Rooted in Community // 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 two of Axel’s story. If you missed part one, click here to read!

As Axel prepared for his transition to high school, he continued on a journey of growth. The urgency to mature was palpable as he took his first steps towards becoming a StreetLeader. Nothing made it feel more urgent than his first day of summer camp as a StreetLeader. 

“I had to let go of some childish behavior,” Axel explained. “Because the summer of my 8th grade year, I was constantly getting in trouble because of my behavior. I wouldn’t listen, but now I have to be responsible with work….It was the first day of UP for the summer. I spent time with the kids and I realized it was hard to lead while also being childish.”

Axel, 2018

Amidst the challenges of transitions, it became evident that what helped Axel get through so many changes was the community he found at UrbanPromise because being rooted in community during transition leads to resilience.

Transition can be hard to navigate, but it's community that makes it possible to not walk through it alone. What gives peace to Axel in the midst of transition is talking it out with someone he trusts and sharing how he feels.

As a camper, Axel had a StreetLeader who stood with him during the changes he faced.

Axel with a group of middle school students, 2020

“Tati was just always there for me. She would help me out with problems I had and give me advice and would always be there to listen to me.”

Tati, a StreetLeader alumna, was a voice of wisdom and support as he navigated transitions. She impacted him during her time as a StreetLeader and her impact had a lasting effect on Axel as he decided to become a StreetLeader.

“She’d tell me to be the StreetLeader she was to me because she knew she impacted me,” Axel remembered. “I always told her I wanted to be a StreetLeader like her because she was always so nice. I just remember her giving me a hug and telling me that it will be ok.”

Community is Necessary // 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 two of a three part series. If you missed part one, click here to learn more about Sara’s beginnings with UP and how she’s learned to navigate transitions as a StreetLeader!

Sara at her Senior Signing Day, 2017

After graduating high school in 2017, Sara began her freshman year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Going from a Title I school where I was succeeding to a [research] university, that transition was extremely difficult. But I was able to get so much support from my StreetLeader Director, Erika, in navigating the change because I was severely underprepared for college," Sara shared as she was a first generation college student. 

"I didn't realize I was underprepared until I was sitting in a philosophy class [freshman year] talking about reasoning. It was a prep class for the LSAT and I had no reason to take that class. But, I learned about the resources I could use and the people I could rely on to get through those difficult moments."

Sara with camper while interning at our East location, Camp Hope, 2018

The community Sara built while at UP helped her through these difficult times in college. "During my last session in college, [my UP alumni class] wrote encouraging notes and put them into little mason jars. I took mine with me to college and read through them when I needed to. 

"[My UP alumni class] were not in touch every day, but we were like a pack we could rely on. God has taught me that we do not have to experience transitions by ourselves." 

Even after her time as a StreetLeader, Sara carried UrbanPromise with her. As transitions happen, community is important. The community we build at UrbanPromise lives beyond our students' time as campers and StreetLeaders. It is here to help our students as they transition from one stage of life to another. For Sara, community was needed as she made the transition from high school to college. 

Sara with campers, 2016

We are so grateful that you have been part of our community of supporters, especially as we've navigated transitions as an organization. Your support is an encouragement and plays an important role in creating community among our students, StreetLeaders and Alumni at UP. 

Transition Requires Growth // A SEASON OF TRANSITION

A lot can happen in 20 years.

Growth. Change. Transition.  

In UrbanPromise Charlotte’s 20-year journey with our students and families, we are committed to walking alongside our students through the stages of life and milestones experienced as they grow up. 

Axel, 2015

Our vision at UrbanPromise is three-fold: Reach a Child. Raise a Leader. Restore Community. For us to walk through each piece of our vision, we commit to the growing pains, celebrations, and transitions that come with seeing a 20-year vision come to life. 

For Axel, a 9th grade StreetLeader at our South Blvd site, he has already witnessed 9 years of the leadership journey.

UrbanPromise Charlotte first started in 2013 and there are only a handful of students who have been here since day 1. We call them our O.G. campers – and Axel Andres is one of them. Axel first joined as a kindergartener and is now a Junior StreetLeader! 

Axel with a group of campers, 2015

During the time he’s been at UrbanPromise, Axel has experienced transition in many ways. He experienced UrbanPromise from elementary to high school. He’s seen mentors and leaders close to him move or graduate. He’s seen UrbanPromise grow from a group of six students on the first day to an organization that serves 300 students at four locations! 

Axel was at UrbanPromise when he transitioned from elementary school to middle school and then from middle school to high school. Each time, there were major changes and Axel remembers some of the challenges that came from each transition. That’s because transitions require growth.

Transitioning into middle school, he realized quickly he had to bring an end to some of his elementary ways of being energetic and playful and take steps towards managing his emotions with the support of leaders that cared about him at UrbanPromise. 

"Here's What Erika Would Do"

Ask anyone at UrbanPromise Charlotte about Leslie, and you’ll hear some version of the same refrain: she was made for leading students.

