Featured photo: DeWaun E. Robinson, Artistic Vision Enterprise CEO and creator of the local Rites of Passage program
Written by Tanya Terry
DeWaun E. Robinson, Artistic Vision Enterprise CEO, was inspired to create the Rites of Passage program after returning from Egypt in 2017.
“The point was to be able to help young men transition to adulthood and be men,” Robinson stated. “There’s a whole setup of principles you have to learn. There’s rites you have to earn to be a man here in your community and to operate that way in society.”
Robinson saw in Africa that young people were given roles in society at a very young age.
“Once they continue to do that job as a young person, as a young boy, they carry on those duties as a young man,” Robinson said.
Robinson wanted to help the young people in the Flint community.
He stated young boys need to know what they have to contribute towards the greater good of others in the community. Robinson said this is important whether that means performing in school, cleaning up or beautifying the neighborhood or helping elders.
Since 2017, the Rites of Passage program has been in several Flint area schools, including Hamady High School, Flint Junior High and Southwestern Classical Academy. Robinson works with multiple grade levels, from K-12. This is the first year the program has been offered at Flint Cultural Center Academy for ages 11-14. There, the program is offered as an elective during first hour.
“We try to better each other. We don’t want to tear each other down. Our whole thing is about building, up, building structures and leaving legacies. They know that, and they relish that. They may be in 7th and 8th grade today. But they are going to be pillars in the future.”
Robinson stated “it’s a process” when people come from different backgrounds, have different personalities and look at life in different ways.
“When you come together as a collective, it takes time to build that synergy among each other.”
Robinson said it’s a “big thing” for the participants to understand their Blackness and the culture they come from.
Robinson also believes in working with the participants’ parents, who he described as their “first teachers.”
In addition, Rites of Passage participants are explained the importance of being mentors to younger boys. To Robinson, this is important because he said the Flint community needs leaders now more than ever!
The recent Class of 2023 Rites of Passage graduates participated in a Celebratory Ceremony Thursday, June 1. Macy’s sponsored the event, giving the students dress shirts, ties and collared shirts. The students gave speeches to an audience, which included their parents. The graduates received not only certificates of completion, but also medallions.
As part of a service project to be done with other area groups and organizations, they helped repaint the mural on Martin Luther King on June 10. They also take part in a Rededication Ceremony June 17.
Additionally, the graduates will be assisting with the Traditional Juneteenth Celebration programs and activities June 9-19!
“Whether we’re outside doing a basketball tournament, whether we’re writing letters to our future selves, whether we’re bringing in different speakers and folks from the community who gone through the challenges their going through to be a guide, whether we’re doing entrepreneurship, whether we’re doing service projects and activities, they look forward to every day.”
Nazeer Boone participated in the Rites of Passage program. He said he learned to “always hold the door for ladies and gentlemen and to always make people feel good and respected because people don’t always feel good on certain days and times.”
Boone would like to be a businessman or an NFL player. He already has his own clothing brand called FNO (Fear No One) Attire.
Another participant, Kayden Frick said: “The most important things that I learned are 1-to always act confident and be presentable and 2-just because someone acts a certain way doesn’t mean they can’t change.”
Frick would like to enter the field of real estate as his parents did, and to become a broker.
Demari Westbrook said the requirements to be the Rites of Passage program were strict, but he got used to it.
“You have to be on time to class, get good grades and you have to be respectful,” Westbrook said.
Westbrook hopes to be a professional athlete and said the discipline he learned in the Rites of Passage program will help him.
Robinson said if the program is wanted at any other schools, he can be contacted directly at 313-258-8967 or robinson.de.sr@gmail.com.
