Jamal’s Journey into Prevention

Hey hey Welcome back to another episode of the Drug Prevention Power Hour. I’m your host, Jake White from 518. And today we’re hanging out with some extremely special friends and guests because we go way back. So today you’re going to get to know the Powerhouse Father Son Duo behind Up To It.

Jamal and Zion Givens, together they lead a nationwide movement focused on making mental wellness real, relatable, and actionable for both youth and adults. Jamal brings over 20 years of experience in community mental health and prevention, while Zion brings the voice of the next generation, raw, honest, and deeply relatable. Whether they’re speaking to construction crews, school districts, or national coalitions, their unique dynamic blends storytelling, lived experience, and practical tools that help families and communities have the tough conversations that lead to stronger connections. They’re not just sharing insights, they’re creating impact. So Jamal, Zion Z. Givens, or I should say Jay Give, and Keith, welcome to the Drug Prevention Power Hour.

What a, who wrote that? That was good. You wrote that, Dad?

Hey, what’s going on? What’s going on? You wrote that? That was good.

That was nice. That works. That worked. I ain’t mad at nobody.

Right? Like he said, the dynamic duo, I love it.

Yeah, man, we here. Right? Hey!

We’re here. Thanks, Jake, for bringing us on.

Yeah, just so you know, I’m let’s be clear, one of these is Batman and it’s Jermall.

You’re not supposed to tell him that man you’re supposed to keep that sitting out like everybody now. Let’s do it.

You know what? We started talking about Love Island and all the drama and he says, I’m going to create some drama in this show. Let’s just start with the power dynamic. I am the father. You are the son. You’re right. You’re right.

You’d be surprised how many people mix that up. They think I’m the father and he’s the son. And I’m like, wait, what happened? It’s the beard. Exactly. That’s what it is.

Yeah. Your blade is bigger!

That’s right. That’s so funny. Well, I know I just gave that great intro, but I mean, Z, our audience knows you because they’ve seen you at CADCA. They talk on the phone with you. Some of them you’ve spoken at their schools because you’re on the Vibe 18 roster. Jamal, I don’t know if our audience has known you yet, but you both come from a prevention background. So I would love to just start off our time with just a brief like, hey, here’s where I am in the country, here’s what I do, and then how did you get into prevention?

Yeah, so I’m in Tucson, Arizona and I have been in prevention for over 20 years now. And how did I start? So I started in prevention accidentally, I think. I graduated from the University of Arizona, go Wildcats, baby, where’s it going? Yeah, baby, where is it? I’m a Wildcat.

Bear down, bear down. I got a major in sociology minor criminal justice and wasn’t a hundred percent sure knowing what I wanted to do. And then I ended up, I was, I had started out actually as a big brother with big brothers and sisters of America actually started out in temple. I transferred from Temple University to the university of Arizona. But when I was at Temple University in Philly, I was a big brother and started working with youth was working with my little brother, but then ended up working with the community a little bit in the projects in which I was working. And, you know, I loved it. I had done work with youth. Well, I wasn’t a youth. I was working with younger people then I was older than them, but in summer camps and stuff, I was a counts camp counselor. But anyway, when I got to Temple University, I was a, an accountant major and I was doing all that. And then once I became a big brother and started hanging out with these,

Thank the younger crowd and mentoring and stuff like that. I was like, I went to my next accounting class with like 200 and something students. And I was like, this ain’t for me. I’m like, why am I here? Nah, I got to, okay. So I went to my counselor. I left the class, went to my counselor’s office. I like, hey, I don’t think it’s going to work. I was like, what are some other things I could do? And so we ended up finding sociology is something that I really.

No, really just gravitated towards and criminal justice and working with young people in the community. So when I came out, I transferred from Temple University back to the U of A, not back, but came to the U of A and started working with youth here, right off the bat. I was at the U of A working through a program and it’s called APEX, Academic Preparation for Excellence, started working with youth, primarily of color and helping them get from the pipe through the pipeline from from high school to college and worked at various schools throughout Tucson. And it was just an amazing experience. And I just kept that trajectory moving from there. Once I graduated from the U of A, I ended up working at a residential counselor, residential facility for treatment. I was the lead residential counselor and helped establish the program that was for guys and girls, it was the first one in Tucson. And just kept it going from there, man. That was, and it’s just been a part of my soul.

