When a coworker told Hasan Stephens that they needed to lock up more kids to keep getting their hours in, he knew it was time to quit.

It was 2012, and Stephens was running a program at the Hillbrook Juvenile Detention Center, just southwest of the city of Syracuse. Through the program, he taught youth entrepreneurial life skills, with the goal of eliminating youth violence, poverty and incarceration.

Although Stephens said his work at Hillbrook was rewarding because he was helping youth, he wanted to do so in a way that would be more beneficial to them.

“I wasn’t there to lock kids up,” he said. “I was there to keep kids out of prison.”

With the help of Jonathan Cerrito, a lawyer at Blitman & King, Stephens established the Good Life Foundation as a 501(c)(3) organization. Now, what began as a small grass-roots project has emerged as a local nonprofit foundation.

The foundation worked out of the law firm’s offices until 2014, when it moved to the South Side Innovation Center, its current location. As a result, Stephens regards Cerrito as a co-founder of the foundation.

Stephens said his inspiration to start the Good Life Foundation was a result of his upbringing in the Edenwald Projects in the Bronx.

“When I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to give back and teach kids about money because I never learned about money growing up,” he said. “I never wanted another black or brown child to experience what I experienced.”

Before starting at Hillbrook in 2006, Stephens was a local radio personality known as “DJ Maestro.” However, when Clear Channel, now iHeartMedia, downsized, he was left without a job, evicted from his apartment, and forced to give his daughter up to family members. Ultimately, Stephens said that DJing saved his life. And it was his hip-hop influences that he then carried with him to Good Life.

In fact, hip-hop is woven through every facet of the foundation. Stephens said they use hip-hop as a unifier among the youth. They show music videos and motivational speeches, dissect lyrics and “use the thing that they love the most to get them and draw them into the work that we want them to do.”

In his efforts to provide entrepreneurial life skills to youth ages 13-24, Stephens is assisted by a staff of 16 employees and additional volunteers. These employees are tasked with a range of responsibilities, from programming entrepreneurial ventures for youth such as lawn mowing and T-shirt printing, to providing life coaching for youth at four Syracuse City School District schools.

Eugene Akins is one such life coordinator for the foundation and mentors youth in prison and on probation. Akins quickly found that the teenagers could relate to his experiences and were willing to trust him.

“When they put these kids with me, it’s a little easier for them to look at me and talk to me and deal with me and trust me, rather than just some guy that went to Harvard or SU and has a degree in psychology.”

In his job, Akins said he finds out the kid’s interests in order to connect with the kid and help them harness what he calls their “God talent.” Akins views himself as having a “big brother role” to the teens that he speaks with.

As for the kids that participate in the program, they say that the foundation has affected them in a positive way.

“They taught us different ways to make money instead of doing it the illegal way,” said 17-year-old Tra’von Harrell. He and his twin brother, Tre’Meir, became involved two years ago at the age of 15 after being put on probation for being caught in a stolen vehicle.

Stephens added that they could barely stay in a school prior to Good Life, but now have straight A’s at OnTECH Charter High School. Even when they got off probation early, Tra’von said they kept participating with Good Life because they felt close to the staff.

“As time went on, they basically went from acquaintances to associates, from associates to family,” he said.

Part of that family is Joseph Diaz, a life coach at Syracuse STEM at Blodgett Middle School. He said that even though he’s supposed to be the one motivating kids, the kids have begun to motivate each other through one another’s successes.

As for the future, Stephens said they are outgrowing their current location and are engaged in a $6 million capital campaign for a 37,000-square-foot building at 215 Tully St., to be called the Hip-Hop Center for Youth Entrepreneurship. The foundation is also looking to expand regionally to markets that are similar to Syracuse, such as Rochester and Buffalo. The main thing, he said, is raising $6 million in their capital campaign for the building.

“I think it’s growing rapidly to where I want it to go, but I think we have a long way to go,” said Stephens.

In 2019, Good Life reached about 750 kids through programming and mentoring. In 2020, it is projected to reach about 1,000 kids. For many of those involved at Good Life, working there is an opportunity to give back in a meaningful manner.

“If you’re not invested, if you don’t love it, it’s not something that you’re passionate about, then it’s not going to work out for you,” said Azariah Yemma, vice president of programming. “Coming from where I came from and the things that I’ve done in the past, I feel like I have to give back.”

Published on January 28, 2020 at 11:45 pm

Contact Austin: aclamb@syr.edu | @AustinCLamb