontations happened face-to-face and stayed contained, now they unfold relentlessly online with potentially thousands of witnesses.
Through their Greater Men Foundation, the brothers have expanded beyond barbershop conversations to organize fishing trips, museum visits, and youth gardens. Their recent expedition took nearly 40 kids out fishing – many experiencing it for the first time. Rather than focusing solely on steering young men away from trouble, they're passionate about exposing them to new possibilities and helping them discover purpose early in life.
The foundation represents something deeper about community responsibility. As Derek plans to open a barber school to teach youth valuable trade skills, he's addressing a gap in American education: "They tell you 'go to college, get good grades, get a good job,' but trades are very important." This philosophy isn't just about cutting hair – it's about empowering young people to build sustainable futures in a capitalist economy that rewards entrepreneurship but rarely teaches the skills needed to succeed within it.
Tune in to hear how two brothers are creating ripples of change through relationships built one haircut at a time, and discover how community businesses can become transformative hubs of support and guidance for our most vulnerable youth.
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Hello everyone. I'm Al Neely with Listen Up Podcast and today we have Derek and his brother, dwayne. They're with the Greater Men Foundation and Dreams Barbershop. Derek operates the barbershop and Dwayne assists him with that. They work there, but they've started a nonprofit. In this nonprofit, they've decided to go into the community and to help youth in the community. So I just want to welcome you guys out to talk with us. Thank you, say hello, hello, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So I'll start out with you, Gerald, because I feel like the barbershop is central to kind of what you guys are doing. And that's how I got to meet you anyway, because I met you through Cash, who actually walked into the barbershop and then, I guess, started talking with you. How long have you operated that barbershop, Terry?
Speaker 3:I actually have been there since 2007. So it's 18 years. Became ownership in 2016. So it's been nine years I've been in ownership, but I've been there since 2007.
Speaker 1:Yeah, tell us about that area. What have you seen? Because that's a long time, it's 18 years. It's changed a lot. I remember the area, yeah it's changed a lot.
Speaker 3:It's been around 2000. The guy actually that opened the shop up was in 2000. So it's been there 25 years. This year I didn't come down there actually with him in 2000, but it was seven years later All of us went to like barber school together. The neighborhood it's changed over the years. Good neighborhood, Coming from Norfolk, we would always think that it was more middle class and upper class neighborhoods. We had school teachers and stuff in that neighborhood. You know, coming from Norfolk we would say it was more upper class in that neighborhood. I've seen the neighborhood change a lot. Talked to a few people. Changed a lot because you got a lot of different properties. The people are renting out properties and you got people that don't stay there. They're just renting rental properties. So you got a bunch of different people moving in and out the neighborhood constantly over the years. So I've seen a change, Not as much violence as a lot of other neighborhoods in 757.
Speaker 3:Right now, there's things going on in every neighborhood A lot of, especially the level green section. I've seen it change a lot over the years, you know, with a bunch of different people moving in and out of their neighborhood, but it's been pretty much constant. It's been a good neighborhood, know, with a bunch of different people moving in and out of their neighborhood, but it's been pretty much constant. It's been a good neighborhood, family neighborhood. A bunch of families, homeowners stay in the neighborhood. Been pretty good. I love it. I love it out there. College Park is my second home, coming from North.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's an initiative that Cash is working on in the playground. Are they transforming that into? I remember it just used to be basketball courts. Do y'all know what they're transforming that playground into out there?
Speaker 2:As far as what I know is, they're just doing the overall transformation of the whole park. They're adding some things to the park. I think it's like a sprinkler water system out there for the kids, so I think it's a great thing. The park's been there for a while. I think it was time for an upgrade for that area?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's pretty old those townhouses, right, I think they're like built in the 70s, maybe, maybe a little bit later, right? So you guys all came together and you had this idea about being mentors for youth in your area, right? Yes, sir, so from the business exclusive we did, dwayne, you connected with. You, had a cousin that's in Richmond and he works with the foundation, right, is it the Greater Men Foundation?
Speaker 2:The name of his program is called the Broken Men Youth Academy. Okay, and they started out like I said. It is in Richmond. They started out about 11 years ago and they've graduated to now to having an academy now, wow, yeah, I'm doing summer camps with the kids and things like that. So, yes, it's grown. It's really grown a lot in over the 11 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's. You have one other person that's um instrumental in helping you guys and that's, uh, gerald. He's not here. Gerald couldn't be this. He's a little bit ill. Yes, um, but um, what made you guys decide to want to go in and just mentor um assist the youth in that community?
