AWOL Fall Enrollment 2009!

Well just in case you missed it, AWOL auditions went down at the Black Box earlier this month. And wow, was it a success. With our new Theater Director, Lakesha Green on board, the auditions were as smooth as a babies bottom! Lakesha is a SCAD and Alabama State grad packing not one but two degrees in Theater! AWOL's Hip-Hop play has now grown into a full scale Theater & Performing Arts program, with an advanced curriculum that follows National Arts Education Standards. And the program has a new name that fits along with the other AWOL program name themes, which usually at first send a negative message that we then make positive. The ACT UP! Theater Program is committed to doing exactly what the name says, teaching kids how to ACT UP!

This years fall enrollment audition totaled a whopping 80+ youth! One youth was so excited about being in the Sound Design program that he arrived late, after auditions were over and auditioned in the Black Box parking lot in his socks! His cousin had previously auditioned and afterward decided to stop by and let him know about the program. The aspiring rapper jumped at the chance, and that type of energy and enthusiasm from young people makes us very proud and excited to teach them.

So this past week we headed over to our old stomping ground, the St. Pius Family Resource Center and started practice. It....whoops..pause. I almost forgot some other exciting news. Dan Perez of Dan Perez Films was in town during the auditions to start a documentary film project about AWOL. Dan is going to be following us throughout the year and documenting the exciting life of the Jordan's as we use art and hip-hop culture as a tool to transform the lives of young people. Big ups to the Inn at Ellis Square for offering discounted room rates for his stay, but now we need a little help from you. In order to tell this story, we'll need some cold hard cash to support the project and in kind donations of restaurant gift certificates and free or deeply discounted hotel stays. Don't you want to see your company name in the credits when this film hits HBO and Sundance? Of course you do! Email me if your interested in helping out, djordan@awolinc.org.

Okay, back to St. Pius where I left off. So we started this week and things are already looking good for the 5th Anniversary of the Hip-Hop play. This year our young people are doing a modern day version of Shakespeare's timeless love story, Romeo and Juliet. The story has been modernized and is set in Savannah, GA. Can't wait to see the final product, the script is ...well..I'm not going to spoil it for you. Just be sure to get your tickets early, since this show sells out every year!



And to add to the excitement the Chatham-Savannah Youth Futures Authorities annual summit hosted Grammy award winning recording artist Antwan "Big Boi" Patton of the group Outkast. Now, the kids were already just excited to see him in person, but for him to give them a SHOUT IN HIS SPEACH! LOL. I don't have to tell you that if they had not already drunk the AWOL kool-aid, they were sold after that! And what a great self-esteem boost for Savannah's young people. Big Ups to Zadonna Slay and the folks over a YFA for bringing down such a cool speaker that the youth could relate to. And most of all, thanks to Big Boi and the staff of Big Kidz Foundation Jennifer Lester and Joi Edwards along with Savannah's own Kareem Hill for making BIG things happen for AWOL kids.



You can also sponsor a child in AWOL for just $40 bucks per month! Wow! A high quality arts education program like this for such an affordable price? This has got to be the best thing since sliced bread! Click here to print the Sponsorship Form and send in your first payment.

In the meantime, please do Join our Facebook Fan Page. The widget has been added to the blog site and don't forget to Follow us on Twitter at

http://www.twitter.com/awolinc

http://www.twitter.com/awolincceo

Also don't forget to Follow Big Kidz at

http://www.twitter.com/Big_Kidz

Fall is Upon Us! Time to ACT UP!

That's right people, AWOL has finally dubbed the hip hop play with a real program name, ACT UP! We also have a new bad chick to run this thing, Ms. Lakesha Green our new Theater Director. This is going to be an awesome year. This program in particular (Theater and Performing Arts) is near and dear to us. The TP program was the program that enabled us to get our first contract with the City of Savannah (Big Ups to Mayor Johnson and the City Council) for $43,000 bucks!

Prior to that contract we were armed with a $850 dollar GAP (Grassroots Arts Program) grant from the Cities Cultural Affairs Department. With that small investment we were able to create an entire youth theater empire right here in Savannah, GA. I would also add, this was our very first grant award. Boy were we excited, $850 DOLLARS! WOW!

