November 22, 2023 • 30 mins
One of the real pleasures of this job is helping people doing good tell their stories. Today I have two inspiring stories to share. I met Rashawn Alexander aka Uncle Wood first behind the walls of Graterford Prison. His story is the journey of an incarcerated 16-year-old and the man he’s grown into with the help of mentors he met along the way. Uncle Wood is out after 20 years and he’s doing good – mentoring and speaking to young people and starting a nonprofit.
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodgraon/
We begin with the re-airing of an interview I did last year. Reducing violence in the city can seem like an impossible job but there are people doing great work. I'll be telling you about a program called YEAH Philly co-founded by Executive Director Kendra Van de Water. This is a Black-Led, Community-Based Nonprofit that works with teens and young adults in West and Southwest Philadelphia ages 15 to 24 who have been impacted by violence.
https://yeahphilly.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodgraon/
We begin with the re-airing of an interview I did last year. Reducing violence in the city can seem like an impossible job but there are people doing great work. I'll be telling you about a program called YEAH Philly co-founded by Executive Director Kendra Van de Water. This is a Black-Led, Community-Based Nonprofit that works with teens and young adults in West and Southwest Philadelphia ages 15 to 24 who have been impacted by violence.
https://yeahphilly.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballatmorrow. One of thereal pleasures of this job is helping people
doing good tell their stories. TodayI have two very inspiring stories to share.
I met Rashaun Alexander aka Uncle Woodfirst behind the walls of Greaterford Prison.
(00:20):
His story is the journey of anincarcerated sixteen year old and the man
he's grown into with the help ofmentors he met along the way. Uncle
Wood is out mentoring and speaking toyoung people and starting a nonprofit. But
first we begin with re airing aninterview I did last year with another very
inspiring individual. I get to meeta lot of community heroes, touching people's
(00:43):
lives in significant ways. So whenI met Kendra Van der Water, an
executive director of Yeah Philly, ata recent town hall on violence prevention sponsored
by Girl Scout of Eastern PA,I knew I had to do this interview
so you could meet her too andhear about the great work of her organization.
You, along with James a,co founded YEAH Philly Youth Empowerment for
Advancement Hangout. Great great name,black led community based nonprofit that works with
(01:08):
teens and young adults in West andSouthwest Philadelphia that have been impacted by violence.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday and it's great to see you
again. And what I found reallyimpressive was just you really meet young people
where they are. Give us alittle bit of the origin story of Yeah
Philly. Yeah. So, intwenty eighteen, I actually used to work
(01:30):
for the city. I worked atthe Police Advisory Commission. James used to
work at CHOPS violence Intervention program,and we were at a meeting where people
were talking about the youth violence happeningand increasing in West and southwest Philly.
So what started out as you know, volunteering after work turned into Yeah Philly.
(01:52):
So we started serving young people inwest and Southwest. We created about
a ninety question survey along but wewalked around neighborhoods in west and southwest corners,
basketball courts, and surveyed almost threehundred young people and there were questions
just about, you know, whatdo they like to do, what do
(02:12):
they do after school, who's theirbiggest support, do they feel that they're
cared about in the community. Andfrom the results of those surveys, we
got permits and rec centers and allof twenty nineteen we started running groups for
young people. We started out agesthirteen and nineteen, and these were conversations
about things happening in our neighborhoods,things happening at school and homes, and
(02:35):
we would have dinner. So itturned into groups that were almost forty young
people trying to come to group.And so we grew really quickly in terms
of the groups, and we startedtrying to form the organization because that's what
the young people wanted. When youwere going from door to door and from
place to place talking with young people, what were some of the things that
(02:57):
they would tell you, because Ithink a lot of times we start these
programs for kids, but we forgetto ask them what they care about and
what they think about. What aresome of the things that you discovered through
your conversations exactly. So they toldus a lot about how the only thing
they really did was play basketball.They didn't really come to the rec centers
(03:17):
unless it was to play basketball.If I remember correctly, it was like
eighty six percent of young people werenot involved in any type of formal program.
About half of them believed that theydid have some type of mentor,
but over sixty five percent felt thatadults did not care about them. So
(03:38):
these were the things that we took, and they wanted to learn more about
different things, but the biggest thingwas that they felt that people don't listen
to them and they wanted more support. So as you collected all this information
and you've got a sense, ageneral sense of what was missing in the
lives of these young people that youserve, what were some of the first
steps that you took in order tostart to meet them where they are.
(04:02):
So one always food. People alwayswant food, So whether it's pizza or
chicken or sandwiches, you know,that is a way to get people,
anybody, any age to come.And you know it was it was informal.
You know, we would show upin jeans and hoodies and just talk
(04:23):
about things. But we asked themwhen we started running groups, we took
what they wanted to learn and knowabout, and then we formed the groups
based on what they told us.So it was a lot of it was
based on things that recently happened inthe neighborhood because a lot of them also
expressed being afraid to be outside orwatching a lot of their friends being killed,
(04:44):
and so they needed a space totalk about that because they weren't addressing
it in school or at home.It also goes a little bit beyond that.
I mean you talk about bringing kidsfood, but also just really addressing
things that people may I think arethat important, but really are important to
them. What are some examples ofthat. Just having a space where young
(05:06):
people can be themselves. So alot of times, I remember when we
started, the rec centers had rulesto where you couldn't wear your hood up,
you had to pull your pants up, you couldn't sit on a table,
you couldn't you know, put yourfeet up on a chair. So
creating a space where young people didn'tfeel like they were policed all the time,
(05:28):
even though it wasn't the police,by adults always telling them what to
do. No cursing, right,you can't curse, even though a lot
of times young people need to expressthemselves and sometimes that's worth a curse word.