Speaker 2:Well, for me, um, over time I realized that, um, my barber chair was being used to you know, speak life and you know um uplift uh youth, uh, the young men that were coming in my chair. I was um being introduced to some, some, some topics that I wasn't really thinking that would be coming my way as a barber, through the, through the young guys that was coming in, and it was opening my eyes to see that, um, I was um speaking to guys and there's so many youth that come through the barbershop. It's like a hand to hand, you know, as far as you know speaking, it's like you know they say barbers are. You know therapists they're.
Speaker 2:you know all kinds of, you know titles, wear all kinds of hats and over the time, I began to realize that that was true and I just wanted to I wanted to, you know, add the opportunities for us to speak to the youth, because we do have a lot of kids that come through the barbershop and I thought that would be a good way to start with the mentor program, with the kids that we do have coming through the barbershop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, derek, you. We were talking earlier about some of the families that come through there. What is, what would you say, the predominant age group that you guys are seeing at the barbershop come through there. Is it families, men, young men or families, or?
Speaker 3:We've got a different variety of people that come through the shop, different ages. You may have single women bringing the kids in, the fathers out of the household or something, and you've got different age groups. You've got younger kids coming in with the women. The boys may come in. They look to us to talk, they talk to us. The boys may come in. So it's you know, they look to us to talk, they talk to us. The women would give us the kids to cut their hair and you know you got to form a relationship with them. So it's something simple as that.
Speaker 3:But we got all different age groups kids coming from guys I've been cutting, I cutting from, I've been cutting. See them 10 years old already to graduate from school. I got guys graduating now, yeah, and so you kind of form a relationship with them. You know you see things as a grown man that you know we saw as teenagers ourselves going through different things. So a lot of times I try to put myself in their shoes to see what they're going through, because we went through the same thing and it's a difference with me, with the age group, with kids, but still with you having young youth, young males. You see a lot of different common things with them. Could be the father of the household. You know different things that we see and it opens up an opportunity for us to talk to them and they look up to us as older gentlemen now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And I had to realize in myself getting older that you know we're role models to some of these guys and me being in a position like been in the shop for, like I say, 18 years and ownership for nine. You got different guys that you know look at me and look up to me to talk and they talk to all of us in there. But we got a different variety of age group kids. We see them grow up and that's a common thing with a barbershop. That you know you see kids grow up. You see kids grow up and they become grown and they have kids bringing their kids back to the shop.
Speaker 3:So it's something that's going to keep going on anyway in a barbershop environment that you see. You see youth, the youth, and you know a lot of them. They need someone and both of us me and my brother we've been in the sports our whole life. So my common thing, even with the foundation, would be something with sports taking these kids to games, doing different stuff with them, but they grew up in the shop. So we have kids of all different ages. You see them grow up in that barbershop.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your parents probably trust you guys to some extent when it comes to like talking to them or having events with them.
Speaker 2:Like you said, over the years, we build that rapport with them Over the years. For me, a lot of times we've uh, they come in and they're very quiet when they initially come into the barbershop because a lot of them don't want to get hair cut. Yeah, they don't know, you know, or they don't want to get it at that time when the parents is bringing it. But, like I said, I just try to connect on a regular level with them. As far as you know just what you do in school, how's your grades? Just trying to soften them up a little bit to gain a little rapport with them.
Speaker 1:I would imagine, coming from that neighborhood. Like Derek was saying, it's a middle class but it ranges. You probably have the lower middle class to some of those houses out there, pretty nice big houses out in that neighborhood. So you see a different you have the bad kids.
Speaker 2:you have the good kids. You have, you know, the introverts, the one that are just, you know, into their phones and things like that. So we have a good mixture of going on. Like I said, not all kids are bad kids, you know. Some of them just needs a little, you know, confidence instilled into them. You know, build them up a little bit. Yeah, things like that. So yeah, yeah, things like that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, what do you feel is the disconnect with young, young black men and the way society sees them? Because you're working with them all the time they come in there, they're talking to you guys.
