On Wednesday, May 27th, I sat down with Darius Williams at Bankhead Seafood, a place within walking distance of my home in the Bankhead community of Atlanta.
That detail matters.
I was born and raised in Bankhead.
And recently, after decades of work across the city and country, I moved back home and celebrated my 50th birthday in the very community that shaped me.
Bankhead is filled with history, culture, resilience, struggle, creativity, and contradiction.
We have tremendous social services and nonprofit presence in our community because we also have tremendous poverty.
Externally, Atlanta is viewed as a world-class city.
The Black Mecca.
The movie capital of the South.
And while those things may be true for many middle class and affluent residents, there is another Atlanta that people often avoid discussing openly.
An Atlanta where policies and systems have created generational economic immobility.
An Atlanta where income inequality based on race remains among the highest in America.
An Atlanta where if you are born into poverty, you have only a small chance of escaping it.
Understanding those realities is critical if you truly want to serve people here.
How We Met
I met Darius two to three years ago through Leadership Atlanta when he was part of the then Lead Atlanta class.
I am a Leadership Atlanta alumnus, and although Darius was never formally my mentee, we met during mentor-mentee mixers and stayed connected over time.
We are both members of Elizabeth Baptist Church.
At the time we met, Darius worked for Apple in the Worldwide Education Department. Today, he serves as Director of Programs and Partnerships for Steinstruck.
He reached out because he wanted perspective.
Not surface-level networking.
Not transactional advice.
He wanted to better understand how I think, how I navigate Atlanta, and how I approach service, leadership, and impact.
The Origin of Nonprofits and the Reality of Atlanta
One of the first questions Darius asked me was:
“How do you navigate the nonprofit landscape in Atlanta?”
To answer that question, I first explained the origin of nonprofits because understanding the “why” behind nonprofit organizations gives context to the work itself.
Modern nonprofits in America began taking shape in the late 1800s and early 1900s during the Industrial Revolution, a period when rapid economic growth created massive wealth for some people while also creating deep poverty, overcrowding, labor exploitation, poor education systems, and limited healthcare access for many others.
During that era, wealthy industrialists and religious organizations began creating charitable institutions to address social problems that government systems either could not or would not solve effectively.
One of the most influential figures was Andrew Carnegie, who promoted what he called “The Gospel of Wealth.” Carnegie believed wealthy individuals had a moral responsibility to use their resources to improve society. He funded libraries, educational institutions, and public programs across America.
Another major figure was John D. Rockefeller, whose foundations helped formalize large-scale philanthropy focused on education, medicine, and public health.
At the same time, churches, mutual aid societies, settlement houses, and community organizations emerged to support immigrants, poor families, formerly enslaved Black Americans, and working class communities struggling to survive in rapidly industrializing cities.
For Black communities specifically, nonprofits and faith-based institutions became critical because policies, segregation, redlining, underfunded schools, voter suppression, and economic exclusion systematically blocked access to opportunity.
Historically Black churches, civic organizations, fraternities, sororities, and community groups became survival systems.
Not luxury.
Necessity.
That history matters when discussing Atlanta today because many of the same systemic inequities still exist, even if they look different on the surface.
Atlanta is viewed globally as a prosperous Black city, but underneath that image are neighborhoods still dealing with generational poverty, displacement, underinvestment, and limited economic mobility.
That is why nonprofits continue to play such a major role here.
Not because people lack talent.
But because systems continue to produce unequal outcomes.
So for me, navigating nonprofit work requires more than strategy.
It requires calling.
I told Darius that to truly serve people in Atlanta, you must be:
Committed.
Caring.
Compassionate.
Competent.
And called.
Without calling, burnout eventually wins.
Without competence, passion alone becomes dangerous.
Without compassion, service becomes performative.
Social Capital Matters as Much as Financial Capital
One of the key concepts we discussed was this:
Black youth in Atlanta are often over-mentored and under-sponsored.
There is a difference.
Mentorship is advice.
Sponsorship is opportunity.
Sponsorship means opening doors.
Making introductions.
Providing access.
Sharing influence.
Putting someone in rooms they otherwise could never enter.
That is social capital.
And social capital is just as important as financial capital.
Money matters.
But relationships create access to opportunities that money alone cannot buy.
That is why I spend so much time building authentic relationships across industries, races, socioeconomic groups, and generations.
Not for proximity to power.
