Above and Beyond the Call of Duty

NOTE: Bed-Stuy Patch is happy to announce that our very own Clyde Evans has been chosen as Huffington Post's "Greatest Person of the Day." Click here to see the feature.

Rise Up and Walk, a non-profit on that offers a variety of programs designed to help local kids in need, does not have inexhaustible resources and a big, recognizable brand, but it does have Clyde Evans, and that might be just enough.

Evans is Rise Up and Walk's founder and director; a man who possesses tireless optimism and determination.

On a mid-week late afternoon, Evans explains that he first thought about opening his own agency in 1998, when his efforts to create a safe space for the neighborhood yielded fantastic results.

"One Saturday we blocked off the street near PS 304 and had a basketball tournament and sort of a unity march," Evans begins.

"As a result, we had over 1,500 participants. It was remarkable. There were grandparents, aunts, uncles, fathers, all in the park engaged in something good. At the time PS 304, located at 280 Hart Street, was used for drug trafficking and violence, but that weekend it was used for something positive."

From there, things happened quickly. Evans started an after school program at PS 304 and that blossomed into a mentoring effort that serviced about 150 boys. Then Evans took his tireless enthusiasm into the juvenile justice system, where his program gave mentoring services to facilities across New York.

At the time, Evans's program was the only non-profit sponsored to do that. "As the needs arose, we met them," says Evans, brushing off the fast-paced growth of Rise Up and Walk. "No matter what level an individual is, whatever we have, we use that. We don't have a lot of money, but sometimes people just need a listening ear."

And Evans has become that listening ear for so many in need, because he’s walked in the very shoes of the people he serves today. "Being raised in Bed-Stuy, I saw nothing but crime, drugs and poverty," he said. “So you always strive to build something better.”

Both of Evans’s parents were drug addicts, and his mother was killed in a subway train accident when he was 12 years old. He was then sent to live with his grandmother, Juanita Evans, who raised him into adulthood.

"[My grandmother] was the catalyst behind Rise Up and Walk. She instilled the values in me that I try to give the kids today,” he said. A picture of his grandmother hangs on the wall in his office, right behind his desk.

“She would always have someone else's child in the house with us. When I was young, I always said, 'I'm not doing that,'” he laughs, recalling his grandmother’s own compunction to always be of service to others. “But the older I got, the more I realized I did."

Currently, Rise Up and Walk occupies a building on Lafayette Avenue, in the heart of Bed-Stuy. The main goal of the agency is to "level the playing field" Evans explains. "We try to show these kids that even with the issues at home, you still have responsibility and the potential to achieve."

The tools Evans uses are an after-school program that focuses heavily on homework, work ethic and other basic life skills. Parents must pay for the services, but Evans is quick to add that he would never turn anyone in need away.

When Evans sums up the goals of Rise Up and Walk, the origin of the name becomes crystal clear. "These kids need to understand that they have purpose and potential and it lies within. It takes hard work, education and just knowing that there are opportunities available, but you have to be open to them," says Evans.

"You take their situations that they might be challenged with, and flip it back to them. We want them to know they have the ability to go above."

Evans admits that the constant financial strain is hurting the program and does take an emotional toll. "The little that we accumulate, it goes back into the program—I don't even take a salary, because I can't."

He recently has started working with a consultant to help with things like fundraising and developing a board of directors. And when things get especially difficult, there are the small moments he thinks back on to encourage him never to give up.

"I received a text from parent who had a boy in our summer program, but she had placed him in a new [program] at his school," Evans says.

"He's miserable. She texts me saying, 'My son woke up crying asking for you, saying, 'I want Mr. Evans!' That really made my day. It was a sign for me to keep going. Comments like that keep us focused."

Evans still has the text saved on his phone. And that little boy? He's back at Rise Up and Walk.