Speaker 2:What do you see the biggest disconnect as being has been. I would say that, like I just said, that a lot of times when people see kids, or see you know four or five kids hanging together, they thinking that these are just bad kids, and all of them are not, like I said, bad kids. Like I said, we have to get to know these young kids. A lot of them haven't been given a chance coming out the gate, you know. So I feel like, uh, we need to be um more willing to you know, to, to, to reach out to them and and and speak to them and and and find out what's really going on with them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause, um, like I said, a lot of times is, is, is. I've noticed that kids, they hold a lot of things in and they may not speak about it to the actual parent at the time and that may be part of the reason why they're acting out or doing certain things. You know what I'm saying. So I think a lot of times, kids just need someone to talk to and trust, and I think trust factor is a big thing for them as well Trusting who is trying to give them the information and where the information is coming from.
Speaker 1:What kind of things have you done for those kids in the community? What type of activities or things have you done? What would you say have brought you guys closer together so they can feel comfortable?
Speaker 2:The latest things that we've done. We've taken some kids out on fishing trips. We've taken them out to the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier in May and we did another fishing trip in July. Just past we went out on to Rudy Inlet. How many people did you take out with you? The last time? We took about 35 to 40 kids and it was a combined effort between the Broken man Youth Academy and the Greater man Foundation here in the 757.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And we're looking to do more of that as far as we're looking to do things like taking them to museums. We're looking to do things like taking them to museums. We have boxing facilities that we want to take them to. There are a lot of different activities that we have planned for them. We have a youth garden that's coming up in Level Green that we're going to be participating in, so just things like that. You know, they show them different things that they don't really think about on a day to day basis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what is what is from the parents? Would have been the response from you know the parents once you've taken the kids out and they've not had that experience before.
Speaker 2:Oh, the kids, the parents are very appreciative. When we did the fishing trip last time for the new kids that went on the fishing trip, the parents were so elated that so we even thought about them, to put them, to bring them into the program, to show them something different in life. You know, yeah, and like I said, for the most part it was our first time experiences for a lot of them, Actually, for me and my brother it was our first time as well uh, going on the boat as well, oh, okay. So, yeah, it was a first for a lot of us and, uh, it was a great experience, great experience. And those are some of the things that we want to do with them, you know, to, um, show them something different.
Speaker 1:So it's it's a nonprofit. Yes sir. Okay, it's newly started, Is that correct? Yes sir, we are a new organization Funding right.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, all the ways we definitely always can use funding to help with the youth. We're looking to do, maybe possible fundraisers and things like that in our community as well, but right now, donations or anything like that is definitely welcome. Okay To help us out.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll get all that information at the end. Okay, yeah, give me some examples of some of the young men that you've had challenges. We don't want to talk about them, but I want the people and listeners to know some of the challenges that you found that these young men are dealing with that you never actually thought about. I mean, you know, we've all have similarities growing up and even though we're in different places, I think which one of you've all have similarities growing up and even though we're in different places, I think, which point? Are you from New Jersey, you play basketball. I was a friend of mine, okay, but y'all did play basketball. We're originally from Richmond, virginia, okay, yeah, okay, so what? Give me an idea. So people can that are listening can see what kind of issues they're dealing with, these young men that you were surprised about.
Speaker 2:I had a couple of incidents that really gave me made me look at things a little differently. I had one teenager that actually came to me. I had one teenager that actually came to me. He was sitting in my chair and for some odd reason, he felt that he needed to talk to me about a situation that was going on with his cell phone. He was thinking that he's talking to a young lady over the phone.
Speaker 2:Um sent some photos across the across the phone, and come to find out it was an older gentleman that was actually um using this information against him and he didn't know how to um, you know, speak to his parents. His father, which was father, was the one that was bringing him to the barbershop at the time and um, I had to literally, like you know, step back for a minute and then think about how to address the situation. Um, we um, initially he was terrified to even talk to his father about it, so I was able to, you know, convince him to um to speak with his father, and then we were able to, uh, fitness, fix the problem. Um, we were able to get to the bottom of the problem and now everything is um, taken care of it with that situation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, though that was one, I had another where I want to stop you there because people don't understand that. A few episodes back, I had a gentleman on and he was talking about people being trafficked, right, right, and then I never thought about it because we didn't have to deal with that when we were growing up. It was like you know, the person had to be right there in front of us or in our presence, but this stuff can happen over a phone, right, you know, and I guess we don't think about that.
