UNLCK

UNLCK provides the necessary tools and resources to unlock the gifts and potentials of our youth.

Mission Statement
UNLCK is a social enterprise that helps underserved youth and justice-involved citizens successfully transition into society through employment assistance, training and certifications, mentoring, and job placement services.

Vision Statement

Formerly incarcerated and justice-involved citizens have access to training, re-entry services, and support necessary to secure and maintain meaningful, competitive wage employment.

UNLCK creates a stronger civil society and increases public safety through job creation and training in the printing and textile industries, various arts and e-commerce.

Values

Original, Organic, and Authentic 

Our Belief

Everyone came into this world bearing a gift. Meaning we all have something to give.

During a single year, an estimated 2.1 million youth under the age of 18 are arrested in the United States. 

Our micro mission is to advocate for underserved youth, those that have been justice involved, at-risk and also those who are vulnerable to the system.

Our vision is UNLCK. Meaning unlocking the potentials of our future. UNLCK is a place they can come to and express themselves creatively. At UNLCK we will provide the resources and tools that they may otherwise not have access to, and help bring them to the pinnacle of their own creative intelligence.

A lot of youth in schools don’t have interest in what is being taught to them because the curriculum is so narrow. At UNLCK, we have programs that will peak their interest such as music production, videography, game design, product development, and we also have things that can benefit them like e-commerce trainings, business formation, and the basics of taxes and building credit.

Out aim is to prepare them beforehand so they will already have the knowledge they need advancing into adulthood.

Formerly incarcerated and justice-involved citizens need access to trainings, re-entry services, and support necessary to secure and maintain meaningful, competitive wage employment.

UNLCK creates a stronger civil society and increases public safety through job creation and training in the printing and textile industries, virtual reality (Metaverse) and e-commerce.

This makes a positive impact on our communities, local and state economies, and the lives of hundreds of formerly incarcerated youth, men and women along with their families.

Racism is being declared as a Public Health Crisis by some states. Many of the youth who are incarcerated are victims of this country’s systemic racism. As the country heals from its past, our youth still need preparation for the future we all will grow into. 

As a game designer, I see an opportunity to help lead the youth into the role gaming and emerging technologies will play in their future. Helping them to learn some of the basics of game design will be used as a gateway to exploring other areas they can apply their talents to.

I’ve worked with the Brian Hamilton Foundation, which is an organization that teaches returning justice-involved citizens how to start a business.

I’ve also been on ground zero with potential users in their neighborhoods and have received positive feedback from the youth up to the elders who wish to see this program in existence.

My underlying intentions of creating Plug Wars was to help steer the younger generation from making the same mistakes of going down the path I took. 

UNLCK serves justice-involved youth in the educational component of Plug Wars.  In addition to changing their mentality from a hustler to an entrepreneur, Plug Wars teaches formerly incarcerated individuals how to improve their strategic decision-making abilities, increase entrepreneurial energy and critical thinking skills, reducing their chances of repeating the same mistakes and lowering recidivism.

UNLCK will spearhead the mission for its constituents to become the creators of blockchain games which will allow them to create digital assets in their names and generate crypto currency for themselves as well.

I have engaged with several youth about UNLCK and they are eager to learn. Also, students from NYU’s Diversity & Tech Class have written research papers on the game design of PLUG WARS.

UNLCK helps underserved youth and justice-involved citizens successfully transition into society through employment assistance, training and certifications, mentoring, and job placement services.

Racism has been declared a public health crisis in many states. There is a need for underserved communities to develop the necessary skills in order to compete in today’s challenging and changing jobs market. Especially, in today’s social media culture. This is so important because so many have already been marginalized in so many ways. The time is now for us to be just and equitable and give everyone fair opportunity in our society.

UNLCK teaches formerly incarcerated individuals in printing, 3D printing, textile, manufacturing, graphic design, animation, coding, web design, web development, online advertising, marketing, video editing, music and sound engineering, entrepreneurship, building credit, business structure forming, photography, book publishing and event planning services.

Individuals receive wages while learning skills and performing the daily operations of the social enterprise. UNLCK offers printing services, clothing, manufacturing, web development/web design services, graphic design, physics simulator, photography and video services, online marketing and advertising services, book publishing services, coding and tech support training, and business formation services to its clients.

UNLCK creates a stronger civil society and increases public safety through job creation and training in the printing and textile industries, and e-commerce.

This makes a positive impact on our communities, local and state economies, and the lives of hundreds of formerly incarcerated youth, men and women along with their families.

E-commerce site

In late Spring of this Year, my board game was featured in The Washington Post and, alongside entrepreneur Brian Hamilton, in an ABC 7 News segment highlighting the Brian Hamilton Foundation’s “Inmates to Entrepreneurs” Program that teaches formerly incarcerated people how to start a business. 

Recently, I was given the opportunity to speak before students at NYU attending a Diversity & Tech class whose assignment was to write research papers about the game design of Plug Wars.

I’ve invested my own money in learning how to build a business from scratch and run my own e-commerce store.

As an alternative to crowdfunding, I invested in the manufacturing of custom dice with the board game’s logo to sell online and at pop ups to raise the capital needed to publish the tabletop.

I was also a recipient of Indie Game Developers Network (IGDN) 2020 Diversity Award, which broadened my network among some of the prominent members and designers of the board game industry. 

Blockchain or NFT games are increasingly becoming a need for the industry.

Our solution will be using apps, SMS technology, software, AI, robots, drones, blockchain, and virtual reality. Regarding the concept of 'metaverse,' there is an XR (immersive reality) definition that's been used for more than a decade, and increasingly there's a business definition that's being pursued by large tech corporations.

Currently, with our Educational Component of Plug Wars, we are serving at minimum 250 people around the world over the past year.

We expect to serve at minimum 500 underserved youth and justice-involved individuals with our Educational Component over the next year.

Getting started, we expect to serve up to 20 as full-time and part-time earners/partners/staff of our social enterprise per curriculum cycle over the next year.

Our impact goals are to serve returning citizens from incarceration and help them to build sustainable revenue streams that accelerate their missions and impact.

We plan to achieve these goals by repairing our youth’s minds, building their self-esteem, and providing the necessary resources for them to heal and unlock their natural gifts and talents.

We will offer a variety of areas that will allow our youth to experiment with different ideas of themselves. Gaining knowledge, self-awareness, and new experiences that may not otherwise have been available to them.

We will give them an opportunity to see themselves as who they wish to become.

We will measure our impact goals by the success rate of our clients based on comprehensive performance of our curriculum, the percentage rate by which we lower recidivism, and the progression of levels for certifications, trainings and ventures each will complete. Also, by the products that they will produce and the services they will render to the public.

Every problem presents a challenge to solve, and many barriers may limit the impact of a worthy cause. Financially, UNLCK will break through the barrier of raising the funds to seed our social enterprise. Technically, we will break through the barrier of the learning curve that is expected when introducing technology to clients who may be unfamiliar. Culturally, a barrier of language and communication may present itself as a limitation, though character traits will be built as a result of surmounting its challenges. Market barriers may limit our impact goals through access and opportunity.