“They Don’t See Their Potential… Until This Happens” — Karen Franklin on Empowering Youth

In this episode of What in the Health is Going On?, we sit down with Karen Franklin to talk about one of the most important investments we can make — our youth.

Through her work with the World Youth Foundation, Karen shares how young people can be empowered to discover their purpose, develop leadership skills, and create real impact in their communities.

This conversation explores:

- Why many young people don’t see their full potential
- The importance of mentorship and guidance
- How exposure to opportunities changes everything
- The role of community, family, and leadership in youth development
- Why civic engagement and government awareness matter at a young age

Karen also breaks down how programs like Young Leaders in Government give students real-world experience — from local communities to national platforms like Washington, D.C.

This is more than a conversation about youth — it’s about building the next generation of leaders.

Learn more and get involved with the World Youth Foundation:
https://worldyouthfoundation.org/

Check our latest podcast on our Youtube channel :
https://youtu.be/o6u0ZpQonv4

#YouthLeadership #Mentorship #NextGeneration #CommunityImpact #PersonalGrowth #WhatInTheHealthIsGoingOn

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello, my name is Quentin Jenkins, and welcome to another episode of What in the Health Is Going On. And again, that doesn't mean physically, it's a component, but it means everything that's happening, happening in our lives. Today, we are blessed to have one of my mentors. There are certain things in life you pray for. And one of the things I pray for, particularly as we transition in life and lose people you care about, I ask God for a mentor, not just from a spiritual perspective, a business perspective, and just acumen, business acumen. How do you move in space and how you learn? In our community, there's not a lot of that. So I had the great fortune of three years ago attending an event put on by Laden Great representative and mayor, Sylvester Turner. We put a mister in front of that. A miss in front of that. And I met Miss Karen, and ever since then I've had an interest. I watch her move, watch how she communicates, watch how she's strategic. Now watch how she's professional in everything she does. Now I tell you, sometimes people say things that I don't like in her presence, you know, and that there's only a little bit of hood in me, but it comes to the surface. It's like I want to protect her, but you know what? She knows how to handle herself. She's teaching me how to give people grace. He's teaching me how to move in rooms. And I'm very grateful. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, do me do this. I'd like to introduce you to Miss Karen Franklin.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Oh, LaQuentin, thank you. Yeah, so much love. What in the health is going on? Thank you for having me here. I'm so excited to be here today, not only in front of my mentee, but equally at the same time to have this important conversation. So let's get started.

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Absolutely. So, Ms. Karen has a vested interest in our young people. Particularly our young people in government. Let me ask you a question. Really think about this. When have you ever heard one of our youth say, I want to be a mayor, I want to be a state representative, I want to be a city counselor? And the reason this is so important, these are the people that are making the decisions about our lives, where money is spent, where resources is going. And she has a passion around addressing that. So I'd like to ask you, share with a little bit about how the World Youth Foundation got started and your vision for the World Youth Foundation.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

Well, thank you, LaQuenta, for that question. You know, people often ask me that question, how? How and why did I decide to do this? And it wasn't an odd thing, right? So humbly, because of my journey, I was often put in spaces where I was invited. I was tasked and equally charged to help initiatives to be realized. And within those spaces, I would show up. I would help, I would execute, and then there you have it, right? So after I was given a task and brought into an amazing global initiative, I was went back to my job, which was then the Belt System. I said, okay, God, what's next? He said, start your own organization. I said, what? Start what? My own organization? I hear you, sir. Okay. I don't know what that means, nor do I know how to. So here we are, 36 years later, as of April 1st, right? So one, it wasn't my first thought or desire to author nor birth a Worldview Foundation, right? Yet it was an assignment. And nothing that I knew of at all, yet here we are. So it wasn't anything that I had planned, yet I'm humbled that I was very much selected to help carry forth the dreams, aspirations of our young people today. So on that initial question you asked, how often do you hear that? Well, McQuinton in our space, I hear that almost every day. So our kids, young adults from the ages of four to 24 say, you know, Miss Gare, I want to be the president. Or oftentimes they'll say, I will be the next president. Or they talk about participating in their local school board. Equally at the same time, they want to make an intentional impact within their community. So that's a c a comment and a question that I hear quite often.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

What in the health is going on? In our community right now, workforce development is a really big deal.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

No doubt.