Hay, don't laugh! Before that grant we were accustomed to doing something with nothing, so that $850 bucks went a along way folks. Me and Tony even matched it with a nice donation of $1000 or our own dollars. yeah...this is the life of non-profit leaders. lol. But when you are determined to make something happen, you will let nothing stand in your way. Especially not something as simple as money.



So, to see what we have matured to is absolutely amazing. I mean come on folks, we are about to take it to another level this year, the kids will be performing Shakespeare! At the close of 2005 AWOL had roughly $2 dollars in the bank, lol. Today we have managed over a half a million dollars and encountered thousands of youth through our arts and technology programs and community performances. Amazing what a little determination and elbow grease can do. Check out the Press Release below and video clips from past performances and rehearsals.

Also please help spread the word as this is going to be our 5th Anniversary show so teachers need to sign up now to reserve seats to the school show.


For Immediate Release:

More Info:
LaKesha Green
kgreen@awolinc.org
912-303-4987

All Walks of Life Inc Announces Start of 5th Annual Theater Program, Invites Young People to Act Up
This year's production will be a hip hop-themed adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Auditions will be Sept. 17-18.

September 1, 2009 (Savannah, GA) - AWOL's theater program, known as Act Up, will celebrate its fifth year this fall with open auditions for its annual production, which will be a hip hop-themed adaptation of Shakespeare's timeless story of star-crossed love Romeo and Juliet. Auditions will be held September 17-18 at the Black Box Theater (9 W. Henry St.) from 6-8pm. AWOL's theater program regularly attracts nearly 100 youth who gladly show off their skills as actors, dancers and singers.

The production, titled Choices: The Romeo and Juliet Story, will be presented February 5-6, 2010 at the Lucas Theater. There will be one daytime show presented to students of schools from around the region, and two nighttime shows open to the general public.

"I'm excited about Romeo and Juliet because Shakespeare's play is so universal that it can be adapted into any cultural setting or historical period," says Green. "Love is a universal theme and it will help introduce some of these kids to Shakespeare in a way that is much more accessible for them."

The goal of the Act Up program is to engage young people in positive, creative activities during evening hours when youth are statistically more likely to get into trouble. The program teaches them important lessons about theater combined with positive conflict resolution workshops, giving students the opportunity to pursue their talents while showing them ways to promote positive behavior. It costs one tenth as much to keep young active in programs like AWOL's, designed to keep them out of trouble, then it does to keep young people locked up after they've already gotten into trouble with the law.

Entering it's fifth year, this will be the first year that AWOL's theater production hasn't centered directly on hip hop history. In year's past, the play has discussed the origins of hip hop in New York City, the relationship between African culture and hip hop, the cultural evolution from the Civil Rights Generation to the Hip Hop Generation, and paid homage to the artistic accomplishments of the Harlem Renaissance and its influence on hip hop. The adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, which was written by Theater Director, LaKesha Green, will modernize the language of the original, as well as inject music and dance into Shakespeare's classic love story. The production is scheduled for February 5-6, 2010 opening on the 5th with a 10:00am school show. Teachers are encouraged to reserve seats now as the school show sells out every year. Cost of attendance is only $3 per child and includes a free curriculum guide based on the Georgia Performance Standards for the study of Shakespeare.


In addition, AWOL will also be holding auditions for its film making and photojournalism program, My Block and the popular sound design and music recording program, The Projects. All young aspiring artist are encouraged to attend.
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Be the Change

It's amazing to look back at AWOL's very humble beginnings and imagine what lies ahead. Each year has been a journey, with it's own set of rumbles and tumbles. Tonight we had a board meeting, which had a few old and new members. As I looked across the room I was reminded of the #1 rule when starting a non-profit. You must have a supportive group of advisers and board members who are willing to do two simple things. Now when I tell you what these two things are, my commentary at the end may seem a little harsh, but trust me it's just the plain ole truth. Your Board of Directors mandate is simply these two things.

• GIVE (Give time, money or resources)
• GET (Somebody else to give time, money or resources)

or they can chose the last option, which is to..

• GET OFF!

Yeahhhhhh, I said it! Get off!

