We are rappers and community leaders who sit down with the people most programs write off, including active gang members, and turn everyday activity into mentorship, opportunity and real social services.
That is the whole idea behind Rappers Without Borders. Outreach fails when it arrives as a lecture from someone with no standing in the neighborhood. It works when the person doing the asking has lived it, speaks the language, and is not there to judge anybody.
So we start where people already are. A cypher on the corner. A beat somebody made on their phone. A cookout, a studio session, a ride to an appointment. Those are not distractions from the work, they are the work. Every one of them is a chance to build enough trust that a real conversation becomes possible.
From there it turns practical. Mentorship. Conflict that gets talked down instead of shot out. Help getting an ID, a job application, a court date handled, a place to be on a Friday night. We take the ordinary things a community already does and we route them into services people can actually use.
None of this requires anybody to sign a pledge, pass a screening, or promise to change first. Show up as you are and we will work with that.
We go where people already gather instead of waiting for them to walk into an office. Familiar faces, consistent presence, no clipboard, no agenda beyond getting to know somebody.
Every person who wants one gets a mentor who returns calls. Not a caseworker with ninety files, a person who checks in, shows up to the hearing, and stays in touch when things go sideways.
Writing, recording, and producing, with the technical side taught properly. Music gets people in the room and gives them something to be good at that nobody can take away.
When something is about to escalate, the people who can slow it down are the ones both sides respect. We mediate early, quietly, and without involving anybody who does not need to be involved.
Rides, IDs, résumés, job applications, benefits paperwork, court dates, referrals to counseling and treatment. The unglamorous logistics that decide whether somebody gets to move forward.
Block events, open mics, cookouts, and showcases that give a neighborhood a reason to be in the same place peacefully, and give young people a stage in front of their own people.
We do not run an eligibility screen. If you are in this community and you want something different, that is enough to start.
Teenagers and young adults who are already being pulled toward a set, a beef, or a charge. The earlier somebody has a real relationship with an adult who is not law enforcement, the more options they keep.
We do not require anybody to renounce anything to talk to us. Most people we work with are still in it when we meet them. Trust comes first, decisions come later, and they come from the person themselves.
Reentry is where good intentions collapse over paperwork, transport and the first week without income. We help with the specifics and stay in contact past the point where most support ends.
Parents who are watching it happen and do not know who to call. Often a family member reaches out before the young person does, and that is a completely valid way to start.
Talent is not the scarce thing in this community. Access is. If somebody is serious about music, we will find them time, equipment and somebody who knows how to engineer a session.
We take referrals from teachers, counselors, diversion programs, probation officers, clergy and hospitals, and we will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit for a particular young person.
Less ribbon cutting, more folding chairs. Most of it happens on steps, in community rooms, and in whatever space somebody lends us for the evening.
We would rather be judged on how we operate than on a number in a report.
We do not gather intelligence, we do not report names, and we do not hand anybody over. Outreach that cooperates with enforcement is not outreach, and it gets people hurt.
You do not have to be clean, out, employed, apologetic or ready. Requirements sound responsible and they filter out exactly the people who need the help most.
The people doing this work are from these neighborhoods and many have lived the same story. That is not a marketing line, it is the reason anybody answers the door.
We keep the numbers small enough that mentors can actually stay in touch. A relationship that survives a bad month is worth more than a hundred intake forms.
Most contact ends when the emergency does. Ours does not. The month after a release, a hearing or a funeral is usually when the real work starts.
We are not clinicians, lawyers or a housing authority. When something is outside what we can do, we say so and connect people to somebody who can, rather than improvising.
Nobody moves through this on a schedule. Some people take a week to say anything real, some take a year, and both are fine.
You call, text, email, or somebody who knows us passes your name along. A family member or a school can start it just as easily as you can.
An informal conversation, wherever you are comfortable. No intake packet, no questions you are not ready to answer.
If there is a court date, a threat, a missing ID or no income this week, that gets dealt with before anything else.
