Finding Purpose Through Poetry And Care

A poem can carry what a kid can’t say out loud. That truth runs through our conversation with Malik Jordan, facilitator and Safe Passage team member at Teens With A Purpose in Norfolk. Malik traces his path from an angry 11-year-old to a mentor who helps teens express emotion, find purpose, and build safer neighborhoods—with art, with gardens, and with consistent care.

We dig into how creative youth development turns vulnerability into strength. Poetry, music, and visual art aren’t just hobbies here; they’re practical tools for emotional literacy and leadership. Malik shares why reading a poem to his father was easier than starting a hard talk, and how healing circles and mental health first aid create space for grief, frustration, and hope. We also get real about manhood: the pressure to bottle feelings, how anger masks hurt, and what it looks like to lead at home by naming emotions and solving problems together.

Then we step outside. Purpose Park—TWP’s half-acre urban farm—feeds families, pays teens, and transforms a block into a stage for community. HIPterns learn horticulture, earn certifications, and see new careers in landscaping and city work. A community fridge shares harvests with nearby neighborhoods, while internships at cultural institutions expand skills and networks. On the academic side, TWP pairs daily support with clear expectations, contributing to a 95 percent graduation rate by linking homework to personal goals and creative growth.

Safety and dignity guide the work. As credible messengers, TWP staff walk the neighborhood, build trust, and deescalate conflict without policing. Malik recounts separating a heated confrontation near a youth practice and mediating afterward to stop retaliation. When a life was lost near the center, the team turned a makeshift memorial into lasting art with melted glass—proof that remembrance can heal and inspire. If you care about youth empowerment, violence prevention, food security, and real-world skills, this conversation offers a grounded blueprint for change.

If the story moves you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review to help others find the show. Want to get involved or enroll a teen? Visit twpthemovement.org and follow @TWPthemovement.

Chapters

• 0:08 Meet Malik Jordan And TWP
• 2:47 What Teens With A Purpose Does
• 4:26 Poetry As Healing And Voice
• 9:12 Naming Anger And Early Trauma
• 11:31 Men, Emotions, And Healthy Expression
• 20:25 Relationships, Communication, And Growth
• 21:25 Programs That Feed Bodies And Minds
• 25:20 Purpose Park And Paid Horticulture
• 29:14 Graduation, Literacy, And Real Options
• 33:11 Crime Intervention And Credible Messengers
• 37:02 Deescalation Stories And Memorial Healing
• 41:20 How To Get Involved And Stay Connected

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:08

Hello everyone. I'm Al Neely with Listen Up Podcast and we have Malik Jordan. He's with Teens with a Purpose. And uh Malik is a highly motivated individual with a strong commitment to community work, service, and activism. As a program facilitator with teens with a purpose, Malik has played a crucial role in supporting mentoring and mentoring students. He has monitored their academic progress, their mental health, and social development through ongoing assessments. Malik has won numerous awards for his activism as a youth. In 2016, he was presented with the City of Norfolk at the All-City Conference, where the city was crowned All American City of the Year. Additionally, he has actively engaged in at risk youth programs, providing them with safe and therapeutic environments to encourage growth and interpersonal skills development. Malik's dedication and advocacy and his use of trauma-informed care techniques have made a long lasting impact on the lives of at-use risk. Beyond his professional endeavors, Malik has shown a commitment to the community through outreach and activism. He has been actively involved in initiatives aimed at promoting positive change, advocating for at-risk youth, and bridging educational and social gaps. Malik is currently a safe passage team member. And he has several certificates that he's accomplished, such as public safety, crime intervention, and youth mental first aid certifications. How you doing? I'm great.

SPEAKER_00: 2:25

How you doing, sir?

SPEAKER_02: 2:26

Good, good. So I had no idea you were 26.

SPEAKER_00: 2:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 2:30

But you know, you took a while for you to accomplish all of this stuff here. So I I would now I understand. So let's talk about Teens with a Purpose. Yes, sir. Um describe the organization for us.