SPEAKER_01 4:49

We understand that many of our youth, though we desire for them to go to college, we desire them to get, you know, to just excel. But the reality is in many of our communities, that's just not the situation. Don't know the number exactly, but the last time I heard only about 40 to 42 percent of our kids are actually going, not just going, but my, you know, is how many of them are actually finishing the whole process. So can you kind of share with me a few things that the World Youth Foundation is doing to address and reinforce uh workforce development and given our youth opportunities at a young age to get exposed to career opportunities?

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yes, and thank you for that. So the premise and the foundation of World Youth Foundation is clearly empower all youth how to win in life against all odds. So when you hear that being our mission, we do that in cultivating that whole child's mind, body, and character. It starts with seeing them, right? Hearing them, listening to them. So the outcomes and the outputs, LaQuinton, are a child going to college, but first things first, I'm a military brat. And I'm one of those individuals, or some people would say and geek that really drives on those numbers, right? First things first, we have to see that child and their entire ecosystem, their family, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:20

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

So how we can best feed them first, literally, right? But at the same time, them and their entire family. So even though we know that output of a child going to college, a child succeeding, we need to help them to stand, let alone to first, to see what that tomorrow can look like. So World Youth Foundation with our community partners, including Grace Community, and now leaning in to see to see for it. Workforce, we literally work with our partners hand in hand to help those students to see themselves, know, and love themselves, but also others, right? And then at the same time, that's through our mentoring leadership, wraparound services that we've been doing for almost three decades, right?

SPEAKER_01 7:16

Close to the four.

SPEAKER_00 7:17

Hey, there you go. But with that said, we make sure that child realizes their possibilities beyond anything, right? And as they realize those possibilities, then we help to ignite that fire. You know how like those furnaces, our furnace has those wicks. Those wicks in our kids have to be lit. And in doing that, man, they they just start dreaming and hollering and shouting and really literally dream big, whether they see themselves, one, surviving just outside of what they know, but then at the same time getting into a space that God has already gifted them in, whether it be the arts, whether it be in healthcare, equally at the same time, whether it be behind the mic, whether it be in culinary or cosmetology, whatever it may be, we do our part to ignite them, helping them to stand, yet giving them the fuel to run to not only that academic success, right? Yes, but equally want to be a wonderful and an amazing employee. But also we teach them about being an employer as an entrepreneur. So we cultivate that whole child's mind, body, and character, yet the quintessence starts with him.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

So I know we're coming to, I won't say the end, but we're approaching the deadline for those who want to participate in the in the in the program. Could you tell me a little bit about that process? And just say that I'm a parent and I see this, and I want my child to get engaged now or later. What steps would I take to one, learn more about Worldview Foundation and kind of share with me a little bit of the things that they would do throughout the throughout the year?

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Right. And I appreciate that question of Mike. And it's it's so important that families take a moment to pause to plug in, get connected, show up. So follow Grace Community on social media, including World Youth Foundation. In following us, tag us, you'll see those opportunities that are available, whether it's be the mentoring leadership programs that are done in the community centers, or just be a part of what's going on within your network, right? But at the same time, when you follow us, you'll learn and find out about our young leaders in government, which is actually called the Sheila Jackson Lee Young Leaders in Government. You ask the question, what is that? It's ensuring our students know about public policy, civic engagement, and the value that government matters, and the government is our best and greatest partner in life and everything that we do, right? So, to the point that LaQuentin made, that we annually take students through the young leader in government to their local government, whether it be local, state, and or federal, to learn about policies in terms of amplifying their voice, why and how, and how to best plug in. So in September, we will be once again, that'll be Mika, I believe, what, maybe our 29th year, we will be in our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., taking a group of students from the ages of 15 to 24 to participate in the annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Hawkes. That is an amazing vehicle to ensure our students and community leaders know about policy, ensuring their voices are amplified in matters that matter to them in their communities. Now, mind you, that's a national conversation. Yet your local and state legislators also are there at the table. So it's in a it is a conference, a four-day conference, one of the most powerful conferences that an individual or a business to can attend. So World Youth Foundation is very grateful to be in that space, yet more so in the space of youth development, because that embodies everything, right? Absolutely. Not just ensuring that a child embraces their greatest tomorrow and best tomorrow, but ex ensuring that they have those enrichment opportunities, helping them to learn what is a lifeline and why that matters, and helping them to make the greatest and best connections than they would trust traditionally do because they don't know.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

