November 6, 2023 • 17 mins
Black Information Network Podcast Host Ramses Ja talks with music artist Aloe Blacc and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America CEO Mr. Artis Stevens.
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(00:00):
Since nineteen oh four, Big BrothersBig Sisters has operated under the belief that
inherent in every child is incredible potential. As the nation's largest donor and volunteer
support of mentoring network, Big BrothersBig Sisters makes meaningful monitored matches between adult
volunteers called bigs, and children calledlittles ages five through young adulthood, and
(00:20):
communities across the country. The BlackInformation Networks rams as Jaw speaks to music
artist al Loo Black and Big BrothersBig Sisters of America president artist Stevens.
They talk about their new initiative torecruit mentors Thanks Mike Today, one in
three kids in America is growing upwithout a sustained adult mentor in their lives.
In addition, over thirty thousand youngpeople are on the Big Brothers Big
(00:41):
Sisters of America's national waitlist, withthe majority being boys of color, waiting
to be matched with a mentor.This urgent need fuels the purpose of the
bbbsa's Game Changers initiatives as an opportunityfor influential leaders from diverse backgrounds to reinforce
that mentorship isn't just nice to have, it's a necessity. Current game changers
include Damon, John Afubu and today'svery special guest, Alo Black. All
(01:04):
right, mister Alo Black, welcometo the show. How are you doing
today, sir? Thank you.I'm doing great, and thank you for
having me on the show. Absolutely, And you brought a friend. You
brought the one the only artist,Stevens, who is the CEO, Big
Dog, a big, big presidentof the I had the opportunity to meet
artists at an event where I wassinging and we had a conversation. He
(01:27):
told me about the organization and howmentorship was extremely important for youth and it
inspired me and inspired me to getinvolved in the best way that I know
how, which is to use myvoice to help amplify the organization. So
I decided to write a song aboutthe concept of mentorship. I was inspired
(01:48):
by these adults would lend their time, their hearts, their experience to these
young folks who are really just lookingfor a friend, looking for a way
to navigate the world. Sure.Sure, and artists, So what was
this like getting to work with Aloand to get this new music out that
(02:12):
kind of helps bolster your mission withthe Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Yeah, well, you know.I'll tell you anyone who had the opportunity
to meet Alo, I know alot of times you see him. Of
course you hear his incredible talent inmusic. But what I always say to
people is that he's more incredible ifI can even be believed as a person
(02:34):
right in his humanitarian efforts, hissense of purpose and impact. And I
think that's why Big Brothers, BigSisters and Alo instantly connected, right,
we connected, but he connected withthis mission. And what I'll share is
that in creating this song, whatit's done for us is created a platform
to raise the awareness about our missionand the work of mentorship across this country
(02:58):
and access for kids. As youmentioned earlier, you know, we have
thousands of young people on our waitinglists. Most of those young people are
boys. Most of those boys areboys of color, and we're looking to
attract more mental color in our organization. And the power of song, the
power of engagement, the power ofthe community. It's so threaded within the
song that allows us to talk aboutthe relationships that Big Brothers Big Sisters help
(03:21):
create every day and the opportunity todo more. Sure Sure, and you
know something that's interesting about this particularpartnership and connection is you know, as
we heard in the beginning of theshow, Alo, you've famously used your
platform to highlight lots of different politicaland social issues throughout your career, so
(03:45):
I could see this partnership with BigBrothers Big Sisters of America being particularly meaningful.
Instead of just lending your celebrity tosomething, this feels like a cause
that actually moves you. And Iknow that for you artists, that moves
you. I can feel it,you know, in your voice. So
any thoughts on what I'm saying interms of, like the attractiveness of this
particular synergy, how did it hityou initially as a hip hop artist and
(04:10):
then moving into singing. I'm informedby artists who use their voice for positive
social transformation, So I consider myselfan artist, and this particular relationship with
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America stemsfrom the kind of work that I've been
doing in the realm of criminal justicereform juvenile justice reform, looking at the
(04:30):
landscape of our prison systems and wantingto transform basically the car sol state,
but recognizing that we can't just keepputting a band aid on the solution we
have to go systemic, we haveto go deep, and the real healing
balm is what Big Brothers Big Sistersof America is doing is creating mentorships,
(04:53):
relationships, creating connection to eliminate sortof the loneliness, the depression, the
back of self confidence, and buildinga whole generation and generation after generation of
youth who can grow up feeling confident, feeling like they understand themselves and they
understand their position, their place inthe world, and how to be a
(05:15):
constructive and positive citizen in the world. I think that by me, getting
engaged with a song is the firstand easy step right in working with different
organizations. Quite often I'm asked tosing out an event or post a social
media asset. But those things areephemeral, they mean a lot, and
(05:38):
they are very symbolic. But asong is a legacy and lasts forever.
