WELCOME

Thank you for visiting my website. This collection of books, workshops, essays, poetry and images represents my 39 years as a youth advocate. My work with hard to reach youths was always from the heart, and I stay proud of every single student and client I helped find their footing in this big classroom called life. Whether it was teaching young detainees on Rikers Island or doing family mediation for a Residential Youth Treatment Center; from running an alternative school to running an inclusive college program, I’m still here to tell you that young people need mentors to help them understand the world around them and their role in it.

We’re seeing an increase in youth homelessness and not paying attention to the culprits--- youths aged out of foster care with no aftercare plan, no supervised independent living program apartments available or livable, competition with families with children seeking affordable housing, learning disabilities, criminal record, unemployable, sexual minority, undocumented, mental unwellness, unqualified for services, social abandonment, parental abandonment. Youth advocates are learning to be more inclusive in our language and curriculum. We know now more than ever that we have to teach and counsel from a reality-based system of intervention if we want to see results.

K Books is a series of behavioral intervention books for and about hard-to-reach youths that speak directly to the very person who it is intended for. Each project aims at assisting parents, teachers, counselors, foster care workers and the youth themselves with critical life-changing decisions. A master’s in applied psychology with an interdisciplinary in African, Caribbean and Black indigenous studies, the approach here is in mastering the self from a culturally appropriate psychological theory. It is my belief that formula is not working. I recognize the urgency of an intervention and a here to bring forth the work we are ready to do.

YOUTH ADVOCATE

AUTHOR

My motivation for writing came in different forms at different stages. When I couldn't find books that inspired my students I started writing them. When I started counseling hard to reach youths, I came up with my own intervention materials. When I taught writing in prison they bought my books. When I saw that no one was addressing Black males who love Black males but don't identify as gay, I risked being ostracized to give those young men a platform to express themselves. And when a social worker asked what about foster care youths aging out and no where to go, I came up with a book about them too. Now I'm working on a book on Alzheimer's from a Black perspective. Now that I'm noticing my own pattern, I guess I write to fill a void.

I am a former New York State certified English teacher who consulted new teachers on classroom management skills that focused more on effective group and individual learning rather than conforming skills that hindered their sense of original thinking and problem solving.   

After receiving my credentials in Counseling, I switched focus from applying to prevention. Alternative Education is where I thrived as both instructor and behavioral interventionist. While the hardest to reach intimidated formula-driven newbies, I found my niche and purpose in working with the most marginalized and underrepresented. As I moved on to working at the college level, I used the same non-traditional skills to counseling and advising to urban students whose everyday realities required a non-traditional approach to personal empowerment and academic success.

My affiliations with youth initiatives include BronxConnect and the Andrew Glover Youth Program where I’ve provided life coaching to teens and young adults facing possible incarceration. Durham Scholars Program, YouthBuild SoBro and Nubian Directions are other intervening affiliations who’ve benefited from my educational support. Harlem Justice Scholars, Yo! Baltimore and Peekskill Youth Bureau use my book, Message to a Youngblood as part of their life skills curriculum. I’ve also served as an academic consultant for Prisonwrites, a writing incentive for prison detainees seeking advocacy, education and literacy development. The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center is another community resource I assisted with their case management program for Black transgender persons and ran their POC adult support group. And I’ve facilitated diversity workshops for both faculty and students at the Center for Inclusion at Manhattanville College.

In addition to working with vulnerable populations and guest speaking at colleges and universities on diversity, equity and inclusion matters (DEI), I offer an online discussion series called Ask K for parents and youth advocates seeking effective and culturally competent approaches to mental wellness.

I approach the healing of our sons and daughters from a culturally and socially relevant place of reference. We are witnessing a national crisis. Our children are not children. They are dealing with serious life-changing concerns. But so are we. Black people are at a crossroads once again. Either we continue holding on to our inter-cultural divides and attitudes that stifle our youth or move forward with new eyes and freer spirits to solve our own problems. 

My philosophy on youth caring is straight forward. I believe in the advocacy of all our youth, not only the ones who don't challenge our personal beliefs. Working with hard to reach youth involves emotional presence. Whether I'm managing an alternative educational site for 16-24ylds in need of educational services and work readiness or counseling more specific populations like the young incarcerated or LGBT youth, my overall mission has always been to help increase emotional health, academic performance, job placement and housing opportunities by helping our young sons and daughters see themselves beyond their circumstances.