Where We're Going: 10 Years of UrbanPromise Charlotte- Ayana's Story

In celebration of 10 years of UrbanPromise Charlotte, we’ve shared reflections on where we’ve been and where we are today. If you have not had a chance to read those stories, click here for part one and here for part two. Today, allow us to tell you where we are going next.

The past 10 years of UrbanPromise Charlotte have been filled with special moments. Milestone events like Senior Signing Days. Fun Friday field trips during the summer. Countless small mentoring moments between StreetLeaders and campers, moments which, when added up, make UrbanPromise a community of belonging and compassion.

As I look ahead to where we are going, I’m excited about what’s next for our UrbanPromise Charlotte community. We have hopes and plans to deepen and strengthen our continuum of programs that support over 600 children, youth, and young adults through their 20-year leadership journey.

I’m excited about these plans and look forward to sharing more about them in the coming months. I also know that our future will bring challenges we don’t yet foresee – yet I’m confident in our ability to navigate these challenges because of the incredible people who make up the UrbanPromise Charlotte community.

One of these people is Ayana.

Ayana is a senior StreetLeader at our site in northeast Charlotte, Camp Love. When Ayana talks about the growth she’s experienced at UrbanPromise, she always shares a powerful refrain:

“I’m able to be comfortable with the uncomfortable.”

“Coming to UrbanPromise, I was shy. You wouldn’t get a full sentence from me,” Ayana elaborates. “Now, I put myself out there without feeling embarrassed.”

There is beauty in becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. As any good athlete, musician, or leader will tell you – discomfort is where the growth happens.

And at UrbanPromise, Ayana did not have to face this discomfort alone. Alongside UrbanPromise staff members and fellow StreetLeaders, Ayana strengthened her voice, grew her confidence, and discovered a peace that carries her through tough times.

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“[UrbanPromise] is a support system. It’s like a little family.”

That family sparks dreams and aspirations that help our StreetLeaders discover their purpose and meaning for their future.

“I want to go to college and major in special education and psychology. Working with our E.G.R. [or ‘Extra Grace Required’] kids and with many of our kids [having experienced trauma], UrbanPromise made me want to major in that.”

We can’t wait to see the adult leader Ayana becomes in the future. We are encouraged to know that her experience as a StreetLeader today will only strengthen her ability to support young people down the road.

As she prepares to graduate in the spring, she shared her hopes for UrbanPromise Charlotte and specifically for the young StreetLeaders at Camp Love. “My hope is for them to see the bigger picture of UrbanPromise, not just looking at it as a job. I want them to see the importance of reaching a child in the community.”  

Ayana continues by sharing her hopes for her campers. “I want my campers to become StreetLeaders and hope they are able to look back when they get older and think, ‘UrbanPromise did shape me and made me into the little human being I am now.’”

This is how the UrbanPromise model works. StreetLeaders like Ayana courageously become “comfortable with the uncomfortable” and grow into inspiring role models for younger students. Those younger students become the next generation of StreetLeaders. The cycle of leadership continues.
But this cycle begins – and has always begun – with your generosity. Through your generosity, you are not just investing in the present. You are shaping the future leaders and change-makers that will impact Charlotte (and beyond). Your support ensures that UrbanPromise Charlotte remains a constant support system, a family to those who need it most.

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We know today that Charlotte is a city where opportunity is not equality distributed. Your support ensures our students have access to the educational, mental, and spiritual support needed to thrive in Charlotte not only today, but in the future.  

I do not know what the opportunity gap or the issues of tomorrow will look like for Charlotte. However, I trust in the ability of our StreetLeaders – leaders, like Ayana, who are comfortable with the uncomfortable, to change this city and make it stronger for all.

We need your help to make this happen. Your contribution, no matter the size, has the power to transform the lives of young leaders and transform Charlotte!

Your support matters and we are grateful for your commitment to the UrbanPromise community.

We are wishing you a wonderful new year filled with joy, freedom, hope, and love.

Watch this short video to hear from our StreetLeaders and StreetLeader Alumni on their hopes for the future of UrbanPromise Charlotte!

Watch Ayana’s Promise Breakfast speech from the 2022 Promise Breakfast! She speaks on what peace means to her and how she’s found peace at UrbanPromise.

Where We Are: 10 Years of UrbanPromise Charlotte- Malichi's Story

Shocked.

That’s the word that Malachi used to describe how he felt on his first day as a StreetLeader UrbanPromise in the summer of 2018.

“I was shocked at first, to be real,” Malachi explained. “I thought UrbanPromise was going to be just a regular job. But during StreetLeader Training, I saw how it was really diving into each other’s stories and being vulnerable. It shocked me because I wasn’t used to being vulnerable and telling people I just met about my background and experiences.”

