THE CATALYST

Fall Edition 2014

LEAD2CHANGE PHILANTHROPY PROGRAM
PARTNERS WITH UNITED WAY

As James Marks stripped of his Lead2Change t-shirt, proudly
displaying a Live United t-shirt underneath, he ofcially an-
nounced Lead2Changes partnership with United Way on Fri-
day, August 8th during DreamBig!

Were thrilled to be partnered with them, says V.P. Communi-
ty Impact Nicole Angresano of United Way of Greater Milwau-
kee. United Way really wanted to know more and do more
with youth and philanthropy. Rather than start are own inita-
tve, we wanted to tap into a youth led organizaton, and tap
into one that does it well, she adds.

As a result of the partnership, Angresano explains that United
Way is commited to helping sustain the work of Lead2Change
and creatng a seamless transiton from youth to adulthood
through volunteering, giving, and advocatng.

Lead2Change represents hope. It represents
youth being given a voice and solving their own
challenges. So many tmes adults are engaging in decision mak-
ing, instead of including the very people were trying to im-
pact, says Angresano.

In the near future, United Way will help distribute
surveys, reach more applicants for Lead2Change, and allow
members on the YAC to also serve on United Way commitees,
according to Angresano.

Were really excited. This partnership is a win for
both of us. United Way will beneft in partcular, as the youth
from Lead2Change will serve as advisors and motvators for us,
says Angresano.


DONOR SPOTLIGHT
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Afer completng the intense
training of Dream.Explore.Build.,
Jose wrote a song boastng,
This summer was the tme of
my life! Inspired to write the
song afer his internship at a
Milwaukee law frm, he is
equipped with skills for success
and has afrmed his desire to be
an atorney and focus on those
who need help the most.

Jose, who is startng his freshman year at University of
Wisconsin Stevens Point, is one of 80 students who ex-
perienced college, career and community preparaton
through L2C programming this year. The result is young
people like Jose: focused, determined and ready to
actvely engage in their careers and communites.

When I was younger, I had a very strong desire to be a
child and adolescent psychologist. Afer interning in col-
lege and switching majors three tmes I realized that it
wasn't what I wanted to do. Now I want to provide youth
opportunites to afrm their career path. We provide
opportunites for young people to look at themselves in-
trospectvely and become intentonal about being en-
gaged. I usually tell them to keep these two key things in
mind:

Keep your eye on your goal and everything around
you will conform.
Don't stop when it gets difcult. Difcult situatons
are a tme of proving; some of your best work, ideas
and inventons will come during this tme.

We are excited about engaging youth in service through
our philanthropy, neighborhood engagement, and college
and career readiness program. And are thankful for all of
our program partners that contributed tme, talent and
treasure has helped in our success.

Yours in Service,


Dionne Grayson
FROM THE EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR


Natalie Cooper, a Lead2Change Board
Member since April 2014 and the
Director of Adolescent & Holistc
Health Initatves at the Boys and Girls
Club of Greater Milwaukee, frst heard
of Lead2Change through Executve
Director Dionne Grayson. Cooper
knew of Mrs. Graysons work in the
community, as they were coworkers in
2006, and she was impressed with
Graysons commitment to youth
development.

I chose to take on the role of a board member
because I desired to use my connectons in the
community, commitment to social change, and access to re-
sources to enhance the impact of the
organizaton, says Cooper.

As a board member Coopers greatest accomplishment was
assistng the youth with a marketng strategy for the summer as
they did outreach in the community. I love the Lead2Change
brand and I am proud to see it on our young people in the
community, says Cooper.

Most recently, the board worked on securing funds for the
2014 DreamBig! event which was a great success. Currently
they are working on expanding local support for
Lead2Changes daily operatng costs as well as identfying re-
sources to support a stafng model that is
necessary to efciently operate Lead2Change moving forward.

