Last month, the Good Life Youth Foundation handed certificates to the fifth graduating unit of youth for their completion in its “Beyond 16 Bars” Curriculum.

The local Syracuse nonprofit began the 12-week gateway course on entrepreneurship and life skills to youth prisons last year as part of its effort to end the cycle of incarceration in teens and young adults. The foundation will hold its second annual Good Life Masquerade Gala at SKY Armory on Friday at 6 p.m.

The foundation works with incarcerated youth and minors who are reentering society and those who are at risk of entering the juvenile justice system. Since its establishment in 2012, Good Life has served them on three distinguishing pillars: financial literacy and asset management, life skills and entrepreneurship.

In 2014, as the curriculum began to come together, the program had a capacity of only 10 youths. After more than two years, the program was finalized, coordinated and implemented, said the program’s director, Azariah Yemma, who has volunteered at Good Life since its founding.

The organization coaches more than 65 youths in prison, 150 in its Get R.E.A.L. community workshops and 40 under contract with Onondaga County.

The nonprofit runs on four active mentoring staff members and two volunteers.

“I thought a lot of organizations were simply mentoring and spending time with youth,” said Hasan Stephens, founder of Good Life.

Stephens serves as executive director, overseeing the foundation’s overall development and administrative staff.

“I think that time spent with youth needs to be strategic,” he said. “It needs to be a passing of values and thought processes, not just simply time spent.”

Good Life focuses on building entrepreneurial thinking, foundational business skills and a positive attitude toward viable pathways to financial independence. Stephens said life coaching with youth also aims to shift perspectives on how to behave and how to view life experiences.

Stephens recognized the need for a different approach. He said at-risk youth and incarcerated youth need a cultural approach.

Good Life uses hip-hop youth culture both as an educational force that bridges the idea of “swag” with real life knowledge and as a bonding tool that bridges a connection between the life coach and the youth.

“Hip-hop is about entrepreneurship, hip-hop is about creating something from nothing, utilizing the internal talents and gifts that you have,” Stephens said.

Mentees discuss quotes from famous emcees, analyze lyrics or break down albums to talk about life issues as well as learn about the business and entrepreneurial aspect of hip-hop.

“We intertwine, ingrain hip-hop culture through our teaching and through our practices,” Stephens said. “We look at ourselves as a community that engulfs and embraces each other.”

The foundation also helps youths develop their own entrepreneurial ideas by pairing them with people in similar businesses through a program called “The Boardroom.”

Entrepreneurship students from the Martin J. Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University worked with youth on strategic planning in the past. In partnership with Whitman professor El-Java Abdul-Quadir and the Whitman School, Good Life is planning a series of entrepreneurship curriculum training.

The Good Life Youth Foundation is fundraising for its youth entrepreneurship venture GL Enterprises Promotional Print Company, a T-shirt and promotional design company, with hope of providing revenue for youth and sustainable revenue for its foundation.

The nonprofit recently received $76,183 from the Central New York Community Foundation grant, most of which will go toward the print company and the rest invested in system of metric to measure the efficacy of Good Life’s programs.

SU campus organizations, like Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., also collaborate with and donate to Good Life.

“The impact that we’ve had on the youths are becoming more visible,” Stephens said. “I think that youths are starting to pick up the perspective and philosophy of Good Life. We’re just at the beginning of being able to shift some of the local culture of youths when it comes to entrepreneurship.”

Published on October 24, 2017 at 11:43 pm

Contact Jiaman: jpeng04@syr.edu