So much has happened since Malachi’s first day as a StreetLeader back in 2018.

Today, he’s a junior at North Carolina A&T University studying multimedia in the mass communications and journalism major.

“I might not have guessed it back when I first started,” Malachi reflects, “but UrbanPromise helped shape me into the leader I am today.”

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This fall, we are celebrating 10 years of UrbanPromise Charlotte. 

A decade of promise. Ten years of walking with our students and StreetLeaders like Malachi. Ten years of pursuing the vision: Reach a Child, Raise a Leader, Restore Community.

As we reflect on the past 10 years, I’m filled with awe and gratitude for what you’ve helped create during this first decade of UrbanPromise Charlotte.

During our first year of programming in 2013-2014, the UrbanPromise Charlotte community consisted of about 80 elementary school students and high school StreetLeaders at one neighborhood site. We had one full-time staff member.

Today, ten years later, over 600 students, StreetLeaders, and Alumni belong to the UrbanPromise Charlotte community and engage in our continuum of programs across four neighborhood sites. We have 18 incredible full-time staff members.

Throughout our ten-year history, the center of the UrbanPromise model has always been our StreetLeaders.

When our teenage StreetLeaders are given the opportunity and the responsibility to lead our younger students, something special happens. StreetLeaders become powerful role models for our younger students. And StreetLeaders themselves are transformed in the process.

This leadership cycle has unfolded countless times during the past decade – including in Malachi’s story.

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“Before UrbanPromise, I was quiet. I was angry inside,” Malachi remembered. “People knew me but they didn’t know about me. I stayed in my own area and didn’t want people to bother me.”

UrbanPromise staff members and other StreetLeaders pursued Malachi, kindly but persistently. Slowly, he dropped his defenses.

“My time at UrbanPromise taught me that there were people who really cared about who I was – and that made me want to figure out who God had made me to be, too.”

Ultimately, Malachi’s campers inspired his transformation.

“I saw all these little faces staring at me,” Malachi explained. “It made me really look at what I do and what people might see that I don’t think they see. “It made me reshape how I [live] my life to make sure that I’m not giving the wrong image for someone behind me.”

Once Malachi embraced his responsibility to be a positive role model for his campers, his leadership development accelerated.

“I learned that I could lead a skit on the fly; that I could influence middle schoolers and change their behavior in a matter of weeks; and that I could become captain and be a leader of my peers,” Malachi rattled off proudly.

“UrbanPromise taught me that I was more powerful than I was giving myself credit for.”

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO OF MALACHI DURING HIS DAYS OF BEING A STREETLEADER AT UP AND WHAT BEING A LEADER MEANS TO HIM!

Propelled by his powerful influence on his campers, Malachi began pursuing big dreams for his own future. Earlier in his high school career, Malachi was skeptical of college. However, he ended up choosing to attend North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro. He’s thriving there and continuing his servant leadership on campus.

“As a junior at A&T this year, I’m leading in different ways and joining clubs,” Malachi shared. “For example, I’m part of Men on the Move, which is a club encouraging men to stay in college because a lot of men dropout.”

And for the past two summers, Malachi has chosen to return to UrbanPromise as a Summer Intern, serving as a coach and mentor for the new generation of StreetLeaders.

“I wanted to come back to become an Intern to teach current StreetLeaders [what I learned at UrbanPromise] – that there are people who care about them. And that they are more than who they think they are.”

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Malachi embodies the UrbanPromise vision. As a StreetLeader, he reflected Jesus’ love, kindness, and compassion for his campers. Now as an UrbanPromise Alumnus, he continues to shine as a servant leader in his communities.

And the beautiful thing is that Malachi is not alone. 

There are now 10 years of UrbanPromse Alumni. 163 Alumni from our South, West, East, and North sites. 163 Alumni striving to make our communities in Charlotte (and beyond) reflect God’s kingdom of love, freedom, hope, and joy.

As we look ahead to 2024 and to the next decade of UrbanPromise Charlotte, I’m filled with hope as I consider the leadership of our StreetLeaders and Alumni – because our city needs leaders exactly like them.

Charlotte continues to be a city where opportunity is not equally distributed. Our students, StreetLeaders, and Alumni don’t have access to the same quality of education, affordable housing, social capital, and other support systems that their peers from privileged backgrounds easily access.

However, in the face of these obstacles, our StreetLeaders’ resilience shines brightly. Not only have 100% of our first nine senior StreetLeader classes have graduated high school on-time and received college acceptance – but, like Malachi, our StreetLeaders and Alumni are becoming agents of restoration in Charlotte (and beyond).