You know, the this is my third year participating in the process. I look forward to it every year.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, myself as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

I look forward to it. And just seeing the young people be exposed to a different environment, they have a wide-eyed look. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 12:26

That's what I was just thinking.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

A wide-eyed look. But the thing that I'm most amazing about is the preparation that the organism provide. And see the you can see a little bit of fear. Oh, yeah. Then they straighten up. Come on. And you just get become proud of them. I mean, many of them I don't even met you, you just become proud of them in that moment. Yes. Because many of our youth have so much potential. They do. They just don't have the nurturing, the support. Even as parents, sometimes we try to direct our children to do what we want to do. But imagine us putting them in a space to get exposed to different things so they can blossom into doing uh the things that they they love to do. Now, in the below will be links to the World Feed Foundation, links to all of our organizations, as well as I think the deadline is the 31st of this month.

SPEAKER_00 13:21

That is correct, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

For those who want to uh participate. But also I want to make sure you put in the in the links below how to give. I cannot recommend a better organization for you to donate to. Again, this goes back to business owners, our business owners. We have to take responsibilities as business owners in District 18, in district 19, in all those districts that represents people that look like us. We got to invest in our own people. We have to invest in our youth. We got to invest in the organization. Let's get a salary from this. Most of the people are straight volunteers. We have people in our community volunteering their time with mine and your children. That's right. We should make monetary donations back to the organization that that supports us. I'll ask for one last question. Yes, sir. For now. We came back to you many times before because this is an organizational process that as long as I'm healthy for the rest of my life, I pretend I intend to be a part of. Thank you. What would you like your legacy to be as it relates to the work you've done with Royal Your Foundation as you as you mature in life? You want to say, you know what? This is truly what I want to know that I accomplish. What would that be? What is your vision for the world of disease?

SPEAKER_00 14:44

So my legacy as God humbly allows me to see 67 on Saturday in a minute. No doubt. It's clearly to extend what I have been gifted, that I continue to give myself away. So clearly God can have his way. One child, one opportunity, one purpose. And in doing that from through my legacy, that person is going to continue to fuel others. So it's really simple. It's not complicated. I intentionally, such as you, LaQuentin, sow those seeds to fuel and ignite others. Join us. It doesn't cost anything. You know, people often say, girl, what you getting? I'm getting the best and most grace because of I choose and we collectively choose to give. So it's amazing. It's so rewarding. And that has fueled me in my life, including my amazing family and the tribe that I lock in love with. So it's it's truly remarkable.

SPEAKER_01 15:53

Well, I can say, without a doubt, as people enter our lives over time, there are some we're more grateful for than others.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

That's fair.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

And particularly at this stage of my life, God is wrong into my life at a time that I can receive, that I can, you know, be completely humbled. The way I see it, what I know really doesn't matter if it's one. Is because your your wealth of experience, your grace, and the way you engage and what you're doing. Um, and that's even as as men, we we have to make sure we take the time to become the understudy of others so we can actually, you know, take things to the next level and see what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

Collect and gain all that value. Absolutely. If I may just close on this, if I may. We oftentimes are so busy being busy.

SPEAKER_01 16:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

But when we just pause, slow down, see who's in front of you, always be cautious, but never not be present. Kepsta. Always be cautious and never not be present, right? But in that, it's so simple, we have a tendency to make it complicated. I tell God and asked him to get me out of your way, sir, so you can have your way. Keep it simple, sweetie.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

And with that being said, there's nothing else being need to be said. And I'm so grateful to have spent time with you today. We come to a close, another episode of What in the Health is going on. God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

God bless. Thank you, Luke Clinton.

SPEAKER_01 17:27

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

And congratulations.