Our mission
Be About Change empowers youth through literacy and leadership programs, combined with family and community support. We are dedicated to enhancing the lives of today’s youth in Tennessee— building their confidence and preparing them to serve the community. We do this through four programs:
1) Reading Success: supplemental literacy support for elementary school students who struggle with reading (this simplifies teaching by providing struggling students with temporary interventions, allowing teachers to retain their current primary curriculum);
2) Families and Schools United: support for elementary school families that struggle with attendance and chronic absenteeism;
3) Project LEAD: leadership and financial literacy for youth ages 12 to 18 and their families;
4) Whole Community Support: a single donation platform for individuals and organizations to make an impact in multiple areas, including with Be About Change agency partners.
Our story
Through Be About Change, we harness the energy we all possess and direct it in positive ways. Join us in this effort to learn more about ourselves and others.
“Growing up, many of my friends had it tougher than me. Single-parent households. Poverty. Difficulty making ends meet. In 2002, I attended one of these friend’s funeral; his mom asked me to be a pallbearer, and I graciously obliged. I had known him since kindergarten. I didn’t know it at the time, but the day of the funeral would shape the rest of my life.
I’ve always been a believer in and a supporter of our youth that endure the hardships mentioned above. These were my friends growing up, people that lived around the block, and people who I now love and respect. Everything I have accomplished in my life has been the result of generations upon generations of hard-working, good-willed people, who made a ton of mistakes, just like me, who made the best of their circumstances, and who passed on the knowledge given to them like those before them.
We often spend time in our lives, fighting the fire…the energy that drives and compels us to act, until we finally surrender to our calling. As we fight, the energy often manifests itself in various forms of fear and self-destruction. When we surrender, the energy remains, the actions become more directed and deliberate, and fears and perceived weaknesses become tools and resources upon which to draw motivation and action. Being about change calls for re-creation, fluidity and improvisation in action, embracing the moment, taking responsibility for one’s circumstances, and confronting self-created fears as a means to grow stronger.“
– Marcel Hernandez, Be About Change, Founder
