Leaders by Empowerment-Activists by Development is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that started in April 2006 as a support group of three young men, Donald Garner, Leo Stoney, and Shevrin Jones. These young men, where all in college at the time. Garner, Stoney, and Jones all came from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but there was one thing that they all shared in common, and that was the need to develop a strategy on how they could be proactive in starting a movement amongst their generation. Donnie, Leo, and Shevrin met once a week and it all became real when Shevrin wrote an essay that grab the hearts of both of them. From that essay written, they all came to a conclusion that "meeting once a week and talking is not the answer, we have to get moving", and today we have LEAD.
LEAD has implemented several programs that has provided leadership development and community rebuilding skills that members can reference for years to come. Since the inception in 2006, LEAD has conducted Summer Leadership Camps, entitled: LEAD Under the Sun. In Summer 2007 our camp doors opened with 57 teenagers in the South Florida tri-county area. In 2008 our camp doors grew, with the addition of Leon County (Tallahassee). Summer camp provides three weeks of seminars, structured activities and experiential sessions applying classroom leadership training to real world applications. All camp graduates are required to enroll in the LEAD STEPS program. This program promotes academic excellence and requires each participant to maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA. Participants must be actively involved in a community or school organization where they can apply their leadership skills learned in the program. Participant's progress is tracked through LEAD STEPS counselors by following up through teacher conference calls, report cards and progress reports. Parental involvement is a critical component. Parents are also required to attend monthly seminars which service to reinforce the leadership skills the participants learn in the program. The seminars also focus on communication and motivational skills the parents can use to support their child's continued success and application of skills learned. Graduates along with their parents continue to participate in a series of community service projects and attend monthly seminars. Over the past three years, LEAD has impacted and changed over 275 teenagers' lives into becoming better individuals.
The LEAD infrastructure consists of future endeavors such as: the construction of LEAD Development Centers, extension into the South-East Regions and sponsoring National Campaigns.
The total theme of LEAD is to assist members of the Y Generation with assuming responsibility for their destiny by becoming leaders in their own right. LEAD was not created to be just another "program"; it was created to be an intervention – prevention organization that is being presented to school system, churches, cities, and states to make it known that help is here!