SPEAKER_00: 2:47

All right. So Teens with a Purpose is a youth development. Well, first is a peer-leg, positive youth development organization. Um we're also a nonprofit uh based in the city of Norfolk, but we service all the seven five, uh, all the seven cities. Um we help at-risk youth, uh youth of all kinds, really, uh, through the means of creative uh youth development. So uh that's poetry, music, dance, uh visual art. Uh we work in partner with the Chrysler Glass Museum uh and have interns at the Glass Museum that are learning under artists. Uh we do mental health first aid workshops. We uh do Hilling Circles with our young people. We have a garden. We're just uh uh organization with many hats. So uh, but the main focus is uh giving youth a chance to find themselves and while they're finding themselves, help other people in their community and around the world. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02: 3:52

I see. Great. And how did you become involved?

SPEAKER_00: 3:56

Uh so I became involved with Teens with a Purpose when I was 11 years old. I was a youth that needed an outlet. I was writing at the time, uh like poetry and things. Like I've always been a writer, always uh read and things like that, uh, but didn't have a focus, no one to like help me out with my craft, uh, and also uh helped me out with the little angry guy that I was uh coming up as a youth. Yeah, so uh teens with uh I got had a mentor uh that was helping me that was provided with the school, and he also was a poet, and he told me about Teens with a Purpose and all the great work that they do. Uh so I joined uh the org. I remember my first day uh at Teens with a Purpose, we were based in the Attics theater at that time. Uh just walking in and felt welcomed and loved and like I was already a part of the family. So uh as a youth uh from Young's Terrace, from a very rough part of Norfolk, it was very welcoming and warming to see that um like everybody was accepting me as soon as I walked in and wanted me to be a part of the team and to help out. So yeah, started with Teams with Purpose, really was just doing the poetry workshops uh at first, but then I seen that Teams with a purpose offered so much more uh in the activism work and working with the community and trying to make things better for our youth that I just fell in love with it and stick with it because like that's my passion. Like, of course, I do my poetry, I uh am a host and things like that, but helping my community is really a passion of mine, and they it really uh was refreshing to see that I could do that and be a young person doing that. So I just stick stuck with it. Now I I work there helping out the next generation, the new generation, so they can help out the next generation.

SPEAKER_02: 5:48

Gotcha. So it's a couple of things I want to talk about. Um, one, the poetry to start there, then you talked about you were angry at 11. So yeah, poetry poetry, yeah, poetry. Um I I don't I don't think people really realize that when you are a hip hop artist or you're an MC, you're actually a poet. Yes, you are. Okay. So can you do both, or you just decided to divest your interests in written poetry? Um and yeah, so let's talk about both.

SPEAKER_00: 6:30

Yeah, so me, uh, I stuck just with poetry. Uh yeah, because like I like talking about myself and talking about the world around me.

SPEAKER_02: 6:40

And uh you wanted to go literary, yeah, not yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 6:44

Yeah, not not like I love hip-hop, like I'm a hip-hop guy too, but uh poetry just was my means to like express myself. It was easier uh to get those feelings out in my poetry rather than talking at times. Like uh I remember growing up, like I had a poem about my dad, and like like it was easier to spit the poet the poem in front of him than freaking uh like just talking to him about it. So uh just poetry was just easy for me, yeah. You remember it? Uh no, I don't remember it. I know it's somewhere in the past. I know. Uh yeah, as a youth, we take things for granted because it's so many great poets out there. You think your stuff is not enough, and I'm pretty sure it's like that for every uh craft. Like you think you're not good enough and things like that. Things get uh misplaced or moved around. But um the art is an expression of you, yeah, it's an expression of me, and I'm super glad that I got to uh perform and get these feelings out because now I feel like I'm a young man now who has like his head on scrape that can think for itself, work through those those emotions and actually feel them. Cause uh as black men, sometimes like just well, just from my perspective, like we try to bottle things in and not express them, but uh it's good to express it your feelings and say how you are, and it'll help you out in the long run. So that's why uh poetry really connected me with me in that way. My brother uh Jalik, I have a little brother. He's also he also joined the organization and uh is now an employee there, helping out the next generation. He DJs and makes beats. Uh he's in the music thing. He doesn't write, but he uh like production is his thing. So that is the other side. Yeah, maybe we need to collab one day, try to do a song.

SPEAKER_02: 8:46

That would be nice.

