During his sophomore year at Syracuse University, Moises DeLeon was troubled by reports on broadcast news that stereotyped black people. The media, especially reports on Fox News by pundits like Bill O’Reilly, portrayed them all as having broken and fatherless families, he said. But from his own experience, DeLeon said this was simply not the case.

He got the idea to start a group to combat these uninformed views, and by his senior year at SU, DeLeon was able to get his project off the ground.

The Young Black Successful, LLC, founded by DeLeon in September 2015, aims to change the perception of black youth in the media. The group is dedicated to helping empower the black community by showing youth examples of accomplished black role models and providing them with the inspiration and resources to give back to the community themselves, DeLeon said.

This past weekend, The Young Black Successful held its first youth learning conference.

In his senior year at Syracuse University, the entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises and finance double major teamed up with several colleagues to get started on his project. They interviewed people in the community, like SU students and alumni to feature on their social media platforms. And to broaden its approach, Young Black Successful also profiled members of the black community across the nation who embody the characteristics the organization works to highlight.

After graduation, DeLeon was able to go out in the community and organize events to promote the group’s message even further. As a result of this newfound growth, he decided to reach out to Mariah Scott to help him start the organization.

Scott, who is currently a graduate student at SU, started an organization called Speaking Out as Unified Leaders, or SOUL. SOUL aimed to incorporate arts education into Chicago area junior high schools. DeLeon said that though he has done plenty of community service throughout his undergraduate years, he knew that Scott’s previous experience setting up an independent organization would be a great asset.

“This is somebody who can help me form a truly great program to benefit the kids,” he said of Scott.

Scott wholeheartedly agreed with the mission of The Young Black Successful. She said:

One of the primary means by which The Young Black Successful impacted the community was through Think Tanks. In Think Tanks, volunteers would set up groups where students were encouraged to think about problems in the community and come up with ways to eliminate them.

Going a step further, the students were also asked to engage in a debate, in order to ensure that they were thinking about all sides of the problem and that they were properly educated on the issue at hand.

Another way The Young Black Successful strives to help students is by organizing learning conferences. The group held its first on April 16, formally titled the Business Professional and Youth Leadership Conference. It was centered around workshops and presentations to teach high school students practical skills they could use in their professional lives, from getting into college to getting a first job.

The conference was staged at George Fowler High School in Syracuse, and DeLeon said he expected around 250 students at the event. Though late buses kept some students from coming to the conference and DeLeon had to downsize some classrooms, he still said they had a good crowd. Students from all grade levels attended, from freshmen to seniors, and even some college students came.

Two high school students at the conference, freshman Anita Khamtan and sophomore Tia Williams, said they’re interested in engineering and forensic science, respectively. They decided to sign up to attend the conference when they saw some applications being distributed in their cafeteria during lunchtime.

The girls listened to a presentation given by SU Career Services’ Magnolia Salas, where Salas talked about the art of the interview. In the intimate classroom setting, Salas first asked the high school students in the room about their past experience with interviewing. She invited them to share memories from their first time sitting down with a potential employer, and how it made them feel. Almost every one of them said they felt nervous that first time.

After all his planning, DeLeon was pleased with how event turned out. He said:

Ultimately, DeLeon and his team viewed the day’s work as a success.

Moving forward, The Young Black Successful is excited to bring students from the Chicago area to Atlanta in summer 2017 to tour “black-owned businesses,” museums and even colleges. The cultural immersion trip is designed to teach them about leadership, although the team is still in the process of working out the fine details.

Besides continuing to have conferences and publishing content on social media, Scott said that The Young Black Successful will utilize contacts in Chicago, Milwaukee and New York City to network and build symbiotic relationships with other black empowerment organizations across the country.

Saturday’s Business Professional and Youth Leadership Conference was the first conference that The Young Black Successful was able to organize.

But in regards to The Young Black Successful’s presence regionally and nationally, Scott said, “This is really just the beginning.”

Published on April 17, 2016 at 8:21 pm

Contact: cmrussel@syr.edu | @caseymrussell