And with that attachment, this songwill always continue to speak about mentorship and
Big Brothers Big Sisters and continue tohighlight the work that they do and call
in folks to be part of themission and artists. You know, we
heard Alo kind of touch on ita little bit, but I'd like to
(06:00):
ask you to of course, atthe helm of Big Brothers and Big Sisters,
what are some of the outcomes thatthe organization is hoping to see,
Like something that's along the lines ofa mission statement for the Big Brothers Big
Sisters of America. One of thethings that we always talk about and as
part of this initiative that Alo ishoping to lead with a group of other
ambassadors called game Changers. Right.So the whole idea of Game Changers is
(06:26):
to create this kind of generational changingtype of opportunity young people's lives. I
think many of us remember growing upin our communities where that whole concept of
you can see it, you canbe it, right, and that resonates
in terms of our story and whatwe see and impacting with kids. By
the way, you know, I'mthe first black CEO of this organization one
hundred and nineteen years and one ofthe things that I credit to that is
(06:47):
that in my community, I sawmen, I saw people that looked like
me, right, who had thesame background experiences of me that showed me
that I could be in a rolelike this. Right. I wasn't thinking
about this role that moment, butI saw those types of experiences in connection,
and that's what we want for morekids. Right. So here's what
it means for us. It meansmore. It means more mentors coming into
(07:10):
this organization. Right, So wewant to be able to double the triple
the number of mentors that come intothis organization to grow the size and scale.
As you said up on top,one in three kids don't have positive
sustained mentors. We want to openup doors and open up access for millions
of more kids, right, fifteento sixteen million kids in this country to
have access points and opportunities and exposure. Our fastest growing population that we're serving
(07:33):
today. We traditionally serve five toeighteen young adults. Our fastest growing population
is eighteen to twenty five young adults. And a lot of people don't realize
that. And the reason why foryour listeners is because kids are graduating high
school or getting close and they're askingwhat's next? How do I even throw
out the faster form? How doI be for a job. So what
(07:55):
we want to do is ensure thatthere's more career mentoring and workplace mentoring so
that we can help you young peopleget into skills, into jobs. And
I made some for some that madethe education in college. For others,
it may be direct to job,entrepreneurship, other opportunities. But if they
don't get access, if they don'tunderstand the pipeline, the exposure, the
way to get there, then it'shard to be able to support the kids
(08:16):
don't know what's out there and what'savailable. And then the last thing I'll
say to your question is we havean epidemic in our country around mental health
right and social isolation and young peoplefeeling like they don't belong and they don't
feel connected in their sense of themselves. So one of the things that we're
trying to do is to train volunteers, positive adults, and staff and what
we call mental health first A.What that essentially is you don't have to
(08:39):
be a mental health expert, butit's the idea of more people understanding how
to identify and support young people intheir lives when there are mental health challenges
or mental health things that they gothrough, and then be able to connect
with them in positive and constructive waysso that we're supporting those types of relationships
and that young people are navigating lifemuch more successfully. Right. It doesn't
(09:01):
take a lot. That's the bottomline, It just takes a little to
truly make the type of impact,but it takes people being present, showing
up and giving their time. Solet's talk a bit more about your role
alo as a game changer. Gamechanger is all about sharing stories, you
know, for me, sharing thestories about how mentorship helped me as artists
mentioned, you know, young adultsfrom eighteen to twenty five or the largest
(09:24):
growing demographic looking for mentorship. Andthat's when I was able to have a
really great mentorship relationship with some folkswho offered me an opportunity for an internship,
showed me what corporate America looked like, made me understand that I was
capable and I was deserving. Thatwas really important, and it's our job
as well, as you know,as a game changer to make connections to
(09:46):
open doors. I have a hugenetwork of different folks who could potentially be
mentors, but not only that,folks who can help to amplify the message,
and all the folks who can donateto the cause, to Big Brothers
and Big Sisters America so that theycan continue to do the amazing work that
they're doing. And just to createexperiences. You know, I have concerts
(10:07):
and events and opportunities for young folkswho are potential mentees to get involved and
have once in a lifetime experiences.So this is the way that I will
engage. All right, So let'stalk about your new song, never Let
You Down, as that's what youwere teasing at the top of the show.