SPEAKER_00: 8:47

That would be cool, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 8:49

Yeah. Um so you talked about you were angry at 11 years old.

unknown: 8:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 8:55

Um, and you're also your mental health counselor, is that correct? Yes, sir. All right, so I want to focus on that. I feel like we could talk about a multitude of things that you guys provide. Yes. But that's a big one with me. Yes, sir. Okay. Why were you angry? What were you angry at at age 11? Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 9:16

At age 11, I was angry. Uh, so uh my real father wasn't in the picture, uh, like I was just saying. Uh he wasn't in the picture, so I felt unwanted at times. Um also just bullying and things. Uh I've always been a chubby person, and uh young people figuring themselves out were bullying me and just getting in a lot of fights and things like that. Just couldn't express my emotions properly, so it would come out in anger uh instead of maybe sadness or yeah, not feeling wanted and not explaining that to my mom and my stepfather and things like that. But yeah, just angry about the world at times, uh why my father wasn't there and things like that. And then TJP really helped me like transverse those emotions, like um understanding that yeah, he's not there, but you do have uh a dad that is helping you out and doing everything that your dad, your real father exposed to. Uh so just yeah, just angry about those specific topics for me.

SPEAKER_02: 10:27

Have you have you had any relationship with your biological father at all?

SPEAKER_00: 10:33

Um, yes, we uh we we talk now, uh not not really much, but we talk now. Uh as an older adult now, um seeing that his mistakes he he made mistakes and he didn't have anybody to help him like transverse that so just it it built the cycle. Uh so now I know that I am the next part of that cycle, so I have to stop it. So you have to break it. Yeah, I have to break it. I understand it, right?

SPEAKER_02: 11:06

Yeah, I understand it now. Um at 26 you don't have a world of experience, but I've seen it throughout my life because I'm twice your age. So I've seen it um in my life, and of course, it's something that's interesting to me. So I actually look back and people don't learn and they don't understand why. You said a couple of things that are kind of hit home. One is the way you express things is with the your emotions was was with anger. Um as men in general, we're limited to s only a certain amount of would you say we're only limited. I should ask you because since you're the you know the counselor here, would you say we're only taught or limited by generally by a few ways to express our emotions and anger tends to be the main one.

SPEAKER_00: 12:04

Yes, the main one. So um, yes, like uh when you're on the football field, I played football when I was younger. So when you're on the football field, your to coach tells you channel all those emotions and go take it out on the field. So like uh that's like kind of like what we're taught that as uh young people, like, oh, hold it in. Like if I fail as a kid, oh get up, you alright? Like instead of let me cry, like I got a scared knee right now. I'm bleeding right now, let me cry, get those emotions out, because I feel pain and let me get those emotions out. I think we uh as the next generation, as parents, as adults, we do need to let young people express their emotions how they in an appropriate way and how they see fit. So if they feel like they need to cry because they're sad about something that happened, let them do that and let them understand why they feel that way. So uh I had a young man at the center, I'm not gonna say his name, keep his uh business personal to him, but he was one day we just working in the garden, like just working in the garden regular uh day, uh regular schedule programming, and he just starts crying out of nowhere. And I'm like, hey, I take him to the side. I'm like, hey, what's going on? What's uh what emotions are you feeling right now? And he literally just says to me, I'm sad that I lost all my family, like, and like his he was talking about his grandma and granddad and cousins and siblings and things that he's lost. And I'm like, wow, I appreciate you for telling me this. Like it's okay. And he was saying he was been balling it up for a while, and I'm like, you don't have to ball it up, like you're exposed to express emotion. Grief is like grief and sadness are coincide together, so you don't have to keep it in, and because it comes out in a different way, like you're crying right now. We weren't talking about anything, we just working in the garden, and it comes out, so eventually it's gonna come out. So whenever you feel it, let it out. Uh, that's why I told that young man, and like I let him cry, and I said, Hey, if you ever need to come to me, please let me know. And I told him, like, I cried too. Like, I lost some family members this year, and that like we was just uh connecting in that way, like, yeah, life does happen like that. Uh, people are gonna pass away and not be here anymore. But you uh know that it's okay to be sad about their leaving, but also you can be happy that they are in a better place if that's what you believe in. Uh be happy about the good times that you had with them and things like that. Just letting them know that it's okay as a young man to show those emotions. It's probably one of the strongest uh moments in a young man's life is when they can show the emotions properly and be able to understand them and work it out. Because like when you get in a relationship, you want to be able to like talk your emotions out and help your partner transverse through the feelings that they are having as well. So uh as a man, I I say we lead first. Uh, so if it's leading with emotions uh and figuring them out, that's what we have to like do. And it makes sense to be able to tell my daughter, uh son when I have one day, like it's okay to feel those emotions. You're like like we uh human beings are emotional creatures, and we're supposed to feel those feelings and be able to work through them and understand how we can get to the next step and move past uh feelings.