You know, I expressed myself withcurse words as well. Sometimes,
So having a space that really waslike a family environment to say, you
know, if something is inappropriate,we're going to correct you. But also
(05:53):
you should feel free to feel safe, and you should feel like you should
be able to talk about the thingsyou want to without being toned per or
without being policed around your language orhow you look. So given the fact
that you are talking to kids aboutthe things that they themselves are interested in
talking about, creating this safe environmentfor them to be in providing food,
(06:15):
which of course is always a plus. What are some of the things that
you have observed that had what hasoccurred as a result of providing this safe
space for these young people at atime when it doesn't feel very safe to
be a young person in the community. What are some things that you have
observed that have been as a resultof providing this place for them. So
(06:43):
definitely some outcomes would be even ifa young person, say they go off
to college or you know, theygo to job coort, they always come
back. So we've been working withsome of the same most of the same
young people since we started. Butwhen we knew them, or we increase
our age range when they were fourteenyears old and now they're sixteen, seventeen,
(07:06):
and eighteen. So we're sticking withthem, they're sticking with us,
and they always come back. Andthen another thing is that when they feel
safe, they feel safe enough tobring their friends, They want to bring
their cousins, they want to bringpeople that they know from school and say,
oh, you know, this placeis cool. I want to bring
other people. So I think thatis the biggest thing. A lot of
(07:29):
times organizations will call us and say, we can't get young people to come
here. We've got this program,but we really don't have the people.
I think from the beginning, we'vehad the people based on the consistency and
the relationship, and so they keepcoming. They come back, and then
they learn how to ask for helpto a lot of times in the beginning,
their pride and they're feeling like they'realone, they don't ask for help
(07:53):
for things. So now they're empoweredto ask for things. But also they
bring their friends and say, youknow, I'm bringing this person and they
need help with this, and sowe're able to help address their needs and
other people's needs to So what doyou see moving forward is the direction that
you'd like to see the organization moveinto, Because what it sounds like you've
(08:15):
been able to do is create thissort of intimacy with these young people that
you connect with, and so youknow, how do you scale that up
in a way that you can servemore young people. So that's what we're
working on now. We definitely sincewe're geographical, and we believe that,
you know, programs should be geographical, just based on how big Philly is,
(08:37):
how different the neighborhoods are. Weare trying to scale now, so
we would like, yeah, Phillyin all of the different neighborhoods over the
city, but we also beyond that, see this as a model of reducing
harm and empowering young people to getthe lives that they deserve in all of
the other places in other states,in other cities. And so we are
(08:58):
actually getting our main folcus of ourprogram now has been core involved young people
and with violent charges against them,and we're getting that evaluated now, and
that is a big step towards scalingand making sure that once we scale,
we still have that same quality programbecause a lot of it, the approach
(09:18):
is so individualized. We don't wantto scale too fast and then young people
lose that connection that we have workedreally hard to build. But also they
get just a one on one typeof support that if we move too fast,
they'll lose that so that's where wewant it everywhere, and that's how
it should be. Yeah, yeah, I love that gender. What are
(09:39):
people What do you want to tellpeople about the young people that you serve
as as a member of the media, What I also see observe a lot
is that there's not a lot ofpositive portrayal of young people these days,
particularly young people of color. Andalso there's a lot of stereotypes and preconceptions
(10:05):
that we have. What is itthat you want people to know about the
kids that you work with? Areally big thing is that I think society
and our city creates a narrative aboutthe certain type of young person that we
work with, right that they're notdeserving of a service or deserving of a
(10:26):
program. So for us, it'sreally reframing that narrative to help people understand
why people do things want But really, we cannot be scared of the kids
that live near us, right Like, they really just need love. They
need love, and a lot ofus as adults, you know, we
will were deterred from you know,talking to young people who may walk down
(10:50):
the street in a ski mask becausewe're afraid. And so I think if
more adults just talk to more youngpeople, regardless of what they look like,
they will start to see that there'sjust so many layers. And at
the end of it is that allof these young people really just need love
and a different type of environment andsupport. And so that's what we need
to be doing. We need tobe loving on other young people. I
(11:13):
love that If people want more informationabout this organization, if they want to
connect the young people in their liveswith this organization in West and Southwest,
or if they'd like to make adonation to a very worthy cause, how
do they do that? You cango to our website. It's www dot
y Philly dot org, Yeah Phillydot org and definitely follow us on Instagram
(11:37):
and socials at eyf Philly. Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us
today. Vanderwater, Executive director ofYeah Philly Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout,
a black led community based nonprofit workingwith teens and young adults in West and
Southwest fifteen to twenty four who've beenimpacted by violence. Thank you so much.
(11:58):
Thank you. One of my favoritesayings is that every saint has a
past, every center has a future, and right now I have a living
example of that in the studio withme Rashaun Alexander, otherwise known as Uncle
Wood. He is someone who Ioriginally met behind the walls. Was it
(12:20):
Greaterford Greaterford Prison? Yeah, GreaterfordPrison and doing a lot of work back
there, and I've met a lotof amazing individuals. Well, Uncle Wood
is out and he's doing some goodthings out in the community. Thank you
so much for joining us here today, and let's talk about your story.
(12:41):
So tell us more about who youare. How long have you been out?
Might have been out roughly about eighteenmonths now, okay, so you
are a returning citizen. What isHow has that transition been for you?
How long were you behind the walls? I was behind the walls for twenty
years? Wow? Twenty years?Yes, a lot happy over the course
(13:01):
of two decades. Yes, Sowhen you when you came out, I
don't even begin and TikTok didn't exist, and a lot of things that we
take for granted right now weren't aroundwhen you first went in. So what
was that transition like coming out?It was difficult. It was difficult,
and it still is difficult right now. But I'm learning every day. I'm
(13:22):
getting better day by day. Butit was definitely difficult. But I got
some good people in my corner thatyou know that's helping me get better every
day by Well, you've had alot of very positive role models inside the
walls. Yes, yes, Ihad. You know, a guy named
Magic. Everybody called him black saying, but I call him Uncle Magic for
(13:45):
the Fact Program. He actually showedme a lot of things. You know.
I had other influences, like guyslike Winston, and I got a
guy in there, ain't there andI call him my brother. It's Rico,
So you know, yes, guyslike Magic. They really took me
under they wing Man and really,you know, let me know that I
came in as a young knucklehead,but I left with a mature man.
(14:09):
Yeah. Magic, just for thosewho don't know, and Magic, we've
talked about him a lot over theseyears. Magic is a lifer who is
part of a coalition of lifers andother individuals who are behind the walls who
have done some really great things inthe community, including the Fathers and Children
Together program otherwise known as Fact.And were you part of the Fact Program?