And well, and today you, I mean, your experience led you to creating your own organization. you, and am I right that you helped start and basically the founder of your coalition and the movement that you’re doing right now? And I know up to it’s part of it, but yeah.

Yes. So yeah, so my, my, my day day job is, is I have a nonprofit organization it’s called LPK and C L P K and C, which is Liberty partnership, Keno neighborhoods council. And it actually was, I founded it from, LP can see the coalition we had been around for, so Liberty partnership is one coalition Keno neighborhoods council is another.

And then in 2012, they merged. and I was always the, coordinator or technical assistance person to those coalitions and then when they merged, nobody wanted to give up their name. So they just smushed it together. so LBKNC has just been known since, 2012, just in the community. we kept it. And so from there, a lot of the, OGs I like to call them.

Yeah. That’s it some were, you know, moving on to a better place in heaven. And there were no, there was others that were kind of sticking around, or moving to different jobs. And I just felt the time and opportunity after being with, you know, certain fiscal agents, they were awesome. They were amazing. They were extremely supportive, but wanted to move upstream and just focus solely on prevention and not just treatment. And so I got the blessing of the coalition to found.

LP Can’t See the Coalition into a nonprofit organization. So that’s what I do today. I’m the CEO, president, CEO, and ⁓ we are in our, going on our sixth year, I think, of doing that. And so it’s been, it’s really, it’s been really challenging, but fun and rewarding. It’s a lot, it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work. And so, you know, just real quick, we grew from, you know, our first DFC grant.

Um, in 2019, of $125,000 to now we’re a 700,000 plus, um, organization. We’re not at the million mark yet, but we’re a little, little, little, little under there. We up, we up in there though. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So sorry, but yeah, that’s, that’s, that’s that. Yes. That’s where I’m at. LPKNC is my, my day, day, day job.

Wow. Hey, you getting there though? You getting there? You two grants away, That’s some That’s good. think our listeners will definitely relate to that. And some of them are just starting with their DFC grant or that first grant. And it’s probably really hopeful to see how am I supposed to operate an entire organization off of hundred and twenty five thousand dollars? And here you are, you know, six years later that I was able to boost your resources up to that seven hundred thousand mark. So I might I might ask you about that in a little bit. Z, I want to give you a chance to answer the same question like how did you get in this work?

Zion’s Path to Impact

Yeah, no, this is a, I love that question. think I answer all the time. was kind of born into it. I had no, don’t think I had, I had options. Of course. I just knew that this seemed a lot more fun. I remember going to my work with my dad and he used to work at a behavioral health organization called Kodak. And he used to be the back of the Santa Rosa center, which was a rec center where students would go. There’s like a middle school and elementary school that’s right across the street from his work and they would come over to the after school programs and stuff. So.

Literally when I was there with my dad, felt like I was not at school, but like at a summer camp and just hanging out with all these kids that were just there’s snacks, there was games, there was basketball. Like there was, I couldn’t complain every time I went, was like, I’m getting fed. I’m having fun. I’m listening to music all while my dad’s educating parents on the risk factors of an increase in protective factors on how to keep the youth safe and all substances. And we were just having a good time. So I was like, I didn’t know what my dad did at the time. I had no idea what his role was. I just knew that I like going to work with my dad rather than my mom, because there was other kids there. But all that to say, I just fell in love. And there was one other time when my dad did a high school presentation for my high school in our pep assembly. He had a presentation on leadership. And I remember one of my student, one of my peers was behind me and he kind of like whispered under his breath, kind of like, damn, like I wish that was my dad. Let’s get it.

And I remember hearing that and I was like, dang, like I want to have that same impact on somebody that my dad doesn’t know this kid. This kid doesn’t know my dad. Like he just is moved by his words and wants maybe a mentor or wants to be like my dad. Like I want to provide that same kind of hope to something, not their dad, but maybe like a cool big brother or like a fun uncle or something like cool cousin or something but I just knew I wanted to have the same impact after

My, my trajectory was all over the place. mean, I went to college at ASU. We don’t talk about that too often. Uh, but, uh, cause I’m a, I’m a wild cat at heart, man. My mom was like, Oh, you’re a sun cat. was like, only went to ASU for a semester. I don’t think it counts. Uh, but, uh, I get that. I still got the loan. So I guess it does count. Uh, right. Right. I guess so. Uh, but I went there and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I told my story, uh, the students often about you. Nah, I’m just saying, hit the love, it’s proof!