But, prior to coming to UrbanPromise, Leslie never imagined herself working with kids. In fact, it was necessity, not passion, that initially brought Leslie through UP’s doors.

Or, looking back now, perhaps it was fate.

Leslie as a StreetLeader in 2018

“It was my junior year of high school, and other individuals were starting to talk about college,” Leslie recalls. “I wasn’t sure what [kinds of experiences] I was supposed to have in order to apply, so I talked to my guidance counselor. She introduced me to a job working at a summer camp. That was how I came to UrbanPromise.”

Leslie was hired in 2017 into a special cohort of East Charlotte StreetLeaders tasked with a big assignment:

1) Learn how to plan and execute an out-of-school-time experience for kids, and...
2) Launch a brand new UrbanPromise site in their own East Charlotte neighborhood that fall!

During that first summer, Leslie and her colleagues split up and shadowed UrbanPromise's previously established sites on South Boulevard and in West Charlotte. Then they got to work learning how to translate that learning into building a program of their own.

“We knew what the UrbanPromise model could do, because [after that summer] we had all experienced it at other sites,” recalls Erika, UP’s East Site Director at the time. “But creating our own identity in East Charlotte was a challenge. When I think about that first year, it felt like we were building our own family. We were building a home for our own kids.”

Thankfully, that summer Leslie realized she had “fallen into” something she truly loved — “helping kids and students.” Her lack of experience in building an out-of-school-time program was eclipsed by her passion and natural leadership capabilities.

With the support and empowerment of UrbanPromise's staff, Leslie soared.

Leslie (left) with Liz & Cici, two other founding East Site StreetLeaders, in 2018

Over her next two years as a StreetLeader, Leslie would help establish the DNA of UP’s East Charlotte Site, paving the way for the next generation of StreetLeaders and creating a home for the hundreds of younger students who would attend UP’s AfterSchool and Summer Camp programs in the years to come.

But even though she was excellent, it wasn't always easy.

“Erika and Will (UP’s East Site StreetLeader Director) were able to help me during a time that was really hard for me,” Leslie remembers through tears. “There was a lot going on in my life, and they helped me all the way around — emotionally, academically, spiritually. They were very understanding, working around situations, helping me keep it all together.”

Will looks back on Leslie’s first year as a StreetLeader with a shared sense of gratitude — when Leslie joined UP, he was also brand new to the UrbanPromise staff. As they navigated the complicated college application journey alongside one another, they both benefitted and grew.

“We were working together to understand the whole application process — understanding what it meant to get into college,” Leslie remembers. “He helped us write our college papers, helped us understand all the information we needed. Will was an amazing supporter.”

Will credits Erika with helping him learn on the job — she had previously served as a StreetLeader Director at UP’s South Site and brought a wealth of knowledge from that experience.

Together, Erika, Will, and Leslie navigated the path that ultimately led to Leslie accepting an offer to attend college at UNC-Charlotte.

“There was a weight to it,” Will remembers. “Leslie trusted us and trusted the Lord. Her story continues to give me confidence to trust the process.“

But the story doesn't end there.

Leslie (center) serving as a Camp Hope Intern during the unusual and challenging summer of 2020

In 2020 “the process” led Leslie to another opportunity: a brand new AfterSchool Program called RISE was opening in East Charlotte that fall, and they were hiring.

“I wanted to apply, but not for the Group Leader position (similar to a StreetLeader role),” says Leslie. “I felt as though I wanted to grow in learning, I wanted to challenge myself and apply for a higher position — leading the site.”

Leslie wasn’t offered the leadership role she applied for — the director of RISE thought she might need a bit more mentoring before taking on such a big job. So Leslie settled for the Group Leader position, but that wasn’t ultimately where she landed.

Like many of us, 2020 had different plans for Leslie:

“Because of COVID there wasn’t anyone who could take the Site Leader role, so I had to sub in. So I proved that I was able to run the AfterSchool Program,” Leslie explains. “Again, we were learning together about building a program from scratch. And I was talking about my old boss all the time — ‘here’s what Erika would do.’ I was taking everything I had learned from UP to start RISE.”

Leslie is now in her second year as a Site Leader at RISE. She oversees 18 Group Leaders and 72 students — leaders and kids who remind her of herself and the students she served at UP only a few short years ago.

All of this she has managed while completing her coursework at UNCC — Leslie graduated last weekend with a degree in sociology focused on urban youth & communities!

Leslie (left) and the leadership team at RISE

There are at least two people who aren’t surprised by Leslie's passion and success:

“One of the things that was clear early on was Leslie’s gift as a culture creator,” says Will. "If there was ever a gap in creativity, she didn’t wait around for someone else to step in. The other StreetLeaders rallied around that when we were building the initial culture at East. Leslie had a willingness to step out in front and say — ‘come follow me.’”

“Leslie helped build what Camp Hope is now,” Erika affirms. “She has always served with such a full heart as a servant leader.”

Five years ago Leslie was searching for a way to build her resume. She ended up building two out-of-school-time programs that serve hundreds of East Charlotte students instead.