(14:33):
No, I wasn't part of theFact Program, but I used to
always just go down there because Ididn't have no at that time. You
know, I don't have no kids. But I used to just give my
input about a lot of things withme and Magic, and you know,
he just was giving me the input, like listening. If you ever be
blessed to get on the other sideof the wall, everything that I poured
into you, I want you topour into the youth. And I give
(14:54):
him my word. And I madea promise to that and I'm living up
to it. How are you fulfillingthat promise right now? I understand that
you have started an organization. Tellus about it. I'm in the process
of finishing up the organization. It'scalled a bass stand for a brother about
something serious. I actually is finishingup working on my podcast, which is
(15:15):
called The Wood Report. And Igo around to different schools and I go
to different programs and I speak toat rich kids because I was done before,
you know what I mean, andyou know me going in jailing sixteen
years old. I can identify whatthey're going through at this moment right now,
and I can identify the paid pressure, and I can identify everything that
(15:37):
they're going through right now. SoI pull on everything that I got in
me. You know, it justseems so crazy that a sixteen year old
gets twenty years in prison. Andright now, there's probably a lot of
folks have heard about the court casein which a lot of U juvenile lifers
in particular were allowed to to leave. Because we've learned a lot about the
(16:03):
human brain and about how young folksreally we need to look at them differently
when it comes to deciding how toaddress address them when they come on the
other side of law enforcement. Sowhat are some of the things that you
learned. You said you came inat sixteen. You know, there's reasons
(16:26):
why you got in. Talk aboutthat and what is it that you learned,
and how did you learn the thingsthat you've learned by having good people
around me in my corner, andI've dealt with a lot of older guys
in there that have been in jaila long at that time then I've been
alive. So you know, theytook me under the wing and they see
that I was going down this wrongpath because I still come in at sixteen,
(16:48):
so I don't really know no better. And they moved me and they
matured me, and I just toldthem and I did everything in my power.
I told them I will do everythingin my power if it take every
thing and my body to come outhere and pour everything into these kids.
And if I could say one life, I feel like my job is done,
but I want more. Well,you know, when you're incarcerated at
(17:11):
sixteen, you miss a lot ofsignature events in life. You didn't get
to graduate from high school, youdidn't get to go to the prom,
you didn't do all the things thata sixteen year old would have the natural
opportunity to do. And so havinggone through what you've been through, because
(17:33):
I think people don't truly understand Ithink what it's like to be incarcerated.
I think people have an idea thatOkay, you're in prison, forget you.
They don't really think about what dayto day is, oh, and
what are your thoughts on that?The mental the mental health is heavy.
And the scariest thing about jail tome was getting used to it. And
(17:57):
I had got used to it.I have really got up to know that
I get up at six o'clock forcamp, I got to go to work
at eight, I gotta come backand you know it, and every day
and I had to do that fortwenty straight years, and I don't seen
a lot of people in there killayself. I mean I don't seen people
in there get tooken advantage of youknow, So it do is more than
(18:19):
you just going to jail, becausethat plays with your mental and I still
suffer from a little bit of that. So sometimes I may say instead of
me saying I'm going outside, Imay say I'm going to the yard.
I still get in this every dayand then I still would take a shower
with my boxes on because that's whatI was trained to how to do that.
Well, you know, it's it'sgot to be a transition going from
(18:42):
having your life be so regimented.Right, everything is laid out for you.
You know when you get up,you know when you have your meals,
you know when you can go outinto the yard, and so when
you go out into the world,none of that is there. So how
do you kind of keep it together? And you know, just how do
(19:03):
you transition? Like I said before, I have good people at my corner.
So you know, I have aguy that's actually by me being a
mentor. But I got somebody that'sa mentor to me, and his name
is Sean. I have a younglady in my life. Her name is
Carla, So she keeps me,you know, keeps me up. You
know, she keeps me up,man, and I love her for that.
(19:26):
And I just got other good peoplein my corner, you know,
my sister Rashidah and my mom.So you know, they want to see
me win and they want to seeme succeed. I mean, every now
and then I could drift off alittle bit and get into that depression stage.
But majority of the time, aslong as you keep good people around
you, they'll be cool. Yeah, be cool. There's a lot of
(19:48):
misinformation and just fantasies really about whatit's like to be behind the walls,
right. So I think when youtalk to young people, I think sometimes
they glamorize what it is to beincarcerated. They think, Okay, you
know, they're not afraid of itbecause it's a mark of something maturity,
(20:12):
honor, whatever. Misguided as itis. And I wonder if you can
kind of lay it out for thoseyoung folks who might think, Okay,
I don't care if I get incarcerated. That's my postgraduate degree, right,
is to get behind the walls.And I wonder if you can talk a
little bit about that. Yeah,what I would like to tell them is
(20:32):
that I got to saying, Igot this saying and say, don't let
nothing for fifty seconds get you fiftyyears. And it's not as It's not
as easy as that TV make itlook. And what happens is that we
got a lot of guys like methat come home that don't get them the
real story, you know, becausea lot of guys they call home from
jail, they hit them, laughand hit them, joking and all that,
(20:55):
but they never telling them about themlonely nice that they're getting inside themselves.
They never telling them about how theyfeel when they love ones die,
and it's a lot that really goon in there. They never tell them
about. Sometimes you got to fightto get on the phone, You have
to fight to probably even take ashower. You have to fight to do
a lot of these things. Imean, So I've been stabbed in jail,
(21:15):
so I didn't you know, Idon't seen it and you know,
done it all. So I reallywould like to explain to them and let
them know that jail is not whereyou want to be, and it's not
no badge or honor because you're nevergoing to get measured by what you do
inside the walls. It's only whatyou're going to do out here. And
that's what I want my legacy tobe. Yeah. One thing I've heard
time and time again for those whoeither are incarcerated or previously have been incarcerated,
(21:41):
is the loneliness of it. Yes, you know, like all the
people that were your boys or whatever. You know that that circle of people
they're not visiting you, yes,in prison. And what they have to
understand is that I went to jailprobably with about ten friends, and I
didn't get one visit from neither oneof them. Everybody that I'm cool with
I had met in jail and becametheir friend out here. So don't think
(22:06):
them guys, is your friends onceyou go inside that wall, because they
not. They're not. And yourmom and you know at that time,
and you know, we don't liketo listen to our mom because we feel
like that we know everything. Butwhat I tell them is that do you
leave your mother? Because if youdo, why is this the same person
that you keep hurting? And it'scrazy because the first time we get in
trouble, that's the first person wecall. Can I get a call?