After high school, I didn’t know where I wanted to go or wanted to study or wanted to do. And I thought it was a loaded question to ask an 18 year old. Uh, but my dad’s story, he was like, you’re going to apply for colleges early. So you have somewhere to go. Uh, cause he did not apply for colleges early and had to find his story is crazy. Uh, but I ended up applying to all the end state schools, uh, and got went to ASU of course. And I just wasn’t passionate about what I was. I was literally just going to go, go get the easiest major and try to get it done out, like one that doesn’t have math involved so I can just get in, get out. That’s all I wanted to do. ⁓ And that’s what I set out to do. And then a blessing in disguise, even though it a general, a national thing that happened, a global thing of the pandemic happened and ended up dropping out of college. And I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just knew I didn’t want to get out my mom and dad’s house. Cause I moved back for like a month or two and I was like, can’t do this after being away for six months, right? ⁓ The conversation was, you want to want us to want to pay for rent? Or do you want to pay for your own rent and have your own space? And I was like, I want my own space and I’ll pay for my own rent over there. So I ended up working like some odd jobs of acai bowl shop, which was awesome. I did that with all my high school buddies and I was pushing around, believe you me. Like, yo, there ain’t no room in here for you.

Building a Movement Together

It was kind of like not going to work and just hanging out with your friends and working at the same time, which was a blast. And I loved that. And then Uber eats and door dashing to make ends meet. That’s what I was really doing. And I just, there’s one point where I was like, ah, this work isn’t really serving anybody. Like it’s cool to help people with their acai bowl and they get a smile and a thank you. That’s cool. But I wanted something more impactful. Luckily my dad, this is when he got awarded another grant and he called me and he said, Hey, I got this job opening. I don’t want to train anybody else. You already know the work. You already know what’s happening. I just need somebody to come in and help me out. And I asked him like, Oh, hey, yo, what’s the pay? What’s that looking like? And he’s like, you’ll be taken care of 100%. And I was like, all right, cool. So jump ship and started working with him. And I think that was amazing to watch my dad build the nonprofit into what it was. And he didn’t tell you this, but the stress and like, you know, Jake would hear him talking to other coalitions and nonprofits that the stress that he was feeling building this thing was insane. I don’t think I see my dad that stress ever in my life and just his will and his grit and his tenacity to build this thing. And then to have me come in and be employed by him was kind of like, dang, like, wow, I got to see you build this thing. And now you got to employ me. And now I get mentoring and coaching, not just in life, but just in this profession from somebody that’s been in it for 20 plus years. Like, That’s a blessing. Like, and he’s passing on this knowledge. And I was like, man, this is what I want to do like forever. So I ended up, I was like, you know what, dad, this is cool. I was getting itched to go to Phoenix, came out to Phoenix, worked with another local nonprofit up here. And I was like, all right, they trained me up. They gave me lot of tools in my arsenal to build me up as a professional and as a speaker and a coach and a mentor. And I was like, but what about the places that don’t have a Z?

Or that don’t have a Jamal, that don’t have a Jake, how can we impact them and meet them where they’re at? And that’s when we got together and I talked about, yo dad, let’s do this together. Let’s do up to it. And actually he was the one that was like, hey, let’s do this together. And I was like, you want to do this with me? He’s like, yeah, why not? He was like, all right, let’s do it. So we started up in 2024 and now we’re going on year two.

Yeah, that’s cool. And it’s been awesome to see y’all’s growth. Because when we, I think the first time we met in person, we were keynoting a youth conference. And I think I was the opening keynote and then y’all were the closing keynote. And I got to see you do your thing on stage. And I was like, all right, I got to keep in touch with these two. And, you know, little did I know, months later, I would get to work closer with you, Zee, and then hear about, know, Jamal, all this stuff you’re doing with LPK and C.

That our worlds would collide. It’s been super cool. So before we get into what you’re doing now, because it’s so exciting, like y’all are taking off, you’re doing really, really incredible work, not only equipping students, but equipping parents too. I want to make sure we leave our audience with some cool stuff that maybe they can just get from you and your perspective. And so my first question, take it or ignore it.

But like, do people in the field of prevention, what are we doing right now that maybe we should need to flip? Maybe we need to switch? Or is there something that you’ve done in your journey that was so successful that you just hope that everyone else does that too? So what practical advice would you give over other prevention coalitions?

