57. Hearing Untold Stories for Change with Neil Phillips

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When was the last time you turned on the television and heard more stories about Black male success than you heard about the low expectations, racial bias, and economic stigma that affect Black boys and men in our country? </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With the prevalence of misinformation, racial inequity, and economic bias permeating our society, how will we ensure our boys are not lost to cultural stigma before they have a chance at success?</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Today on the podcast, I’m speaking with Neil Phillips, co-founder and former CEO of Visible Men Academy. VMA</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">provides boys from low-income families with outstanding academic, character, and social education in a nurturing school environment. Neil’s work confronts systemic bias and inequity with a deep belief in goodness, love, and the</span> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">promise of youth as agents of change for our educational systems and our world. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Listen in!</span></p> <h2><span style="font-weight: 400;">About Neil Phillips:</span></h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Neil Phillips believes that love is the answer to just about everything. If that makes you uncomfortable, that's okay. Discomfort signals an opportunity for growth. Neil has spent his entire career managing his own discomfort and diving deeply into the realm of breaking the bonds of systemic racism and having the uncomfortable yet productive conversations that can radically change organizations and individual lives. Neil also knows what it takes to truly transform and elevate the lives of young people and has discovered that it is love. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On a practical level, it looks a lot like leadership, encouragement, boundaries, expectations, and accountability. But ask any one of the children he has had the privilege of knowing over his decades of work as an educator, coach, and youth a