[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program talking to a very significant, compelling leader, who's out there making a difference every day.

He's Riccardo Dale, founder of a terrific nonprofit down in South Jersey.

It is called Free All Minds Academy.

Riccardo, good to see you.

- Definitely.

Good to see you as well.

- And Riccardo is in fact, a 2024 Russ Berrie Making a Difference winner.

Congratulations on that, Riccardo.

Tell everyone when we put up the website right now, what the Free All Minds Academy is.

- Yeah, so Free All Minds is a full self-service program for at-risk and underprivileged youth, from eighth grade all the way into adulthood.

A group of mentors meet with these young men every single week to prepare them for life after high school.

So whether that's college, trade school, or a career, we're preparing them every step of the way to be able to go on and live productive lives.

But alongside our programming, we're there as a support system, as father figures and big brother figures to these young men.

Having family dinners with them every single week.

Being there for them when they just need to talk and have a conversation about things that are going on in their lives.

Providing them with toiletries and clothing when in need.

Outside of just programming and academic workshops, we really create a family environment for these young men.

- How'd you get into this and why?

- I got to this kind of work around 18, 19 years old.

I was on a full scholarship in college and I came back to my neighborhood.

- You went to Rowan University?

- Yes.

Where I went to Rowan University, and came back to my neighborhood and I saw a lot of my peers in the same space that I'd last seen them.

And that was in and outta jail, selling and using drugs.

And I thought about how I was just in the same position as them, and the biggest difference between me and them was the opportunities that I received.

I got the opportunity to go to a private school.

I had mentors that came into my life and were able to support me.

I got a lot of breaks in life that a lot of my peers did not receive.

And because of those opportunities, me being able to go to a private school for free, and me being able to go to college for free, me having mentors that constantly looked out for me, even though I came from a rough background without the family support that I needed, I had other people that stepped into my life, and it changed my life.

- So you started the nonprofit to help others?

- So I started the nonprofit to help other people, because I realized how much other people did for me.

And I'm like, if a mentor or two can come into my life and take a kid that was sleeping in a basement, that was failing classes and turn him into somebody who was excelling at this private school and then going off to college on a full scholarship, what could I do for other young men that are just like myself?

How many other Riccardos are there out there that just needed an opportunity, because in high school or middle school, I was going nowhere.

I was a problem child.

How many other kids are out there like that?

So I took advantage of an opportunity to kind of tap into, those group of kids.

- And actually, you shared with our producers that you went from a 0.8 grade point average, - Yes.

- To graduating at Rowan University.

So interesting.

You had the wherewithal, not just the wherewithal, you had the instincts, the passion, the compassion, the leadership skills.

I'm a student of leadership, so again, it strikes me when I see people taking the initiative like this.

So when you had to go out and start this non-profit, did you have any idea how the heck, I mean, we run a not-for-profit production company.

I'm not raising money more than half of my time.

Did you realize what it was going to take to not just create, but lead and run a not-for-profit?

- No, I had no idea.

I thought I was just gonna be helping the kids.

And it just turned into so much more.

I had no idea what it actually was.

I didn't know what a non-profit really was.

It's just like I had this idea and I'm just like, "I can do it."

I feel like I could do anything.

So I just jumped into it and learned it along the way.

- What's interesting to me is that the students, the young people who are part of the Free All Minds Academy, who are getting tutored, mentored, you have a 100% graduation rate?

- [Riccarodo] High school graduation, yes.

- [Steve] How?

- I would say it comes with the environment that we create.

The education system sometimes just kind of puts something in front of these kids and says, "Chase it."

Just like, "Chase this education because I told you to.

Go to college because it's what's best for you.

Get good grades because that's what you're supposed to do."

And that's not always effective because what if I just don't care?

I don't care about my grades because it's nothing, there's nothing appealing to me about my grades.

So if I'm a kid who's not passionate about school, you telling me that I need to get good grades and go to college is not gonna be inspiring to me.

For our program, we figure out what it is that every individual kid is actually interested in.

And then we use their interests to help inspire them and push them to do well academically.

- When we were at the Russ Berrie Making a Difference award ceremony at Ramapo, we were up on the college campus.

And you're with other leaders who are doing all kinds of important work, who received the Russ Berrie Making a Difference award.

And that was the first time I got a chance to meet you, because I was proud to host that event since the beginning, well over two decades ago.

What was it like for you that day?

- For me it was just a breath of fresh air, honestly.

You don't do the work for recognition, but it feels good to know that somebody's behind you, that somebody's supporting you, that a group like the Russ Berrie Foundation and Ramapo College is behind the work that I'm doing, because it gets hard.

When you're trying to build something and you have setbacks and things don't go as planned, and you're trying to make this impact and you struggle.

And it always is fulfilling to know that other people are here supporting you and you're not doing this by yourself.

- And by the way, to be clear, the Russ Berrie Award is a cash award.

Russ Berrie Foundation is a supporter of our programming that is in fact called Making a Difference.

We talk to not-for-profit leaders who are making a difference in their community.

And Riccardo Dale is definitely doing that as the founder, the leader at Free All Minds Academy.

Riccardo, wish you and your colleagues all the best, making a difference every day.

Thank you.

- Thank you.

I appreciate it.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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