Xavier knows that there are a lot of negative perceptions about his Memphis neighborhood and the people who live there. And yes, his neighborhood has its share of problems — but there is so much good, too, that goes unrecognized. Unfortunately, he observes that when kids in his community only hear the negative stereotypes, they start to believe that those are their only options. Xavier is determined to change that. He cares deeply for these kids and hopes to provide a positive example for them through the Streets Ministries after school program, where he works part-time in addition to going to college. He knows first-hand the challenges many of these kids face – his own mother died when he was four and his father has been absent from his life. Xavier credits his mother’s accomplishments and his uncle’s example as the sources of inspiration that have driven him to go to college and to work towards a career in forensic science – and he strives to provide that same inspiration to youth in his neighborhood every day.
Additional Resources
- Suggested Discussion Questions (coming soon!)
- Suggested Reading (coming soon!)
- Check out additional resources on Education, Early Childhood, Nonprofits/Social Entrepreneurship, and Race
How to download the video for classroom use:
- Go to www.vimeo.com/180635124
- In the grey bar below the title, click “Download”
- Click “Download” next to “HD 1080p”. The video will automatically start downloading.
- Test to see if your computer can play the video. If your computer doesn’t have a video player that can play .mp4 files, you can download VLC for free at http://www.videolan.org/
vlc/index.html