Thank you for your generosity and enduring belief in our leaders at UrbanPromise Charlotte this Christmas and throughout the year.

Where We've Been: A Look Back Over the Last 10 Years of UrbanPromise Charlotte- Emi’s Story

Over the next few weeks, we will be celebrating 10 years of UrbanPromise Charlotte by looking at where we’ve been as a community, where we are today, and where we are going next. We hope you feel a swell of pride as you read about the tangible difference your giving has made possible.

Every weekday afternoon at 3:15 PM, something special happens.

At all four UrbanPromise Charlotte sites around the city, our StreetLeaders gather in a circle for our “Pre-Camp” meeting before our younger students arrive. UrbanPromise staff members and StreetLeaders check-in with one another. Staff members share a few words of inspiration and direction. StreetLeaders prepare their hearts and minds to lead.

During Pre-Camp one sunny afternoon in early October, the StreetLeaders at our South Boulevard site (“Camp Joy”) were asked to repeat a simple sentence aloud:

“I am here because of the courageous leadership of those who went before me,” they repeated in unison.

This simple sentence carried particular weight that afternoon.

Most of the StreetLeaders around the circle had grown up at UrbanPromise as campers.

Two StreetLeaders in the circle were actually kindergarten students 10 years ago during the very first year of UrbanPromise Charlotte.

All of the StreetLeaders around the circle could trace their presence at UrbanPromise back to our original group of StreetLeaders.

Ten years ago, driven by the belief that Charlotte’s teenagers could be leaders of change in their neighborhoods both now and in the future, we hired our first 16 StreetLeaders in the fall of 2013. They quickly embraced their role as mentors, role models, and tutors for younger students — living examples of faith in action. Their courageous leadership was the initial spark to the UrbanPromise Charlotte community.

On this particular sunny afternoon in early October, one of the original 16 StreetLeaders (Emi) had returned to Camp Joy to visit and reminisce about the 10-year anniversary of UrbanPromise Charlotte. Emi, who is now a completing a PhD program at the University of South Carolina, had a message for her former-campers-turned-StreetLeaders:

“I’m proud of you,” Emi began. “You are creating future leaders. It’s absolutely powerful [for me] to see. And I’m really excited for you to get to see your ‘little nuggets’ grow and for you to be proud of them.”

This is how the UrbanPromise model works. The courageous leadership of each new class of StreetLeaders inspires and makes room for a new generation of courageous leaders to emerge. A community of young leaders is formed, united by the goal of making a difference in their city.

As we look back at where we’ve been during the last ten years, I’m filled with awe and gratitude for what you’ve helped create during this first decade of UrbanPromise Charlotte.

Today, your support allows over 600 children, youth, and young adults to grow and develop through our continuum of out-of-school-time programs, StreetLeader Program, and Alumni Support Program. And, ultimately, you allow us to invest in leaders like Emi – young leaders who, motivated by their faith, are determined to be servant leaders and change agents in their communities.

Thank you for believing in the vision of UrbanPromise — to reach children, raise leaders, and restore community — and for helping bring that vision to life.

Watch this three-minute video below, which celebrates the first 10 years of UrbanPromise Charlotte and includes clips from Emi’s visit back to Camp Joy!

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Watch this extended conversation between Emi (a founding StreetLeader) and Jimmy (our founding executive director) as they reflect on the early days of UrbanPromise Charlotte and what the past ten years have meant to them.

Be Our Constant // A SEASON OF TRANSITION

During this holiday season, we are reflecting on transitions and how to navigate them as they inevitably come. Today, we are sharing the third and final part of our series. Please read part one and part two of Sara’s story with UP! 

Sara with a student from her reading class, 2021

Sara graduated from college in 2020, a time when the entire world was experiencing an unexpected transition. During that time, she did not immediately enter the workforce and instead served as a caregiver to her family. Eventually, a summer job opportunity with UrbanPromise was available that gave her direction with her career.

“I had the opportunity to work for [UP] West as a Middle School Reading Teacher, and I feel like that was the step that launched me into my career.” 

Her job with UrbanPromise came at a critical time in her post-college life as she was dealing with so much doubt. “Honestly, at that point I had given up. I was dealing with guilt and self-loathing thinking, did I pick the wrong major? My degree isn’t going to work for me,” Sara reflected. “From there, the teaching experience with UP helped me go to Costa Rica to be a teacher.”

Sara with her reading class, 2021

Sara spent 8 months in Costa Rica as a teacher but had a longing to come home. “I found myself in many positions during college and then as a teacher in Costa Rica always desiring and longing to come back to UrbanPromise Charlotte or something similar to it.” 

