We were lucky to catch up with Curtis Turney Rentas recently and have shared our conversation below.

Curtis, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you walk us through some of the key steps that allowed you move beyond an idea and actually launch?

Honestly, everything I’ve built started long before I ever filed paperwork or drafted a mission statement. My story starts where hope and hustle live side by side in Far Rockaway, Queens. A community that taught me resilience before I even knew what the word meant. And then came Delaware State University, the place that molded that resilience into leadership, into creativity, and into purpose. See, DSU didn’t just educate me; it gave me a mission. It taught me how to serve with purpose, lead with heart, and create with vision.
After graduating from Delaware State University in 2014, I came home with this tug on my spirit. I had a degree, yes, but I also had this overwhelming sense that my purpose was tied to the neighborhood that shaped me. I didn’t have an entire business model at first. What I had was a feeling, I wanted to bring people together, reconnect generations, restore trust, and show young people that excellence exists right where they stand.
The real beginning was simple: conversations. I talked to neighbors, mentors, elders, Greek brothers and sisters, and the youth hanging out on the block. I listened. I let people tell me what they felt was missing, what they wished existed, what they were tired of. And slowly, the idea became clearer: the community needed unity, consistency, and spaces built by us, not just for us.
By 2019, that seed had grown into the Far Rock Greek Council. The idea came to me like a spark: What if we united the Divine Nine members who came from or lived in the Rockaways? What if young people saw that type of excellence up close? The next steps were a mix of heart and homework. I spent nights researching how to structure a nonprofit, reading IRS documents I barely understood at first, calling people who had built organizations before me, and drafting our purpose over and over until it felt right. Then I started reaching out to Greek members one by one, texting, calling, pulling up to events, explaining the vision. We started organizing small community efforts, and the community responded. They participated, trusted, and supported. Before long, we were hosting large back-to-school cookouts, toy drives, Thanksgiving communal dinners, and so much more.
But the work didn’t stop there. In 2020, came Rock The Block Foundation came. This one started with Folorunso “Foley” Fatukasi, Tierra Holmes, Calvin Stanley, Henry Adengule, and me. Five young adults coming together and dreaming bigger. We wanted youth to see joy and opportunity right outside their doors. We wanted an annual event that felt like a family reunion. We had to figure out everything from funding to permits to logistics, and sometimes it felt like learning to build a plane while already in the air. But we kept going, step by step. Every time we hit a hurdle, we reminded ourselves why we started. And Rock The Block Fun Day grew into something that became a tradition, a day Far Rockaway could count on.
Then in 2024 came The B.R.I.D.G.E. Family Enrichment Center, a dream that felt impossible at first because it required space, resources, and a team. But again, we listened to the community. We held meetings, made plans, found partners, and built a space that felt like home the moment you walked in. Setting it up meant everything from designing a physical environment that felt safe to hiring staff who understood the community to learning how to run a center day-to-day. The process was long, emotional, and intentional, but we opened our doors, and people showed up and showed up in numbers for connection, support, enrichment, and belonging.
Looking back, none of this happened overnight. The process was years of showing up consistently, sometimes with big ideas, sometimes with nothing but faith. It was reading, researching, asking questions, making mistakes, getting back up, and always remembering my why and who I was doing it for.
Everything I’ve launched was born from love for my community, belief in the power of service, and the understanding that Far Rockaway deserves spaces, programs, and opportunities built with intention and heart.

Curtis, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For folks who may not know me, my name is Curtis Turney-Rentas, and at my core, I’m a community leader, a visionary, a curator, and someone who believes deeply in the power of community care and cross-generational healing. I was born and raised in Far Rockaway, Queens, a community that shaped me, challenged me, and ultimately inspired every part of the work I do today. Far Rockaway taught me the value of showing up for people. Everything I build, every program, every event, every initiative, is really my way of pouring back into the same streets and people who poured into me.
Today, I serve as the Founder and President of Far Rock Greek Council Inc., the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Rock The Block Foundation, and the Director of The B.R.I.D.G.E. Family Enrichment Center. Alongside these roles, I also consider myself a personal brand under Curtis Turney Rentas | CT3Designs, where I tap into my love for creativity, design, and storytelling.