That’s good. I’m seeing dad’s over here thinking he.

Yeah, yeah, I wasn’t. So say the question one more time, Thank you.

What should preventionists stop doing or start doing? Let’s put it on that.

Innovating Prevention: The Need for Change

I think start doing, you know, one of the things and Jake, I don’t know if you’ve seen this. And again, it’s always a mess. I got to give a shout out though, real quick. Jake is an amazing, you are an amazing individual. Your heart is big. You love sharing. It’s definitely something that I don’t see many people do. And so, so thank you for your wisdom and just heart and spirit of sharing. So with that, when we talk about start doing, hey, in the world of prevention, we gotta start getting more creative. I know a lot of the funders out there always want us to use evidence-based programs. The majority of those evidence-based programs come from the 80s, out of the 80s. You’re welcome.

Um, and then landed in the nineties and a lot of those are still sitting there. Uh, Botvin’s life life skills, strengthening families program for six to 10, 10 to 14. I’m trained in the majority of them smart moves. I mean, I can just go down the list. I’m, I’m trained in the majority of them, but the thing is, is those organs, uh, those programs update themselves, which I appreciate. But Hey, it’s 20, 25.

A lot of them look the same, doing the same thing. There’s not enough innovation in prevention. mean, AI is the newest thing right now, right? But even before that, when we think about technology and you think about meta and the VR goggles and the way our youth are learning today, we need to figure out how to be in 2025 in this technological revolution that’s happening. cannot, don’t get me wrong, there’s some value in some of the, there’s some value in playing, know, hopscotch and handball and tetherball and don’t get me wrong, those things are there, right? Or the fishing game where you got the pole and the string and you throw it over the, you know, that’s great. But these youth are learning so quickly. And it’s not only attention either, but the way that they’re receiving things, it’s not nothing wrong with slowing down. I think we got to do that sometimes too. But for us to be engaging for them to hear the message of prevention needs to be different. And social media is another huge one. we have to be cautious and careful in how we, you know, use and move and teach and they learn from that. It’s the world today. So that’s what I would start with.

Dang. All right. I want to comment on that for sure. And Z, I wonder if you have some thoughts because the when you mentioned the evidence-based program and that came from like a list of these evidence-based programs that have been around for decades and our world changes, like just the name of a substance changes monthly sometimes. So to try and keep up with that, there’s no incentive for organizations to continue innovating. Once you’re on the list, it feels like tenure. I can do what I want. I don’t have to innovate. I’m untouchable. You’re going to spend money in my program because you have to. That stifles innovation. That’s like, you might as well just strike a lighter to that program and say, all right, let’s start burning it down because it’s on its timeline where I feel like the system, we need competition. We need innovation. We need partnerships.

That’s true where we’re trying to literally compete to create the best programming and whoever’s the best at listening to their audience, studying these students, listening to them, studying the staff members who implement the program, listening to them, they will produce the best product. And I know the catch-22 is we have to be able to evaluate it. So at the same time, do we have evaluation places or evaluation things in places where we need them?

And that’s why I’m glad you said that Jamal and I’m wondering, do you place an emphasis then on promising practices because they have some data and they might be a little more fresh? is that the middle ground we can lay in to say, like, hey, you don’t have to pick this brand new program that no one’s ever touched it. And you don’t have to pick the 30 year old program either. Like, where’s the middle ground?

Yeah, for me, think it’s definitely taking a look at promising practices or evidence. I like evidence informed also. I think and then trying to build off of that. one of the things that I’d like to see, and I’m challenging even myself with this, is not to piggyback off of what’s already there. Really start kind of clean and fresh and think, okay, how do we look at this differently than we’ve always looked at it? Don’t get me wrong principles are principles, right? And they’re always gonna be there. And we can build off the principles, but be careful of the activities that we’re using or the mediums in which we’re delivering the service. And, you know, like, for example, there’s this one group that I ran into, I don’t know if you guys have bumped into them yet, but it’s a hip hop group.  And they have a hip hop prevention program.

