The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Dr. Steven A. Chambers Talks NYC Young Men's Initiative, Hustle Culture, Destigmatizing Mental Health Care + More

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Dr. Steven A. Chambers Talks NYC Young Men's Initiative, Hustle Culture, Destigmatizing Mental Health Care. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hauda Kotmi. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats.

Listen to Joy 101 on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, this is Teddy Mellencamp. And Tamara Judge from Two Tees in a Pod. There's been one scandal that's consumed our lives these last couple of months. We're recapping the three parts Summer House reunion. And as always, we're being brutally honest. We're dissecting timelines, receipts, blind items, and previous episodes.

Amanda and Wes, watch out. We're not getting to be easy on you. Listen to two T's in the pod on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Chams podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Lee. Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got, like, so much more to do. Like, Prince, he dropped, like, 30 albums.

We dropped, like, five right now. That's the rate we got to be going. Yep, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest. names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is Saigon, the story of my family and of the country that shaped us. From IHeart Podcast, Saigon.

You don't think I'm serious about a free Vietnam? One city, a divided country, and the war that tore America apart. This is for Vietnam. They're pouring patrols all over here. Freedom for Vietnam! There's a fire coming to this country and it's going to burn out everything. Listen to Saigon on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hold on.

Every day I wake up. You're all finished or y'all's done? Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy. Just hilarious. Sholomaine Nagai. We are the Breakfast Club. Lawn LaRose is here as well.

And we got a special guest in the building. We sure do. I'm here from here. Here, Hampton University. You don't see many people from Delaware State up here. But we have Dr. Stephen Chambers. Welcome, brother. Thank you, man.

Good morning, y'all. Good morning. I would like to apologize just to start. Because you ended up at that school and, I mean, you went to something. It was a blessing. And he's a real doctor. He was a Delaware State University, but go ahead. No, it's all up.

He's executive director of the NYC Young Men's Initiative. Yes, sir. You're back again. So, well, first of all, this is the first time we're meeting. Yes. You just got this role? Yeah. Break down, first of all, what the New York Young Men's Initiative is.

Yeah. and why it's needed. Yeah, absolutely. So we are a, basically a $30 million mayoral office that is now housed within the mayor's office of equity and racial justice. It's an initiative that started in 2011 in the Bloomberg administration. So we're celebrating 15 years this year. And the goal of the initiative is to reduce disparity gaps for black and brown young men, particularly ages 14 to 24. war, but a lot of our programs and initiatives go even beyond that, up until 30 and sometimes a little

younger. So our goal is to really increase the, like, the livelihood, the, like, success rates, the general health of black and brown young men. But I'll also say that even though that is our mission right now, we are very, like, rooted in data. So if the data says that we need to emphasize or support a different demographic, then that's something, obviously, we will. would do. But unfortunately, the data continues to persist that black and brown young men have the highest needs across many indicators of our social determinants of health. So what are some of the programs that you guys are doing? Yeah. So, well, right now we're celebrating 10 years of NYC Men Teach, which is one of our flagship programs. It is basically in service to increase

the pipeline of teachers and making sure we have more black and brown teachers in the classroom. Because we know that when students see teachers that look like them, and this is not even just like black and brown students, like data shows that if you see black and brown teachers, the whole community benefits in the classroom and in the school. And so that's a program that's near and dear to my heart. They've made a lot of progress. Like we've touched over 3,000 black and brown teachers that are men

who are now in the district. district because of this program. And I started my career as a teacher. So for me, this hits close to home. And I know that in a lot of ways, education is the foundation for a lot of folks, especially how they show up in the world and how they contribute to society. So really happy about that one. We're also right now celebrating a new initiative that we're about to launch.

And maybe we'll talk about this a little later, but it's called NYC Men Heel, which is also like a replication of the men teach model. So with the same logic that when you have like black and brown men in the classroom, the exposure for students is increased and the community engagement is increased, we want to try that in the behavioral health space. So we're focused on masters of social work, black and brown men who are pursuing masters in mental health counseling. And so we're about to pilot this this fall where we will actually be supporting

a group of about 25 black and brown men who are pursuing their master's degrees in either of those directions and providing them with wraparound supports. So that means like we're going to give them stipends because we know cost of living here is crazy. We want to give, we want to pay for testing and retest because statistics show that unfortunately black and brown men struggle with standardized tests. I can I can personally attest to that. And we're also going to provide mentors, help them get job placement. So we're excited about it. And this is, you know, June is

Men's Mental Health Month. So. I knew it happened. Yeah. I'm sorry. Because I said this early and everybody was like, I know it's not.