What went into the lyrics. Ihad a chance to hear it sounds.
(10:30):
It's a new sound for me.I know you've kind of been on
this for a while, but youknow kind of the reggae sound to it.
I was like, okay, Isee it. So talk about kind
of the thought process that went intowriting this song, if it comes from
lived experience, or if this issomething that you're envisioning, or you know,
just talk tout for sure. NeverLet You Down is a song about
the relationship between someone who is helpinganother person find their way and just feel
(10:56):
comfortable in their own skin, andit was inspired by the organization's meaningful work
of pairing a big with a littleadult mentor with a youth mentee who is
really just looking for connection. WhenI write the lyric and the chorus,
when it's your time to shine,I'll Never let You Down. Your struggle
(11:18):
is mine. I'll never let youdown. These are the kind of things
that make somebody feel like they're seen, and I feel like the song helps
represent that unique relationship. Artists.I want to talk to you about because
you mentioned something that we talk aboutquite a bit on the show, which
is mental health. I want youto talk to us about maybe some of
the stories that you may have comeacross, may have heard or witnessed yourself
(11:43):
firsthand, where mental health support andadvocacy may have made a difference in the
in the life of a young person. So we have a program called Bigs
and Littles of the Year where wecelebrate and honor every year the national ward
to who's our Big of the Year, who's a positive adult, and then
(12:05):
our Love of the Year, theyoung person who they're match with and and
one of the levels, his nameis Jalen Uh and he's at our Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.And I always think about Jalen because Jalen
is one of these kids who willsay hey, when I first got into
the program, I was very shy, insular, right. That gave him
(12:28):
challenges in terms of his own mentalhealth, UH and finding his own strength.
But it's when he had the opportunityto meet his big that he started
to come out and feel, Okay, I have much more anchor and who
I am and what I'm about andmy belief in myself and a lot of
it again, wasn't so much aboutyou know, this this thing of an
(12:52):
adult having to be a therapist.It wasn't about that at all. It
wasn't having that level of expertise.But it's just being a friend and being
connected and being present in their life. And alo use the word that think
is just so powerful because we useit all the time. Right village,
Right, it's grown and expanding thisvillage. So one of the things that's
part of game changes in this campaignit takes a Little to be Big,
(13:15):
is the idea about how do wetell this story, engage people in their
own personal stories, right, aboutcreating the village around young people, right,
and young people contributing to that village. So one thing that we're doing
is this concept called a Million LittleMoments right where people can go to our
website at Bebig now dot org andthey can share their own story, right,
(13:37):
they can share their own connection ofmentorship. Right. So we want
to collect these types of stories,and we want to be able to tell
them much more broadly, to elevatethat so that we get more people to
join in this mission and to joinin mentoring. And then the other thing
that I'll just say is when wetalk about creating villages, we've got to
create the type of community and thetype of services that allow for these types
(13:58):
of programs to read more kids inthe community, particularly kids who don't always
have access to it and sometimes arein communities that always don't get connections.
So one of the things that we'redoing is creating programs that go into communities
across this country that you may notalways see the deepening level of these types
of resources, places like New Orleans, places like in some of our rural
(14:20):
communities as well. What we setas an organization, and what I've made
is a mandate from my leadership inthis organization, we are going to show
up in the places that no oneelse shows up, because that's what our
mentorship and our mission has always beenabout for one hundred and nineteen years.
