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00:00All right your girl Lori Mack here from 105 When The Bounce and if you've ever felt like you need
00:04a support but didn't know where to go you're in the right place this conversation is for you
00:09I'm sitting with two leaders that are from the Uplift program Mr. Raymond and Emily Parks
00:17yes welcome hello hello how you doing good how are you I'm fine how about how's everybody
00:25let me just say that happy it's a new year we made it okay yes I'm just blessed to be here and
00:34blessed to keep on uh continuing our mission that we do yes well thank you so much for sitting in
00:39with us I know you have a busy schedule this year I'm just excited to hear about it yes okay yes so
00:45you know we're gonna start off with it all right so for the people that are just hearing about this
00:49um what well explain to me Uplift for the first time like um how would you explain the program to
00:57somebody that doesn't know about it so first Uplift stands for Urban Peers Learning Integrity for
01:05Tomorrow program oh I love that so integrity is like our thumbs up okay so it means doing the
01:12right thing when nobody else is watching so we try to basically implement that with our families our
01:20youth in different settings such as we do entrepreneurship camp mentoring deal with the
01:28mental health piece social emotional learning financial literacy and then we also do service
01:34learning projects in the community so we are about serving the community and we've been doing this
01:40work since 2012 but we've been a 501c3 since 2022 and the impact alone and those since 2022 has been
01:51amazing what would you say wow I love it definitely amazing um just to add on what you were saying um the
01:59families that we interact with are multi-dimensional so they they able to do a lot of things that
02:06barely get noticed and it it turns into bad behavior when it when we dealing with youth so I identified
02:15that early on and and I decided to create programs around that to support those uh narratives from each
02:24household from pregnant women up into student athletes um also uh court adjudicated youth also
02:33interact with that population as well so just to help them reintegrate back into what community should
02:40look like you know a lot of us are broken in in many areas and they start at an early age so
02:47yes just to try to uh implement consistency with this showing the youth that somebody care
02:53it took a lot of us adults to get older to realize that it's somebody that give out some help
03:00yes you know and resources are important you know a lot of people don't really know they exist
03:05exactly and that was gonna be my next question you know my next question was you know what is
03:12something that people don't know that they qualify for but they should know about it oh
03:17i'm gonna let miss bailey tell you because a lot of youth don't know about the entrepreneurship camp so
03:24if you want to tell them about how your experience was with that hi hi how are you i'm good what about
03:31you i'm good okay um so well my experience with the entrepreneurship camp was actually amazing
03:37um i started off with my business be bomb when i was four but um i wanted to rebrand okay so it
03:43really helped me um like not motivate but move myself into rebranding with getting my llc my new logo
03:50and also coming up with my new um business name called be by bailey la care i love that and what
03:55what is it actually about what is your business so my business is i sell journals oh journals i love
04:02that young girls my age um and older yes i'm 14 years old i'm 15 years old i'm sorry okay i'm 15 years
04:08old but um i do go younger too so like 12 to like 17 um the main reason i did start my business is
04:15because um i was suffering from anxiety which was like a really big thing for me and my um therapist
04:21actually recommended me into doing um into doing journaling like start journaling maybe it'll help
04:28you like with your emotions and your thoughts and it actually really did um i learned how to just
04:32emotions i didn't want to talk about or thoughts that i didn't feelings that i didn't want to talk
04:37about i was able to write it down on paper so i thought like okay well if this is helping me then i
04:41know it can impact and help other girls my age yes so when it helped me i decided to go to my mom
04:47with the idea like you know i think that i should start selling journals or you know rebrand my
04:51business and she was like you are getting older it's probably something that will be you know since
04:55i was selling like lip gloss and fanny packs when i was littler as i got older i wanted to change so
05:00uh be by bailey la care just came from me getting older and anxiety i love that and it's being a part of
05:06program yes being a part of program was a big thing especially with like i said me becoming um
05:12new into like not new into business but new into becoming my business being like my actual own
05:18business owner and true transparency my b-bomb business my mom was mainly the person who was over