Speaker 2:And I definitely it was something that totally caught me off guard, right, and just to think about that, like we think about, you know, kids just going to school or dealing with bullying, but it goes even further than that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can do it on social. You can can do over the internet now Right. Before we had to, you had to face your bully.
Speaker 2:Exactly, you know. So that is just all kinds of things that kids are dealing with that we may not have any idea.
Speaker 1:Right, and I think that's good that you you can bring that out, so you had another one. Go ahead and talk about it.
Speaker 2:Well, one one that I was cutting. Um, he was, uh, he had been coming to me for a while and I came in one day and he was, um, you know, just um upset about a friend that he had lost, and, um, he was actually um, arguing, arguing, arguing and fussing with another gentleman about, you know, he felt like the guy was disrespecting his dead cousin, you know, and he was ready to really, like you know, go to war behind you know, the guy disrespecting his dead cousin, and you think, about it like you know, he's already gone.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Now, you know they're worried about defending the living and the dead. You know what I'm saying. Things like that, you know what I'm saying, which, I think, you know, teenagers, you know, should not even be. You know thinking about things like that. You know what I'm saying. As far as you know retaliation, you know what I'm saying. As far as you know you know, um, retaliation.
Speaker 2:You know, behind things like that, um, I just thought that was, like, you know, kind of like, like, like, like, just kind of strange for me. Like I never, you know, think about kids dealing with things like that. You know what I'm saying. Standing up for, you know, your dead loved ones, and you know, wanting to fight. And you know, like you know, my thing is like we already have one gone. You know what I'm saying. Right Now, you're putting yourself in a position where you could be gone too. You know what I'm saying. So those are things that these kids are dealing with out here, like you know, on a daily basis, that we, as you know, adults don't even really think about. Right, so they're dealing with a lot out here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's trauma on top of trauma. Exactly, no-transcript. We don't tell everybody our personal business because we don't want everybody to think we're crazy. So I've seen it in the past where we've tried to deal with issues and through self-medication, drugs, alcohol, sex those are all the things that we've used in the past. Those are all the things that we've used in the past. Derek, what kind of things have you heard? Or people come in and talk with you at the barbershop and I'm doing this for the listeners because I don't think people understand. You're not trying to provide a service or anything. It's more of a humanitarian thing or a social issue. But barbers get a lot that people come and talk to them about. But kind of things you've heard? You don't have to be specific with names or anything, but just give us some examples.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm going to give you an example myself and a lot of things that you see, you have to realize. Growing up, we didn't see certain things. The social media technology wasn't the same. So I'm going to give you an example with me that I could see a lot with kids, and it has to be even with bullying. So I had a funny story Guys I played basketball with we have a thread that all is on and you know, correspond to each other that we play basketball together. So there was a particular guy. They would send out memes At the time, I didn't know how to do it.
Speaker 3:They sent out a meme. A guy would say something about me, send a meme, and I didn't know how to do it. So I had a younger guy that I knew, that I raised, so he showed me how to do the memes, yeah. So I had a younger guy that I knew, that I raised, so he showed me how to do the memes. Yeah. So from that point on but it was the thing what I'm trying to say is that I had a problem. I felt some kind of way with someone sending something, saying something about me, Right, that was a meme, and I didn't know how to do it. I didn't know how to respond Right, which showed me a lot of these things that these young guys are doing, the young people are doing on social media. It could make you feel some kind of way Right. So back in the day we would have to see somebody at the mall or at a game or somewhere that we would say something to at a party at Friday night after the game, or something.
Speaker 3:Right so nowadays you have different things with kids on the computer, right, sitting out different memes, saying different things about each other, right. So that affects the youth, that could affect your decision-making. The same thing my brother said about how somebody would say they want to defend something or do something, but you're putting yourself on the line by getting into these things. So I see a lot of stuff with young guys, different situations. They may be on the computer saying things to each other and it leads on. So it makes you feel some kind of way. I felt some kind of way myself.
Speaker 1:And you know, I want just you point out what you were saying. That guy was experiencing that hurt and that pain. So I can imagine being in that situation and you're never seeing that person and that person. You want to address it and you never see that person. So you're carrying this anger around all the time, Right? So I don't know how that was, but that's what I was, I would think you would see the leads to.