(22:26):
Can I call my mom? Whyyou want to call her? You never
asked to call your friends because youknow why, deep down the sides,
you know they ain't gonna be therefor you. And that paid pressure,
paid pressure, bust pipes and mcdimonds, So I understand that pay of
pressure. So yeah, So thisorganization that you're starting and you're putting together
(22:47):
a bass, tell us exactly whatare you hoping to do with it?
So we'st it. What I'm hopingto do is I'm hoping to be able
to pour it into the young kids. I'm actually want to get it like
a recreation center. I want toget them like after school program. I
want to get them something to dowhen they get out of school at the
three thirty four o'clock because a lotof times this god these kids is just
(23:07):
thirteen fourteen years old. When theycome home from school, the first thing
they do is put their book bagsin the house. They mim probably still
at work and probably got two othersiblings that they're worrying about. So I'm
gonna put my book bag in thehouse, and I'm gonna run back outside
and I'm gonna get in trouble.But if I give y'all something to do
after school, at least all theway up until your mother get home,
I can do that. I giveyou some games, I give you some
(23:30):
tutoring, I give you all thistype of stuff. One day a week
we can have a group discussion,a heart to heart. So my thing
is really the I want to bea child advocate. I want to push
that. I want to push that. I want to get them hope because
I didn't have hope. I didn'thave no father growing up. So I
want to give them that. Andthat plays a major part when when you
(23:52):
don't have no male row model,that plays a major part in your life.
It does. Yeah, I'm lookingat you, and I'm trying I
imagine that sixteen year old. Yeah, yeah, man, this sixteen year
old man I was. Actually itwould be mind blowing. I was about
like five to seven, probably likeone hundred and fifty pounds, you know,
(24:12):
So I went to jail at thetime. I was scared to death
when I first went there. Yeah, because I didn't know what to expect.
You know. I'm glad that Godbrought me this far, and he
gonna keep, you know, praisingme he gonna keep pulling everything he got
in me. And no, it'sjust an honor to meet you. It's
an honor to meet you. It'sthe honor for me to meet you again.
(24:33):
Yes, well, it's an honorto meet you again on the outside.
Yes, there's nothing that makes mehappier than to see people who are
returning citizens doing well and making adifference. And I see so many men
like you who want to do theright thing and are doing the right thing.
And I think that a lot offolks out there just have a certain
(24:55):
stereotype about people who've been incarcerated,and that does not help us as a
society. We need to take theleaders that are there, like a lot
of the men that I've met,a greater effort. And now at Phoenix,
it's it's such a waste of humancapital. They're behind there, they're
(25:17):
doing good work. They're they're makinga difference under the most difficult circumstances.
And you wonder if they were allowedto be outside, yes, to make
a difference, a lot of thingswould change. One of the things that
Magic actually told me was that ifI don't never be able to get a
chance on the other side of thatwall like you, I want to live
(25:38):
through you, and that touched me, and that touched me, and I'm
going to go for it. Iwon't go for it, you know.
And I challenge all my leaders inthese neighborhoods. Let's grab these kids,
Let's talk to them, Let's givethem hope, Let's dot them know somebody
care, let somebody know that theylove them. I mean, because don't
nobody. Ain't nobody to that.You just made me tear up. Yeah,
(26:03):
because you're gonna make me cry becauseI've known magic for over thirty years
and I don't know if you'll everget out. I hope he will someday,
Yes, But I love that hesaid that if he never gets out,
he'd like to live through you.He wanted to, and I gotta
I gotta make him proud. Igotta make everybody that there's a lot of
people in there that believe in me, that's rooting for me. They want
(26:26):
to see me win, they wantto see me succeed, and this is
what I do it for it,you know. So I'm gonna keep going.
I ain't gonna stop. I ain'tgonna stop telling I don't have nothing
left in me. I ain't gonnastop. I love that. If people
want to get in touch with youand the program that you're in the process
of creating, how they they canadd Instagram wood Grown, They could just
(26:47):
hit my Instagram and or you know, I don't really be on Facebook like
that, but Instagram. I'm definitelyYeah, I definitely respond back to all
d ms. What's your Instagram again? Wood grown? Wood grown? Yeah?
The one word, what're growing word? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, we're grown. Yes,Yes, I love it. I love
that you're doing what you're doing,that you're making your way. The challenges
(27:10):
are there, we know that theyare, Yes, it's you know,
the temptation is there because they don'twant us. They don't want us to
succeede you know, they don't wantus to win, and they don't want
us to help these kids. ButI've been defeating the eyes all my life.
You know, even as a kid, I told I was told I'll
never be able to walk because Iwas born with club feet. And I'm
(27:32):
any anytime somebody tell me I'm nevergoing to be able to do something,
I always make them out of aliar. So I defeat eys. That's
what I do. I love that, you know. Yeah, well we're
rooting for you for sure. RashaunAlexander, otherwise known as Uncle, would
out in the world making a difference, talking to kids, trying to,
you know, guide them in theways that that they need to be guided,
(27:55):
and certainly you speak from a livedexperience of what, yes, it
is to be incarcerated and why it'snot the way to go. No.
I actually got a little gift foryou. Oh so I got these glasses
here. Actually it's my sister clothingline is Cadega Creations. Okay, and
I had got you up here.Oh, I got the black ones.
(28:18):
Okay, let's see you get thewhite ones. Okay, Oh very nice.
Yes, these are sunglasses. Yes, so when they get you know,
when you go on your little vacationor whatever the case may be,
I feel ten percent more fashionable nowyou do I do you take them the
ones here? I know this isradio, but I am putting on these
(28:40):
these very fabulous fashionable sun sunglasses shades. You know what We're gonna before I
leave, y'all, I'm gonna lety'all see how she's looking, and we're
gonna take a picture her with bothwhite glances on Yes, it's yes,
Yes, that's so sweet. Yeah, she's so much. She makes clothes
(29:00):
and all that type of stuff.So she do good for us. What's
her website, Caudeza Creations. Yeah, and when you go on there.
I tell everybody when they go onthere and they say that Wood sent me,
you get ten percent off. Whata deal, what it did.
And another thing, because I giveyoung kids that's unfortunate haircuts. So when
(29:25):
they be able to get a chanceand they go to this barbershop down Frankfurt
Tie High barbershop, if you saythat would sent you, you get ten
percent off too, fantastic. Knowingyou, you get ten percent off.