05:23like financials and marketing it and i didn't really understand that part if that makes sense so
05:28it was like i was mainly just like selling the things and making it but i wasn't like because i was so
05:34young yeah as i got older i needed to go somewhere where i would learn like this is real you got to
05:38have an actual structure you have to take time out of your day to write things down um see what you
05:44want to do like plan out visions for different things price ranges and the entrepreneurship camp
05:50definitely helped me with that i love that okay it's the confidence and everything that's just
05:54flowing through you okay i love it and how has your business been doing um since then my business has
05:59actually been doing really well um last summer um i won a 15 000 grant okay michigan impact and yes i
06:08also won um a pitch competition for five thousand dollars and within that same week they actually
06:14had invited me back to come speak to the um youth entrepreneurs at the camp that they had the year
06:21that year so um i thought to myself like you know like god blessed me with twenty thousand dollars
06:27all together yes so why not i plant a seed into others so i did actually plant a seed of fifty
06:32dollars into each one of the um youth entrepreneurs because i know that i'm a big strong believer in
06:36god and if god is blessing me then i can bless others yes more blessings come down and since then my
06:41business has been really good i'm in the process uh my my journals are in the process of producing
06:47right now they're doing really well my um website is under construction i just finished my
06:53branding photo shoots so i'm real good i love that listen only at 15 okay it's only at 15 that
06:59confidence level you hear that okay everything down i didn't even have that when i was 15 yeah and
07:05that's what i that's the one program i wish more youth knew about because it's about just getting
07:09your business uh legitimate yes getting you ready getting you out there ready and there's so many
07:15entrepreneurs now younger yes smaller yes you know they're starting like you said from the
07:20from selling bees to to snacks yes anything and i love that because the hustle is strong you know
07:26it's thick here in detroit so it's good to have resources and programs that help you prepare for
07:32that yes so i love that and you guys started after the pandemic yes so how was that getting everything
07:41started and off with it with the pandemic and everything everybody inside after the pandemic it was
07:47mainly just uh paperwork yeah um during the pandemic i found time to even use the video game to mentor
07:55um gta i was about to ask what's the name of it a lot of the guys was playing gta call of duty and all
08:04these you know communicating through the through the community through the gamer communities right yeah and
08:10most of them were uh bullying or either being bullied yeah so i found out like oh i can break
08:17some of this up in the groups just by being able to play the game sometimes you can navigate some of
08:23those behaviors so i was in in gta you can invite do an invite only session and up to 30 people can fit in
08:31your session up to 30 people yeah wow a community in the game yeah okay so during that time i was just
08:39doing invite only's with with people that i was meeting over the game yeah it turned out to be in
08:45the group mainly high schoolers young guys it was high schoolers and thinking they was thugging and you
08:52know yeah on the gangsta tip and i was able to navigate some of those uh behaviors in a comprehensive
09:00approach you know so yeah i found ways to reach them where they at i love that a lot of organizations
09:08not able to do that no they're not i've never heard of it so i i love that because it's like we're always
09:13trying to find different ways to connect with the youth you know what i'm saying and with things
09:18advancing so much with social media and influencers and platforms you know sometimes we feel like you
09:24know if you're old school you don't really know how to reach them you know what i'm saying so it's
09:29like where do you start so that's actually very that's clever it's genius because you gotta meet
09:34them where they at you gotta meet them where they at now you gotta meet them where they at and the day
09:39and age we in they're dealing with a lot of more issues yeah and they have a lot of accessibility
09:44to things we didn't even have access to uh growing up so i think they're exposed to
09:50a lot more especially that social media yeah girl peace yes and defining social media and what's
09:57reality uh and so that's that's a big thing so big knowing they they're slang to you know what they
10:05saying and what they doing yes you know yeah absolutely so it's it's good to meet them halfway
10:14yeah you know meet them in the middle somewhere so i love this because it's just
10:18it really opens the door and opens the eyes for young for young youth and where do you guys see
10:24it going in the next what one to five years because i know it's going to be growing i know you guys have
10:30something happening every month one good thing is that a lot of people like to mirror good things yes
