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Konscious Youth Development and Service [KYDS], a local nonprofit that primarily works to help the area’s youth travel the terrain of living in an urban neighborhood, is the brainchild of Monmouth University graduates Mychal Mills and Rodney Salomon.

Be it poverty, crime, gangs, drug abuse or alcoholism, the pair quietly took a holistic approach by launching the increasingly popular bimonthly Open Mic Night at Kula Café.

“The theme of empowerment kept arising,” Mills told Yoga Journal writer Brittany Risher. “Open mic is a platform for openness, vulnerability, and healing—connecting all walks of life from 6 to 70 years old.”

The article traces the nonprofit’s growth, which includes launching a Journey Summer Program for elementary and middle school-aged children, meditation and sound-healing events, as well as their work in the Asbury Park [and 12 other] school districts.

In 2017, KYDS also took on administering the Junior Entrepreneur Training [JET], a 15-week program founded by Interfaith Neighbors Business Development Center.

“Although we focus on kids, we realize it can’t just be the youth, because they are going home to their parents,” Mills said in the article. “We find it more effective when adults are learning the same techniques and tools to embody change.”

For more about KYDS, visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.

[Photo courtesy of KYDS]

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