Speaker 3:You have you to get in our chair comes in the barbershop and they're dealing with situations that we can't see. Yeah, so you're wondering why somebody acting like that or even at school, the bullying is at an all time high, so it affects the child. So they might get in a chair with us and you know, you see a different, you know different personality, so I'm going on with them. So it's different issues with that. We deal with that coming in the shop, that, if you pinpoint it, you know, and they, once again, they trust the barber, they trust us to conversate. So you may, they may, tell us some different things that's going on with them and these are things that we've got to be conscious of.
Speaker 3:And me, being an older gentleman now I look at situations that I didn't, I couldn't understand. Right, you know I can go back to that meme. I didn't know how to respond to that meme and it made me feel some kind of way because they were saying but I felt better once I could say something back to them. Right, them. So you got people dealing with different stuff on the internet, kids dealing with stuff and something. Like my brother said you guys are like the cool uncles.
Speaker 3:Basically we got situations, we the OGs Situations that kids are dealing with now. As far as bullying dealing with, so you know, even back in the day we'd know something happened to somebody. You know things happen. But in the 70s, the 80s it was like, oh, something happened to somebody such and such. I'm like OK, but now and I had to even see with my son, me raising my son these kids deal with a lot of. They deal with death, they deal with stuff that we didn't have to deal with, that wasn't commonly happening.
Speaker 3:So that would change you as a person. You know it depends on how you react to it. Yeah, so we're seeing different things with kids that I couldn't understand. But when you get, you know, get in their shoes, they're dealing with stuff that they I had a guy that's dealing with, you know, just dealing with that, oh, such and such got something happening such and such, you know whatever. But it is normal to them, To me, me, it's still not normal because we didn't grow up in these times. So you got, you know the normal things that they deal with. Now that they said normal, we didn't have to deal with, it wasn't normal to us yeah, yeah, I mean in person.
Speaker 1:Just it's the normal. Just the school shootings by themselves, right, I can't imagine. I, you know, I grew up in in philly, so philly's a little more violent than most places, but I didn't have to worry about getting shot in school. I had to have this protocol for what you need to do if there's a. You know a lot of people. Right, it's just nuts.
Speaker 2:And we didn't worry about getting shot when we were in school. No Fight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did plenty of fights.
Speaker 2:You know things like that. But as far as somebody coming into the school and things like that, and that's just where things have changed, you know over the years. You know, and like that's what we're saying, like kids have more things to worry about than we did, you know when we were coming up back in the day. It's much simpler. Like I said, social media. Even with social media now, like back in the like you were saying earlier, my brother was saying kids getting to it or fighting, it might just be the people that was around that circle at the time that saw it. Now you have social media and you have, you know, a person with 10,000 followers or 10,000. This can see. You know here, people over in California can see somebody fighting out there, fighting in Virginia. That don't even know you. You know what I'm saying. So social media plays a big part in it as well, definitely.
Speaker 3:Yeah, these guys have to, and it's your reaction to it. You know what I'm saying. You get yourself out of this situation and that's, once again, how it helps us. With them coming in the shop, even to talk to one of us or somebody in the shop, you know we can help them out to make a better decision and that's yeah, it's crucial to them. You know what I mean, because at a certain age you don't know, but your actions are. You're trying to figure out an action on how you're going to respond to this, and sometimes the action could be hey look, I just might need to leave them alone. Yeah, I might need to be doing something else studying and trying to do with the youth to get them another way to react to things.
Speaker 2:That's happening Exactly to show them how to react differently, or you know, try to not to respond violently or, you know, just know how to handle themselves in certain situations.
Speaker 1:They don't need to always address everything with an equal or greater violent reaction. Exactly, process it Because you got to think, okay, I'm here, I had to go through all this to get here, right, you know, and you know, when I was talking to Gerald last time, he was talking about the different levels that he had to go through to learn. And it took him a while to learn, just to be able to adjust and to make it to where he is.