SPEAKER_02: 15:39

So yeah, yeah, just yeah, so I I one of the things I would definitely say is that it's been it's gone un. It's gone unnoticed, ignored, is that let me know if you agree with me. Men are emotional, okay? And uh society and especially the society and the culture stuff and the wars and the persona that this country's trying to put on right now is a bunch of bull crap, right? Because men are emotional, and what we see going on now is actually taking advantage of men's emotions. But men are emotional, and you have to let them be emotional, like you said, but you gotta teach them how to use it in a positive way, and it's not violence, because we know what it's like. You know, somebody's gonna get a gun and they're gonna shoot, or you're gonna it's gonna be some violence, or they're gonna try to hurt, and um, that's not the only solution, right? So that's what your organization, your organization does. Yes. But um that is just something that's we've been misled for generation after generation, right? And it doesn't make you less of a man to be in touch with who you are, right? It actually makes you more of a man, like you said, to be able to have that conversation one day. You know, honey, your daughter, because you know that's that's gonna be the jewel, right? Yeah, you know, dad's daughter is the jewels, right? So be able to express that with her because she's already emotional, and women have that ability to express emotion, right? Um, they're just multi-leveled when it comes to things like that. Communication and the ability to express things, and and and men are not, but also um be able to show your son that okay, you can do this, but you still have to lead, right? Okay, and this is how you lead. And um, that's something. When did you realize that, Malik? At what age?

SPEAKER_00: 18:01

Uh I would say I know it was in my 20s, like really fully understanding that, yeah. Like fully understanding the um concept of like navigating feelings and being able to communicate effectively uh with those feelings. Like, so I would say late into my like not late, but maybe 22, 21, I was like, wow, like just dealing with relationships, like uh and trying to make sure that I'm showing up as the best version of Malik in those relationships and things. So just understanding, like, yeah, like it's okay to feel those feelings, like and express those. Like one thing uh my uh partner now, like my girl now, like that's one thing that we've really been doing really well with expressing those emotions, expressing when we're frustrated with each other, expressing when we're happy with each other, just showing that we are feeling. Because as humans, you gotta show that you are feeling those emotions. Because nobody wants to like be around a robot, like we're supposed to be feeling and things like that. So, yeah, around my 20s, 22s.

SPEAKER_02: 19:08

I I see a graduation here. So um, for you, um, because you know, the other thing is that people don't get married anymore. Yeah. And um, but I think it's a matter of communication and being able to find the right person. That's person that's on your level from an emotional standpoint. Yes. You know what I mean? So um, how long have you been with your partner?

SPEAKER_00: 19:34

Uh about two years now. So it's been have you seen that grow? Yeah, and I seen it grow. Like I've seen where um at first uh both of us was a little hesitant with certain things because you know, in that first stage relationship, you don't want to make the other one mad about things that you don't know. Yeah, things you don't know. But we have we had these conversations, like we can't explain. Like I felt this way when you did this, and this is why I may uh acted this way, and how can we move forward so when this situation arises again, we can uh solve it together. One thing that we say in our relationship, and I say to the young people, is that uh the relationship is bigger than the problem. Uh so even with friendships, the relationship is bigger than the problem. So we're fighting the problem, we're not fighting each other. Like it's a thing that we're trying to fix, and let's fix the thing, like and make it better for each other. So yeah, right, like making sure that you are not saying that the person is the problem. No, the problem is the problem, and we're trying to solve that together. Right. And how can we do that together? So, like when I have uh young people getting mad at each other because this and that, like at the center or in my uh the schools that we uh go to, like that's what um we say. Like, uh, how can we solve the problem? How how can this small problem uh be solved with our big relationship? Like we got a friendship together, we have a relationship together. How can we go to it together and fix this problem? Yes.