That's knowing me, You're gonna getten percent off. It don't even matter.
Not to mention great mentorship and positiveenergy, Uncle Wood. Thank you
so much, Thank you so muchfor having me. You can listen to
(29:48):
all of today's interviews by going toour station website and typing in keyword community.
You can also listen on the iHeartRadioapp keyword Lorraine with one R.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard MOREL and
I stand for service to our communityand media that empowers. What will you
stand for? You've been listening toinsight, and thank you
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballatmorrow. One of thereal pleasures of this job is helping people
doing good tell their stories. TodayI have two very inspiring stories to share.
I met Rashaun Alexander aka Uncle Woodfirst behind the walls of Greaterford Prison.
(00:20):
His story is the journey of anincarcerated sixteen year old and the man
he's grown into with the help ofmentors he met along the way. Uncle
Wood is out mentoring and speaking toyoung people and starting a nonprofit. But
first we begin with re airing aninterview I did last year with another very
inspiring individual. I get to meeta lot of community heroes, touching people's
(00:43):
lives in significant ways. So whenI met Kendra Van der Water, an
executive director of Yeah Philly, ata recent town hall on violence prevention sponsored
by Girl Scout of Eastern PA,I knew I had to do this interview
so you could meet her too andhear about the great work of her organization.
You, along with James a,co founded YEAH Philly Youth Empowerment for
Advancement Hangout. Great great name,black led community based nonprofit that works with
(01:08):
teens and young adults in West andSouthwest Philadelphia that have been impacted by violence.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday and it's great to see you
again. And what I found reallyimpressive was just you really meet young people
where they are. Give us alittle bit of the origin story of Yeah
Philly. Yeah. So, intwenty eighteen, I actually used to work
(01:30):
for the city. I worked atthe Police Advisory Commission. James used to
work at CHOPS violence Intervention program,and we were at a meeting where people
were talking about the youth violence happeningand increasing in West and southwest Philly.
So what started out as you know, volunteering after work turned into Yeah Philly.
(01:52):
So we started serving young people inwest and Southwest. We created about
a ninety question survey along but wewalked around neighborhoods in west and southwest corners,
basketball courts, and surveyed almost threehundred young people and there were questions
just about, you know, whatdo they like to do, what do
(02:12):
they do after school, who's theirbiggest support, do they feel that they're
cared about in the community. Andfrom the results of those surveys, we
got permits and rec centers and allof twenty nineteen we started running groups for
young people. We started out agesthirteen and nineteen, and these were conversations
about things happening in our neighborhoods,things happening at school and homes, and
(02:35):
we would have dinner. So itturned into groups that were almost forty young
people trying to come to group.And so we grew really quickly in terms
of the groups, and we startedtrying to form the organization because that's what
the young people wanted. When youwere going from door to door and from
place to place talking with young people, what were some of the things that
(02:57):
they would tell you, because Ithink a lot of times we start these
programs for kids, but we forgetto ask them what they care about and
what they think about. What aresome of the things that you discovered through
your conversations exactly. So they toldus a lot about how the only thing
they really did was play basketball.They didn't really come to the rec centers
(03:17):
unless it was to play basketball.If I remember correctly, it was like
eighty six percent of young people werenot involved in any type of formal program.
About half of them believed that theydid have some type of mentor,
but over sixty five percent felt thatadults did not care about them. So
(03:38):
these were the things that we took, and they wanted to learn more about
different things, but the biggest thingwas that they felt that people don't listen
to them and they wanted more support. So as you collected all this information
and you've got a sense, ageneral sense of what was missing in the
lives of these young people that youserve, what were some of the first
steps that you took in order tostart to meet them where they are.
(04:02):
So one always food. People alwayswant food, So whether it's pizza or
chicken or sandwiches, you know,that is a way to get people,
anybody, any age to come.And you know it was it was informal.
You know, we would show upin jeans and hoodies and just talk
(04:23):
about things. But we asked themwhen we started running groups, we took
what they wanted to learn and knowabout, and then we formed the groups
based on what they told us.So it was a lot of it was
based on things that recently happened inthe neighborhood because a lot of them also
expressed being afraid to be outside orwatching a lot of their friends being killed,
(04:44):
and so they needed a space totalk about that because they weren't addressing
it in school or at home.It also goes a little bit beyond that.
I mean you talk about bringing kidsfood, but also just really addressing
things that people may I think arethat important, but really are important to
them. What are some examples ofthat. Just having a space where young
(05:06):
people can be themselves. So alot of times, I remember when we
started, the rec centers had rulesto where you couldn't wear your hood up,
you had to pull your pants up, you couldn't sit on a table,
you couldn't you know, put yourfeet up on a chair. So
creating a space where young people didn'tfeel like they were policed all the time,
(05:28):
even though it wasn't the police,by adults always telling them what to
do. No cursing, right,you can't curse, even though a lot
of times young people need to expressthemselves and sometimes that's worth a curse word.
You know, I expressed myself withcurse words as well. Sometimes,
So having a space that really waslike a family environment to say, you
know, if something is inappropriate,we're going to correct you. But also
(05:53):
you should feel free to feel safe, and you should feel like you should
be able to talk about the thingsyou want to without being toned per or
without being policed around your language orhow you look. So given the fact
that you are talking to kids aboutthe things that they themselves are interested in
talking about, creating this safe environmentfor them to be in providing food,
(06:15):
which of course is always a plus. What are some of the things that
you have observed that had what hasoccurred as a result of providing this safe
space for these young people at atime when it doesn't feel very safe to
be a young person in the community. What are some things that you have
observed that have been as a resultof providing this place for them. So
(06:43):
definitely some outcomes would be even ifa young person, say they go off
to college or you know, theygo to job coort, they always come
back. So we've been working withsome of the same most of the same
young people since we started. Butwhen we knew them, or we increase
our age range when they were fourteenyears old and now they're sixteen, seventeen,
(07:06):
and eighteen. So we're sticking withthem, they're sticking with us,
and they always come back. Andthen another thing is that when they feel
safe, they feel safe enough tobring their friends, They want to bring
their cousins, they want to bringpeople that they know from school and say,
oh, you know, this placeis cool. I want to bring
other people. So I think thatis the biggest thing. A lot of
(07:29):
times organizations will call us and say, we can't get young people to come
here. We've got this program,but we really don't have the people.