Speaker 2:I mean he's, you know, he's a young 50, he looks good for his age, but it took him yeah, that's, that's my brother there, man gerald, um, he's a guy man that um one of the first gentlemen that I really thought about um me with the Greater Men Foundation. He has a tremendous heart for the kids and I've seen his growth over the years. We've been working together for a number of years now and I've really seen his investment into the kids. You get to meet him, you'll see him. Yes, that's his mainstay, I think, for doing anything in life and it's definitely for the kids and the youth for him that really makes him go and anything for him. We had a conversation the other day. He was like bro, I'm with you full-fledged. You know what I'm saying, whatever we need to do, you know what I'm saying. I see the vision.
Speaker 1:I see what we're trying to do. So definitely, he was one of the first gentlemen that I thought of when I wanted to know if they come and talk to you about relationships, because I feel like they're looking at social media, they're looking at the high life that some of these people are living and then, you know, on social media, when people are posting stuff, they're never posting. Okay, I'm feeling down. We always get the good part, that's right. Or I'm riding around in my brand new Mercedes or whatever. Or they're following these athletes and they got these NILs and they're getting paid from colleges for them now and they're getting paid, you know, from colleges for them now. So they're like I don't know if I can compete with all of these guys, with these girls out there. Do you guys get conversations with the young men about relationships and how they relate to women in the barbershop? I was just curious.
Speaker 2:Well, you have certain guys, certain young youth, that will uh, confide into you about you know, about their relationships and things like that. But my, my thing is, uh, for the, for the youth and the young guys, I don't want them to just, you know, focus on, you know, being in a relationship. I want them to focus on you, you know, growing up, you know, and enjoying their youth and figuring out what they want to do you know what I'm saying early in life, so that when they get 50, 45, 50, 60 years old, you know, when you get to that age, you've already put your work in. Yeah, so you can, you know, just put it on cruise control.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm, trying to get these young guys to you. Can you know just?
Speaker 2:put it on cruise control. Yeah, I'm trying to get these young guys to focus about, you know, future things. Okay, you know, like, you know you have your phone. For those ones that have their phone and they're always looking at your phone, use your phone to, you know, find something that's going to help you in your future. Don't just have it, you know, looking at crazy videos and doing this and that, but use it for a purpose. You know things like that, yeah, and relationships, you know. Now, don't get me wrong, we are, you know, we want to. You know, teach the right things as far as relationships as well, but for the youth, you know, I just wanted to focus on, you know, you know, growth in life and doing the right things they need to do to be productive in their communities.
Speaker 1:Right, doing the right things they need to do to be productive in their communities. Right, I hear guys talking about well, they don't want to get married anymore because of the quality of a woman. So I was wondering, I feel like that would come out in the barbershop. You know, we've got all guys there and they'll talk about why they feel like that about women. So that's where I was trying to go with it. Yeah, definitely I got ball here, I shave mine about why they feel like that about women. So that's where I was trying to go with it. Yeah, definitely I got bald hair, I shave mine. So I don't go to the barber shop.
Speaker 2:A long time ago. We have plenty of guys coming in to get those bald hairs cleaned up. Yeah, just to have the conversation.
Speaker 1:Anytime you want to slide on in. We just come up there and just sit there and just shave our heads so we can talk to y'all.
Speaker 2:And, like I said, that's one of those topics. Like I said, we want to. Uh, we were thinking about doing a podcast in the Bible shop as well, so I will help you guys, and I think you should.
Speaker 1:I think that would ground your, your, your, your area. Okay, that would just bring so much visibility to you. I just think it would be a good thing.
Speaker 2:Visibility to you. I just think it would be a good thing. Yes, sir, I think it would be too. I had to. We had to get my brother more coaching. You know what I'm saying. Get him, get us to get a setup in the shop so we can get it going, you're going to have to remodel. We're going to have to remodel a little bit, okay, but yeah, definitely that's something that we're looking into for our barbershop as well. Dreams Barbershop 6545 Auburn Drive. Yeah, college Park Shopping Center.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay, so we're going to get that information later. Yeah, so I know you said some of the things you have coming up, but do you have any specific dates? Anything you need help with right now? Y'all doing? You said you're doing something for back to school, right?
Speaker 3:That's what I was watching. We got a back to school event. We just met with Dr Manigault at college park elementary school out there. Okay, and this is third year it will be doing our book bag giveaway and our customer appreciation day at the school. So prior to the pandemic, like I said, I had the business for the last nine years.