In additon to being a Board Member, Cooper also spent tme
with the youth the summer at the Thursday Academy and the
Block By Block Community Peace Rally. Cooper ofers over 15
years of youth development and programming experience,
which would helpful as they oriented 100 youth to this sum-
mers program on June 23, 2014.

Cooper states that her most memorable moment was
facilitatng at Thursday Academy. I was thoroughly impressed
by the staf, youth and community partners that rallied togeth-
er to execute the frst full day of actvites. We named our group
24 Minds encompassing the noton that creatvity, determina-
ton, and commitment are required to be successful, says
Cooper.
According to Cooper, Thursday Academy provided
the youth with critcal skills for employment success and is a
part of the framework for optmal success in their personal and
professional lives the Lead2Change ofers.

I believe that if all youth were trained using the
Lead2Change methodology, our society would reach its full po-
tental to collectvely unite for social change, says Cooper.

Lead2Change is honored to have Mrs. Cooper serve and looks
forward to the greatness her dedicaton and hard work will
bring to our youth.




Lead2Change, Inc Board of Directors


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SPOTLIGHT ON BOARD

Out of the fve projects submited to DreamBig! this year, the
two winning projects were:

Bee Educated with Well Spring Farms &
Bars Before Bullets with the Children's Outng Associaton

One of the $5,000 grants was awarded to the COA Youth and
Family Center (Riverwest). Dajzhaneie and Nicole created the
Bars Before Bullets project, which they designed to help young
men in the Milwaukee community make wiser choices. Da-
jshaneie and Nicole will be holding an open mic session that will
allow young men to give detailed accounts of their experiences
with violence. Their project will also ofer group sessions to
these young men every Wednesday and Thursday to help them
control their anger. Dajshaneie and Nicole also hope to have
100 men sign their non-violence contract.









The other $5,000 grant was awarded to the Wellspring Educa-
ton Center. Ailsing and Sesha created the Bee Educated pro-
ject, which they designed to inform the Milwaukee area about
the importance of Honeybees. How bees help produce our
food, the actvites of bees, how to safely observe bees, how
protectng bees protects food sources, and how bees help im-
prove the health of the community are just a few talking points
that will be covered during the days actvites. Ailsing and
Sesha also plan to create marketng materials to promote the
Bee Educated projects and reach out to schools that are unable
to aford transportaton to the Wellspring Educaton Center.



Kwabena Antoine Nixon and
Muhibb Dyer are he 2014
James A. Marks Legacy
Award winners. Both Nixon
and Dyer are well known
poets in Milwaukee and are
co-founders of Flood the
Hood with Dreams.

Having lost his father to gun violence at the age of 11, Nixon
was headed down a similar path by his late teens. Afer years of
trying to live up to fathers legacy, he fnally decided to make
the move from Chicago to Milwaukee where a local community
elder honored him with a name meaning, Inspirator. Today,
Nixon is a community organizer, he works with students at
MPS, and is the founder and President of the Milwaukee Urban
Entertainment Alliance.

You cant let the hood defne who you are. You have to have a
vision, says Nixon as he speaks before an audience of
incarcerated youth at the Milwaukee Juvenile Detenton
Center.

Wantng to live and teach the messages he brings, Dyer began a
successful campaign to bring the art of spoken word to inner
city youth. Dyer is a motvatonal speaker and community actv-
ist, who has conducted several seminars and workshops in the
Milwaukee Public School system encouraging youth to take
responsibility for their futures. A natve Milwaukeean, Dyer
began counseling and mentoring youth through various pro-
grams while he was stll in high school himself.

If I am able to save just one life or keep one young person
from going to jail, Ive done my job, says Dyer.

The James A. Marks Legacy Award is an award presented at
Lead2Changes annual DreamBig! event and is presented to
individuals or groups who have made a substantal impact in
youth programming within Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington,
or Waukesha Countes.
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2014 DreamBig! Winners 2014 JAMLA Winners










JAKWOUN

Jakwoun, 18, is a Freshman at UW - Plateville. He frst heard of
Lead2Change through his high school guidance counselor.
Jakwoun wanted to experience the benefts of obtaining and
successfully completng an internship.

