As William Mackey of Men for Positive Change gets closer to completing his own Youth Innovation Center, he took the time to recognize the young people participating in Safe Serve of Philadelphia. On August 25th, Men for Positive Change held a celebratory event at the Beckett Life Center that featured speeches by Senator Sharif Street and Kareem Thomas, the managing director of the Reinvestment Fund. At this event, the young members who were a part of “Safe Serve of Philadelphia” received certificates from the National Restaurant Association. These certificates recognize and commemorate 8-weeks of intensive food training completed by these youth. To start things off, Kareem Thomas spoke about his upbringing and how he got into finance. Thomas talked about wanting to be a TV news anchor at a young age, but the unfortunate passing of his mother drove him to become an adult overnight and ultimately led him into finance. “I had to figure out how to survive,” said Thomas. Thomas then emphasized how important it was to have the ability to build quality relationships. “Great relationships come with communication. Communication is the key to success. We all disagree with each other at some point in life, but what you do with that disagreement and how you manage that disagreement is the key to how we get ahead in life,” Thomas stated.
Senator Street, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Kareem, talked about how critical it is to stay committed to your dreams. “Staying committed to your goals and executing them is how you become someone like Kareem Thomas,” Senator Street stated. He made sure to point out that no goal is unachievable. “The odds were stacked against us, but we still made it. You all can do it too,” said Senator Street.
After Thomas and Senator Street shared their sentiments, the young Safe Serve of Philadelphia members were given their certificates. I asked William Mackey what he hoped would come out of this event. He replied, “We want to establish Youth Empowerment. We want young people to have a voice and to be able to make decisions for themselves. Events like these are all about investing in our youth and positioning them to feel empowered.”
At the close of this event, Mackey gave out Philadelphia Youth Council membership applications. He looks forward to more youth signing with his organizations.