SPEAKER_02: 21:12

Right, right. So with the organization, you also do because we kind of got off of that, but with the organization, it's uh uh you guys help feed people. Yes. So how big is let's talk about that.

SPEAKER_00: 21:25

Yeah, so of course, um we offer after school programs uh for our youth between the ages of 12 to 19, Monday through Thursday from two to six, uh, and they eat there.

SPEAKER_02: 21:38

Of course, we provide meals with the organism for about 15 years, right? Yes, I have. So has it has this been a steady incline or is it decreasing? What's what's taking place? What do you see happening?

SPEAKER_00: 21:51

So I see uh increase uh and of course in our reach um and also the programs that we offer when I was a young person. We only offered poetry, music, and like dance and like visual arts. And it wasn't, it was of course we were doing the activism work with our art, but it wasn't like how it is now, like workshops every day. Uh, we partner with a lot of people to come in and do workshops with the young people. Um we're in the um prison system right now, so we go to Indian Creek uh correctional facility and uh do a program with their uh uh YOs, youth defenders. Um and yeah, like the garden. The garden, I actually was uh like it was my idea. So um in the What do you mean the garden? We have a garden.

SPEAKER_02: 22:46

Okay, so so okay, where's that garden located?

SPEAKER_00: 22:49

It's uh right across the street from our teen center, 700 East Only Road. Uh so it's right across the street from our teen center, located in uh downtown Norfolk. We offer a Saturday program, uh, like I was telling you about the young people.

SPEAKER_02: 23:00

And this is to help feed people. Yeah, this is to help feed people. Let's talk about the feeding people.

SPEAKER_00: 23:04

Yeah, so the feeding people, so like I said, we offer meals to the young people uh Monday through Thursday. Um we partner with uh different organizations like Cups and um Support and Feed uh to bring healthy meals there. Support and Feed is uh org that brings vegan meals in from different uh restaurants around so the young people can try different meals, uh healthier option meals. So uh we have vegan meals. Um, like I said, we have a half-acre garden across the street and also a couple raised beds uh in the back of our teen center that provides fresh fruits and vegetables for the surrounding communities. So right now we growing bok choy, we have cabbage, uh, we have broccoli, we have greens right now. Uh in the summertime, of course, the tomatoes, the cucumbers are really important to the community and things like that. We uh also serve, have watermelons and things. And on the side of our building, we have a community fridge where we stock uh any overstock that we have that we go when we go and walk on Saturdays to pass out the fresh fruits and vegetables.

SPEAKER_02: 24:10

Pass out fruit. Yes. Uh particular areas?

SPEAKER_00: 24:13

Yeah, uh so we're located in downtown Norfolk. Um and so we pass it out to the surrounding communities there. So that's Young's Terrace, Calvert Square, uh, Hunnisville, um, when tied with the gardens. Uh the reception is amazing. People love us. People come to the garden very often because uh we have a stage up there. It's like an event space, it's like a whole park. We call it Purpose Park. So we have an event space there, shade in the seating there. We have a pond, rain garden. Okay, so uh our horticulture program, uh, we call it hip turns, uh, the horticulture internship program, so we call it hip turns. Uh, and it's an organization where the young people make uh money. So every Saturday we go out there from nine to one o'clock uh to attend to our garden, harvest the fruits from vegetables, build different things, uh, and just tend to the garden and the young people get paid for it. Uh yeah, so yeah, um, and that's why I say I love that uh the organization has developed because when I first started the garden with the organization, I went to our uh former ED, uh Digital Love, and I was like, we need some food around here. Our neighborhood uh grocery store closed. So now it's uh five-minute uh car ride and 10 or 20-minute uh walk for some of these people in this community to go to a grocery store. So we need to provide it. Uh and we started a garden, it only started with a couple raised beds in the back of the scene center, and now it's a half acre garden that we partner with the city of Norfolk Botanical Gardens, different uh small organizations uh to help out these young people uh to help out their community so they get paid. Uh they're getting a train uh certification right now. Uh so it's a year program. So the young people start in August and they end in August. Uh so at the end of this program, they will get a landscaping uh certification. Uh I got uh certified in the landscaping uh CBPL uh certification. So they'll be getting the same certificate and then we'll be doing a uh job fair at the end of the summer to show young people it's different options out here. You don't have to be a rapper, you don't have to be a lawyer, doctor, you can be a horticulturalist.