Sara’s prayers would soon be answered as an opportunity presented itself with UrbanPromise. “Honestly, God really just works. He just works!” 

Now, Sara is the new Middle School Coordinator for UP’s West Charlotte Site! 

Sara is the perfect person to lead our Middle Schoolers at UP West as she has experience with navigating transitions. As the Middle School Coordinator, Sara notices, “Middle School students are in a constant transition. They are transitioning from being 5th graders to 6th graders and then very quickly 8th graders to high schoolers. They’re just opening their eyes to the world around them and who they are as people, their own personalities, their own identities, and how they fit into their friend groups, their class room, and their afterschool program communities.”

West StreetLeaders and Staff, 2022

But how do we find peace in these seasons of transitions? Sara advises, “It’s going to my constants. It’s difficult to be in change and transition. Really diving into my support systems have been helpful for me and bring peace to me.
“UrbanPromise is a little piece of Heaven on Earth. Even in our moments of transition and change, we especially need support.” Sara tearfully continues, “Having people outside of this space root us on, it means a lot because the day-to-day can be difficult. It can be a lot, but it’s meaningful work.”

As we approach the end of year, you have been our constant. Constant supporters, constant encouragers, constant partners. Your constant support encourages us and your prayers strengthen us. 
Will you be our constant today?

Thank you for your support in helping to sustain the work of UrbanPromise. We could not do this work without you! 

Purposeful Transition // A SEASON OF TRANSITION

During this holiday season, we are reflecting on transitions and how to navigate them as they inevitably come. Today, we are sharing part three of Axel’s story. If you missed the first two parts, click here for part one and click here for part two.

Some transitions are inevitable, and you can’t decide whether they happen or not – like growing up from elementary school to middle school. But becoming a StreetLeader is a transition our former campers intentionally decide to make – to take on the responsibility of leading students the way they saw their StreetLeaders do. Becoming a StreetLeader is a transition that is purposeful and driven by impact. 

Axel an Angel, 2015

Axel and Angel, 2018

Axel is now the second sibling in his family serving as a StreetLeader at UrbanPromise. Axel's brother, Angel, is a StreetLeader alumnus and served as StreetLeader his four years in high school after being a camper, too. From a young age, Axel followed along to StreetLeader pre-camp meetings. Axel dreamt of the day he would be able to join the meetings as a StreetLeader. 

“Being a StreetLeader has always been my dream since being a camper because I remember I would come to pre-camp with Angel because he was a StreetLeader and I was still a camper. They would tell me to go to a classroom to wait for pre-camp to end and I wouldn’t go in there, I wanted to stay with them.”

As a camper, Axel knew he wanted to be a StreetLeader but, when the time approached to make a decision, he was actually unsure. It was a major decision and a major transition to go from camper to a StreetLeader teaching and leading campers! Axel was encouraged to make the intentional transition to a StreetLeader by the impact of former StreetLeaders, like Tati and his brother.

“At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a StreetLeader even though I always wanted to be a StreetLeader because I knew it was going to be a lot of responsibility. Angel let me know that I could do this. He was always there letting me know I got this and to keep going.“

The Andres family at Angel’s Senior Signing Day, 2022

After deciding to become a StreetLeader, Axel was determined to be an impactful leader the way he’d seen his brother lead. His transition to being a StreetLeader was purposeful in replicating the leadership he saw in his brother. 

“I saw what [Angel] did over the summer. That was the first time I saw him lead as a StreetLeader, completely. I saw what he did, and decided to do it myself. I started to do it my own way. I did what he did but I changed it up a bit.”

After witnessing the cycle of leadership at UrbanPromise, Axel desires to leave the same impact on his campers the way past StreetLeaders have made on him. 

“The bond you have with the kids is so nice. It’s just fun talking to a camper, checking up on them. Just talking to them can definitely put a smile on someone’s face…. When I graduate, I definitely want kids to remember me as a StreetLeader that was there for them and was helpful and caring.” 

Axel with camper, 2022

StreetLeaders are invited to reflect Jesus by leading with humility, patience, determination, compassion, and enthusiasm even on their hard days. Axel received the patience and compassion from StreetLeaders that not only impacted him but continues to motivate him to care for his campers, reflecting the way of Jesus to our community. Now, Axel is paving the way for campers that will follow him — freely giving as he has freely received. 

UrbanPromise Charlotte employs and cares for over 100 high school StreetLeaders just like Axel. Our StreetLeaders are responsible for over 300 campers using their influence to help lead and guide campers in the early transitions of their lives. It is our hope that our campers see their StreetLeaders as role models and follow in their footsteps to become leaders influencing the next generation.