Gary Bradley — CEF-Durham’s Opportunity Circles Leader, Phoenix House Graduate, and Social Activist:

**Many thanks to Gary Bradley for taking the time to share his story**
Written by Stephanie and Zoey from CEF-Durham.  

Gary is a character – he loves to talk and gives great motivational advice. Gary is CEF-Durham’s Opportunity Circles Leader, and he is adamant about making it an open discussion to give everyone the opportunity to bring what they have to the table. As he facilitates the class, Gary never hesitates to bring in his own life experiences to make the concepts more relevant to everyday life. The summer interns discovered that Gary is a never-ending story book!

One Monday before Durham’s Beyù Caffè office hours, Gary shared his story with advocates Stephanie, Zoey, and Jennifer. This is what he shared with us.

From New York to Durham

Gary is a native New Yorker, hailing from Harlem and South Jamaica Queens. About 14 years ago, he visited his American Indian cousins (his father is American Indian) at a reservation in North Carolina, and he dropped by Durham and liked it. He paints it as a place with a much slower pace but still maintains a “city-twang” to it. He moved two years later and has been living in Durham ever since.

Connection to CEF

At the Phoenix House, a recovery home that was managed by Housing for New Hope, Gary recalls how he used to see these kids from Duke University come in every Wednesday through CEF. His first impression towards the advocates was distrustful, as he describes, “why are they coming from Duke to talk to us – why are you all being so nice to us?” He felt confused and needed to know. Eventually, the advocates, especially Will, won his trust, as they showed loyalty through their work with him.

Gary started cooking every time the advocates came to the Phoenix House, and they noticed that he was very good at it. He had a talent for cooking. So, Gary and CEF advocates started applying for restaurant positions. That same skill landed him a job in Dame’s Chicken and Waffles, where he still currently works. It’s hard work, but he loves his job. He tells us how he has a knack for meeting good people- it’s a magic. Along with that, he found another knack – a gift for mentoring. Gary discovered his love for motivational speaking, and feels like his true strength is helping people.

Gary’s Goals

Gary strives to be a counselor, and is considering working for an organization or even starting his own program to mentor others. He wants to use his experience from the Phoenix House to create a similar space. Gary says that CEF has given him the opportunity to strive for equality, by the way he is able to give his “brothers and sisters an opportunity to step up, to get a job, to get resources for their kids.” He calls the Opportunity Circles his baby, as it is dear to his heart to see people get the opportunity to do something for themselves.

CEF appreciates what Gary brings to the CEF community. He is creative, and through his creativity he is able to inspire those around him to achieve their sense of self and their goals.

Gary’s beautiful reflection continues! Click here to read the full article!

Hobbies and Connections

With Others After learning about Gary’s life story. Stephanie, Zoey, and Jennifer decided to steer the conversation towards a lighter topic- Gary’s favorite hobbies and past times. This is what he shared with them: “I like to draw, play b-ball, and build model cars and ships. I draw from scratch. We used to build our own cars as kids, and race them. I didn’t draw anything special, just ideas that popped up in my head. I drew a hand coming out of space, making the world. I drew trees, splitting them up and colored it red, white, blue, orange, with stripes, and I put it on an island on a rock. I was feeling some kind of way, and the colors represented all kinds of people living as one, being part of that tree. I don’t know what made me draw it- some days I just get in the mood to do something. One time I drew a leaf, and I had everyone I knew sign it. All my friends from every borough signed it-someone still has it hanging in their house. I don’t know what it meant. I just did it.”

Gary’s advice for CEF

At the end of our conversation, Gary gave a great word of advice to CEF. He appreciates that CEF is driven by a group of young folks who are trying to help other people find resources. He hopes that CEF can find a way to reach out and get more people under the CEF umbrella, and that means getting the word out a little more. Gary mentions that this could be helpful for the organizations and people CEF reaches out to, and to CEF as well. CEF appreciates what Gary brings to the CEF community. He is creative, and through his creativity he is able to inspire those around him to achieve their sense of self and their goals.

From Nigeria to Little Rock to Franklin Street, Johnney Enemmoh has been on an amazing journey through his life. Johnney walked through CEF’s doors for the first time on May 24, 2012. Known to family and friends back home by his Nigerian name Iyke Chukwu, Johnney came to the US in 1982 to attend college in Arkansas (where a notable Arkansas native, President Bill Clinton, served as his attorney). Continuing his passion for education, he moved to North Carolina in 1986 to pursue a Master’s degree.