Speaker 3:God put it on my heart to give or do a customer appreciation day and a book bag giveaway. So we were doing it before, before the pandemic in 2000. So we just recently came back out the last this will be the third year at College Park Elementary. We're taking donations at the barbershop, dreams Barbershop and Salon. We're taking donations at J&K, the restaurants right there, a couple of different businesses in the College Park area. We are taking getting school supplies.
Speaker 3:So God put it on my heart to kind of get back in life when you're being blessed. I was blessed with getting a business at the same place I was at for the last 17 years and he put it on my heart to do a book bag giveaway and customer appreciation day. So I was doing it prior to the pandemic. It probably I don't know if we did it five or six years prior to that it had been going on a roll. So we do the book bag giveaway and this year is August 21st, from 12 to 4. We'll be at College Park Elementary giving away book bags and supplies, getting away free. We have hot dogs, chips and stuffed kids. For the kids we got a guy that does juices. He's coming out there a bunch of different information.
Speaker 2:Bounce houses.
Speaker 3:Yep and for the community. Face painting Yep got a lot of stuff going on yeah we got a lot of things for you.
Speaker 1:On the 21st from 12 to 4 at College Hall Elementary. So do you already have the supplies or do y'all need people to help you?
Speaker 3:We need supplies. We have people bringing stuff in now. We were actually waiting on a date and we just got the date yesterday. But, like I said, we've been doing it with them for the last three years, so we're still. We need donations. We need book bags, supplies for these kids going back in that area and we've been doing it for the last three years with elementary school and prior to the pandemic we had did it like five or six years. We're doing a book bag giveaway, so we need book bags and the donations, School supply any type of school supply.
Speaker 1:So do y'all have?
Speaker 2:what kind of apps or programs y'all have set up so people can donate, Because people like to just do send money now instead of bringing it out, either by cash app or do y'all have any of those If you, if you would like to go online and donate to our organization? Uh, you can go to um, the um, the uh broken man youth Academy on um, and you can just Google that and it'll bring up their information online and it will show it has a uh a donation. Just click on where it says donate and you just follow the steps and you can donate to the greater man foundation through that as well.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:So we might have to get you guys set up with some other stuff too. So I will talk with y'all about doing that a little bit later.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:What else would you like for us to know?
Speaker 2:Basically, like I said, this is a program the Greater man Foundation in conjunction with the Dreams Barbershop. We just want you all to know that we are here and available to help in any way possible in our communities, anything that comes up. If anybody wants us to be involved, please reach out to us. By all means, we want to be involved in anything that we can be involved in with the youth and, like I said, in our community as well. So definitely any type of events that's going on, like I said, we definitely want to be a part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the things I didn't ask was what was the inspiration or the catalyst behind you guys doing this For an event, or it's just a series of events or just life?
Speaker 2:For me, it's just life Noticing a need, you know, noticing that the kids are dealing with a lot of issues and situations out here. That kids are dealing with a lot of issues and situations out here and, like I said, sometimes these youth just need someone that they can talk to and confide in and trust. I think trust is a big thing for these youth and I think a lot of times when they feel that they can trust you, they can open up and let you know exactly what's going on and that way we can know what we need to do to help them Right.
Speaker 2:You know that just came from having a barbershop and them coming in talking to you weekly yeah definitely, like I said, we we've had so many youth come through and, like I said, a lot of them we've we've we've started with them when they were young, you know saying like five, you know young kids coming in and getting you know, and they continue to come in and, like I said, over the time I've I've been able to, just, you know, build that rapport where they feel more comfortable in each and every time they come into the barbershop. And, like I said, I have parents that that that say how much their children respect me and all types of things like that. So, like I said, just just noticing that and seeing that it was like yo, it's like a.
Speaker 3:Also on that note, my main reason I told my brother when he started the foundation I was still trying to find young guys to cut hair. So I'm opening up a barber school eventually coming up probably it should be next year and that was one of my main reasons to get some of these young guys to teach them how to cut hair, to give them opportunity. Because I went to college, left college, went to Virginia State for two years, didn't go back to school, but I picked up a trade at 19 when I came home and was cutting hair. So I've been doing this since 19 years old. So it's going on 34 years.