I think from the beginning, we'vehad the people based on the consistency and
the relationship, and so they keepcoming. They come back, and then
they learn how to ask for helpto a lot of times in the beginning,
their pride and they're feeling like they'realone, they don't ask for help
(07:53):
for things. So now they're empoweredto ask for things. But also they
bring their friends and say, youknow, I'm bringing this person and they
need help with this, and sowe're able to help address their needs and
other people's needs to So what doyou see moving forward is the direction that
you'd like to see the organization moveinto, Because what it sounds like you've
(08:15):
been able to do is create thissort of intimacy with these young people that
you connect with, and so youknow, how do you scale that up
in a way that you can servemore young people. So that's what we're
working on now. We definitely sincewe're geographical, and we believe that,
you know, programs should be geographical, just based on how big Philly is,
(08:37):
how different the neighborhoods are. Weare trying to scale now, so
we would like, yeah, Phillyin all of the different neighborhoods over the
city, but we also beyond that, see this as a model of reducing
harm and empowering young people to getthe lives that they deserve in all of
the other places in other states,in other cities. And so we are
(08:58):
actually getting our main folcus of ourprogram now has been core involved young people
and with violent charges against them,and we're getting that evaluated now, and
that is a big step towards scalingand making sure that once we scale,
we still have that same quality programbecause a lot of it, the approach
(09:18):
is so individualized. We don't wantto scale too fast and then young people
lose that connection that we have workedreally hard to build. But also they
get just a one on one typeof support that if we move too fast,
they'll lose that so that's where wewant it everywhere, and that's how
it should be. Yeah, yeah, I love that gender. What are
(09:39):
people What do you want to tellpeople about the young people that you serve
as as a member of the media, What I also see observe a lot
is that there's not a lot ofpositive portrayal of young people these days,
particularly young people of color. Andalso there's a lot of stereotypes and preconceptions
(10:05):
that we have. What is itthat you want people to know about the
kids that you work with? Areally big thing is that I think society
and our city creates a narrative aboutthe certain type of young person that we
work with, right that they're notdeserving of a service or deserving of a
(10:26):
program. So for us, it'sreally reframing that narrative to help people understand
why people do things want But really, we cannot be scared of the kids
that live near us, right Like, they really just need love. They
need love, and a lot ofus as adults, you know, we
will were deterred from you know,talking to young people who may walk down
(10:50):
the street in a ski mask becausewe're afraid. And so I think if
more adults just talk to more youngpeople, regardless of what they look like,
they will start to see that there'sjust so many layers. And at
the end of it is that allof these young people really just need love
and a different type of environment andsupport. And so that's what we need
to be doing. We need tobe loving on other young people. I
(11:13):
love that If people want more informationabout this organization, if they want to
connect the young people in their liveswith this organization in West and Southwest,
or if they'd like to make adonation to a very worthy cause, how
do they do that? You cango to our website. It's www dot
y Philly dot org, Yeah Phillydot org and definitely follow us on Instagram
(11:37):
and socials at eyf Philly. Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us
today. Vanderwater, Executive director ofYeah Philly Youth Empowerment for Advancement Hangout,
a black led community based nonprofit workingwith teens and young adults in West and
Southwest fifteen to twenty four who've beenimpacted by violence. Thank you so much.
(11:58):
Thank you. One of my favoritesayings is that every saint has a
past, every center has a future, and right now I have a living
example of that in the studio withme Rashaun Alexander, otherwise known as Uncle
Wood. He is someone who Ioriginally met behind the walls. Was it
(12:20):
Greaterford Greaterford Prison? Yeah, GreaterfordPrison and doing a lot of work back
there, and I've met a lotof amazing individuals. Well, Uncle Wood
is out and he's doing some goodthings out in the community. Thank you
so much for joining us here today, and let's talk about your story.
(12:41):
So tell us more about who youare. How long have you been out?
Might have been out roughly about eighteenmonths now, okay, so you
are a returning citizen. What isHow has that transition been for you?
How long were you behind the walls? I was behind the walls for twenty
years? Wow? Twenty years?Yes, a lot happy over the course
(13:01):
of two decades. Yes, Sowhen you when you came out, I
don't even begin and TikTok didn't exist, and a lot of things that we
take for granted right now weren't aroundwhen you first went in. So what
was that transition like coming out?It was difficult. It was difficult,
and it still is difficult right now. But I'm learning every day. I'm
(13:22):
getting better day by day. Butit was definitely difficult. But I got
some good people in my corner thatyou know that's helping me get better every
day by Well, you've had alot of very positive role models inside the
walls. Yes, yes, Ihad. You know, a guy named
Magic. Everybody called him black saying, but I call him Uncle Magic for
(13:45):
the Fact Program. He actually showedme a lot of things. You know.
I had other influences, like guyslike Winston, and I got a
guy in there, ain't there andI call him my brother. It's Rico,
So you know, yes, guyslike Magic. They really took me
under they wing Man and really,you know, let me know that I
came in as a young knucklehead,but I left with a mature man.
(14:09):
Yeah. Magic, just for thosewho don't know, and Magic, we've
talked about him a lot over theseyears. Magic is a lifer who is
part of a coalition of lifers andother individuals who are behind the walls who
have done some really great things inthe community, including the Fathers and Children
Together program otherwise known as Fact.And were you part of the Fact Program?