10:37they do in our city so just to have an energy of what programming should look like and how to interact
10:45with the kids so it's gonna connect yes you're gonna you're gonna meet your kind and it's gonna
10:51connect but the message i will say to the kids is that when you humble you get help when you hostile you
10:59will get humiliated i like that that it's on our on our clothing line i was just about to say that on
11:05the shirt yeah it's on our on our clothing line that's powerful that's a powerful statement because
11:11i mean i can't even imagine how many people that sits with like so many people can relate to just
11:17that alone so that's i love that i love everything that you guys are doing i love that you started
11:23after the pandemic whereas you're really doing this when you planned and then yeah the paperwork
11:28started after the pandemic i actually in 2010 from 2010 and 2014 when gangs was on the high in the city
11:37i used to pick those guys up and help them get off probation and reintegrate it back into school so
11:43from 2010 to 2014 i helped over 200 kids get back into regular high school out of the juvenile system i love
11:52it that they probably still can stay connected to you to this day to this day because you know you
11:57you create families you you're building bonds that last forever definitely i love that and i was able
12:02uh i had to share this story with a kid before um talk to a juvenile he was living with a foster parent
12:13and he was um intending on doing some harm but he believed himself to the family he was on some crash
12:20out stuff oh wow but he believed in and you know my mentorship and you know the type of person i am
12:26he called me at like four in the morning i answered the phone thank god i did it was one of them
12:32situations where he was able to get talked out of it because of the relationship that we built that's
12:38beautiful and i just wanted to add um we're trying to do like a youth advisory board so our youth that we've
12:47had to have a youth voice yes so we're trying to build that out um entrepreneurship summit so our past
12:56entrepreneurs along with more young entrepreneurs all coming together in one space collectively and
13:04then we are working on a safe hub oh i love that um which is really centered around you being able to
13:12learn how to garden uh just come chill if you like um they they did murals so this this summer spring
13:22summer we're looking forward to that too i'm gonna say i wanted to holler over here to one of our uh
13:30mentees and his resilience so tell it tell him a little bit about you and how you got involved yes
13:38please how you involved with the uplift program my name braylon hi braylon hi uh so basically i was
13:45playing for the southfield ravens my 12 year that was my first year and then coach ray came to the
13:52team and he was basically helping me throughout all the stuff that i didn't know how to do like he played
13:57every sport so like any sport that i ever asked him like for helping he knew what like the answers to
14:04get me and all that i love that he was just teaching me to stay humble and have a clear head
14:11and how do you feel now i feel good because he helped me and then i ended up leaving a team that
14:17i was on and then i went to a different team and i like did good on that team off the stuff that he
14:23helped me with okay so you you thrive in football yeah okay you want to do all the sports too or you're
14:28just trying to do he is right now at his age he's number one receiver hands down in the state of
14:35michigan to me oh i love that oh so we need you we need you and i'm not gonna say where but we need
14:41you in some places right now if only look lions yeah i'm not gonna say it but he can get he a leader
14:48too listen he gonna be look the youngest to do it yeah a true leader very resilient i can definitely say
14:55that and that's and that's what you like to see because some some you get uh feel defeated yes
15:01and give up yeah but not him you know and and when you have a a i'ma say a young man not giving up
15:11and just holding tight and standing there and still getting the advice that's amazing yes no i love
15:17that i love it and i i know you guys have something coming up actually next month right let's do it
15:24detroit pistols listen let's go you see you see the gear you see i've seen it i see it when you
15:30came in i see the vintage i see the originals okay you guys look walking down talking down tell me
15:35what's happening so it's a suite experience so if you have never been inside of a suite at the
15:43little caesar's arena this is the time to take advantage of this uh the tickets are 50
15:49dollars unlimited 50 dollars i love it so family and friends you don't get this often listen no
15:57yes food drinks included um for 50 yes 50 dollars you're going to the suites you're not touching elbows
16:04the elbows no you feeling vip real vip-ish oh so you get the whole experience the whole experience
16:11i love that you said it's happening when february the 5th oh god okay 2026 we got people saying they
16:18buy tickets as soon as this this conversation is on but you can go to our uh website www.theupliftprogram.org
