Page 48 - WilmU - Spring 2017

ALUMNI
One of Young’s most exciting ventures is a book program he created with My Very Own Library and the United
Way of Delaware. In 2015, he enacted a citywide push for literacy, connecting the two organizations to secure 30,000 free books for 3,000 students in Wilmington. That effort went statewide to 15 schools a year later.
Still, Young generated enthusiasm from residents who wanted change — and that’s no easy feat. He is still dedicated to his personal mission of recreating the Wilmington community.
Young reflects on his time with the international Global Shapers program, an initiative of the World Economic Forum, and finds inspiration from the experience.
Young, who had the honor of attending the forum in Switzerland in 2014, says the event provided him the opportunity to network, study and learn from people across the globe.
“It exposed me to people from Senegal, Toronto and Moscow, to learn best practices in growing a successful city,” he says, adding that those practices inform his current ideas about pushing Wilmington forward.
He believes cities are incubators for innovation and new technology, and that people move to cities to work together and create opportunities for themselves and others.
“That’s what (the people of) Wilmington are learning, and what we need to take advantage of,” says Young. “We’re not on a regional or national stage, but a global stage.”
Young is figuring out the next steps of his journey. Right now, the best part of his multifaceted life is to be a good husband to his wife, Dr. Nicole Young, and dad to Madison, his 2-year-old daughter.
“Being a father changes you in that you want to make sure you leave this world a little bit better than when you found it,” says Young. “I want Madison to have more opportunities than I had. This greater idea of service is also for my daughter. She will come after me.”
It’s safe to say that Young doesn’t plan on quitting his city. WU
with Representatives Helene Keeley and Stephanie T. Bolden, both of Dover. The experience helped him understand the workings of govern- ment. Young then became the aide to then Newark, N.J. Mayor Corey Booker (now a U.S. Senator), and focused on criminal justice and social justice reforms in Newark, a city that faces challenges similar to Wilmington's.
One of Young’s most exciting ventures is a book program he created with My Very Own Library and the United Way of Delaware. In 2015, he enacted a citywide push for literacy, connecting the two organizations to secure 30,000 free books for 3,000 students in Wilmington. That effort went statewide to 15 schools a year later.
Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman, a local education advocate and vice chairperson of the Wilmington Education Improvement Commission, understands how hard one must work to cover that much ground in one year. She witnessed Young’s leadership skills as he pulled together a coalition of nonprofits to bring a meaningful project to life.
“When Eugene first mentioned this project to me,” says Lockman, “I had no idea it could succeed within the current school year. I watched as he quietly stuck to his plan and found the money to complete the job. There are already plans to expand the effort next year.”
While Young has been working behind-the-scenes with his organiza- tion while holding down a full-time job as advocacy director for the Delaware Center for Justice, many Wilmingtonians got to know him when he ran for Wilmington mayor in2016.
“People liked that this campaign was something everyone could latch onto,” says Young. “We were able to provide a campaign where whether you were from the East Side, West Side, Hilltop, Highlands — no matter what neighborhood — you could identify and see yourself in (it).”
Young and his 250-member volunteer force reportedly knocked on 50,000 doors during his campaign.
“We understood that we needed to engage everyone regardless of neighborhood, race or socioeconomic status,” says Young.
“We understood that the city is a product of all these different groups of people.”
He applied the lessons he learned from Booker, particularly how Booker focused on engaging with diverse groups, including corporate professionals, neighborhood parents and small-business owners.
According to the News Journal, which also endorsed Young, the Justice Advocacy director earned the second most votes, collecting 21.78 percent, but he lost to former Riverfront Development Corporation executive Mike Purzycki.
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