Across all of these roles, my service takes many forms, and that’s intentional. Community work isn’t one-dimensional. It looks like: community events, design and branding, mentorship, resource coordination, creating safe spaces, bridging generations, and building programs that address real needs. And through Curtis TurneyRentas | CT3Designs, I also offer: speaking engagements, event curation and planning, graphic design, brand modeling, content creation / UGC (user-generated content)

What sets me apart and what I’m most grounded in is that everything I do is rooted in genuine love for my community. This isn’t charity to me; it’s community care. It’s about long-term, intentional impact, not quick fixes. I don’t want to simply serve people; I want to serve with them. I want community members to feel ownership, pride, and power in the work we build together.

The thing I’m most proud of is the trust my community has placed in me. You can’t fake that. You can’t buy that. Trust is earned by showing up consistently, listening more than speaking, and committing to the work even when no one is watching. And to know that my community sees me, believes in me, and allows me to lead, that’s an honor I don’t take lightly.

If there’s one thing I want readers, supporters, and future collaborators to know, it’s this:
My work is fueled by purpose. My organizations are built on unity. And everything I create aims to uplift, honor, and empower the people of Far Rockaway and New York City at large. That’s the work, and most importantly, that’s the mission.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Absolutely. My social media journey really started the same way my community work did, by showing up consistently and being authentic. I never set out to “build an audience.” I set out to tell the truth about my community by highlighting the beauty of Far Rockaway and documenting the work we were doing on the ground. Over time, people connected with that. They saw the passion, the purpose, and the consistency, and they stayed.

Although social media is all about aesthetics and algorithms, for me, it’s always been about storytelling with intention. I treated my platforms like a digital extension of my community work. I shared the wins, the challenges, the events, the faces, and the real stories that too often go unseen. My growth came from being rooted in purpose.

But here’s the part people don’t talk about enough: being good on social media is not enough. You have to be just as strong, if not stronger, in real life.

If you want a real presence online, you need a presence in your community first. That means showing up to community meetings, building relationships with your local organizations & businesses, being featured in your local newspaper, hosting town halls, sending newsletters and email blasts, and being physically present where people gather. When you do that, your social media becomes an extension of your real-world impact.

One thing we did at every community event and every tabling opportunity was simple but powerful:
We asked people to take out their phones right then and there, follow us on Instagram, or scan our QR code.
That’s how we built not just an audience, but a community of people who were actually invested.

The page has to look aesthetically pleasing, aligned with your brand, and filled with content your target audience actually wants to engage with. High-quality visuals matter. Clear messaging matters. But none of that works without consistency. You have to be consistent in posting, consistent in showing up, and consistent in delivering value online and in person.

So my advice to anyone starting is this: Make your social media an extension of your purpose, not your identity. Build your audience by building your community first. And above all, stay consistent. Growth follows consistency every single time.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

Honestly, my reputation wasn’t built overnight, and it definitely wasn’t built by one single moment; it came from years of being deeply rooted in my purpose and my community. Everything I do, whether it’s an event, a program, or a partnership, is grounded in authenticity and real connection. My reputation grew through consistency in showing up, even when it wasn’t glamorous; through building trust by keeping my word and doing the work, through being intentional with every event, collaboration, and piece of content shared. I’ve built real partnerships based on shared values, stayed present in community spaces, and remained rooted in Far Rockaway, in the people, culture, and history. I’ve learned to adapt, to connect with people across generations, and to co-design with the community rather than for them, ensuring their voices guide the work. I focus on quality programming that meets real needs, create spaces for healing and unity, and make it a priority to listen just as much as I speak.

And outside of the qualities that helped shape my reputation, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge what has kept me grounded and able to do this work consistently, which is putting God first always, and having the unwavering support of my family, my significant other Mone’t Schultz, and my community. Because this work isn’t easy work, but it is necessary work, and when it’s done with integrity and love, it’s revolutionary work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://CT3Designs.co
• Instagram: @CurtisTurneyRentas
• Facebook: Curtis Turney-Rentas
• Linkedin: Curtis Turney-Rentas
• Youtube: @FECTheBridge & @RockTheBlockFoundation

Image Credits

Photographers Instagram Credits:

@Johnnyysilk
@irafac | @iravisuals
@tvshotya
@leowuzhere
@xzaviervozo
@mattthephotographernyc
@masterpieceprodd