Who would have thought about doing hip hop music with prevention or dancing with, you know, that is unique, that’s different. And I haven’t fully learned how they’re doing it yet, but that’s innovative, right? It’s not just, all right, Jamal’s coming into your classroom and I’m gonna, you know, share these slides with you. There’s this body of youth that are dancing and then somehow they’re also getting at the message of prevention and Jake, you do something similar, even just in the opening up of your, I’ve only seen, I’ve seen your keynotes. I haven’t seen full presentation, but with the drumming thing, that is so unique and different. And yet you still have the prevention message in there. That to me is innovative, right? You’re not just coming up and just showing a slide presentation and then telling you don’t do it. Right. You’re adding something into it. So that’s one of, when I say innovative, that’s, that’s what I’m saying, but promising practices, a hundred percent. Right. We can.

Right. You’re right build off of those and maybe support some of those. But I think all of us just getting into the creativeness of it, like we gotta do it differently.

Yeah, that’s cool. I’m glad you said that because I know like what you and Z you love hip hop and you have like funny cultural references that y’all do that the audience really loves and it’s a connection piece. And I think for anyone listening to this is oftentimes the innovation like Jamal said, you don’t have to reinvent everything. But oftentimes it’s canvassing like what makes you you? What do you love to do?

Connecting Through Creativity: Engaging Youth and Parents

Because for a student, it’s way more impactful and a fun experience if you integrate what you love into your message, into your program. And if there’s opportunity to tailor your program, and that’s kind of what I did with 518 was like, as Z knows, there’s a format of the information we have to share and here’s how we make it fun for the audience to receive it. But then there’s three tailored parts where you get to introduce your flavor and that’s going to make it more like when you get in front of the students, they’re like, why do I like Z so much? because we got to talk about hip hop and sports and like goofing off. And like, it’s a connection piece that then allows you to be more impactful for how much time that you might have. And so I want to ask the audience, what’s one thing, innovation is just changing one thing. What’s one thing you could change about what you’re currently doing to make it just a little different?

That’s so good. And what if you ask yourself that question every quarter and then you always stay fresh, you’re infusing what you love, even if your interests change or something didn’t land, you can try something different. I think that’s,  I think that was the key point that I was going to say too, was just prevention is connection, right? Connection is prevention. We’re able to connect with folks. just, they want to be connected to something and more now, now more than ever, people just want to feel connected to something. And you know, with Jake, I talk a lot with substance misuse, right? That’s our, that’s our niche. That’s where I say niche, but that’s what we focus on. But even in the mental health sphere where up to it lives is right now we have, we have a loneliness epidemic is what they’re calling it. And how do we prevent that? Well, it’s inviting them to connect. So like what that hip hop group group is doing is it’s not virtual. They’re asking people to come in and hey, let’s dance and let’s talk about some of these feelings that we’re having. Let’s talk about some of these emotions and how we can regulate and cope. And that’s what we’re doing at Up To It in ⁓ a way that is maybe feels luxury, but it’s not. It’s literally, we’re starting the conversation together. When me and my dad go and present, it’s let’s start this conversation together and how can you have this conversation in a way that’s healthy and productive to your lifestyle?

Yeah. I actually want to, before we go into like the last part of the episode, because I want to hear about, it’s been a while since we caught up with like all the up to it stuff. You’re always doing 518 things with us. before we do that, I did a teaser. Jamal, you mentioned that LPK and C is at a spot right now where you’ve been able to maximize your budget better than the first couple of years.

Yeah. I was wondering if there’s any takeaways or tips, strategies that have allowed you to do that or an area that you invested in to get you to that point. And then let’s chat about up to it.

Yeah, no, that’s an excellent question. I think people have to reach out to me, because I probably need to put together a workshop of some sort to help those coalitions that might be ready or thinking about taking on that endeavor. It is a lot more tough than just, I mean, even filing the paperwork for a nonprofit can be challenging and then building it out because you don’t have a quality management department, you don’t have a finance department, you don’t have HR, you may not have janitor, you so you end up being it all as a founder in the beginning. ⁓ And then ⁓ the president CEO and then trying to find, yeah, there’s a lot, there’s a lot there. So I don’t know if I have one thing to be honest with, because that’s a pretty loaded question.

Does your, does your, where you’re at now, is that all grant based?

It is, yes, it’s 98 % grant-based. And so that’s another piece of it, right? Is the fundraising aspect of things, which is a whole new world to me. I’ve been working on the last two years. It’s challenging, it’s challenging.