That's why we were founded to bean organization that go to where kids need
us, not ask kids to comewhere we are, so our organization is
(14:41):
going to go forward, but wecan only do that by having volunteers and
by having people who invest in ourmission and say, hey, we're going
to be on along with you tohelp expand services to these types of communities,
to these types of identities across ourcountry, and to make it much
more connected and powerful for us tomake poss the change. Well said listen,
I need for you to let peopleknow where they can get more information
(15:07):
if they can donate, like socialmedia. I need you to lay all
that out. I'll I'll come toyou in a second, but first,
artists, I need you to Thatwas powerful, so please yeah, how
did we do so? So?I mentioned the website url b big now
dot org. Again, that's bbignoow dot org. You can go to
that website and here's what you cando. You can just put in your
(15:28):
zip code. If you put inyour zip code, it will take you
directly to the local Big Brothers BigSisters that's nearest you that you can sign
up to volunteer to support, todo anything for some people. Maybe you
may want to donate right, Youmay want to give and invest in the
power of our mentorship and the powerof our mentoring, so you can feel
free to give a gift and it'sgoing to help support more matches, more
(15:48):
people in a ground. But alsowhat Alo talked about, not just one
to one, but we're doing alltypes of mentoring, group mentoring, career
mentoring, technology mentoring. But thatreally builds community and builds a village around
young people. And then the lastthing I'll say is that if you're listening
and you want to connect with meon LinkedIn, you can find me on
LinkedIn. I always love staying connected, and you can learn more about our
story and you can also get contentthat you can create and be an ambassador
(16:12):
on your social media channels. Becausewe got twenty million alumni out there,
we need more of our alumni,people who've been in this program to raise
their hand and say I want totell my story as well. So we'd
love to have them to come backhome and join us. Fantastic, Okay,
Alan, I need you to yes. The website is www dot ilo
black dot com. Black is withtwo c's, and from there you basically
(16:34):
define everything. And then one moretime, let's plug the song. Where
can people go to get it,to buy it, to hear it?
To see it, etc. Absolutely. The name of the song is never
Let You Down. It's available onall streaming platforms and really really important to
check it out on YouTube because youget to see the inspiration for the song,
(16:56):
which is the relationships between the actualbigs and middles who are working with
and affiliated with the BBBSAY fantastic.Well, I'd like to thank you both
very much for your time today.Hopefully I didn't use too much of it.
You are both inspirational black men andthat's something that we appreciate and celebrate
around here. Once again, today'sguest Grammy Award nominie singer songwriter Alba Black
(17:18):
as well as artist Steven CEO BigBrothers, Big Sisters of America. Mike,
thanks for Ramses
Since nineteen oh four, Big BrothersBig Sisters has operated under the belief that
inherent in every child is incredible potential. As the nation's largest donor and volunteer
support of mentoring network, Big BrothersBig Sisters makes meaningful monitored matches between adult
volunteers called bigs, and children calledlittles ages five through young adulthood, and
(00:20):
communities across the country. The BlackInformation Networks rams as Jaw speaks to music
artist al Loo Black and Big BrothersBig Sisters of America president artist Stevens.
They talk about their new initiative torecruit mentors Thanks Mike Today, one in
three kids in America is growing upwithout a sustained adult mentor in their lives.
In addition, over thirty thousand youngpeople are on the Big Brothers Big
(00:41):
Sisters of America's national waitlist, withthe majority being boys of color, waiting
to be matched with a mentor.This urgent need fuels the purpose of the
bbbsa's Game Changers initiatives as an opportunityfor influential leaders from diverse backgrounds to reinforce
that mentorship isn't just nice to have, it's a necessity. Current game changers
include Damon, John Afubu and today'svery special guest, Alo Black. All
(01:04):
right, mister Alo Black, welcometo the show. How are you doing
today, sir? Thank you.I'm doing great, and thank you for
having me on the show. Absolutely, And you brought a friend. You
brought the one the only artist,Stevens, who is the CEO, Big
Dog, a big, big presidentof the I had the opportunity to meet
artists at an event where I wassinging and we had a conversation. He
(01:27):
told me about the organization and howmentorship was extremely important for youth and it
inspired me and inspired me to getinvolved in the best way that I know
how, which is to use myvoice to help amplify the organization. So
I decided to write a song aboutthe concept of mentorship. I was inspired
(01:48):
by these adults would lend their time, their hearts, their experience to these
young folks who are really just lookingfor a friend, looking for a way
to navigate the world. Sure.Sure, and artists, So what was
this like getting to work with Aloand to get this new music out that
(02:12):
kind of helps bolster your mission withthe Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.