But for the purpose of empowerment.
Spiritual Gifts, Coaching, and Calling
Darius and I also discussed spiritual gifts.
I shared with him that I believe my spiritual gifts include discernment, prophecy, and hospitality.
When many people hear the word prophecy, they think only about predicting the future.
But prophecy is also about challenging the status quo.
It is about seeing what is broken, naming it honestly, and calling people toward something better.
That spiritual framework influences how I coach, lead, and serve.
I also shared my definition of coaching with him:
Cultivating growth.
Creating opportunities.
Advancing progress.
Building confidence.
Harmonizing the shared journey of learning.
That is coaching to me.
Not controlling people.
Not performing authority.
But helping people discover and develop who they were created to become.
I encouraged Darius to complete a spiritual gifts assessment because understanding how you are spiritually wired helps determine how you serve most effectively.
Success, Significance, and Symbolism
Another framework we discussed was the progression from:
Success
to Significance
to Symbolism.
Success is achieving goals.
Significance is using your success to serve others.
Symbolism is becoming so trusted and respected that your presence itself creates credibility and opportunity for others.
Symbolic people open doors.
Being connected to them often gives others the benefit of the doubt before they even speak.
That is power.
And I define power this way:
Power is that which insulates you from harm and danger.
People with power can empower others.
Empowerment means giving responsibility and authority.
But if your power is limited, your ability to empower others is also limited.
That is why I encouraged Darius to continue growing his influence, relationships, expertise, and visibility in education.
Because his calling is clearly connected to equipping and empowering young people.
The Pain Point of Atlanta
Darius asked me another important question:
“What pain points exist here, and what works well?”
I told him I was currently reading work by Maurice Hobson, who discusses the transformation of Atlanta through systemic forces connected to race, economics, development, and displacement.
One concept that stood out to me was this progression:
The ghettoization of Atlanta led to the Olympification of Atlanta.
The Olympification of Atlanta led to the gentrification of Atlanta.
And what I added to that conversation was this:
The gentrification of Atlanta is now leading to the FIFA-fication of Atlanta.
Mega-events like the Olympics and the upcoming FIFA World Cup bring investment, visibility, tourism, and economic activity.
But they also increase the risk of displacement.
Parts of the city become assets for global consumption while long-time residents struggle to remain rooted in the communities they helped build.
And when communities become destabilized, the need for nonprofit intervention increases.
That is why I believe one of Atlanta’s greatest pain points is what I call the bastardization of Atlanta.
A city losing protection for its most vulnerable residents through weakened policy, economic displacement, and systems that prioritize profit over people.
The weakening of protections like portions of the Voting Rights Act contributes to that vulnerability because policy ultimately shapes opportunity.
Programs can help.
But better policy reduces the need for so many emergency programs in the first place.
What Is Working Well
Despite the challenges, I also shared what I believe is working.
When nonprofits, corporations, churches, educators, and civic leaders collaborate well, they help slow displacement and create pathways for opportunity.
Cross-sector collaboration matters.
Atlanta still has tremendous social capital.
And when people use their influence responsibly, communities benefit.
Teaching Versus Preaching
Toward the end of our conversation, Darius asked me how he could become more involved at Elizabeth Baptist Church.
I encouraged him to join the hospitality ministry with me because he naturally appears to have a caring and welcoming spirit.
But I also encouraged him to think differently about education itself.
I shared with him the difference between teaching and preaching.
Teaching transfers information.
Preaching is a call to action.
As educators, mentors, coaches, and leaders, we cannot simply inform young people.
We must inspire them toward something.
Young people want vision.
They want purpose.
They want someone to see potential in them before they fully see it in themselves.
That requires influence.
That requires sponsorship.
That requires power.
And again, power is connected to both financial capital and social capital.
Final Thought
One thing I appreciate about conversations like the one I had with Darius is that they remind me why I document these interactions.
These conversations are not just mentorship moments.
They are blueprints.
Blueprints for leadership.
Blueprints for service.
Blueprints for navigating Atlanta honestly while still believing in its potential.
I serve young people and young professionals the same way I coach athletes:
By helping them understand who they are, what they are called to do, and what they need to learn in order to do it well.
Because education is learning what needs to be learned so that what needs to be done can actually get done.
And once someone discovers their calling, learning stops feeling like obligation and starts feeling like preparation for purpose.