Yeah, right. All right, then I’ll, let’s leave it at this then. Cause right, they can get in touch with you if they want some help. Cause it sounds like you’ve gotten a really good at obtaining grants and it can’t just be you because I know you’re incredible, but the capacity of Jamal can’t be doing all that or I mean, I don’t, yeah, you, everybody gets that.

No, can’t not at all. Never. No, listening to this podcast, you understand that. So Jamal, what’s your team look like as far as grant support? Who do you have on your team that makes this possible for you to manage that many grants?

So yeah, right now, so we have, so it’s myself, president CEO. And then I have a right hand who was previously a heaven. And then don’t want to give her a shout out and Jackie Norwell. She’s out in Phoenix area now. But our Raul Munoz is my program manager. But who’s the backbone and who really helped me get things going is my senior program assistant. She and I have been together 20 plus years. Also, she really is the heartbeat behind the organization as far as, mean, she’s the one that does, know, because we grew up together at an organization and learned from this awesome organization called Kodak and interacted with all the different departments and, know, had intimate meetings, if you will. She knew a lot of that stuff as my assistant through those years. So quality management, evaluation, finances, budgeting, scheduling, calendaring, policy and procedures. So she, I mean, that’s my true like backbone behind the scenes person who walks and lives together, we live together, you know, in the work world. That’s, you need.

I’m gonna say you’re gonna need a person like that. And she’s detail oriented and I’m not. I’m a big picture person, right? So that’s what I would say. And then I got staff people. But those, that’s the other challenge and can go into it. Those flip a lot, right? I mean, in the world of prevention, the salary rate’s not high and sometimes people, mean, you know, want more.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you for that. Yup. We got turnover in which I can understand and prevention, you’re not gonna get rich. You’re not gonna be a millionaire. ⁓ Maybe when you start your own business, possibly, and you get one those evidence-based programs from promising practice and then.

Right? Yeah, no way. Yeah, yeah, you’re going to pay for it the first decade getting paid $2 an hour, $3 an hour for all the work you put in and maybe one day it hits and you get a big paycheck. Still hoping. Yeah, still hoping.

So staffing is another challenge and maybe people recognize the value that we bring. I mean, I think I find ourselves similar to teachers, you know what I mean? Where people just don’t truly appreciate, meaning when I say people, mean funding or funders don’t fully grasp yet the value that we truly bring to the table.

That’s true. I get that for sure. I’m going to shout out a book that’s, I’m seeing this thing because you mentioned like the big picture thinker, you’re driving strategy and things like that. And I just read this book called Traction and it’s how to run your business in a sustainable way with systems and procedures because as the visionary, they call them visionaries and integrators.

We’re the visionary and we see, we know our target audience. We think of creative ways to help them. We’re innovative thinkers. We have a thousand ideas and 950 of them are bad, but 50 of them could change the world. And we need the integrators, the ones who are detail oriented, they’re action takers. They’re down to the minute details, not only to help keep us grounded and like tell us which 950 are not the great ideas or feasible, but how to actually implement them.

Yes. So for anybody who is right now listening to this and you’re like, hey, I’m stuck because I have a big vision and I need to make it a reality, but I don’t get that small picture stuff. You might need an integrator. Like Jamal said, his friend is that’s been in the field with him for so long. But let’s learn all about up to it because this has been so exciting to witness over the last two years. Y’all have grown at an insane pace. Like it is so cool.

I love that you are tackling that’s something that’s so important to us prevention professionals. You’re tackling mental health and you’re tackling tough conversations with parents too. So if you had to just tell everybody like, is up to it?

Up To It: Transforming Mental Health Conversations

Yeah, no, I think that’s such a great question. And one of the things that I love is that, like you said, you got to be there at the forefront of it all. And Jake has been a tremendous mentor and just guidance and friend and brother that I needed all throughout this process. So even though that’s that he’s Batman, I get to run this ship. So I get to be the CEO of UpToIt. He gets to be the CEO, president of LPKC. to say that, ought to say that UpToIt is helping youth, families, and organizations connect, communicate, and thrive together.

Thank you, while making mental health real, actionable, relatable. And the key things that we really want to really emphasize is that it’s relatable and it’s actionable. Everything that we’re going to give you when we’re presenting, when we’re talking with you, when you come to a workshop is that you’re to be able to apply these principles the next day, right? And integrate it into your life or even the day after that presentation. think where we’re different when we talk about mental health is that we’re having real raw honest conversations. There’s really no sugar coating.