Through partcipatng in Dream.Explore.Build., I
learned that no dream is too big, says Jakwoun.

Jakwouns biggest accomplishment with the program
was obtaining his internship with Vistelar Group.
According to vistelar.com, Vistelar Group is a global
speaking and training organizaton focused on
addressing the spectrum of human confict from interpersonal
discord, verbal abuse and bullying to crisis communicatons,
assault and physical violence.

His responsibilites included creatng plugins and
establishing site tracking with cyfe.com, which is an all-in-one
business dashboard app that helps you easily monitor all your
business data from one place. A typical day involved showing
up to work at Vistelar Group in Milwaukee and reportng to
Colin Hahn, (the Senior Instructonal Designer and Confict Man-
agement and Confict Resoluton Training at Vistelar) atending
a morning meetng, and getng straight to work.

This internship taught me that even the smallest team can
make a big diference, says Jakwoun.



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Jakwouns future career goals involve graduatng from college
with a major in Computer Science and becoming a Video Game
Designer.

When asked what he would say to other youth who
would consider joining Dream.Explore.Build. Jakwoun replies,
Stay in it for the long haul, its worth it in the end and always
remember to live by design, not by default.

Jakwoun graduated afer 11 months with the rest of the 2014
Cohort on Saturday, August 9th at 11:00 a.m. at the Evan P.
Marion Helfaer Theatre at Marquete University in Milwaukee.

Currently Dream.Explore.Build. is building the 2015 cohort
which will start with an October 1st commitment ceremony for
all 120 youth from throughout Greater Milwaukee.

For more informaton on Dream.Explore.Builld., the
2015 Cohort, or volunteer opportunites please call our ofces
at 414.224.2410.




DREAM.EXPLORE.BUILD.


A peace rally on July 30th at Stark Park marked the frst project
for Lead2Changes Block By Block program.

Block By Block is commited to the engagement and training of
youth concerning neighborhood vitality. Through the program,
youth are trained in Asset Based Community Development,
transformatve leadership as well as project management, to
address neighborhood issues that afect them daily.















Currently Block by Block is in the Old North
Milwaukee Neighborhood that has partnered with the
Daniel Mardaks Boys and Girls and the 7th District
Milwaukee Police Department.

Youth were given 5 weeks to plan out their own event. They
decided on an idea of a peace rally in hopes of deterring vio-
lence in the community of Old North Milwaukee.

Planning a peace rally teaches youth that they have a voice,
they can make a change and a diference as
young people, and that hard work pays of, says
Samantha Burgess, who oversaw the groups this summer.

The peace rally involved an array of actvites. For
instance, guests speakers included Muhibb Dyer, a well known
poet in the city of Milwaukee as well as one of the winners of
this years James A. Marks Legacy Award and Khalil Coleman,
who currently works at the Neu-Life Community Development
Center, Daniels Mardak Boys and Girls Club, and the Boys and
Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee.


Football, basketball, a jump rope contest, dance contest, face
paintng, and the red light green light game were also included
in the days itnerary.

Informaton tables from local organizatons were also present
at The Peace Rally including: Lead2Change, The Boys and Girls
Club, and PEARLS for Teen Girls.

I think we really touched the community as a whole
and gave them inspiraton to no longer be violent, says partci-
pant Xavier M., a student at Holy Redeemer High School. Xavi-
er, who chose to join Block by Block to beter local communi-
tes, adds, The main idea of our project was to stop violence in
the Old North Milwaukee community and spread the idea of
peace.

The group is not stopping at the Peace Rally, but afer the event
survey over 100 families in the neighborhood and planned a
number of events to bring the community together for fun,
safe, and youth led events.

Interested in getng involved?!