Yeah, well, you know.I'll tell you anyone who had the opportunity
to meet Alo, I know alot of times you see him. Of
course you hear his incredible talent inmusic. But what I always say to
people is that he's more incredible ifI can even be believed as a person
(02:34):
right in his humanitarian efforts, hissense of purpose and impact. And I
think that's why Big Brothers, BigSisters and Alo instantly connected, right,
we connected, but he connected withthis mission. And what I'll share is
that in creating this song, whatit's done for us is created a platform
to raise the awareness about our missionand the work of mentorship across this country
(02:58):
and access for kids. As youmentioned earlier, you know, we have
thousands of young people on our waitinglists. Most of those young people are
boys. Most of those boys areboys of color, and we're looking to
attract more mental color in our organization. And the power of song, the
power of engagement, the power ofthe community. It's so threaded within the
song that allows us to talk aboutthe relationships that Big Brothers Big Sisters help
(03:21):
create every day and the opportunity todo more. Sure Sure, and you
know something that's interesting about this particularpartnership and connection is you know, as
we heard in the beginning of theshow, Alo, you've famously used your
platform to highlight lots of different politicaland social issues throughout your career, so
(03:45):
I could see this partnership with BigBrothers Big Sisters of America being particularly meaningful.
Instead of just lending your celebrity tosomething, this feels like a cause
that actually moves you. And Iknow that for you artists, that moves
you. I can feel it,you know, in your voice. So
any thoughts on what I'm saying interms of, like the attractiveness of this
particular synergy, how did it hityou initially as a hip hop artist and
(04:10):
then moving into singing. I'm informedby artists who use their voice for positive
social transformation, So I consider myselfan artist, and this particular relationship with
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America stemsfrom the kind of work that I've been
doing in the realm of criminal justicereform juvenile justice reform, looking at the
(04:30):
landscape of our prison systems and wantingto transform basically the car sol state,
but recognizing that we can't just keepputting a band aid on the solution we
have to go systemic, we haveto go deep, and the real healing
balm is what Big Brothers Big Sistersof America is doing is creating mentorships,
(04:53):
relationships, creating connection to eliminate sortof the loneliness, the depression, the
back of self confidence, and buildinga whole generation and generation after generation of
youth who can grow up feeling confident, feeling like they understand themselves and they
understand their position, their place inthe world, and how to be a
(05:15):
constructive and positive citizen in the world. I think that by me, getting
engaged with a song is the firstand easy step right in working with different
organizations. Quite often I'm asked tosing out an event or post a social
media asset. But those things areephemeral, they mean a lot, and
(05:38):
they are very symbolic. But asong is a legacy and lasts forever.
And with that attachment, this songwill always continue to speak about mentorship and
Big Brothers Big Sisters and continue tohighlight the work that they do and call
in folks to be part of themission and artists. You know, we
heard Alo kind of touch on ita little bit, but I'd like to
(06:00):
ask you to of course, atthe helm of Big Brothers and Big Sisters,
what are some of the outcomes thatthe organization is hoping to see,
Like something that's along the lines ofa mission statement for the Big Brothers Big
Sisters of America. One of thethings that we always talk about and as
part of this initiative that Alo ishoping to lead with a group of other
ambassadors called game Changers. Right.So the whole idea of Game Changers is
(06:26):
to create this kind of generational changingtype of opportunity young people's lives. I
think many of us remember growing upin our communities where that whole concept of
you can see it, you canbe it, right, and that resonates
in terms of our story and whatwe see and impacting with kids. By
the way, you know, I'mthe first black CEO of this organization one
hundred and nineteen years and one ofthe things that I credit to that is
(06:47):
that in my community, I sawmen, I saw people that looked like
me, right, who had thesame background experiences of me that showed me
that I could be in a rolelike this. Right. I wasn't thinking
about this role that moment, butI saw those types of experiences in connection,
and that's what we want for morekids. Right. So here's what
it means for us. It meansmore. It means more mentors coming into
(07:10):
this organization. Right, So wewant to be able to double the triple
the number of mentors that come intothis organization to grow the size and scale.