(14:33):
No, I wasn't part of theFact Program, but I used to
always just go down there because Ididn't have no at that time. You
know, I don't have no kids. But I used to just give my
input about a lot of things withme and Magic, and you know,
he just was giving me the input, like listening. If you ever be
blessed to get on the other sideof the wall, everything that I poured
into you, I want you topour into the youth. And I give
(14:54):
him my word. And I madea promise to that and I'm living up
to it. How are you fulfillingthat promise right now? I understand that
you have started an organization. Tellus about it. I'm in the process
of finishing up the organization. It'scalled a bass stand for a brother about
something serious. I actually is finishingup working on my podcast, which is
(15:15):
called The Wood Report. And Igo around to different schools and I go
to different programs and I speak toat rich kids because I was done before,
you know what I mean, andyou know me going in jailing sixteen
years old. I can identify whatthey're going through at this moment right now,
and I can identify the paid pressure, and I can identify everything that
(15:37):
they're going through right now. SoI pull on everything that I got in
me. You know, it justseems so crazy that a sixteen year old
gets twenty years in prison. Andright now, there's probably a lot of
folks have heard about the court casein which a lot of U juvenile lifers
in particular were allowed to to leave. Because we've learned a lot about the
(16:03):
human brain and about how young folksreally we need to look at them differently
when it comes to deciding how toaddress address them when they come on the
other side of law enforcement. Sowhat are some of the things that you
learned. You said you came inat sixteen. You know, there's reasons
(16:26):
why you got in. Talk aboutthat and what is it that you learned,
and how did you learn the thingsthat you've learned by having good people
around me in my corner, andI've dealt with a lot of older guys
in there that have been in jaila long at that time then I've been
alive. So you know, theytook me under the wing and they see
that I was going down this wrongpath because I still come in at sixteen,
(16:48):
so I don't really know no better. And they moved me and they
matured me, and I just toldthem and I did everything in my power.
I told them I will do everythingin my power if it take every
thing and my body to come outhere and pour everything into these kids.
And if I could say one life, I feel like my job is done,
but I want more. Well,you know, when you're incarcerated at
(17:11):
sixteen, you miss a lot ofsignature events in life. You didn't get
to graduate from high school, youdidn't get to go to the prom,
you didn't do all the things thata sixteen year old would have the natural
opportunity to do. And so havinggone through what you've been through, because
(17:33):
I think people don't truly understand Ithink what it's like to be incarcerated.
I think people have an idea thatOkay, you're in prison, forget you.
They don't really think about what dayto day is, oh, and
what are your thoughts on that?The mental the mental health is heavy.
And the scariest thing about jail tome was getting used to it. And
(17:57):
I had got used to it.I have really got up to know that
I get up at six o'clock forcamp, I got to go to work
at eight, I gotta come backand you know it, and every day
and I had to do that fortwenty straight years, and I don't seen
a lot of people in there killayself. I mean I don't seen people
in there get tooken advantage of youknow, So it do is more than
(18:19):
you just going to jail, becausethat plays with your mental and I still
suffer from a little bit of that. So sometimes I may say instead of
me saying I'm going outside, Imay say I'm going to the yard.
I still get in this every dayand then I still would take a shower
with my boxes on because that's whatI was trained to how to do that.
Well, you know, it's it'sgot to be a transition going from
(18:42):
having your life be so regimented.Right, everything is laid out for you.
You know when you get up,you know when you have your meals,
you know when you can go outinto the yard, and so when
you go out into the world,none of that is there. So how
do you kind of keep it together? And you know, just how do
(19:03):
you transition? Like I said before, I have good people at my corner.
So you know, I have aguy that's actually by me being a
mentor. But I got somebody that'sa mentor to me, and his name
is Sean. I have a younglady in my life. Her name is
Carla, So she keeps me,you know, keeps me up. You
know, she keeps me up,man, and I love her for that.
(19:26):
And I just got other good peoplein my corner, you know,
my sister Rashidah and my mom.So you know, they want to see
me win and they want to seeme succeed. I mean, every now
and then I could drift off alittle bit and get into that depression stage.
But majority of the time, aslong as you keep good people around
you, they'll be cool. Yeah, be cool. There's a lot of
(19:48):
misinformation and just fantasies really about whatit's like to be behind the walls,
right. So I think when youtalk to young people, I think sometimes
they glamorize what it is to beincarcerated. They think, Okay, you
know, they're not afraid of itbecause it's a mark of something maturity,
(20:12):
honor, whatever. Misguided as itis. And I wonder if you can
kind of lay it out for thoseyoung folks who might think, Okay,
I don't care if I get incarcerated. That's my postgraduate degree, right,
is to get behind the walls.And I wonder if you can talk a
little bit about that. Yeah,what I would like to tell them is
(20:32):
that I got to saying, Igot this saying and say, don't let
nothing for fifty seconds get you fiftyyears. And it's not as It's not
as easy as that TV make itlook. And what happens is that we
got a lot of guys like methat come home that don't get them the
real story, you know, becausea lot of guys they call home from
jail, they hit them, laughand hit them, joking and all that,
(20:55):
but they never telling them about themlonely nice that they're getting inside themselves.
They never telling them about how theyfeel when they love ones die,
and it's a lot that really goon in there. They never tell them
about. Sometimes you got to fightto get on the phone, You have
to fight to probably even take ashower. You have to fight to do
a lot of these things. Imean, So I've been stabbed in jail,
(21:15):
so I didn't you know, Idon't seen it and you know,
done it all. So I reallywould like to explain to them and let
them know that jail is not whereyou want to be, and it's not
no badge or honor because you're nevergoing to get measured by what you do
inside the walls. It's only whatyou're going to do out here. And
that's what I want my legacy tobe. Yeah. One thing I've heard
time and time again for those whoeither are incarcerated or previously have been incarcerated,
(21:41):
is the loneliness of it. Yes, you know, like all the
people that were your boys or whatever. You know that that circle of people
they're not visiting you, yes,in prison. And what they have to
understand is that I went to jailprobably with about ten friends, and I
didn't get one visit from neither oneof them. Everybody that I'm cool with
I had met in jail and becametheir friend out here. So don't think
(22:06):
them guys, is your friends onceyou go inside that wall, because they
not. They're not. And yourmom and you know at that time,
and you know, we don't liketo listen to our mom because we feel
like that we know everything. Butwhat I tell them is that do you
leave your mother? Because if youdo, why is this the same person
that you keep hurting? And it'scrazy because the first time we get in
trouble, that's the first person wecall. Can I get a call?
(22:26):
Can I call my mom? Whyyou want to call her? You never
asked to call your friends because youknow why, deep down the sides,
you know they ain't gonna be therefor you. And that paid pressure,
paid pressure, bust pipes and mcdimonds, So I understand that pay of
pressure. So yeah, So thisorganization that you're starting and you're putting together
(22:47):
a bass, tell us exactly whatare you hoping to do with it?