The Old North Milwaukee Team meets every Thursday startng
October 9, 2014 from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. at Daniels Mardak Boys
and Girls Club.
Upcoming Events
October 18th - Kids and Cops in Costume
October 25th - Fall Kickball Game
November 8th - Block by Block Basketball Tournament
November 22nd - Thankful for Resources Fair





Volunteers are needed for all events, please contact our ofces
at 414.226.2410 for more informaton about Neighborhood
Engagement programming.
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BLOCK BY BLOCK


MiaMaria, 17, has been
serving as a Junior
Program Ofcer on the
Youth Advisory Council
since Spring 2014. She
will be a Senior in the fall
at Divine Savior of Holy
Angels High School.
MiaMaria frst heard of
Lead2Change when
Alumni Maddie Keyes, who
recently graduated from the
YAC at the tme, was visitng her high school and spoke to the
Sisters of Cultures club, which MiaMaria was a member of.

I joined the YAC because I really love the idea of youth in Mil-
waukee striving to make a change, says
MiaMaria.

MiaMaria explains that her biggest accomplishment
while serving on the council was having the opportunity to be
apart of the DreamBig! grant decisions.

Being the support behind a wonderful community
service that has serious potental to change Milwaukee makes
me feel important and really does make me a catalyst for
change, says MiaMaria.

According to MiaMaria, serving on the council has
taught her the work of a philanthropist, which includes learning
and developing teamwork skills, social skills, organizaton skills,
and marketng and advertsing tools and techniques.

Being a member of the YAC allowed MiaMaria to obtain a paid
internship with Lead2Change as well. She
worked at the Lead2Change ofce three days a week
this summer. Her responsibilites included partcipatng on the
Street Team, which involves promotng
DreamBig! to surrounding areas, as well as
contributng to the DreamBig! grant process.

However, serving on the council is more than
applicatons, conductng interviews, and deliberatng; it is tak-
ing a vested interest in the community and turning into wide-
spread acton and impact.


6

MiaMaria emphasizes the importance of the YISF, which grants
$2,500 to multple community service projects led by youth
every year, It is just as necessary as DreamBig! It keeps up with
community service projects throughout the year and it also
allows for more projects to happen on a smaller scale, she
says.

When asked what she would say to youth who would
consider joining the YAC, MiaMaria responds, It's
wonderful and a great experience. You work with amazing peo-
ple every day and it's a great opportunity to learn more about
yourself and other people, the world around you, philanthropy,
and what it really means to change your community.

The most memorable quote MiaMaria will always take with her
from her experiences while serving on the council is, Dream
big and make it happen.

Interested in joining the council?! We are now recruitng, email
MiaMaria at [email protected] for more informaton
and visit our website for the applicaton which is due October
20, 2014.
YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL

Or gani at i o Name


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Nchinda Nchinda, an 18-year-old Sophomore at Massachusets
Insttute of Technology, graduated from the Youth Advisory
Council in 2012.

Nchinda frst heard about Lead2Change in grade
school when he joined a program in his school district for stu-
dents in 5th through 12th grade called the Oak Creek Service
Learning Academy. He applied for a grant in 8th grade for the
project Discipline Respect and Unity through Music (DRUM) and
post grant cycle his supervisor received an email from Ms. Gray-
son asking for youth in grades 8 to 12 to apply for the Youth
Advisory Council. At that tme the Youth Advisory Council was
stll a program of the Greater Milwaukee Foundaton, so
Nchinda was able to assist in founding Lead2Change, Inc.

As one of Lead2Changes founding members,
Nchinda served as a Junior Program Ofcer on the YAC and par-
tcipated in writng the bylaws for Lead2Change as well as
choosing the Lead2Change logo.