Uh, in any of our presentations, it’s very in workshops. It’s like, Hey, this is what you’re seeing. This is what we’re hearing. Here’s how you do it. Here’s how you combat that. Uh, and do it together. I think a lot of people focus on, um, and here’s where we’re different is a lot of people think that if we go talk to the youth, that the youth can implement these things right off the right, like for themselves by themselves. But at end of the day, they had to go home to parents and guardians who are not retaining or getting the same education or resources that this youth just got. So when they’re trying to implement some of these things we’re talking to them about, they’re being met with friction and force and now they’re going head to head. But you know this Jake, it’s hard to get parents in a room to, or guardians in a room to talk about this topic. But then they’ll be the first ones to complain to the principal or complain to their teachers about.

Thank you. Why is my youth acting like this? And why are you not doing this? And they’ll hit you with a, well, we paid this amount of money for a presenter to fly out here to tell y’all about this, but only three of y’all showed up. And the three that showed up, their youth is fine. They’re, they’re doing okay. So our challenge has always been, let’s talk to the parents. Like let’s get through to the parents and guardians. Cause those are the ones that can help integrate the change that these youth, that we’re talking to these youth about.

Yeah and promising practices that they can implement in their lives, their own lives.

Wow. And that’s what’s cool too is being the father and son duo is that, and I’ve seen this on like videos of watching y’all do your thing and people in the crowd saying your presence and your example together, it’s that connection piece you talked about is sure, they could look up a blog on what to say to their kid or something. they could, which I mean, people just won’t do or they will, and it’s not to their liking or their style or whatever it is.

So y’all are not only bringing the information, but you’re bringing the excitement to go home and implement it. And you can’t put a number, like you can’t value that enough. If we have amazing information, like having this bougie yacht, it always stays in the parking lot. That’s a useless yacht. Like you need a duo like you to say, here’s the information. And now, they leave and they’re excited to use it. So Jamal, on your perspective, what do you think it is from the parent adult side that y’all bring that was maybe missing in previous things or what unique value from parent perspective are y’all bringing?

Yeah, I think the, think it might be twofold. One is, or maybe even three, one is a father son duo, right? There’s a lot of, feel misinformation out there that fathers and sons may not communicate or have good relationships. Two, it’s where a father son duo who is men of color.

Zion’s Black, Saken Black, and Mexican, I’m Black. And again, stereotypes that men of color don’t support their sons and or families. And so we get to show that aspect of things. I think the third is that it’s a positive relationship and that it was tough conversations that led to the stronger bond and connection and me being open to learn, listen, see, hear, and then sharing that with other adults that it’s okay to listen to your young people. So I get to be a model, if you will, not a role model, but a model of this is what happens when you do this. This is what it potentially could be. But if you’re trying to be the parent all the time and not learn and listen, then yeah, there’s gonna be this possible friction all the time. And then also I think people get to see, and this might be the fourth one is just a transition from, I’m always gonna be his father, but I am now an advisor.

I mean, once he turned 18, he’s a young man. He’s an adult in the eyes of the law. I mean, so much so that PlayStation sent me emails telling me so that I had to get out of his account when he turned 18. And I was like, what? I can’t have parental controls over it any longer. They sent me an email kicking me off. But that. No way, that’s funny.

And that relationship and that dynamic needs to change. And it makes sense, right? Always be his father, but the relationship in a way, and they get to see that also. So, and we get to our stories.

Yeah that’s, you know, I was trying to pinpoint why it resonates so much with your platform. And I think you just told it to me is you just like in prevention. Oftentimes we think prevention is bringing in somebody who made all the mistakes and say, don’t make these mistakes. We learned over the last decades, that’s that backfires. It shows permission to make all the same mistakes. Cause then you’re going to get on stage and go share about it you can have a good life.

I imagine there’s probably some stories of dynamics with families that were very terrible. I mean, there’s probably too many to count and that’s terrible. That’s sad. That’s why you’re doing what you’re doing, trying to help. And to go back and say, wish we would, or don’t do what I did. And that’s not prevention. That’s not helpful. Tell me what you did to be successful so that I can model it. And that’s what you said, Jamal, be a model.