Yes, it is. Yeah. I know he ain't missed. Charlomaine ain't say no son. Yes. And he's missed the mental health. Yeah. He posted about it on his Instagram.

I said it. And they like, no. He's getting older. Do you do something for his age for two? It happened. Yeah. And so we're going to,

because of that, we're going to do like a public launch of it in a couple weeks, June 18th. So day before June 10th. Yeah, exactly. And that's intentional. And we want to make sure that there is like prospective students in the room. We got stakeholders in the room. We're going to get our deputy mayors there, our commissioner there, the commissioner from the mayor's office of equity, and a couple other commissioners that we're partnering with. But we have about 20 programs,

like across various city agencies. These are just some of the big ones that are top of mind right now. I'll also say we have a CUNY fatherhood academy that I'm really passionate about as well. We're trying to support fathers who either don't have their diplomas or their college degrees, and we provide them with training to get their high school equivalency, but also their degrees and like classes and workshops to help them become better fathers. And that's right. Right now that's happening in three CUNY, three CUNY locations. but we're working to do some expansion work there too. So really trying to hit it all.

With a limited budget, right? I know you mentioned $30 million. And that seems like a lot. But for all the people in New York, that needs this help, how do you guys decide who gets to help, who gets the stipend, who gets to the degree, who gets to the actual education opposed to who does it? Yeah, that's a good question. I appreciate that question because there's a lot of complexity of that.

One, I'm always looking at data. So I'm looking at what are the disparities that this city has. Every five years, YMI puts out what we call a disparity report. This year, we're putting out the next disparity report. And in that disparity report, we look at four indicators. We're looking at education. We're looking at health. We call the justice system, but I call it the criminal legal system because, you know,

I have issues with the justice work. And then we have employment. So those four indicators are the big buckets for us, and that's where our mission is rooted. And so we look at those indicators, and then we look at the data connected to them, and then we look at the city agencies that do work in those areas and decide where we want to make an impact. So, for example, we have in the Department of Probations, we have what's called rap sheet cleanup. So we help young people, young men in particular, come in. We have lawyers look through their rap sheets and make sure there's no errors.

Train them on how to like communicate what's on their rap sheet when they're applying for jobs so that they can walk in confidently for interviews and let people know like, look, this is what happened. This is why it happened. Give them some context and some training behind that. And so like to answer your question, DJ, like we want to make sure that all of the different buckets have coverage. Like those four that I mentioned, we want to make sure that we have programs. making an impact in all of those areas. I just started in January. So one thing that I do when I hit the ground is like I bring the team together

and we do some retreat work. And in that retreat this year, what we did was look at those four indicators, look at our program portfolio and then like match it up. Where are we underrepresented? Where are we overrepresented? And that's where we invest the money that we invest. A lot of city agencies also reach out to us and say, hey, we have a program.

Right now we're talking to the health and hospitals, and they want to do some mental health work, and they've sent over a proposal. So in that instance, we would look at the proposal. Sometimes we have to do a request for proposals to keep it equitable to make sure anybody who is a provider can come to the table and say, I can help this agency bring their program to life

through the work that we do in our provider space. What about for jobs that are not your traditional jobs, right? Yeah. Not teachers, not lawyers, not attorneys, not businessmen. Let's say there's somebody that's outside of the box that wants to do something. Do you guys trade for that as well? Absolutely. Somebody I'm just going to use a streamer or somebody wants to be a manager.

They want to be in the entertainment industry or they want to be a sneaker designer, a clothes designer. Do you help with those young, because you started 14, those young kids as well? Yeah, so we do a lot of different types of employer engagement. So one way we hit that is through the Department of Youth and Community Development. We have a mentorship program, huge program. And in the mentorship program, they're exposed to a lot of different pieces. Community service, different jobs and different job pathways. We know AI is hitting us hard.

And so we want to think about careers and preparation for careers in a different way. A lot of times, I was just a community the other day, and we were sitting around with the Blackmail Initiative group, And they were, some of the visitors in the room were saying like, oh, we need to have a college fair and a career fair. And they named the traditional ones. And I'm like, yes. And what about these other career? Like, I got homies that like get six figures a month on just streaming. So I'm like, everybody not trying to go into the courtroom.

Yeah. So what are some of the ways that we can like infuse some training and some exposure in some of our programs like mentorship? We have programs at New York City Public Schools. We have what's called student success centers where we actually have other students preparing, like seniors and juniors, our partner with freshmen and sophomores. Like a big brother program.

