Meet the Hard-Working Veterans Offering a Safe Passage to Chicago Youth

“Veterans come from an environment,” says Eli Williamson, president of Leave No Veteran Behind (LNVB), “in which everyday they understand what their purpose is.” He continues: “When they come out of the military there’s this moment in which they say well, ‘what’s my new purpose?’”
Williamson asked himself this very question shortly after returning from a deployment to Iraq in 2004. His homecoming was met with the news that his student loans — which he used to pay for his college education before he went overseas — had come out of deferment. His friend and LNVB co-founder, Roy Sartin, was in the same situation. So the two army buddies from Chicago decided to write Oprah, in the hopes that the same charity that inspired her to give away cars might finance their student debt. When sharing their plans with other veterans, they discovered that student debt is a widespread burden for many returning servicemen and women.
Eventually they settled on a simple plan. “What if we were to raise dollars,” says Williamson, “apply those dollars directly to the veteran’s student loan account, and then require that veteran to give back 100 to 400 hours of community service once that debt has been paid?” From this idea, the nonprofit was formed.
Hakki Gurkan, a Chicago police officer and a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, accessed it for student loan assistance in 2011. His mother’s cancer had recently come out of remission, his father had been through hip replacement surgery, and Gurkan struggled to financially provide for both of them. After his loans were paid, Gurkan’s service project created LNVB’s most visible program: Safe Passage.
In response to the widespread violence among youth in parts of Chicago, LNVB approached the Chicago school system to see if veterans could help. Tipped off about repeated violent incidents on the corner of 35th and Martin Luther King Drive, LNVB deployed 20 veterans to the location to stand guard, positively engage with youth and maintain the peace. Several weeks of calm led to expansion, and now, more than 400 veterans have participated in the Safe Passage program, positioned at several hot spots for crime in tough Chicago neighborhoods. On any given school day, about 130 veterans patrol the streets. As a result, the Chicago police has seen a significant decline in violence in the communities served.
Coming from all walks of life, the service members are paid $10 an hour and work during the times that students are traveling to and from school. That important off-time between shifts gives veterans the hours they need to search for jobs and to attend interviews. LNVB also provides its workers resume assistance.
Williamson and Sartin see the skills of returning veterans as a largely untapped resource. And part of that skill set is a sense of mission, whether applied to an operation overseas or a local effort to keep America’s youth safe.
Says Williamson, “Our ability to come back as veterans and be useful to people other than ourselves is critical.”

When These Teens Couldn’t Afford College, a Celebrity Invested in Their Future and It’s Clearly Paying Off

Across the country, scores of talented, hardworking and very accomplished teens will not get the opportunity to go to college no matter how well they do in school.
Why? Because they can’t afford it.
Back in 2009, that was the exact situation facing Delaware high school students Jaiquann, Elijah, Darien and Barien. Overcoming extreme hardship, they persevered and were each accepted to their dream colleges. However, they each had a rude awakening when they realized they could never pay for it.
This crushing of aspirations was unfortunate not only for these four students, but for the entire country because a better-educated workforce would certainly benefit everyone. After all, an education is a surefire way for low-income individuals to break into the middle class.
Luckily, something incredible happened for these four young men. And it came in the form of entertainer will.i.am.
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As the Huffington Post reports, five years ago these teens were guests on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” After each shared his story, Winfrey brought out the Black Eyed Peas singer who decided to give them his first-ever i.am scholarships — a full ride for four years, including room and board and books.
“I know my purpose is to continue to inspire young people because it’s just going to keep inspiring me back. I want to do my part,” will.i.am said at the time. “I want to invest in America’s future and I want to send you to college. I am here to let you know that you can be anything you want to be. You are the future of the world.”
Fast forward to present day, and it’s clear that will.i.am’s investment was no mistake. In a recent episode of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?,” Winfrey decided to check in on these now-grown men. And not only have they all become accomplished individuals, they have soared.
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Thanks to will.i.am’s generous gift, Jaiquann is now a teacher after earning a degree in education from Pennsylvania’s Cabrini College. Elijah, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania grad, is working his way into the architectural field. Darien will graduate with an industrial engineering degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore next year, and Barien is set to graduate from pharmacy school in 2016.
Not only that, but these men are also paying it forward to help kids who were just like them. “We’ve been going to a lot of elementary, middle and high school just talking to the youth about how important it is to maintain high grades, how important it is to go to college,” said Jaiquann. “Basically, do whatever it takes to follow your dreams and meet your goals in life.”
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