How can young people who grow up in neighborhoods with more liquor stores than grocery stores, more drug dealers than college students, and more funerals than weddings, break out of the cycle of poverty and achieve their full potential? Lashon Amado, one of our country's most inspirational young leaders, shares his moving, personal story of how YouthBuild USA helped him create a path out of poverty and live the American dream.

Lashon works at YouthBuild USA as the Program Associate of Education and Youth Leadership and represents YouthBuild on the National Council of Young Leaders- Opportunity Youth United. In both roles, he serves as a local and national student leader, participating in speaking engagements across the country and connecting more opportunity youth to college and career pathways. He also serves on the Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee for the Governor’s office of Massachusetts. Lashon achieved these accomplishment despite facing tremendous obstacles in his life, meeting racism, and getting involved with the criminal justice system. These adversities caused him to become apathetic about education and ultimately led him to drop out of high school. He enrolled in YouthBuild, where the staff there empowered him to want more for himself and consider post-secondary education, leading eventually to enrollment and honors received at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx