The Village Mentoring Inc. has expanded the brand from outside of Greensboro, NC. Through their fairly new Transforming Leaders Fellowship, The Village was able to bring four of their fellows to their annual retreat.
The four TLF fellows include Alexander Kirk from Prairie View A&M University, Prince Mosley from Tuskegee University, Reginald Alexander from Howard University and Harlem Morton from Hampton University.
The Village also had two fellows from N.C. A&T that are currently in the Village as general body members, Andrew McCall and Caleb Boyce.
Jalen Sims, the COO of The Village, graduated from N.C. A&T in the Fall of 2020. Sims served as the secretary for The Village during his time. Sims has seen the Village grow and has seen the TLF program continue to make a positive impact on different students from different HBCUs.
“We were able to create a fellowship where we can reach out to other HBCUs and give that same type of service and community across the world,” Sims said.
The TLF program is a 6-week program and each week consists of a challenge. Challenges can range from community service, professional development and social development.
Each week the challenges get harder and each fellow is graded on how they perform. This is how the four were selected.
Out of the 40 applicants, only nine were selected for this program. Sims talked about how the board doesnt look for the “perfect” applicant to join the program.
“We are not looking for the best candidate, we are not looking for the 4.0 freshman whos involved in this, that and the third. We are looking for people who could actually use and benefit from the fellowship,” Sims said.
A&T’s own Caleb Boyce finished first this year, followed by Alexander Kirk in second and then Prince Mosley coming in third.
Morton believes his favorite challenge throughout the 6-week process was when the fellows had to come up with a business idea for HBCU students.
“It definitely went back to some of the struggles we see on our campus. So coming up with a business idea in a way we could actually market it and put it into a real life perspective if we wanted to,” Morton said.
When asked if The Village plans on expanding with different chapters on different HBCU campuses, Sims did not deny it being out of the realm of possibility.
“In the future it is very possible, I think we are trying to keep it here for now and keep our outreach going through programs like such (TLF),” Sims said.
The Village was founded in 2016 by N.C. A&T alum Trevor Rudd and UNCG alum Jayon Bray. The Village will be hosting their Walk for Gun Reform on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022 at 10:00 am. For more information about The Village, follow them on Instagram @thevillagementoring.