SPEAKER_02: 26:37

You want them to be a lawyer and doctor, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 26:39

We of course we want them to be a lawyer and doctor, but not everybody you want to have diverse options for the young people because shoot, uh I got an offer scholarship to NCAT to go to school for a horticulturalist. I didn't think it would have been a good job option, like what you just said, but it is an option, and maybe our young person wants to do that. Uh instead of going to school for something else, they want to be uh working in the garden to help out our um world because like in the the world today with AI and all these data centers things being built, like we are we need to take care of our mother earth, like she's very important, and we're teaching the young people a good skill.

SPEAKER_02: 27:24

Yeah. Um when I was looking at the uh information that the teams with a purpose says it states that you guys have a 95% graduation rate. Yes, sir. Is that for people in the organ is is a part of the organization? Yes, sir. Okay. So that's pretty high. Yeah. Usually what prevents people from graduating?

SPEAKER_00: 27:52

Um so give me both. Yeah, so I can give you both. Yeah, yeah, let's talk about that. So um young people now, especially nowadays, the literacy rates are not as high anymore. Um, so that's one thing while we do our hither's program inside the schools in the UPO laureate program to build up those literacy rates. So to get our young people reading again, uh a lot of them think they can't do it. Uh, a lot of them see the only option is in the hood, game banging, and we why it does work in teens with a purpose. Uh like we give them those those options. We give them the option, like, yeah, um high school, yeah, gotta graduate high school have to be a thing. But after high school, what are we gonna do? So, okay, landscaping might be a thing, or mechanic, or maybe it is uh helping out the next generation writing poetry and things like that, or it's something else. So just giving the young people the options and knowing that they can do it, that's one thing that does work. Um, at Teams with Purpose. Uh every time they walk in the building, we ask about homework. That's one thing I really am passionate about is getting our young people to graduate and be successful because it's college graduates that it's hard to get a job right now. Like, so I want them to have as many options as they can, like, and to be successful and to change their world on how they see fit. Um, just giving them the autonomy to like, okay, pick and choose like what they want to do, uh, but also just making sure that they know that it's important to graduate high school, that this is not your end all be all, like you can graduate high school and go get a trade or uh go to college or really work if you want to work, uh work for the city, work for governments, like with that landscaping uh certification, they can really do a lot of things. Uh so just giving them the options, knowing that they can do it, and the young people now just really need encouragement. Uh the young people now they are growing up in the technology age, the social media era, so they see everything really quick. Like everything comes quick, uh, what they see, so they don't think it's uh happening for them because it's going slow. But uh let them know all the time like, hey, that's what you see on social media. You don't know the years and years amount of work that got put in to get here and to the hustle and the drive that they had to get to those places. Like you just see what they post. But now, like, yeah, you gotta work hard. So just making sure that the young people know that they are fully supported. We have interns and uh different people there to help with homework uh when they walk into the building. We just checked grades yesterday because they are getting report cards soon, and we just want to make sure everybody's on track and understand that they have a support system. Um, yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 31:00

Um, one of the things I want to also talk to you about was uh um did I read somewhere where you had a certification and is it crime awareness or intervention? Yeah, I mean what is that?

SPEAKER_00: 31:13

So um uh yes, so crime uh interventionalists. Uh I'm a credible messenger, that's what they like to say. So a credible messenger is a person from the community uh that helps what they walk around the community introducing themselves, also like just has a person who has connections in the community that can help with the intervention of crime or uh prevent people from causing violence on one another. So uh how effective is it? It's very effective, actually. Um I I wish I had the number. I don't want to give you a false number because for your yeah, for our organization, because um we partner with ODU um getting data so they collect the data for us and uh been like putting it together uh to so we can show the effectiveness of it. Right. But uh it has violence in our community has gone down.

