Most charity foundations focus on one cause, but Josh Powell just couldn’t limit himself to that.
In 2009, during his two-year stretch playing for the Los Angeles Lakers that resulted in two straight NBA titles, Powell started the 21 Reasons to Give Foundation, with 21 guiding principles in honor of his jersey number.
“My heart just works that way,” the former professional forward said after a speaking event Wednesday at New Hope High School. Powell and Gary Davis, the founder of Next Level Boys Academy in the Atlanta area, spoke to two groups of male students at New Hope, stressing the importance of positive male role models on young men in urban communities in order to resist the attraction of gangs and other poor influences.
“I’m coming from a place of love,” Powell told New Hope juniors and seniors in the Trojans’ multipurpose room. “There’s gonna be a lot of times in life when we’re gonna have to do a lot of things that we don’t necessarily want to do but we have to do. That comes with the sacrifice.”
Powell’s foundation researches what the youth in urban communities lack and works hard to bring it to them. That includes financial literacy programs, feeding the homeless, educational resources, health and wellness programs and much more.
“There’s so many things that we’re all doing,” he said. “There’s so many ways to impact lives.”
While 21 Reasons to Give is based in Atlanta, it’s done work around the country — even around the world when Powell played professional basketball internationally. He’s proud of that.
“It’s not just one spot,” Powell said. “We’re mobile.”
The foundation works everywhere, but it was back in Atlanta where Powell first met Davis around two years ago at a charity project in College Park on the south side of the city.
Since then, Powell has helped Davis grow Next Level Boys Academy, a nonprofit aimed at providing male role models to young men at risk. The organization serves roughly 200 people per year, Powell said.
On Wednesday, Davis told his own story of a poor upbringing in a small town in Alabama, warning about the draw a gang can have on vulnerable young men.
Next Level Boys Academy, Davis said, is about having somebody looking out — so gang violence and criminal activity don’t seem quite so appealing.
“My biggest gang intervention program that we have is that we take young men that we think are in a gang, and we just love them on the same level as the gang,” he told the assembled students. “We do everything the gang does but give you a gun.”
To Powell, having a positive role model around is a critical factor in keeping young men on the right path.
“It’s just putting yourself in their mind space and just trying to get an understanding and just help them any way you can to get them to take a different route,” Powell said.
Powell said he could have stood up and told the Trojans about the fights and the trouble he got into as a young man, but he chose not to bring it up.
“At the end of the day, we all make choices,” he said. “I think sometimes the easy way out is to fall in and do what everybody else is doing instead of moving on.”
Being a father of four, too, has helped Powell in his advocacy. His “crew” consists of two boys and two girls, and Powell said they do everything together.
“They’re really good kids,” he said. “We’re all growing together.”
Speaking with students not much older than his eldest daughter, who is 13, Wednesday’s talk had a personal connection for Powell. He knows what his future must hold.
“I think the main thing for me is being an amazing father and just living my purpose,” he said. “I feel God has put a lot on my plate, and I just want to be able to serve in whatever way possible.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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