As you said up on top,one in three kids don't have positive
sustained mentors. We want to openup doors and open up access for millions
of more kids, right, fifteento sixteen million kids in this country to
have access points and opportunities and exposure. Our fastest growing population that we're serving
(07:33):
today. We traditionally serve five toeighteen young adults. Our fastest growing population
is eighteen to twenty five young adults. And a lot of people don't realize
that. And the reason why foryour listeners is because kids are graduating high
school or getting close and they're askingwhat's next? How do I even throw
out the faster form? How doI be for a job. So what
(07:55):
we want to do is ensure thatthere's more career mentoring and workplace mentoring so
that we can help you young peopleget into skills, into jobs. And
I made some for some that madethe education in college. For others,
it may be direct to job,entrepreneurship, other opportunities. But if they
don't get access, if they don'tunderstand the pipeline, the exposure, the
way to get there, then it'shard to be able to support the kids
(08:16):
don't know what's out there and what'savailable. And then the last thing I'll
say to your question is we havean epidemic in our country around mental health
right and social isolation and young peoplefeeling like they don't belong and they don't
feel connected in their sense of themselves. So one of the things that we're
trying to do is to train volunteers, positive adults, and staff and what
we call mental health first A.What that essentially is you don't have to
(08:39):
be a mental health expert, butit's the idea of more people understanding how
to identify and support young people intheir lives when there are mental health challenges
or mental health things that they gothrough, and then be able to connect
with them in positive and constructive waysso that we're supporting those types of relationships
and that young people are navigating lifemuch more successfully. Right. It doesn't
(09:01):
take a lot. That's the bottomline, It just takes a little to
truly make the type of impact,but it takes people being present, showing
up and giving their time. Solet's talk a bit more about your role
alo as a game changer. Gamechanger is all about sharing stories, you
know, for me, sharing thestories about how mentorship helped me as artists
mentioned, you know, young adultsfrom eighteen to twenty five or the largest
(09:24):
growing demographic looking for mentorship. Andthat's when I was able to have a
really great mentorship relationship with some folkswho offered me an opportunity for an internship,
showed me what corporate America looked like, made me understand that I was
capable and I was deserving. Thatwas really important, and it's our job
as well, as you know,as a game changer to make connections to
(09:46):
open doors. I have a hugenetwork of different folks who could potentially be
mentors, but not only that,folks who can help to amplify the message,
and all the folks who can donateto the cause, to Big Brothers
and Big Sisters America so that theycan continue to do the amazing work that
they're doing. And just to createexperiences. You know, I have concerts
(10:07):
and events and opportunities for young folkswho are potential mentees to get involved and
have once in a lifetime experiences.So this is the way that I will
engage. All right, So let'stalk about your new song, never Let
You Down, as that's what youwere teasing at the top of the show.
What went into the lyrics. Ihad a chance to hear it sounds.
(10:30):
It's a new sound for me.I know you've kind of been on
this for a while, but youknow kind of the reggae sound to it.
I was like, okay, Isee it. So talk about kind
of the thought process that went intowriting this song, if it comes from
lived experience, or if this issomething that you're envisioning, or you know,
just talk tout for sure. NeverLet You Down is a song about
the relationship between someone who is helpinganother person find their way and just feel
(10:56):
comfortable in their own skin, andit was inspired by the organization's meaningful work
of pairing a big with a littleadult mentor with a youth mentee who is
really just looking for connection. WhenI write the lyric and the chorus,
when it's your time to shine,I'll Never let You Down. Your struggle
(11:18):
is mine. I'll never let youdown. These are the kind of things
that make somebody feel like they're seen, and I feel like the song helps
represent that unique relationship. Artists.I want to talk to you about because
you mentioned something that we talk aboutquite a bit on the show, which
is mental health. I want youto talk to us about maybe some of
the stories that you may have comeacross, may have heard or witnessed yourself
(11:43):
firsthand, where mental health support andadvocacy may have made a difference in the
in the life of a young person. So we have a program called Bigs
and Littles of the Year where wecelebrate and honor every year the national ward
to who's our Big of the Year, who's a positive adult, and then
(12:05):
our Love of the Year, theyoung person who they're match with and and
one of the levels, his nameis Jalen Uh and he's at our Big
Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles.And I always think about Jalen because Jalen
is one of these kids who willsay hey, when I first got into
the program, I was very shy, insular, right. That gave him
(12:28):
challenges in terms of his own mentalhealth, UH and finding his own strength.