SPEAKER_02: 32:08

Um causes that. I mean, I was talking to um the uh one of the the attorneys, I can't think of his name, um for the city of Norfolk. Martin. Uh no, Ramin. Okay. Um, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, Fage, right? Yeah, yeah. And he was saying that crime has gone down, and he was explaining why it was gone down.

SPEAKER_00: 32:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 32:35

And um, and you then you took a look at statistics for the nation, and um they went down um over the la I think they're starting to change now, but they were down um during the Biden administration. And the reason he was explaining why it was down was because people were um they had jobs. Um there was more food and things to eat, there were things more resources available. So what do you see? And of course that's not something I study, but what do you see what stops or what helps with crime in communities like that?

SPEAKER_00: 33:21

Yeah, so in uh what helps with crime crime in communities like that is not policing. Uh so we don't police. So when we walk around making sure the young people are getting to their home safe, making sure they are able to play outside uh without the words of uh guns or bullets flying. It's we are there as a welcoming face, as a face of if something's going on, you can come to us. It won't be any uh persecution of you, uh, it will be understanding, it will be a resource provided to you. So um, like um if when we walk around in the community, if someone tells us, hey, I'm looking for food, hey, we can offer the community fridge to them. Uh when someone is saying, Oh, I need clothes, we have uh donated clothes, a get fresh uh closet for the uh people in the community. Uh we provide um mental health first aid, we provide healing circles uh to deal with trauma. So it's it's not only the walking around in community, uh making sure everybody's safe and make sure there's no guns around. It's really the effect of offering someone something, even if it's just a hey, how you doing? Even if it's just a smile, just offering people things. And one thing that I think is really helping out with that is that we attach to the youth. So because like you gotta start young. Like, how can you teach someone who's 40 not to do something when you could have taught them at 14 uh to not to do something or to- I hear that all the time. Yes, like it's best to start early, and that's why we start with teens and offer these programs to them and show that it's other ways out of here and show that you don't have to be running the streets uh to be liked or welcome or get money. Because look, on Saturdays we offer a job on this day you can uh eat for free, on this day you can grab these clothes. So just the caring, that's what one thing that needs to happen more in this world is that we need to care more, especially in this country. Like, we gotta care about the people under us, and if that's youth, if that's um people maybe not in our social class. Like we care, we should care for one another and build them up and offer things to people, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 35:45

Yeah, I um I was looking trying to look for something. There's an organization I know it's out of um Chicago, and they do they're actually they have several organizational um um located in in major cities. But the whole idea with that organization is to get involved before in between individuals, between individuals before it escalates and becomes uh violent, right? Um is that kind of sort of what you guys do? Yeah, we uh being in the neighborhood, you probably know a lot of the people, right?

SPEAKER_00: 36:28

Yes, right. So, like, yeah, when a situation is arising, let's uh we yeah, get with both parties, uh, because we're interventionless, right? We do get with both parties. Uh we can set up meetings and things like that. We've done that before. Yeah, so um give me an example.

SPEAKER_02: 36:47

So an example of something that you've taken place that you were able to help with.

SPEAKER_00: 36:51

So an example, we were at a football practice, walking around the neighborhood, just checking in. This is a daily routine stopped for us. Okay, football practice. Um, and these two young ladies started like fussing and arguing and things, and it got really out of hand and guns drawn out during the Yeah, like really out of hand.

SPEAKER_02: 37:13

Who were these people?

SPEAKER_00: 37:14

High schoolers? No, no, like grown adults. Like one of the young ladies had a young, like had her son, he was a part of the football team, so they were definitely older than me, at least 30s, uh like mid-30s. Uh, these young ladies started fussing over a guy, uh, and like big situations arise, like we had to try to we had to push the young people who were at the football practice back and do like our work. So at how it happened, like how we got the situation solved, one of the young ladies uh brother was there with her. We talked to the brother because we had a relationship with the brother, and we got them to calm down, like, cuz it was like got bad, like her guns was like shot up in the air, and like it's young people here at a practice, and it's a big practice. It's like uh at least 60 to 70 young people uh on this field right now, so we have to make sure that we think it's smart. So, of course, we isolate the situation, we move them this way while guns and everything, and we make sure that they leave it, like solve it, leave the practice. We had to shut down the practice, but talk to the brother and then set up a meeting so those young ladies could talk and just hash.