And like saying, look, we know that this is something that we've experienced as upperclassmen in terms of preparation for the career field. And they bring that into the counseling space with the formal counselors, but they also bring their experience there with students. We also do, DYCD also has what's called Advance and Earn, which is supporting students with high school writing, high school diploma. So getting their diploma, getting their degrees, but also preparing them for careers that

are not always the traditional career paths. And that's funding, that's going to career training. So we're trying to be creative, and there's so much more work that I think we need to be doing. So this is, like I said, this is like month five for me. So I'm right now just kind of doing a landscape analysis of like, where are we making the impact we want to make? And then where can we do more? And then what's the biggest issue that you see young men of color facing in New York City? Yeah, I'm like my baby right now is the NYC Men Hill pilot.

And so my big bet in this work is mental. health, just to be honest, like it's, I mean, if you look at the statistics around suicide and depression, isolation, and this is not just men of color, this is like, like nationally, men are exceeding statistics compared to women in terms of all of those indicators. But then when you drill down more to men of color, it's even more, it's even more of a problem. And so, So I want to spend more of our funded support and partnership thinking of creative ways to hit the mental health issue. And that's not just men heal where you're bringing in professionals, but also thinking about the informal ways that mental health can be supported. Like the yoga's, like the outdoors.

We're talking to a group right now who takes young men and goes camping. and that camping is like connected to a mental health model. Yeah. We have like different schools, colleges and high schools are implementing apps. I was just on a call with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and we have a program there, public health careers, and half the students who presented created mental health apps. Like they literally created mental health apps.

And I'm like, so this is not only a problem that we see in research, but y'all know as high schoolers that this is something that you need to respond to. So now, you know, in this seat, I'm thinking, okay, what can we do leveraging city funds, leveraging city tax levy dollars, and the mayor's office to actually make a greater impact? Because that's, I mean, we need to hit it from all sides.

Yeah, I love the black men's help program that you speak about. Now, the thing is, like, I know that you said that he got the apps and everything the mental health apps, but for me, I look at it another way where it's like in order to get to, you know, a better mental space, a lot of these young men have to unplug, like, put down your devices, you know, but I get, you know, it's the way of the world and we are technology, kings and queens now. I mean, like, everything runs from technology. So I do love and respect the fact that they're trying to find help, like, with apps like that. But I think I like that, if you're going

camping and outdoors and you're connecting with each other we need that that that connectivity between human yep you know because a lot of people don't know how to speak to that's real yeah behind the apps and they're you know so I agree yeah and I think a lot of I think that's a great point and I think the example of like the camping example that's one of them but I know and I also think a lot of our so we're going to be establishing a youth council for for why am I and creating and developing those leadership skills but also those interesting or personal skills where you're stepping away from the screen

and really getting that like human to human connection. Because I mean like Gen Z, Gen Alpha, a lot of the data behind their depression and isolation is because of what you're just saying. Yes, the phone, screen. Yeah. So we need to think of like alternative ways and even acknowledging that there's sometimes in a lot of ways

a stigma around even just getting mental health support. People think there's something wrong with you if you have to go or even acknowledge that you're depressed. I have lots of friends who have experienced depression, myself included, and others who have faced and even sometimes committed suicide. So it's, and these are like all ages.

This is like. And also just getting people to realize like, like what depression is. I think a lot of times in some certain places, you so used to just like pushing through and working through. Until you get to a peaceful state, you don't realize like, oh, I wasn't at peace. Exactly. So like that's tough too.

That's such a good point. like the grind culture of like, I'm going, I'm going, I'm going, go, go, or push through the challenges that you have, not realizing that you're functioning, you're functioning in a space of depression. And just because you're functioning well in that space doesn't mean that you're not depressed

and don't need the support. I was going to ask, you know, another thing that's very important, especially for our community is, I would say the education when it comes to finances, right? Are there programs that start these kids off early, learning about credit, right? My son is, I'll just look, Jackson is 11. He has six. Yeah, that's why he'd get a little, all the time. But, you know, he's already talking to me

about stocks and bonds because his classmates are talking about it, you know. So when we come from an area where we don't necessarily talk about investments, we're so late. Yeah. But since he's has classmates that are, their parents are doing, he's already doing it? Are there programs that dive into that early, open up their accounts early? I love that question. We need to do. more of that. But we do have a program now that does that. And the reason why I say we need to do more is because right now the program

we have is a very targeted program. So right now we have a program called Jobs Plus, which happens in many NYCHA communities across the city. And Jobs Plus not only provides job training for

targeted communities, but it also provides financial literacy. I was just at a site in Brownsville the other day. And I was talking to the tax preparer and she was like yeah I didn't really prepare I wasn't planning to do people's taxes I was just here to give financial advice but I went on I had a couple people asking me for support so she took like a free class to learn how to do it and started doing people's taxes and so like that part and like training people to manage their money well is something that is happening in

that jobs plus program and to your point DJ Envi like how do we do that more with our school age children are college students. And that happens, like, organically and informally through the mentorship models because different campuses kind of do different things with their workshops. But I do think we need to be more targeted in how we hit that level of support.