16:28up under our events and go ahead and purchase tickets that way um also through our instagram at the
16:35uplift program oh i love that you guys is this your first time doing this or is this the first of many or
16:41you guys do this all the time no this this is the first fundraiser basketball fundraiser so i'm
16:47excited yeah we have took them there to speak on the panel really yeah it was a panel and in the
16:53suite experience last year for mental health that's amazing what an honor how was that for you uh it was
17:02actually amazing it was um it was a relief to a point because i feel like uh several family members
17:09that i have deal with deal with that yeah and a lot of times it's a lot it's easier i feel like
17:15people that's dealing with it to listen to somebody that has been through it like it's easier to hear
17:19you know like i want to do i want to talk to somebody that's actually experienced it you know so it's
17:24good to really well be that voice as you are in so many ways yeah that's dope i love that so that
17:32happened last year yes okay last year last april yeah okay so you got the fundraiser happening next
17:39month and then if kid if anybody wants to connect let's go back to one of the kids what what could
17:45somebody do if they're feeling overwhelmed or not knowing where to go what's the first step you would
17:52give them it could be a kid a family member um so i'm gonna speak on a child or a kid okay if it was
17:59a child or a kid that's feeling overwhelmed um i'm gonna give my advice which is journal um not only
18:05because of my business but like i said sharing my story journaling helped me in the beginning anyways
18:11it was never just a business it was just because i had anxiety and i needed to find a way to relieve it
18:16to release music was helping but it wasn't kind of like the best i mean i don't want to make music so
18:22i was like i need something else to do and journaling really did help and it's not you
18:26don't have to find like in my journal i do have prompts and things yes but you don't even have
18:31to find a prompt if it's just i started off just writing down any thought that i had so bad thought
18:36good thought um i reflect on my day as well so just writing down one positive thing one good thing one
18:41thing that i can change um if you're if you're feeling any type of emotion you always want to if you
18:46can't communicate it because i know especially at my age and i'm just going to speak for it not
18:50everyone at my age but i know like a lot of my friends a lot of people do not like to talk about
18:54their emotions no they don't it's not it's a big thing that nobody likes to do um either and i'm a
18:59big person i don't like to because i just know i'm gonna cry all the time sometimes and i just don't
19:02i don't feel like it but um if you don't want to talk about that emotion and writing it down and just
19:08explain thinking deeply like why do i feel this way what made me feel this way what can i do differently
19:13to not feel this way again who made me feel this way um just journaling isn't the biggest thing
19:19that i love that i love it yes what would you say uh what i do is i just do something that i love like
19:27i go play football i go in my backyard do like some training or something probably listen to music
19:34okay and that's yeah that's what i do get your mind right and that's why me and benny relate
19:39you know i have a connection with him like that i can tell that that's his outlet is his talent yes
19:46and he's very talented like i said that was one of the things that that attracted me to doing
19:52programming for the youth like getting back into the sports field yes because i could have just stayed like
20:00as a coach or just a mentor and come in but when i mentor i get like hands-on like how you said i'm
20:07playing i can see i can tell the passion yeah i'm out there in the ground with him
20:13they pulling my hair out every that's the best way you can relate to him and that's how you really can
20:17get through to the kids because they like oh yeah he out here with me yeah he knows he's been through
20:21it so yeah i love that and i was gonna say with bailey like that i kind of connect with her because
20:26mental health so i like how she came in and was talking about her mental health and me being a social
20:31worker yes and breaking the stigma surrounding um our black and brown community that explains a lot
20:38is really really what it was about so that was like a full circle moment for me to like okay you have
20:47youth who want to do things but they also may be struggling with other things as well so that's why the
20:53programs build confidence leadership and um help them able to manage their financial literacy and
21:01just advocate for themselves and be able to tell how they feel to their parents so yeah i love that
21:08anybody that wants to help so it doesn't matter the age it doesn't matter where they're coming from
21:13no if they want to get in contact with you they just yes do they come do they contact you directly do
21:18they go to your social medias what's the best way they're gonna reach you they can go to the website