During his service on the YAC there was a tme when the Mar-
ketng Chair was split into two positons: E-Marketng and Tan-
gible Media. Nchinda ran for and won the E-Marketng positon
and went on to become Lead2Changes most inspiratonal and
infuental E-Marketng Chair even creatng a cross-platorm
app for IOS and Android the organizaton plans to use in the
next few years.

I was a Junior Program Ofcer in the only organizaton of it's
kind in the country. I don't know how many people on the
council fully grasped how unique we are at Lead2Change, says
Nchinda.

Through alumni status and maintenance of Nchinda obtained
an internship this summer at Messmer Catholic Schools working
as a Tech intern.

Mostly I've been in computer labs setng up computers. I've
setup just under 90 Chromebooks, ran updates on dozens of
desktops, upgraded Mac Airs to OSX Mavericks, and transferred
teacher data from some dinosaurs to new Mac Airs, says
Nchinda.
Nchinda learned bout the uniqueness of laptop
issues, how administrators interact with each other, how sup-
port tckets are processed, and about database administraton.

The biggest thing I learned from Lead2Change was to always
know my passions and future goals and make sure that every
task I do is leading me on that path, says Nchinda.

Nchinda graduated from Oak Creek High School in 2013 as the
valedictorian of his class and is now atending the one of the
best engineering schools in the world. When asked what advice
he would give to others considering joining one of
Lead2Changes programs, Nchinda replied, You should join
because Lead2Change will give you the tools to develop your
passion.






















I was a Junior Program Ofcer in the only
organizaton of it's kind in the country. I
don't know how many people on the council
fully grasped how unique we are at
Lead2Change.
ALUMNI SPOLTLIGHT


BECOME A DONOR

Lead2Change contnues to thrive and operate successfully with
the help of donors like you. Your donaton to Lead2Change will
go a long way by allowing us to equip young people with the
necessary tools and resources they need in order to be
catalysts for change in the Greater Milwaukee community.
Donatng is simple. Visit our website at www.lead2change.org
and click on the donate buton on the homepage. You may pay
by credit card or mail a check to the address listed in this publi-
caton. Below are examples of how your grant dollars will em-
power teens through philanthropy in the Greater Milwaukee
community.

$2,500 can provide grant resources for a young person to cre-
ate and lead a service project, such as the ones highlighted in
this issue.

$2,520 will provide dinner for a year for the Youth Advisory
Council (YAC) members formulate ways to impact communites
through grant making.

$5,000 will provide a DreamBig! grant to the youth group that
best responds to the queston, What would you do with a
$5,000 grant to make Milwaukee beter? Two grant recipients
will be announced at our annual DreamBig!

$5,000 Support a school as a DEB host site.

$10,000 will pay for two annual teambuilding events for pro-
gram partcipants. Teambuilding involves assistng youth in be-
coming catalysts for change.

$12,000 will cover general operatng expenses for the organiza-
ton. Lead2Change is composed of qualifed staf and consult-
ants, working behind the scenes to bring the organizatons
goals to fruiton. We believe that youth leadership is a partner-
ship and that quality staf members play a major role in the
success of executng our programs. Besides, we want to keep
the lights on!

Financial contributons of any dollar amount are accepted
and all donatons will go towards our mission to empower
and inspire youth to be catalysts for change in their
communites.







Feel free to contact us with any questons,
comments, or suggestons.

Lead2Change, Inc.
735 N. Water Street Suite 727
Milwaukee, WI 53202
www.lead2changeinc.org
414.226.2410
[email protected]

Mission: to empower and inspire youth to be
catalysts for change in their communites

Vision: a community strengthened through
constructve youth engagement in all aspects of society.

Upcoming Dates:

September 23rd: Philanthropy Program
Informaton Session at the Journey House at 6:00 p.m.

October 1st: Dream.Explore.Build. Commitment
Ceremony at Destny Youth Plaza at 6:30 p.m.

October 4h - 9th : Philanthropy Program Informaton Sessions
check our website for tmes and locatons.
JOIN OUR FAMILY! CONTACT US

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