Speaker 3:So I wanted some of these guys, the younger guys, to teach them how to cut hair, because it's going along with me trying to open up this barber school. So I'm trying to get them a trade that they can use the rest of their life. Even if they get education, there's still a trade that they can use and the business has to get younger and that's what I'm looking at with me getting older. As a barber being in ownership, I'm looking to get some of these young guys to teach them how to cut hair to keep the business going, even if I'm not cutting. Every business has to get younger.
Speaker 2:Trades are very important. I tell people nowadays that we had a lot of trades In school back in the day, when I was coming up. We had all type of, we had woodworking, we had all type of shop classes. They don't do that anymore and they like did away with it. But even then, when we had those classes, they didn't tell us that those classes Could turn you into A business owner or having your own business.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying? Electrician, hvac. You know what I'm saying? Things like that. They promoted it as like electives and things like that, like filling in classes to help you graduate. They never told you the importance. We were always told go to school. Go to college, get good grades, get a good job. You know what I'm saying. But trades are very important. Good grades, get a good job. You know what I'm saying? But trades are very important and even to right now, there are businesses that are looking for people to do trades but can't find people with the certifications that we need for our infrastructure in the world right now. So it's very. You know trades are very important and we need to let people know the importance of trades as well.
Speaker 1:I agree with you. One of the things that's kind of personal for me is about being a business person is exactly what you said. You go and they tell you how to be, work on cars, use tools and everything. One of the things that they did show us back then we were using checkbooks, so it did show you how to balance a checkbook.
Speaker 1:But the United States is what people forget, and this is why I feel like there's such a big separation between the classes and things that people are fighting right now. It's because the United States is built on a capitalistic ideology with a free market economy, which means that if you're an entrepreneur and you learn how to use those tools, you can use those to build a life for yourself, right, exactly. And the people have learned it. They're just greedy and they're just taking more and more Right. But I feel like we need to go back and teach people this is what this country is built on, exactly. Okay, so you can take one of those trades or do whatever it is that you want to do and learn how to build a structure so that you can take care of yourself Exactly. And this country doesn't do that. And they don't do that Exactly. They tell you oh, go get the job at college, go college.
Speaker 2:Go and get a good grade and you're still going to work for somebody else and you're still going to work for somebody else?
Speaker 1:Exactly yeah, and you're still going to look for somebody else.
Speaker 2:Exactly yeah, and you're not going to be happy, exactly yeah. So, and that's how I tell the youth too man, you want to get into something that you love early Right, because if you're not doing something that you love, out here, you're going to be finding yourself bouncing around from one thing to the other, so find out something Not going to like who you're working with Exactly If you don't like.
Speaker 2:You don't want to wake up in the morning and be like, oh, I got to go here and do this and do that. Uh, you want to feel good about getting up, going to do what you're going to do each and every day because when you feel good, about it.
Speaker 2:You're going say thank you to Mr Neely for giving us this opportunity to come on this podcast. This is our first time really doing this and this has been a great experience, and I just want to say thank you to Mr Neely for allowing us the opportunity to do this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I had so much admiration for you guys when I went out to do the business exclusive. It kind of turned into a podcast we're supposed to be talking about the barber shop. We started talking about you know what?
Speaker 2:you were doing and it was just. I was like we got to do something else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. And then it's great because you guys are active in the community. You go to town halls, you are really, I think a lot of people want to do what you're doing. They don't know how, they don't even know that there are a lot of guys like you doing this, right, right. So it would be good just for your area. That's what I was saying. The barbershop could be a hub. You know people need help with those kids, right?
Speaker 2:Definitely you know people need help with those kids, right, definitely you know, um, we just actually had a young lady come from uh Yorktown. Um, we did like I said, my brother said earlier we'd had interviews last Sunday and we had a young lady come from uh Yorktown. She had two sons that, um, she wants to be in uh involved in the program. So yeah, definitely, um, yeah, there's definitely need it. So yeah, we appreciate it's definitely needed.
Speaker 1:So yeah, we appreciate you. Yeah, yep, they need mentors to show them how to be responsible, accountable and grow up to be young, productive men. Exactly that's what you guys are doing, so thank you for coming in.
Speaker 1:That concludes today's episode of Listen Up. We'll catch you next time on Listen Up, All right. Thank you If you enjoyed today's episode I Up. We'll catch you next time on Listen Up, All right, Thank you. If you enjoyed today's episode. I'm going to ask you to click on the links below Follow, subscribe, become part of the conversation and remember listen up.