If you say you support an organization or a cause, don't just talk about it, be about it. In this day in time, and especially given the current economic downturn, small and large social service agencies often suffer first as governments cut back and competitive grant's become scarce. If it's one thing I'm clear about, it's the simple fact that AWOL would not be where we are today without the dozens of supporters that offered up everything from advice, volunteer time, snacks for the kids, donated equipment and of course my personal favorite, cold hard cash. lol. Cash never goes out of style.


So perhaps today is the day. Which group do you support? (I hope its AWOL, smile)
Whichever cause or organization you support, call them up, ask them what they need most and try to help out. Don't have time to call? That's cool, send them a donation in the mail or online. Social service organizations like AWOL are an important thread in the social fabric of our community. Without them, many would go with critical needs unmet.

Now if this blog has moved you to ACTION, then here is AWOL's address to send that donation. lol

AWOL, Inc.
P.O. Box 15846
Savannah, GA 31416

or visit our website at http://www.awolinc.org

Green Jobs for Smart Kids!

What the heck is a "green job" anyway and why should we care! And no, if your from Savannah, it's not a job St. Patrick's Day job. lol.

Well, I figured I would do a little Internet digging and here is just a few definitions that I could find, which seemed to narrow the scope just a bit, which I might add is hard to do given the relative ambiguity of many of the terms used in this field like "all natural" or "non toxic" which can sometime means different things depending on the circumstances. Nonetheless, here we go..

Time Magezine-According to Phil Angelides a venture capitalist and the 2006 Democratic candidate for governor of California (he lost to the political world's best-known Austrian-American), Angelides is the chair of the Apollo Alliance, a coalition of business, labor and environmental groups championing green employment. Here's how he defines a green job: "It has to pay decent wages and benefits that can support a family. It has to be part of a real career path, with upward mobility. And it needs to reduce waste and pollution and benefit the environment." {I like this one!}

United Nations Environment Program-We define green jobs as work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development (R&D), administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.



No matter what the definition is that you prefer, AWOL's Information Technology program for at-risk youth is certainly a "green job". AWOL youth are enrolled in what we have dubbed as the "Goon Squad". Youth learn all about how to refurbish and recycle old PC's that would otherwise be headed for a landfill, thus emitting harmful toxins into our environment. This particular AWOL program was recently featured in the May 2009 edition of Black Enterprise Magazine! (turn to page 82). What's even more important is that not only do they learn a valuable job skill, that gives them plenty of opportunity for career advancement, they get to help out the community by giving the newly refurbished PC's to needy families that have no access to home computing.

What's more is that, AWOL's Good Squad program utilizes only open source (free) software platforms (we like Ubuntu) on refurbished PC's making the PC sustainable for poor families who may not have the cash flow for upgrades to other proprietary software (sorry Bill, no Window here). Ubuntu is an African concept of 'humanity towards others'. It is 'the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity'.

So how did we end up with an IT program for youth in edtion to our arts programs? Well, in our orginal master grant we had decided from the out set that while arts was a great way to engage young people, not all of them would be "super talented"so to speak. And the bottom line is that not everbody is going to be the next Angela Bassett or Common, so we wanted to make sure that our youth development program came equipped with a cutting edge job training component that fit with the rapidly changing world of technology around us. If it's one thinng we have always been clear about, it's been the need to expose kids to as much technology as possible. Gone are the day's of simply teaching them how to drive a forklift. In order to compete in this world, kids need to be able to develop a software program that tells the forklift what box to pick up!

So this is how we ended up training kids for those "green jobs" that everyone keeps talking about. So if you own a company or work for a one, go down to the IT department and ask them just what happens to all those old PC's after they are done using them. Tell them you know of a great program that could sure use a couple 100 PC's for kids to train on and give back to the community. What a great way to help "bridge the digital divide"

Want to see the Goon Squad in action? Check out this video of our Big PC Giveaway that was supported by AWOL's corporate sponsor, Cricket Wireless. Did I mention that Cricket, a national corporation stepped up to the plate and gave away 25 free Cricket modems with 6 months of free service for needy families? Now that's what I call corporate resposibility at it's best!

Keeping my Babies Safe

If someone would have told me 6 years ago that I would have worked with over 300 youth through AWOL's arts and technology program, I probably would have laughed at them. But of all the young people I've worked with, the one that sticks out in particular, (probably because he's still around bugging me) is Quentin.