No. Yeah. And that’s the number one, like feedback we get at Vive 18 is like, oh, it wasn’t a don’t do what I did presentation. was, Hey, look how great life is. You can do that too. And y’all are bringing that to a field that dude, just, praying that your platform just gonna blow up in the best way. You’re going to be busy. You’re going to be flying all over. I mean, it’s already happening, right? Like incredible what y’all have done. So, um, Yeah, no, appreciate that.

To leave people with some ways to actually get in touch with y’all to see what you’re doing, I got two questions. The first one is, what are the best ways for you to work with different community partners and who are those partners? And then two, please tell us how to go check out all the stuff that you’re doing with UpToIt.

Collaboration Over Competition: Strengthening Community Partnerships

Yeah, 100%. So some of the feedback we always get is like, well, I don’t think we have funding for that. And it’s like, well, do you have the Garrett Lee Smith grant? And they’re like, I do have that grant. my gosh. Yeah. And they look at it and they’re like, you guys are fit for this. So I say that I’ll just say that people that have the Garrett Lee Smith grant that are recipients of that grant, those are great people to work with school districts, coalitions.

Anybody that has that kind of funding, definitely reach out to us and we would love to help you guys out. the other thing that we love to work with is construction teams and construction workers. That’s been a need to have one of the highest rates of suicide within any industry. So we want to help them because we know it’s not just work stress, but it’s also family stress that plays a part in that. So, those are kind of our, our two demographics of your also, in workplace, when we talk about EAPs, employee assistant programs or, things of that nature is employee wellness. We fit right into those conversations. Because again, it’s not just work stress, it’s also family and parent stress that these, your employees are dealing with as well.

True. And then social media handles, I don’t know them well. I mean, I know how to get to them, but yeah, Zion’s the one that’s all up on that.

Well, I’m on it. I’m sorry, John, on it, man. I’m the CEO. I’m the guy. So our Instagram is up to it AZ. You can follow us to see where we’ve been, who we talked with and all that good stuff. You can follow me on LinkedIn, Zion Givens, first and last name. But the best way to get ahold of us is at our website uptoit.club. That hit the dance it’s a club because it’s clue, clue, clue.

It’s a, it’s a club because it’s a good time. And once you join in your family and we’re to have a good time with you. like Jake said, it’s exciting. And honestly, again, last shout out, I don’t think people understand how instrumental Jake has been to our success and just our growth as a business. but Jake has been like, again, a mentor to me while we started this, I came up with this crazy idea and Jake said, well, let me help you guys. I’ve been through it. Let me make sure you don’t make the same mistakes I did. And you can get some step furthers and man, he’s just been a blessing to us. So man, Jake, we appreciate you allowing us on the platform and just being who you are, you and Emily, both of y’all, man, y’all are amazing. So we appreciate you.

Yeah, welcome to the club, Jake, or the club.

I’m glad to be a part of it. It’s been so cool. And man, I feel like we’ve all mentored people. feel like at some point, the best part of mentoring is when someone actually does what you told them would be helpful and they try it. That’s why I was like, don’t even like, dude, you’re building good in the world. Of course I’ll help you. And you do all the stuff and that’s why you’re growing. So I appreciate the shout out and the gratefulness and back to you for being a part of VIVE 18 in a big way. I like saying this, that as a good friend, Dave Claussen, who’s in prevention, he just says like, prevention is better together. And I think we can all keep in mind that we’re better together. there’s, man, resources are scarce that shouldn’t create competition.

That should create collaboration. Like we need to be sharing resources. So for everybody who’s on this podcast, reach out, go to uptoit.club, check out all the videos, get in touch with them if you need anything. As you know, if you love Z, you can get them on Vive 18 for substance use prevention too. And man, Z, I got to do a shout out for you because we always get more messages, DMs, responses, emails.

So true like thank yous from a student audience whenever you visit. There’s a connection piece that happens. I’m sure Jamal, you see this, like he walks into a room and he’s instantly connecting with young people and they’re safe, they’re cared for and they see that and it just, leads to transformation. So for anybody who’s looking at Vive 18, know you can get Z in your community. And if you’re looking for mental health stuff and the father son duo, no doubt. Go to uptodotclub.

Man, appreciate you, Jake. Come to the club! Come to the club!

I’m in the club. All right, for everybody listening, keep up the great work. We’ll see you in the club next week. Next week, we’ll episode of the Drug Prevention Hour Hour.