A mentor, a studio session, a weekly circle, a workshop, whatever fits. Momentum matters more than the perfect plan.
The relationship keeps going. Plenty of people come back a year later, and the door is open the same as it was the first day.
Ask about any of these directly. If we cannot do it ourselves, we will usually know who can.
Birth certificates, state IDs, social security cards, and the forms that quietly block everything else until they are sorted out.
Résumés, applications, interview practice, appropriate clothes, and introductions to employers who are willing to hire somebody with a record.
Understanding what a hearing means, showing up to it, keeping track of dates and conditions, and speaking to a young person’s progress when it is appropriate to do so.
Rides to interviews, hearings, appointments and programs. A missed bus should not be the reason somebody loses a job or a case.
Counseling, substance use treatment, medical care, legal aid and housing services, through people we have working relationships with rather than a phone list.
Access to recording space, engineering help, and instruction on writing, production and the business side, so that music can be a real skill instead of a hobby.
Coaching for parents and guardians, help navigating school meetings, and a person they can call when they do not know what to do next.
Consistent, supervised evening hours. A large share of trouble is simply what happens when there is nowhere else to go.
Institutions can offer services but often cannot get credible access. We can get access but cannot replace institutions. Partnership is how both problems get solved. We work with:
Money is useful and it is not the only thing we need. Most of what makes a week work is time, space and access.
Consistency matters far more than credentials. If you can show up at the same time every week and keep your word, you can do this. We will train and support you.
A community room for a weekly circle, a gym for an evening, or studio hours nobody is using. Space is the single most common thing standing between a plan and a program.
An interview, a trial shift, an apprenticeship, or an honest conversation about what it would take. A first real paycheck changes the math on everything else.
Gas and rides, ID fees, interview clothes, food at events, and recording equipment. Small, specific costs are what actually get people over the line.
If you are a teacher, officer, counselor, pastor or parent and somebody comes to mind, reach out. There is no wrong way to make an introduction.
Introductions to funders, coverage of an event, or simply telling the right person we exist. Most of our reach has come from somebody vouching for us.
Whether you need help, want to volunteer, or want to partner with us, this reaches DeVaugn directly. If it is urgent, call instead of writing.
No. We are not going to make that a condition of talking to you, and we are not going to pressure you about it. Most of the people we work with are still involved when we meet them. What you decide about that is yours to decide, on your own timeline, and it does not change whether we pick up the phone.
No. We do not collect information for law enforcement, we do not pass along names, addresses or details about anybody, and we are not a diversion arm of any agency. We do coordinate with schools, courts, clinics and reentry programs when it directly helps somebody we are working with, and we tell that person what we are doing and why before we do it.
Because it is the language, and because credibility cannot be assigned by a job title. A cypher, a beat or a session gets you a real conversation in ten minutes where a flyer and an office appointment get you nothing in six months. Music is also a genuine skill with a genuine industry behind it, so the thing we use to make contact is worth learning in its own right.
No. Nothing we do costs the people we serve anything, and nothing depends on a family being able to pay.
Most of our work is with teenagers and young adults, but we do not turn away someone older who is trying to get on their feet, and we work with parents and family members of any age.
Reach out anyway. A lot of what we do starts with a mother, grandmother or aunt calling before the young person is willing to. We can talk you through options, and we can make contact in a low pressure way that does not feel like an intervention being staged on him.
Yes. We do assemblies, panels, workshops and performances, and we can put together something appropriate for the age group and setting. Get in touch with roughly what you have in mind and a date.
Call or email and we will walk through it. We will be straight with you about whether we are a good fit for a particular young person, because a referral that goes nowhere costs that young person more than it costs either of us.
Very much so. Drivers, tutors, cooks, people who understand paperwork and benefits, tradespeople willing to teach, and adults who can simply be reliable every week. The music side is the front door, not the whole house.
Into the practical costs that make the work possible: transportation, ID and document fees, food at community events, interview clothing, recording equipment and studio time. We are happy to tell any donor exactly what a given contribution paid for.