[gentle guitar music] - [Fallon voiceover] In a place like Essex, we are family and outside of the things that could be better it's a beautiful place to be.

So I would consider myself a community leader.

- You good?

Good.

- [Fallon voiceover] Something's not going right for the community, I'm going to be the one that speaks out on it, because if you don't take control of your city, then who else will?

So I want Essex County to be respected as a culture hub.

I want Newark to be the black Mecca of the world.

- What's going on?

How you doing?

- Amazing.

This is so... - This is where a lot of black and brown culture is.

- Welcome.

We're so glad to have you.

Your vibe is excellent.

- Thank you!

- [Fallon voiceover] For so long communities like Newark have been left out.

You don't realize that in this community there are a lot of resources that are not available.

This is what I wake up every day, fighting to advocate for: free water, free food, free programming, and really providing space where black and brown owners can find ownership here.

You know, it's a big task we're up against.

Where you live does affect how you live.

Especially when you're in an area with lack of access to fresh food.

Newark is a very diverse place in every ward.

There's five of them.

It has a different personality, a different set of resources.

All five wards are food deserts and every public school is in poverty.

You have to change your community that you live in so that people wanna wake up in the morning, so that people wanna be alive, so that people want to learn.

And so I developed STEAM Urban March 2020 in the height of the pandemic.

So STEAM Urban is an expressive arts and STEM discipline education program for black and brown students of all ages.

And all ages because you don't ever stop learning.

With STEAM Urban, I wanted to be different.

A lot of my programming in the beginning of my career was in the classroom, and it really wasn't connecting to the community.

If you think about a student, you have to reach their caregivers.

So we can get out in the neighborhood where you don't have so many restrictions, and invite the community out, that has been the success.

I'm able to see a city who has been systemically left out continue to come back to life.

- Woo!

- [Fallon voiceover] Finding my identity through community was a very hard thing.

I really didn't see myself in the world.

- Ah, excellent.

- Yes, this is so me.

- [Fallon voiceover] Being in the fashion industry and being in New York City definitely opened up my eyes.

- Love it.

- I feel great.

- The LGBTQ community wasn't really represented especially black and brown people in the fashion world.

Being non-binary, I'm a spiritual being.

I'm a peaceful being.

And that's what I like to be known as.

Not all these different labels.

Me being more masculine-presenting started to be problematic.

It was very apparent to me that I was going to have to create my own spaces.

You know, you were going to have to create your own tribe.

- Hey, guys!

- [Fallon voiceover] And that's been a big part of my journey.

I've created a tribe in this world, and that's what I wanted to give for other people.

I wanted to provide opportunities for them that other people weren't giving them.

And that's what I'm creating with STEAM Urban, spaces that I didn't have, safe zones where you can be any identity you want, but people will respect it, and people will value you.

- I think what I love about us all is that we're not just speaking about it.

- [Together] We're doing it.

- That's the real deal.

- That is the deal.

- [Fallon voiceover] Through our programs, I designed a model that empowers people.

In our first year, we did 70 programs.

So we were able to reach people in all ways.

- How you doing?

Welcome, welcome to STEAM Urban.

We are here doing nature print collages today.

- [Fallon voiceover] The expressive arts have healed me to be able to be connected to some form of creativity.

Artistry has kept me living.

So I use the arts as a healing mechanism and as a way to show people that their voice and their lives matter.

- Everybody's an artist I'm telling you, everyone.

- [Fallon voiceover] Gardening can teach you everything you need to know about yourself and the world.

You can see something growing that wasn't there before.

You see things come alive.

That's what allows you to feel good about learning.

So I work with parks, gardens, farms.

I decided that I was going to create outdoor learning classrooms creating a new educational blueprint.

- This is one of our partners, the farm.

So we put all this together today.

- [Fallon voiceover] Self-sustaining communities is what it's going to take to revise urban areas.

- Inside of here is a fresh salad kit and some seeds to plant.

And these are from local farms in the area.

- [Fallon voiceover] If you start to be self-sustaining, they can't take from you what you can keep for yourself.

I want STEAM Urban to become a staple and to really be in the fabric of Essex and the fabric of Newark.

So I've created a community collective.

I have over 70 to 80 partners.

And when I'm designing a program, I can reach out to them.

And everyone's excited to be a part of what STEAM Urban does.

- I wanted to ask if you wanted to be a part of the Creative Change Makers Club - We're all in the same community.

- I look at all of you as these visionaries, and so I want to work together.

- High school dropout, mom at 16, going through life and being an entrepreneur.

How do I show other black girls how to use social media to essentially build a brand?

- So Marcy's giving STEAM Urban a platform and bringing us into the parks, which is phenomenal.

- Because it's not about competition.

It's about collaboration.

- That's really what this is.

And so what do you guys think?

- I'm in.

- I'm in.

- So it's brought back this community essence that, you know, I think for a while was missing from Newark.

It's created a beautiful community and the tribe is what I thrive on on a daily basis.

I couldn't do it without them.

- Lord, this is why I have these friends.

- [Fallon voiceover] My dream for future generations is for them to love their community and for them to really feel like they want to be a part of that community.

And it's gonna take the help of everyone.

It is my life's dream to be in a community like this.

And I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.