So we'st it. What I'm hopingto do is I'm hoping to be able
to pour it into the young kids. I'm actually want to get it like
a recreation center. I want toget them like after school program. I
want to get them something to dowhen they get out of school at the
three thirty four o'clock because a lotof times this god these kids is just
(23:07):
thirteen fourteen years old. When theycome home from school, the first thing
they do is put their book bagsin the house. They mim probably still
at work and probably got two othersiblings that they're worrying about. So I'm
gonna put my book bag in thehouse, and I'm gonna run back outside
and I'm gonna get in trouble.But if I give y'all something to do
after school, at least all theway up until your mother get home,
I can do that. I giveyou some games, I give you some
(23:30):
tutoring, I give you all thistype of stuff. One day a week
we can have a group discussion,a heart to heart. So my thing
is really the I want to bea child advocate. I want to push
that. I want to push that. I want to get them hope because
I didn't have hope. I didn'thave no father growing up. So I
want to give them that. Andthat plays a major part when when you
(23:52):
don't have no male row model,that plays a major part in your life.
It does. Yeah, I'm lookingat you, and I'm trying I
imagine that sixteen year old. Yeah, yeah, man, this sixteen year
old man I was. Actually itwould be mind blowing. I was about
like five to seven, probably likeone hundred and fifty pounds, you know,
(24:12):
So I went to jail at thetime. I was scared to death
when I first went there. Yeah, because I didn't know what to expect.
You know. I'm glad that Godbrought me this far, and he
gonna keep, you know, praisingme he gonna keep pulling everything he got
in me. And no, it'sjust an honor to meet you. It's
an honor to meet you. It'sthe honor for me to meet you again.
(24:33):
Yes, well, it's an honorto meet you again on the outside.
Yes, there's nothing that makes mehappier than to see people who are
returning citizens doing well and making adifference. And I see so many men
like you who want to do theright thing and are doing the right thing.
And I think that a lot offolks out there just have a certain
(24:55):
stereotype about people who've been incarcerated,and that does not help us as a
society. We need to take theleaders that are there, like a lot
of the men that I've met,a greater effort. And now at Phoenix,
it's it's such a waste of humancapital. They're behind there, they're
(25:17):
doing good work. They're they're makinga difference under the most difficult circumstances.
And you wonder if they were allowedto be outside, yes, to make
a difference, a lot of thingswould change. One of the things that
Magic actually told me was that ifI don't never be able to get a
chance on the other side of thatwall like you, I want to live
(25:38):
through you, and that touched me, and that touched me, and I'm
going to go for it. Iwon't go for it, you know.
And I challenge all my leaders inthese neighborhoods. Let's grab these kids,
Let's talk to them, Let's givethem hope, Let's dot them know somebody
care, let somebody know that theylove them. I mean, because don't
nobody. Ain't nobody to that.You just made me tear up. Yeah,
(26:03):
because you're gonna make me cry becauseI've known magic for over thirty years
and I don't know if you'll everget out. I hope he will someday,
Yes, But I love that hesaid that if he never gets out,
he'd like to live through you.He wanted to, and I gotta
I gotta make him proud. Igotta make everybody that there's a lot of
people in there that believe in me, that's rooting for me. They want
(26:26):
to see me win, they wantto see me succeed, and this is
what I do it for it,you know. So I'm gonna keep going.
I ain't gonna stop. I ain'tgonna stop telling I don't have nothing
left in me. I ain't gonnastop. I love that. If people
want to get in touch with youand the program that you're in the process
of creating, how they they canadd Instagram wood Grown, They could just
(26:47):
hit my Instagram and or you know, I don't really be on Facebook like
that, but Instagram. I'm definitelyYeah, I definitely respond back to all
d ms. What's your Instagram again? Wood grown? Wood grown? Yeah?
The one word, what're growing word? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, we're grown. Yes,Yes, I love it. I love
that you're doing what you're doing,that you're making your way. The challenges
(27:10):
are there, we know that theyare, Yes, it's you know,
the temptation is there because they don'twant us. They don't want us to
succeede you know, they don't wantus to win, and they don't want
us to help these kids. ButI've been defeating the eyes all my life.
You know, even as a kid, I told I was told I'll
never be able to walk because Iwas born with club feet. And I'm
(27:32):
any anytime somebody tell me I'm nevergoing to be able to do something,
I always make them out of aliar. So I defeat eys. That's
what I do. I love that, you know. Yeah, well we're
rooting for you for sure. RashaunAlexander, otherwise known as Uncle, would
out in the world making a difference, talking to kids, trying to,
you know, guide them in theways that that they need to be guided,
(27:55):
and certainly you speak from a livedexperience of what, yes, it
is to be incarcerated and why it'snot the way to go. No.
I actually got a little gift foryou. Oh so I got these glasses
here. Actually it's my sister clothingline is Cadega Creations. Okay, and
I had got you up here.Oh, I got the black ones.
(28:18):
Okay, let's see you get thewhite ones. Okay, Oh very nice.
Yes, these are sunglasses. Yes, so when they get you know,
when you go on your little vacationor whatever the case may be,
I feel ten percent more fashionable nowyou do I do you take them the
ones here? I know this isradio, but I am putting on these
(28:40):
these very fabulous fashionable sun sunglasses shades. You know what We're gonna before I
leave, y'all, I'm gonna lety'all see how she's looking, and we're
gonna take a picture her with bothwhite glances on Yes, it's yes,
Yes, that's so sweet. Yeah, she's so much. She makes clothes
(29:00):
and all that type of stuff.So she do good for us. What's
her website, Caudeza Creations. Yeah, and when you go on there.
I tell everybody when they go onthere and they say that Wood sent me,
you get ten percent off. Whata deal, what it did.
And another thing, because I giveyoung kids that's unfortunate haircuts. So when
(29:25):
they be able to get a chanceand they go to this barbershop down Frankfurt
Tie High barbershop, if you saythat would sent you, you get ten
percent off too, fantastic. Knowingyou, you get ten percent off.
That's knowing me, You're gonna getten percent off. It don't even matter.
Not to mention great mentorship and positiveenergy, Uncle Wood. Thank you
so much, Thank you so muchfor having me. You can listen to
(29:48):
all of today's interviews by going toour station website and typing in keyword community.
You can also listen on the iHeartRadioapp keyword Lorraine with one R.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram atLorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine Ballard MOREL and
I stand for service to our communityand media that empowers. What will you
stand for? You've been listening toinsight, and thank you
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