SPEAKER_02: 38:33

So we actually set up a meeting after that so that they can figure it out. Yeah, so they figured out the meeting.

SPEAKER_00: 38:38

Yeah, we mediated it. Um, our um head interventionalist, uh Mr. Mohammed, uh, he knew the brother, so he me and like they didn't argue in the more that we know of. Uh so yeah, but it was definitely a high intense situation because of course I'm uh caring about the young people in this situation. Uh luckily we had all the team members there that day, and it was easy to hack two team members. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 39:08

It was like you had to get somebody to get the kids out. Yeah, then we had players out.

SPEAKER_00: 39:13

We had to make sure people wasn't coming in, uh, like alternate people, because like that happens all the time. Like two people be fighting, then somebody sitting over there. Yeah, my cousin mad now, she wants to come over here shooting and fighting and stuff. So, yeah, so we handle it very well. That's like one of our like very high-intense, very scary uh moment, but very proud moment for me to see how we used our training to uh get everybody safe in the moment, but also be able to solve the problem and they haven't been fussing. I remember uh one time someone uh passed next to our center. Uh, I talked to the family, uh, and we wanted to do something uh for them because we didn't want any uh retaliation. So we built a mural for uh the fallen uh person. Right next to our center, so the family could have some relief and have something to remember him by. Instead of looking at that spot where he passed away as a spot of like sadness and anger because this person is going is more of a memorial, something to remember him by, something to feel good about. Right. Yeah, so two different uh situations. One is real high intense, and then the other one is just saying, hey, look, we want to honor him. Uh and we think this would be a good spot. Because you know how they do the little memorials with the liquor bottles. We took the liquor bottles because we uh um partnered with the glass studio, melted them down, and like put like his name and different memories on it. Yeah, really. And and it shows that shows the community, shows his family like you can turn anything into a positive.

SPEAKER_02: 40:55

So Yeah, we need way more organizations like that.

SPEAKER_00: 40:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 40:59

Um, because I think everything starts right there, the beginning, grassroots organization, yes, and just grows from there.

SPEAKER_00: 41:07

Yeah, and we boots on the ground. Like I've never seen TAP be in the back burner. We're always front lines, always front of the problem, trying to solve it. Uh so yeah. Okay. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_02: 41:20

All right. So tell us how the organization can be found, how people can get involved.

SPEAKER_00: 41:26

Okay, so our organization, we have social medias, we have a website, twpthemovement.org. Uh, you can follow us on all social media platforms at TWPthemovement. Uh, yeah, that's Instagram, that's Facebook, that's uh Twitter. TWP. TWP. So Teams with a Purpose or TWPthemovement uh.org. Uh if you want to find our website, our website uh will link you to all our programs, we'll link you to everything that we do, everything we have done. Uh, and you can sign your young people up there. You can sign up to be a volunteer there. You can sign up for our mental health workshops when we have them, our healing circles, parent cafe. Uh, because like we just offer a lot of programs, and it's uh very needed. Like, you'll find something up there that you say you'll need. Like, even if it's looking at the community fridge or uh seeing when our gardening program starts, the events that we offer, our slam season is coming up, so you come see some dope youth poetry and see all our youth uh shine and rise uh in the performance season, uh doing music, dance, poetry, all those things. So, yeah, tap in with us. We on YouTube, you can watch clips up there. Uh, we stream everything, uh, all our events, so YouTube, Twitch, and things like that. So please uh check us out, check these young people out, they're doing amazing things.

SPEAKER_02: 42:56

All right, thanks, Malik.

SPEAKER_00: 42:59

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: 43:00

All right, I appreciate it. Uh, thank you for what you've been doing in the community. Yes, sir. All right, that's it, everybody. Uh appreciate you following us on Listen Up. We'll catch you next time and listen up. If you enjoyed today's episode, I'm gonna ask you to click on the links below. Follow, subscribe, become part of the conversation. And remember, listen up.