American rapper Durk Derrick Banks, popularly known as Lil Durk, is launching a career readiness program through his community-based organization Neighborhood Heroes Foundation.
The program is open to all Chicago students and is described as Banks’ way of giving back to teens on the South Side, the place where the rapper grew up.
“We ain’t never had that growing up. We was looking for that type of guidance and ain’t have it, so I’m just trying to be different.”
Lil Durk
Lil Durk hopes to give Englewood teens a new possible career path away from street life. The program started with the initial 20 teens that the foundation brought to Atlanta for a college tour.
Other Announcements from the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation
In an Instagram post made by the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation, they announced, “We launched our foundation’s Career Readiness program as we’re investing time, money, and resources into young Black Neighborhood Heroes from the South Side of Chicago to help bring their passion to life.”
Neighborhood Heroes Foundation also announced: “We’ll be flying the first cohort of 20 young men to NYC to meet with C-Suite executives from Sony, Alamo Records, and the NY Knicks as they’ll be shadowing these seasoned professionals that look like them and share similar stories.”
Neighborhood Heroes Foundation’s next project is an HBCU College tour in Atlanta, where the participants will go to historic institutions that offer accredited college programs to support their journey.
The announcement also said that the program would be concluding with a NASCAR Playoffs at Talladega Superspeedway. They stated: “These young men will also meet with C-Suite executives and learn about lucrative careers behind the enterprise. A great opportunity to bridge the gap between the Black community and NASCAR.”
About the Neighborhood Heroes Foundation
Banks founded Neighborhood Heroes Foundation with a mission “to empower and collaborate with everyday Heroes who are taking the lead to make a positive difference in the lives of those within under-resourced neighborhoods.”
In the past, Neighborhood Heroes Foundation has been involved in several charitable functions in the community, including a turkey drive where they gave away 1,000 turkeys to families in need for the holidays. The foundation also sponsored Durk’s 29th birthday giveback, where children with disabilities were provided support for services that medical providers were unable to cover.
About Lil Durk
After starting his musical career in 2011, Lil Durk became one of the founding members of the record label Only The Family (OTF), which released all his studio albums since 2015. His latest album, 7220, debuted on the Billboard Hot 200 charts, making it the first chart-topping solo album for the Chicago-native rapper.