In 1996 Johnney returned to Nigeria to care for his elderly parents. He remained there for over a decade to take over his father’s business. In the Spring of 2012, Johnney finally made his way back to the US. He always wanted to come back to North Carolina – he says it felt like home.

Johnney planned to find a job in Chapel Hill upon his return. However, his employment search took longer than expected, and he soon found himself staying at the IFC men’s shelter.

Still on the search for a job, Johnney was referred to CEF for employment services by two Advocates that he met on Franklin Street. He started working with those Advocates in the CEF office in May of 2012.

By August of that year, less than three months after his introduction to CEF, Johnney had secured a full-time job at UNC Hospitals. He moved into a downtown apartment in February 2013. After working just eight months in his new job, however, Johnney was caught in a round of summer-season layoffs. As was the case for many other UNC Hospital workers, the layoff came just before Johnney would have acquired health insurance.

But Johnney didn’t stay unemployed for long. He came straight to the CEF office after the news of the layoff and began searching for a new job. His always-positive attitude and drive to work hard landed him a spot on the customer relations team of the Franklin Hotel – a job that he likes even more than working at the hospital.

Now, Johnney enjoys sharing his joyful spirit by welcoming customers to the Franklin Hotel, where he works as a bellman. He greets hotel guests by checking then into their room and showing them around the hotel. Being a historian, Johnney likes to point out the pictures on the wall and explain the history of the hotel. He says of his job, “it is interesting because you share ideas with people, meet people, and become friends with them – because you never know where you can meet them again.”

Johnney is one of CEF’s most successful savers, having successfully reached an incredibly lofty savings goal. He saves for a “rainy day,” the way he says he was taught. Aside from working at the hotel and avidly saving money, Johnney spends his time writing. He is currently crafting a letter to his village in Nigeria which documents his ancestors’ history.

Johnney’s next steps? Saving to bring his six children to the US for college. With his contagious positivity and drive for hard work, that shouldn’t take long.

Malcolm pictured above after successfully saving to purchase a vehicle through Wheels4Hope!

This letter was written to CEF by Malcolm, one of the wonderful members of our Durham program. Malcolm is truly an inspiration to all of us and has an incredible story to share — one that beautifully demonstrates the value of both advocate relationships and community partnerships in CEF’s work. Thank you, Malcolm, for your leadership. 

Dear CEF,

On the 14th of October 2012, I arrived at Urban Ministries of Durham (UMD). I was homeless, penniless, jobless, completely computer illiterate, troubled, angry, and battling a life of substance abuse.

I joined the Hope Recovery-Journey Outreach program at UMD in order to battle the substance abuse because I needed help to conquer the addiction to drugs and alcohol, for, at this point, my life was totally unmanageable and I knew that I was powerless over the drugs and alcohol.

While I was in the Hope Recovery Program at UMD, they introduced me to a few other programs, which have helped me tremendously along the way. One of those programs was the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF).

I first met with Janet, Chad and Alice [CEF student volunteers from Duke University], who introduced me to the laptop computer for the first time in my life. They told me to attend six classes and I could actually buy a computer for $130.00. So I started going to the classes every Saturday in the UMD cafeteria. The CEF staff were excellent teachers. They taught myself and the rest of the people in the class something new every week. At the end of the six weeks, I knew how to type, space, punctuate etc. By the time I was presented with my computer, I had learned enough to go to Durham Economic Resource Center (DERC) and enroll in college at Durham Technical College, where I took some advanced courses in computers. With the use of my new computer from CEF I was also able to sit with the CEF group on Saturdays and fill out applications online, surf the web, Google, text, email and things of that nature.

The honest truth is, because of CEF, today I am working at MERCK as Production Management Assistant/Logistics in Kanban. This deals mostly with computers. Sort of like a miracle, you know?

I still meet with CEF on Saturdays–not as often as I should, but I will improve on that. When we meet we work on things like employment income, barriers to income, finances, and health. For instance, they help me to find the proper health care provider and things of that nature.

Thank you CEF. You are truly a Community Empowerment. You have certainly Empowered my mind. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and because you have put something positive on my mind, I have one year and two months of uninterrupted SOBRIETY.

Thank You All at CEF. So many of you have given of your time and effort to help me, so many friends, too numerous to mention, your vibration is Positive. Thanks again.

Truly Yours,

Malcolm Clemens
CEF Member