Supply: iOne Digital Inventive Companies
Okahlil Darden simply turned 23 in March and is already eight years into his work because the founder and CEO of Younger Black Motivated Kings & Queens, or YBMKQ, the nonprofit that gives underserved youth within the Pittsburgh/Penn Hills space.
The third letter of the above acronym stands for “motivated,” and Darden, a latest graduate of Clark-Atlanta College, greater than matches the invoice. Gen Z is commonly demonized as an apathetic, unmotivated era, however Darden is something however. He’s, in reality, additionally very conceptual, detail-oriented, and profitable.
He was simply 15 when he based YBMKQ. Darden stated he was in his room, pondering stereotypes about teenagers. “I simply wrote down [words for] what I wished folks to think about after they considered us,” he says.
In January, Darden and YBMKQ simply broke floor for D’Avery A. Thomas Neighborhood Heart, servicing residents from the cradle to post-high college. In cooperation with Pittsburgh Public Faculties, the middle affords after-school programming for elementary, center, and highschool, in addition to daycare and Head Begin. Darden says they hope to serve not less than 94 college students per program, at a negligible value for members.
“We actually imply it once we say we would like it to be a one-stop store,” guarantees Darden. “We wish to serve all of the folks from very younger to very previous after which enable it to be a full circle second.”
Younger Black Motivated Kings & Queens D’Avery A. Thomas Neighborhood Heart on Ridgeway Avenue in Pittsburgh. | Supply: Ya Momz Home, Inc.
Darden grew up in Penn Hills and wished to do one thing for this a part of the town. “There haven’t been quite a lot of alternatives for our younger folks in Pittsburgh, and particularly within the Penn Hills space,” he says. “I used to be there when the YMCA was pulled out [in 2016]. For me it’s with the ability to create and domesticate house that used to exist for me, and for different younger folks.”
Tellingly, the artwork studio within the new heart is one which Darden is most enthusiastic about. Children can “simply pack proper in” and create artwork within the protected haven they’ve created and never depart the hood.
There might be two artwork studio areas: one for making music and podcasts, and one referred to as the Rose Room of Visible Arts.
“Antwon… was an arts creator. That’s how he conceptualized and talked in regards to the issues that he went by way of,” Darden says. “Even right down to writing a poem that described vaguely how he would go away.”
YMBKQ additionally got here to be as a response to a sequence of deaths round him. Working with the group was a spot for Darden to present again, to course of, and to heal. That is why psychological well being consciousness and remedy stays a pillar of the org, by way of afterschool programming, by way of psychological well being professionals on employees, and thru “therapeutic” occasions all year long.
“Typically younger folks simply want that house to say I can simply be right here. Or I can simply be right here and simply draw as a result of drawing is my coping mechanism,” Darden explains. “It was with the ability to create one thing the place younger folks can merely simply be. It could appear extra advanced than that, however that’s simply what I wished to have the ability to create.”
Kahlil Darden, CEO and Founding father of YBMKQ. | Supply: Brandon Rashad
When Darden was 12, one among his favourite uncles – “He liked to construct with folks and drop gems,” – was killed by gun violence.
“The day he died, we have been speculated to have a household recreation evening,” Darden remembers. “We spent quite a lot of household time collectively. I do know if he may have jumped right into a line of labor serving to younger folks, he would have finished this work.”
Darden was within the throes of despair and unhappiness—he says it was the primary time he skilled deep grief—and acknowledged that there weren’t locations the place folks compelled you to have conversations about it. “You weren’t given house – and at the moment, I didn’t actually wish to speak about it. I wished to have the ability to do stuff that saved my thoughts busy,” he says.
A couple of years later, his finest good friend died. After which his 1-year-old godson, D’Avery A. Thomas, was additionally killed. Antwon Rose II, a younger man who was killed by police in 2018, was additionally heavy on Darden’s coronary heart. His outlet wasn’t conventional remedy, it was working along with his group.
“It was group work, it was simply with the ability to simply preserve going,” he says. “One in every of my cousins [and I] have been debating as a result of they’re like, you’re not grieving, you’re simply protecting your self busy. However I inform them, no, that is how I grieve. And for some people who doesn’t look regular, they really feel like that’s hiding, that’s working out of your feelings, however for me, serving to different folks, and making certain that different folks don’t really feel the ache that I felt permits me to cope with what I went by way of.”
YBMKQ employees on the 25 below 25 Award Gala on the historic Rodef Shalom Congregation on Fifth Ave., Pittsburgh, June 29, 2024. From left to proper: Jhordan Worth (chief of employees) Kahlil Darden, Jaquan Gethers (Advertising Coordinator) and Maurice Redwood (Youth Engagement Coordinator). | Supply: Ray Carrington Pictures
Darden additionally has a really eager sense of himself and his targets. Briefly, he marches to his personal beat and beats his personal path. He’s all the time eschewed conventional recommendation like, wait till you get a school diploma to do the stuff you wish to – like begin a nonprofit for youths in Pittsburgh.
“Lots of people put restraints on younger folks—wait until you’re out of school, wait a few years—my mother advised me that. However I simply defied the chances. And we chuckle about it now,” says Darden.
But it couldn’t have been simple to proceed to program YBMKQ from Atlanta whereas being a full-time scholar. But once more, Darden defied the chances.
YBMKQ in January 2024 on the groundbreaking in Penn Hills for his or her new group heart, which affords after-school programming for elementary, center, and highschool, in addition to daycare and Head Begin. | Supply: Ya Momz Home, Inc.
“Lots of people stated, oh when Kahlil goes to Atlanta, YBMKQ is gonna finish, it gained’t exist anymore. And so, for me, it was a proving level. You could be in one other state and nonetheless run work. It’s doable. And folks ask me how I did it, and generally I’ll inform them, I don’t know. However I did it. I’m exhibiting younger people who going to varsity don’t cease nothing, you possibly can nonetheless work, you possibly can nonetheless construct your dream, and also you don’t have to attend to get to varsity earlier than you begin.”
Typical knowledge additionally stated to go away Pittsburgh and by no means look again. Darden defied that, too.
“I talked just a little about this on the groundbreaking – however I hate when folks say stuff like, get as distant from Pittsburgh as you possibly can. Get away and by no means come again. And for me, that simply perpetuates the cycle of by no means getting higher. You possibly can depart however develop inside your self, study issues you must study you, and in addition come again to pour again into younger folks which may not get to expertise that.”
YMBKQ’s mentorship, academic and entrepreneurship packages encourage younger folks to go to varsity.
“In the event you by no means go and expertise a world apart from what you grew up in, you by no means study what individuals are lacking out on,” says Darden. “I don’t wish to [bind] folks right here, you’re not sure to remain right here, however all the time go and develop!”
The one factor Darden says that he would give his metropolis’s youth unequivocally if he had a magic wand is an oldie however goodie.
“Love. I feel what quite a lot of younger folks lack is love, real love. And people who care, [who] truly present up. Having the ability to present as much as present them what it means to like,” he says. “And it’s loving them by way of their errors. While you’re younger you’re going to make errors. You’re going to do stuff, then get up tomorrow and say, why did I do that? So, if the children in Pittsburgh had just a bit extra love. Just a bit bit. They’d be okay.”
Angela Bronner is a author and editor residing in Harlem, New York.
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Younger Black Motivated Kings & Queens: Kahlil Darden Is On His Grind
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