DAMONE HALE RESIGNS FROM YOUNG COMMUNITY DEVELOPERS

I guess the Board of Director have a propensity to drive away anyone sincere, honest and hardworking - Directors from Young Community Developers (YCD). First it was my good friend Leon Monroe and now the honest man - Damone Hale. There was once a former YCD Director, who left his stench at YCD - who could that be? Millions of dollars was wasted and with Private Industry Council and many City Agencies this skunk of a person - penalized our youth and destroyed the hard work and foundation of may good and hard working people at YCD. We have good people at YCD and I have said it before. We have Rodney Hampton a good brother with the right vision always trying to strive but always some one coming in his way. Hanif will stick to this theory and try his best to train those under his charge. Hazmat is going places even if he has to deal with crooks like Olin Webb - who has been getting contracts and using his she and he-thug friends to make money. And of course we have Eloise Patton who loves working for the poor and making good stuff happen. My friend John Nauer calls her Mama and she will care for those under her charge. I met with Leon Monroe and told him to do what is right. To hold his head high and not to compromise. I also met with Damone some months after he settled down and told him about the situation and the many cronies and crooks we have in the Southeast Sector. Many of them do not care for the youth of our community and some among them are on the YCD - Board of Directors. I really do not have to name them but they are there - thinking that Willie L. Brown is there to support them. Damone Hale was a lawyer and also studied Chemistry well enough to understand the fundamentals about the toxic hot spots we have in our sector. As a lawyer he had an analytical mind and also the patience to listen to anyone. I did not know him well but I did make it a point to wish him well - when I saw him on the street and also as the Director of Young Community Developers (YCD). Many of us will miss Damone Hale because he was a good and honest man. He is of Japanese ancestry but raised by an African American couple. I know this because I asked him and he explained to his philosophy, and me - where he came from on life. I was born in Nairobi, Kenya and always proud that I was born in Africa. We two could have a dialog with few words - I guess he understood me as I did him. Damone Hale has a way of listening and making judgments. May be it was his long experience working with youth and listening to them. Our youth need love but most of all they need some one to understand them. Not talk down to them and treat them like garbage. We all will miss Damone Hale and to the Board of Directors of YCD I say get your act together. Once a good person is chosen let the person run the show - do not interfere and make his or her life a misery. I can see the Board of Directors frowning but I do not give a rat's ass about them if they do not really care about our youth. As to the work force and the direction YCD is moving - now is the time for the Board of Director to put an action plan in place. Complete with time lines and goals. Do not interfere with the Director - let the Director manage his or her affairs - as long as the youth and training benefits. I can see Dwayne Jones beaming. He had the corrupt Mayor Willie L. Brown to tan his ass and bring in the bucks. He made use of Private Industry Council (PIC) he did all that he could to bring in money with NO Accountability and less Transparency. He then left to form Project Complete. One thing I learned from Dwayne Jones - he is a SPIN master - he starts things and mostly leaves them incomplete. YCD must move on and face the reality of life. Go through the fire and be proud of those that are focused. One cannot give up. Our youth need the help but more love and understanding. Damone Hale you were there for a brief period and did what you could. We wish you well and do visit us in the neighborhood. Be tight.

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