Quentin was a member of my very first grant funded arts program for youth, Hold Up a HIV/AIDS prevention Hip Hop Theater production that focused on helping teens protect themselves from HIV/AIDS. This was back in the day when I worked at Union Mission, Inc., (another awesome Savannah non-profit). He was just 13 at the time, and I can even remember his stepfather bringing him to the auditions and informing me that he was his manager, which I got a real laugh out of since this was simply a community prevention program. I thought to myself, who does this guy think I am?, A&R for Universal Records or something!? lol.

But nonetheless, I could appreciate the parental involvement aspect. As the program progressed, I was most impressed with Quentin's artistic ability. Him and his buddy Patrick took the information that I had given them and quite easily made it into a hip and cool song about HIV prevention. I must admit, I was quite impressed.

Then one afternoon after a show, I set about my daily task of dropping the kids off at home and overheard Quentin and Patrick's conversation about their frustration with the music biz. Yes, you hear me right people, "frustration".

At the time, both of them could not have been more than 14 or 15 and already they were more concerned with their music career than anything else. But this conversation stood out a great deal, because both of them sited that "other homeboys" that they knew who were also rappers, were apparently already doing well, signing contracts, doing shows, and recording in the local studios....studios that I knew were no place for a young person. Most of Savannah's underground music scene at the time, was inundated with drugs and violence.

I spoke to the boys of course, and told them to take the high road, ignore the fact that everyone seem to be passing them by...humph..what a hard pill for them to swallow and for me to have to give. Kids of course want instant gratification. It's a phase in life that some of else never grow out of, but as adolescents it's an even more powerful feeling.


At that moment, my conscious and subconscious mind made a clear cut decision. I WAS GOING TO DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO PROVIDE SAVANNAH YOUTH WITH ACCESS TO A FREE MUSIC RECORDING STUDIO. No drugs, no violence, no contracts to sign, just a place with top notch equipment to call their own.

6 years later, that dream is now a reality. So just in case your wondering....what happen to Quentin and Patrick?


Here he is right here, doing just fine. A college student at Savannah State University, and an Artist Facilitator for AWOL teaching other kids how to make hot beats! Most days of the week he can still be found in the AWOL lab, busy making a new beat or laying down a new track or two. Patrick is also employed by AWOL with our Goon Squad Information Technology program. You can see him in our recent feature article in Black Enterprise Mag. My heart and mind are at peace knowing that AWOL has the power to keep young people safe and off the streets and most of all out of "bad situations".

Welcome to the AWOL Blog

Well, this blog spot is long over due for AWOL. So much has gone into building Savannah's first and only federally recognized Poetry and Hip-Hop based youth development organization over the past 5 years. Its now time to let everybody know the weekly happenings at AWOL, and perhaps even solicit some feedback from all of our fans out there, or the AWOL Groupies (this is of course a fond nickname..lol) So let's get this thing under way with a brief intro and history.

History-Okay. AWOL was founded in 1997 by this guy. Tony "Polo" Jordan on the campus of Savannah State University. The group was at first just a group of artist, MCees, Breakers, Poets, who all shared a love for hip-hop culture. The group became organized after being told they were illegally using University facilities for informal gatherings without proper documentation. The needed a requisition in order to gather at the facilities, which was precluded by the need to be a registered campus organization. So, thus was the creation of AWOL All Walks of Life, Inc.

So what happens next? Well, as members grew and went on to their prospective careers after graduation , AWOL moved off campus and into the community. AWOL also spawn the development of two new spoken word organizations, Spitfire Poetry Group and WORD (Way of Real Discovery). All three organizations have become staples of the Savannah spoken word and hip-hop scene, with each fulfilling different roles. Spitfire Poetry Group which host local adult and youth events and the annual Spoken Word Festival has a huge following of some of Savannah's hottest poets and hip-hop artist. WORD on the other hand remains the primary spoken word organization for students at Savannah State as a campus based organization.

AWOL leaders chose a different approach, and turned the organization into a federally recognized non-profit in 2004. AWOL's mission is to Promote and Provide self-awareness through the use of Poetry, Hip-Hop and Life. This mission is met by providing at risk youth with arts and technology programs during the hours most relevant to them, after school and at night. AWOL programs encourage respect, creativity, education and most of all non-violence.

Alright folks, so that was the beginning. Check back and I'll fill you in on what's happening now with AWOL.