Kid Who Escaped the Streets Teams Up with Blind Millionaire to Help Youth Fight Income Inequality
PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 26, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- They said it couldn't be done. Russell Redenbaugh was blinded at 16. Haneef Hardy grew up sometimes homeless on the streets of Philadelphia. Both were supposed to submit to a life of dependency. Both were told, "You cannot." Both declared "I will." Russell went on to be the first blind MBA to graduate from an Ivy-League school and a self-made millionaire. Haneef earned his Masters's in Sociology from Morgan State on a track scholarship. Now they are working together to uplift the youth of the greater Philidelphia area, including Baltimore, through mentoring, tutoring, financial literacy education, arts, and athletics.
Russell and Haneef met in 2021. With financial support and Social Leadership Training from Russell's nonprofit Shift The Narrative Foundation Haneef went from a charismatic local leader to a focused, organized driver of social impact. Haneef was already doing great work with youth and the community when they met, but now his impact is greatly amplified. Haneef has filed incorporation paperwork including nonprofit 501(c)3 application, fundraised an additional $65,000, received over $50,000 of in-kind donations, and recruited corporate sponsors for events such as his back-to-school running shoe drive with Footlocker.
Based on early Success with Haneef, We now plan to duplicate this success with small cohorts of local leaders fighting to lift youth out of poverty. The prototype project is a 12-week Social Leader Accelerator course led by Professor Jon Kidwell, with modules taught by Jeff Goldfinger of Xtramile and others. Each participant will receive a small grant at the inception of the course with the possibility of receiving up to $10,000 at the culmination of the course by making a pitch to the Board Of Directors or other relevant sponsors. We need You to help us make this bigger: check out our new website www.shift-narrative.foundation
Contact Information
Maximus Lewin, Director, Shift The Narrative Foundation
[email protected]
510-999-1565
Russell G. Redenbaugh Information:
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell_Redenbaugh
Blog: www.shiftthenarrative.com/
Foundation Website: www.shift-narrative.foundation
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellredenbaugh/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/shiftrussell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SHIFTRussell
SOURCE The Shift The Narrative Foundation
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