NEW YORK—Richard Green quietly tends to the garden of the Crown Heights Youth Collective in Brooklyn, which he heads as the chief executive. No one passes by without saying hello. For over three decades, he has been a pillar of the community.
The walls of the youth collective, a center that has been offering a helping hand and a sympathetic ear to local youth for over 30 years, are filled with appreciation plaques for Green and his works. Photos of Green with past mayors and U.S. presidents, as well as religious and community leaders are scattered among the plaques.
Green moved to Crown Heights when he was 9 years old, and has stayed ever since, except for a period of about 10 years he spent as a Marine in Vietnam, and then in college and graduate school. During the 1991 Crown Heights racial riots between blacks and Jews, Green was one of the voices of calm and reconciliation.
The Epoch Times: What difference do you think you made during the years at the youth collective?
Richard Green: We have touched the lives of, I would conservatively say, over 100,000 families. I’ve seen everybody from doctors to lawyers, to police officers to Broadway actors to teachers.
A lot of young people come here from word of mouth. They come in, or they hear about us. Sometimes they are coming home from prison or gotten into trouble. They need someone to talk to; they need help. This is where they go to. Some young man told me: ‘Your phone number is like 911.’ I am raising the grandchildren of the original people I started out with.
Epoch Times: What gives you the strength to keep going?
Green: I was blessed with good health. Every time I go to a graduation or meet a young person some place, [someone would say:] “Mr. Green, you don’t remember me, but I got my first summer job with you.”
“Mr. Green because of you I am still around,” a young person told me the other day. “Come back let me give you a hug.” It filled me up. It brought me to tears. I thought about it, ‘What did I do?’ maybe just a little bump, a little conversation, a little hello. That is what caused him to get of the track he was on.
I am here because some people set a better world for me. I come from the same streets.
Epoch Times: How has the neighborhood changed since you started?
Green: The complexion of neighborhood changed. The economics changes. New people moved in. There is more mixture of people from different places. You have a lot of young people from different cultures coming in and that is good. It became much more heterogeneous. That is what I like about it; I see a “cosmic race” coming into focus.
The walls of the youth collective, a center that has been offering a helping hand and a sympathetic ear to local youth for over 30 years, are filled with appreciation plaques for Green and his works. Photos of Green with past mayors and U.S. presidents, as well as religious and community leaders are scattered among the plaques.
Green moved to Crown Heights when he was 9 years old, and has stayed ever since, except for a period of about 10 years he spent as a Marine in Vietnam, and then in college and graduate school. During the 1991 Crown Heights racial riots between blacks and Jews, Green was one of the voices of calm and reconciliation.
The Epoch Times: What difference do you think you made during the years at the youth collective?
Richard Green: We have touched the lives of, I would conservatively say, over 100,000 families. I’ve seen everybody from doctors to lawyers, to police officers to Broadway actors to teachers.
A lot of young people come here from word of mouth. They come in, or they hear about us. Sometimes they are coming home from prison or gotten into trouble. They need someone to talk to; they need help. This is where they go to. Some young man told me: ‘Your phone number is like 911.’ I am raising the grandchildren of the original people I started out with.
Epoch Times: What gives you the strength to keep going?
Green: I was blessed with good health. Every time I go to a graduation or meet a young person some place, [someone would say:] “Mr. Green, you don’t remember me, but I got my first summer job with you.”
“Mr. Green because of you I am still around,” a young person told me the other day. “Come back let me give you a hug.” It filled me up. It brought me to tears. I thought about it, ‘What did I do?’ maybe just a little bump, a little conversation, a little hello. That is what caused him to get of the track he was on.
I am here because some people set a better world for me. I come from the same streets.
Epoch Times: How has the neighborhood changed since you started?
Green: The complexion of neighborhood changed. The economics changes. New people moved in. There is more mixture of people from different places. You have a lot of young people from different cultures coming in and that is good. It became much more heterogeneous. That is what I like about it; I see a “cosmic race” coming into focus.
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