21:23they can always go to our website again www.theupliftprogram.org they can email us info at
21:30the uplift program.org um and that's the best way that's the best way all of our programs are listed
21:36there you just tell us what you're interested in doing or shoot us an email and we'll get back with you
21:43i'm excited for this basketball fundraising we hope to see you there listen
21:48fifty dollars you might see me there every time okay you can't beat that okay listen okay really
21:54though i'm trying to tell you so you know before you guys get out of here yeah you know i want to
21:59ask what kind of legacy do you hope this program leaves in the community oh you're gonna leave it to
22:06me huh listen why not close on now no problem no problem not not at all um the legacy of giving back um
22:16um i want people to understand like it's not where you come from it's what you want to leave behind
22:24you know shoot for your last name like all this everything gonna change so it's hard to say what
22:32i want to leave behind you know i could be working on the land this month and then next year to be
22:39houses yeah so you know things can change but what i do want to tell the youth is do not be afraid to ask
22:49for help do not be afraid to ask for help um find somebody that you can trust in
22:59um be open to help don't reject it because you see things in one way um so with that being said just
23:11be open-minded and you'll get the help you need um don't be hostile even when you're scared all right a
23:19lot of you they don't know and they just think acting out is the way yeah so and it's not the way
23:27it's not the way so just like i said just be humble and um and give back if you could do it early yeah
23:34do it early and make it a habit um i always been a person to give back from the day i left to go to
23:42college i brought six people with me two of them i was helping like literally out my pocket three of
23:50them live with me and then to this day every year i help a young man or a young lady go to college
23:59so just always give back no matter what and i'm just gonna say it's the legacy you know for me is
24:07just continue to serve i think um it's not what's the saying like who you are but what you do what
24:15you've done here on earth while you're here what's your purpose so just living out god's purpose what he
24:22wants uh and has called um us to do and leaving that behind for our children and their children and
24:31not only our children but just people who look like us i love that we definitely need more of that yes
24:37it definitely was a pleasure you guys yeah and if the youth wants to volunteer or help or
24:42anybody not even just the youth if anybody just wants to help and pay well pay back and give back
24:47to what what you guys are doing you know what can they do how can they do it oh well again contact
24:53us we just had a wayne state cas tech national honor society really uh they came for our christmas
25:01events so we get deep out here busy every month yeah yeah so okay well i wish you nothing definitely
25:11come out and when we have those volunteer opportunities reach out to us absolutely you
25:16can be a rec center and say you know what uh raymond come on over here and bring that program in here
25:21and and let's see what we can do to enhance our rec facility my degree is in recreation administration
25:30and programming for recreation absolutely so say listen come holler at me that's right
25:35holler at me i am the programmer like i said i'm i'm the youth advocate of the city i've been doing this
25:41since i came here from college in 2008 yeah let's keep spreading the word let's keep doing it
25:47giving it back giving it back helping these young men become men you know because it can be broken
25:54along the way and they can stay young boys well how can they find you because you know they probably
26:00gonna be looking for you you and you how can they find you on social media if they on social media my
26:05my personal page is p underscore hayes oh five oh see nobody would have found that
26:11my my line name on my fraternity is purple hayes oh i love that yeah yeah you can find us on uh
26:21instagram just our business page again the the dot uplift program and you when you see that thumbs up
26:32that's us black and yellow black and yellow black and yellow please give out um my website is under
26:38construction right now but you can subscribe to it for updates and things which is b by bailey bailey
26:45lacare.com and then my instagram is bailey dot lacare i love it my instagram is clutch dot beanie for
26:56i love that okay with the flavor all around yes yes well thank you guys so much for just taking the time
27:01about your busy day you know it's cold and thank you yes thank you for having us absolutely and then
27:07till next time because hopefully this won't be the last time no it's not i'm trying to get all up in
27:11your business so next time you got something going on please don't hesitate come see me okay yes
27:17got you all right got you your girl laurie mack from 105 when the bounce
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