We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Juan Chavez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Juan below.

Juan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

In 2012, I was teaching a Peer Leadership class to high school students. During lunch I would allow my students and their friends to hangout in my room. During one of these lunch time gatherings, one of my students began getting into an argument with his girlfriend. It almost got physical and I had to ask him to leave the room to cool off. When I confronted him on his actions and challenged him to be a young man who treats others better, especially women, he felt inadequate because of his lack of a dad in his life and lack of any positive male role models. The next day I asked my class of 30+ students, “How many of you do not live at home with your biological father?” 70% of my class raised their hands. We scrapped the lesson for that day and began to discuss the results of absent fathers at home. This was a need that clearly needed to be met. I began meeting with a group of 10 male students weekly, challenging them on how to live as faithful young men who love, lead, and serve well. This group multiplied and began taking shape in other communities, with other men helping me lead these groups. The school I was teaching at got wind of this group and reached out asking how I could help a group of freshman boys who were displaying serious behavioral issues. With a team of others, we developed a curriculum that allowed us to teach and work with this group on campus, during school hours. Our curriculum consisted of topics such as: Responsibility, Authority, Envy & Self-Worth, and Healthy Relationship Development. The school began to see a positive change in these boys behavior, including better attendance and grades, and a decrease in referrals.

That group turned into more groups at that school and on different campuses. All of our sessions are set up in a way that establishes healthy relationship between the mentor and mentee. We max out at 12-15 students per group. We sit in a circles and the teacher/mentors sit with the group purposefully, with the intention of having eye to eye level contact.

We’ve been running these groups since and in 2019 launched AZ Reach as an official 501c3 non-profit. Our program has grown to an all girls group, an entrepreneur program, a grief and loss group, and a lunch time hangout space on campus where we give away clothes, develop community, and collaborate with others.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I grew up in South Phoenix. My parents were off and on and officially divorced each other when I was 13. They both did their best to raise me well, but because of the lack of positive role models in my life, I began heading down the wrong road fast. In high school I found myself partying, smoking, drinking, and taking pills. I was unfaithful in my relationship and had got caught up with the law a couple of times. At age 19, my co-worker invited me to her church. I heard the message of God’s love, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and how he paid for my sins in his sacrifice on the cross. My heart and eyes were open on that day to God and his love for me. I had been pursuing money, popularity, partying, and all sorts of other things, to fill a void in my heart that only God could fill. My life changed on that day and has never been the same.

There was a desire birthed in me share God’s love with those in my community and to help fill the void of positive role models. I began working for the City of Phoenix, Project BRAVE, doing violence prevention workshops at a number of elementary and high schools in Arizona. I then began teaching at the same high school I graduated from. I coached football there, collaborated with Young Life, FCA, local churches, non-profits and other organizations. Throughout these years, seeds were sown that grew into what is now AZ Reach.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

AZ Reach was built by my wife and I from the ground up. We had to learn how to apply for a recognized 501c3, how to open a business bank account, how to build a board, how to create a brand, logo and website, and other things necessary in this field. We had no team around us. Thankfully, the actual “on the ground work” with mentoring inner-city students was already taking place prior. I believe this was the key to keep us going. We didn’t build AZ Reach then begin making an impact in students and their families lives, we were already making that impact; the formation of the organization proceeded the impact. There were many nights of trying to build AZ Reach and wanting to give up. Countless late night hours trying to build our website and social media, asking myself, “Is this all worth it?. I’m already doing the actual work, why build this?” But I knew this work had potential and when communities see an organization making an impact, versus an individual making an impact, it is far better. I knew there were other leaders who’d want to lead and work in an organization like this. I knew that funding had to take place in order to make a greater impact. Because of what was at stake, I had to keep going. Resiliency was not an option.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

The initial capital for AZ Reach came through a local Arizona grant called “CGI” – Community and Global Initiative. They sowed a $15,000 for us to start AZ Reach. I truly believed we would spend 5k a year over the next three years, and move on to other community work. Very quickly, people began to see the impact we were making and they wanted to be a part. Individual donations began to pile up, which remains our main source of income to this day. The non-profit field is not one easy to raise money in, and I’m not naturally wired to do so. But, I had to learn a new craft of sharing our story and vision in order to get others onboard. Over the years, others have helped us raise funds and we’ve obtained a number of grants.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.arizonareach.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/azreach/, https://www.instagram.com/juanvchavez/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juanchavez88, https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=az%20reach

Image Credits
Wandaline Joassin Joshua Coe