We caught up with the brilliant and insightful William Gregory a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
William, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the most important things small businesses can do, in our view, is to serve underserved communities that are ignored by giant corporations who often are just creating mass-market, one-size-fits-all solutions. Talk to us about how you serve an underserved community.
Ever since my sophomore year in high school I’ve been serving underserved communities and have done so in multiple communities through AmeriCorps. AmeriCorps is the federal agency for national service and volunteerism. AmeriCorps provides opportunities for Americans of all backgrounds to serve their country, address the nation’s most pressing challenges, and improve lives and communities.
Our mission is to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering. With my hometown Detroit among other major cities being target cities for children and adults with educational barriers, mental health, job opportunities and more, My current service term is with Wayne State University’s Urban Studies Department (AMUS) Climate R.E.A.D.Y. We help make Detroit more resilient to urban climate change through community outreach and outdoor recreation.
In June of 2021, a state of emergency was declared in Detroit when heavy rains caused severe flooding across the city. Over 30,000 people were impacted. This is just the latest in extreme weather events to come as a result of climate change and Detroit faces unique challenges. So we help litigate the challenges the residents have been facing in the Jefferson-Chalmers area specifically at the moment.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Currently outside of being a service member with AmeriCorps, I’m also a contributing writer for Black Link Magazine and media specialist for hire. I’ve amassed 2M+ likes and 25M+ views through my works. I officially started in my freshmen year of college, where it started off as me shouting out organizations, students, staff, marching band programs, etc. to me making more people aware of HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges or Universities) through nearly 10 different pages. Common Black College App, Historically Black Since, YardTalk101 and many more. In this past year I’ve helped with 6 magazine releases, I’ve been published 8 times, published 25+ articles on names such as David Banner, Tennessee State University’s Grammy Award-Winning Aristocrat of Bands, Grammy Award-Winning Professor Larry Jenkins Jr., Grammy Award-Winning Dubba-AA and more!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect for me is knowing I made an impact on someone’s life for the better. Seeing smiles on faces when I do the work in the community, seeing a young person make it to college and so much more that makes my career heartwarming and more than worth it!
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The goal that drives me is to help as much as I can in a world that is slowly deteriorating. Somebody has to be apart of the force that brings happiness, change and all we have is each other as a community at the end of the day.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/0fficiallwill?fbclid=PAAaa03ofmEP8GWLgiGqj_rMdJkumimV2OhDZ7Hjthk0zfGrQPlVebGRg-hAM_aem_AZNH74dOqIGlHQA5tAYo1bY8B6F2SjPqsIFg9ahPO5Qrw_aZRktbh4sv4XYKTZwZZ-k
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/0fficiallwill
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-g-758b0b104