Feature #98: Khalifa Lee, Community & Earth Activist...

Name: Khalifa Lee

Current Job Position Title(s): 
Community & Earth Activist, Community Relations Director, WPSM; Executive Director, UFY; Co-Founder/Vice President, HD180; Co-Founder & Board Member, BEMHSAA; Freelance Computer Technician; Healing Artist in Public Speaking/Teaching, Poetry, and Art.

Company Name(s): 
Wise Protective Services and More, Inc., Unite For Youth, Hood 180, Benjamin E. Mays High School Alumni Association.

Contact Information: communityrelationsdirector@wpsm.org – www.wpsm.org, klee.hood180inc@gmail.com www.hood180inc..com, uniteforyouthinc@gmail.com, bemhsaa@gmail.com

Special skills: Community Organizing; Event Planning, Marketing; Organization and Program Design/Management; Youth Empowerment and Development; Education; Artistic Design; Computer Technical Skills; Keen Sight, Listening Ears, and Open Heart.

Describe your job story:
In my field, everyone is willing to give a helping hand.  I grew up being a helper – my grandmother had a shop in her church and I would be remembered by the community as the child screaming “Next!” for the following customer in line. That translated into me becoming involved with Hands on Atlanta and leading community service projects around the city.  I also worked for Grady Hospital’s Teen Clinic as a Peer Health Educator, teaching 7-8th graders about the dangers of drugs and sexual peer pressure.

At the University of Virginia I lead such operations as the Gear-Up program – we worked with a local middle school, in order to provide mentoring, leadership, and academic advancement for the students.  To accomplish such acts as formulating a day to celebrate De-Stereotypes, or getting the University to “state their profound regret” for slavery on grounds, or creating youth programs during a city celebration of Juneteenth – it was necessary to learn how to best reach out to community members across many spectrums of race and class, in order to build progress, unity, and reconciliation.

Such lessons instilled would come in handy when returning to Atlanta to help my ailing mother diagnosed with cancer.  I joined AmeriCorps again, working with GulfSouth Youth Action Corp., operating an after school program in my community that would provide youth empowerment, student enrichment, and youth community engagement. At the same time I worked for United States Human Rights Network & National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as an intern.  This would lead me further into working with the city as I would become a Camp Best Friend’s Environmental Science Educator teaching the youth about the importance of the environment and the role humans play within it – they loved growing their own plants the most.

They say you never know who is watching, and in my journey I co-founded Hood 180, Inc. with a group of old and new friends, to beautify our community and engage our youth. I co-founded BEMHSAA to provide mentorship and scholarships to my alma mater.  I was tapped to become Executive Director for Unite for Youth a mentorship program for underprivileged youth in Atlanta. I finally would be called upon to help start and lead Wise Protective Services and More, Inc. as Community Relations Chair – providing services and mentorship to families affected by obesity, HIV/AIDS, and domestic violence.

I have been blessed through being able to provide such services to my community and the people of the world. The people and children I have touched always remind me that I do this work because it needs to be done, and since the need will not end tomorrow, more leaders must be developed.

What did you want to be when you were a child/ teenager?
I wanted to be a cartoonist and a doctor. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to be a father & husband. As a teenager, I wanted be a computer technician/engineer, architect, and a public servant. Most of all I wanted to be happy and a provider of smiles to the world.

Are doing your dream job?
Yes. I live in my dreams, which leads me to dream of new projects to help the world all the time.

What do you like MOST about what you do? What do you like the LEAST?
 In what I do I enjoy receiving the smiles of youth, adults, and elders often, from my deeds – while being blessed to see the mode of progress to the greater global community of humanity via the people and land that I have touched through such work. What I like the least is the fact that with such a high necessity for such work to be done, every year the need grows.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
In 5 years I see myself with my wife and children, working on my 2nd house, and having a farm & business - in multiple countries. And also being an author. All at the same time while advancing my organizations work nationally.

Are you happy with where you are in life?
I have a lot of reach, coming in and out - and a lot of those hands are on my time. I am happy seeing that I am making a difference. However, happiness and contentment should not be confused. I am happy in the growth in the world and my effect in this growth towards positive holistic healing, but I am not happy in the current situation we all must endure with those who would like to see otherwise.

What more do you want to do with your life?
I want to travel the world. In my traveling I would like to meet every culture and people of the world - and record/learn of them and their similarities.

What drives/motivates you?
Beyond the feeling of warmth I get when my genetic story and the promise of peace drives and motivates me.  I grew up learning and studying history of the world. When I see so much plight, plunder, and destruction of the present, and I remember the peace and pleasantries of the past - I glow in the understanding that we all can come together and make a wondrous future free of frivolous suffering.

What else do you do?
I sit on the University of Virginia's President Board Committee to Commemorate Slavery at UVa. I am on the Planning Board for the UVa Black Alumni Weekend. I am a volunteer for WeCycle. I am a Spoken Word performer. I am a freelance writer. I do photography and paint, I also am a freelance computer technician.

What is your advice to those who are seeking employment and have no hope?

In the world of wants and needs, you have little time to wait on a company to take you in. Take every opportunity as a way to your future success in happiness. Go out to networking events, and stay in touch with close and old friends, as well, take the time to meditate on what you would like to see yourself give to the world for the rest of your life. These can lead you into your future jobs, just as much as it would for you to start your own business & feed yourself. You can never loose with positive energy supporting your every move! Thus remaining positive and faithful will always lead you in the right direction.