But it's when he had the opportunityto meet his big that he started
to come out and feel, Okay, I have much more anchor and who
I am and what I'm about andmy belief in myself and a lot of
it again, wasn't so much aboutyou know, this this thing of an
(12:52):
adult having to be a therapist.It wasn't about that at all. It
wasn't having that level of expertise.But it's just being a friend and being
connected and being present in their life. And alo use the word that think
is just so powerful because we useit all the time. Right village,
Right, it's grown and expanding thisvillage. So one of the things that's
part of game changes in this campaignit takes a Little to be Big,
(13:15):
is the idea about how do wetell this story, engage people in their
own personal stories, right, aboutcreating the village around young people, right,
and young people contributing to that village. So one thing that we're doing
is this concept called a Million LittleMoments right where people can go to our
website at Bebig now dot org andthey can share their own story, right,
(13:37):
they can share their own connection ofmentorship. Right. So we want
to collect these types of stories,and we want to be able to tell
them much more broadly, to elevatethat so that we get more people to
join in this mission and to joinin mentoring. And then the other thing
that I'll just say is when wetalk about creating villages, we've got to
create the type of community and thetype of services that allow for these types
(13:58):
of programs to read more kids inthe community, particularly kids who don't always
have access to it and sometimes arein communities that always don't get connections.
So one of the things that we'redoing is creating programs that go into communities
across this country that you may notalways see the deepening level of these types
of resources, places like New Orleans, places like in some of our rural
(14:20):
communities as well. What we setas an organization, and what I've made
is a mandate from my leadership inthis organization, we are going to show
up in the places that no oneelse shows up, because that's what our
mentorship and our mission has always beenabout for one hundred and nineteen years.
That's why we were founded to bean organization that go to where kids need
us, not ask kids to comewhere we are, so our organization is
(14:41):
going to go forward, but wecan only do that by having volunteers and
by having people who invest in ourmission and say, hey, we're going
to be on along with you tohelp expand services to these types of communities,
to these types of identities across ourcountry, and to make it much
more connected and powerful for us tomake poss the change. Well said listen,
I need for you to let peopleknow where they can get more information
(15:07):
if they can donate, like socialmedia. I need you to lay all
that out. I'll I'll come toyou in a second, but first,
artists, I need you to Thatwas powerful, so please yeah, how
did we do so? So?I mentioned the website url b big now
dot org. Again, that's bbignoow dot org. You can go to
that website and here's what you cando. You can just put in your
(15:28):
zip code. If you put inyour zip code, it will take you
directly to the local Big Brothers BigSisters that's nearest you that you can sign
up to volunteer to support, todo anything for some people. Maybe you
may want to donate right, Youmay want to give and invest in the
power of our mentorship and the powerof our mentoring, so you can feel
free to give a gift and it'sgoing to help support more matches, more
(15:48):
people in a ground. But alsowhat Alo talked about, not just one
to one, but we're doing alltypes of mentoring, group mentoring, career
mentoring, technology mentoring. But thatreally builds community and builds a village around
young people. And then the lastthing I'll say is that if you're listening
and you want to connect with meon LinkedIn, you can find me on
LinkedIn. I always love staying connected, and you can learn more about our
story and you can also get contentthat you can create and be an ambassador
(16:12):
on your social media channels. Becausewe got twenty million alumni out there,
we need more of our alumni,people who've been in this program to raise
their hand and say I want totell my story as well. So we'd
love to have them to come backhome and join us. Fantastic, Okay,
Alan, I need you to yes. The website is www dot ilo
black dot com. Black is withtwo c's, and from there you basically
(16:34):
define everything. And then one moretime, let's plug the song. Where
can people go to get it,to buy it, to hear it?
To see it, etc. Absolutely. The name of the song is never
Let You Down. It's available onall streaming platforms and really really important to
check it out on YouTube because youget to see the inspiration for the song,
(16:56):
which is the relationships between the actualbigs and middles who are working with
and affiliated with the BBBSAY fantastic.Well, I'd like to thank you both
very much for your time today.Hopefully I didn't use too much of it.
You are both inspirational black men andthat's something that we appreciate and celebrate
around here. Once again, today'sguest Grammy Award nominie singer songwriter Alba Black
(17:18):
as well as artist Steven CEO BigBrothers, Big Sisters of America. Mike,
thanks for Ramses
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