N.C. A&T Alumnus Mentoring Program Impacts the Lives of Youth through Social Media

David Street ’08 has always been a passionate leader from his days of serving as Student Government Association president at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University to working in the nonprofit sector in the Washington, D.C. area. He is the founder and executive director of P.E.N. (Promote, Enrich, and Nurture) DMV, a faith-based nonprofit that specializes in mentoring and science, technology, engineering and math (S.T.E.M.) instruction for middle and high school youth. 

“After I graduated from North Carolina A&T, I thought I was going to run for a political office but I soon realized my calling was to serve others in the community,” said Street. 

For more than 10 years, Street has worked as a community organizer and currently works for Bread for the World as the deputy director of grassroots organizing and engagement. In this role, he works to change policies, programs and conditions nationwide that allows hunger and poverty to persist. He is also an associate minister at Mount Sinai Baptist Church in the D.C. area. 

“Working in the community has opened my eyes to see how faith and community can come together, and how it also opens the door for more opportunities,” said Street. 

In 2014, Street was asked to give a presentation to the Boys and Girls Club to 15 young men when he discovered the need to start his mentoring group. 

“Every time I turned around during my presentation, I would notice the boys not paying attention to anything I was saying because they were on their phones looking at social media. It started to become really annoying when finally a light bulb went off in my head to meet them where they were at in that moment. I eventually stopped my presentation and I started to ask them what they were looking at on social media, and who was their favorite influencers and why,” said Street. “At that moment, I was able to capture their attention by talking about things that related to them.” 

According to the 2018 Pew Research Center, 95 percent of teenagers have access to a smartphone and 45 percent are on social media with the most popular platforms being YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. 

In 2015, Street incorporated P.E.N. DMV to provide educational, health and wellness, and economic empowerment to youth. The nonprofit has been instrumental in creating a program called, Passport to Manhood and Smart Girl Social Media Leadership Summits that teaches youth how to be good digital citizens by developing content that benefits their character and how to make better decisions. The program has hosted three summits in Washington, D.C., Harlem, N.Y. and Paris, France. 

Most recently, the nonprofit has gained the attention of Facebook and participated in a social media summit in October 2018. On March 29, the nonprofit will conduct the Smart Girls Leadership Summit at the Facebook DC Headquarters. 

“One of the top issues with social media is cyberbullying and I am always explaining how colleges and universities are now looking at students social media pages to get a sense of who they are before admitting them. I also share how some teens have been fired from jobs because of inappropriate posts,” he said. 

“There are way too many of our young people looking for validation from an online community that often glorifies ignorance and violence. This is what our young people are dealing with every two minutes when they pull out their phones and go to a social media platform.” 

The Passport to Manhood and Smart Girl Social Media Leadership Summits has impacted the lives of 250 youth by teaching them how to deliver content that showcases their leadership skills and the work they are doing in the community. 

“Our young people need to understand the best practices of social media and how important it is for them to understand how their personal brands can impact their future,” he said. 

To learn more about P.E.N. DMV or to donate to the program, visit www.pendmv.org.