And what about trade schools? Are you guys connected with trade schools? We don't have, and that's another one. Like, we don't have a lot of trade school, like explicit connections. Like, Lincoln Tech is so big, especially in the area, right? Yeah. But some of these students might not want to go to

exactly, a four-year degree or not even a two-year degree, they might say, you know what, I'm ready to jump into learning how to weld or learning H-back, learning, being an electrician or even, you know, being a nurse. Especially with AI. Like, when I think of like how AI is, like,

moving through our workforce, trade schools, in my opinion, are even more important than they were before. And so, AI can't be plumbing. It can't, you know, they can't, exactly. And I don't want an AI barber. So I'm like, that's like, so I'm thinking of, like,

I mean, the point that you made, when I think of the gaps, that's a gap. Like, we need to do more there. I was just at HBCU prep out in Queens. And I was like, this is dope. This is dope. I got to go there. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah.

They do. And the principal went to Delt State. Yes. And so. And rightfully so. But you know what? They got a Hampton house there. So, yeah, you got to pull up.

We've been supposed to get out there, though. It is beautiful. Did you go out there? No, the day that we were, so I forget what happened. There was something that happened that day. We'll go together. Yeah, you should go. Dr. Johnson's great.

And I know she really wants to get more community engagement. They're doing a beautiful work there. And we want to partner with them. And we want to partner with trade schools as well. Like, we got to hit it from all side because every student is not going everywhere. That's right. Yeah, you remember, like, job court things like that. Like my brother went there.

He learned so many different trades going. You know what I mean? Or all American trade school. You go to get your CDLs. All the real thing. All of the. things are gone they're losing funding yeah it's very important to you know implement those things that's a good point because when I was in high school

going to a trade high school was like the thing in Delaware just because they were like the better schools yeah and now it's people mad people I know that are like actually living off of the trades that we went and got in school yeah like my mother is one of them yeah like a lot of my friends at home like they're that they're doing the trades that we went to school yeah that's a that's a note I'm definitely taken that we we want to push in more with trade school supports and just the non-traditional career pathways that that's work we definitely have to do yeah because if i if i could do it all over i would go to trade school for a year i was to hear yeah yeah i'm gonna tell you why the

day one of my pipes burst there was pouring water oh yeah and i wish i knew he didn't even know what to do yeah i didn't either for the crib like i like i would go straight to you too you know not trying to water off in your house i figured out the other day i grew up with a mom who like that's my mom did every she like Well, not anymore, but she used to lay tall, she'd do carpet, all that. I can turn on water. I can do circuit breakers. I know.

I know what to do. That's crazy. You're trying to swim. No, that's right. But that's right. But that's right. They don't like to get dirty. Yeah, that's no.

He don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. So, but I'm saying if I would have just took at least a year, I would know a little bit of what to do. To make to survive until Monday. But I had to pay the $500 quick call and then the fix. And it was like. Maybe you could have FaceTime my mom. She would have told you all to tell you.

That's crazy. I love that your mom knows how to do all that. FaceTime, his co-worker's mother. Wow. To help him. I would have been on YouTube trying to make your work. So now how can everyday people get involved with young men's initiative?

How can people can involve if they need to? So you can go to all of our socials or NYC Young Men, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, but also we have events happening across the city. So one thing we try to do is like through our programming, hit the more longer term impact, but through our events, We try to do the more acute short term. So we just had a college signing day

celebrating all of our students in the My Brothers Keeper, My Sisters Keeper program. And shout out to our sister agency, NYC, her future, who does the exact same work that we do, but for young girls and women. And so we try to do events like that to celebrate more of the good things that our young people are doing. So if people ever want to get plugged in,

they can check us out on our social, see what's happening there. We're also under the umbrella of the mayor's office of the office of the equity and racial justice. So both websites, mayors office equity, YMI, and then I would also shout out NYC, her future as well. So any way, if you see events, if you see programs that you're interested in, all of the agencies that we partner with have their own outreach efforts

as well. So if you go to Department of Youth and Community Development, you can find programs that YMI funds. Same with public schools, CUNY and like about 10 other city agencies. Now if there's one message you could personally give some of these black and brown brothers out there what message would you give these younger generation yeah i mean my my message would definitely be poor into yourself um i think if we can heal ourselves yeah then we can help heal our communities um but i think it it also starts acknowledging that healing is necessary and healing has different layers and different levels um you may not need

what somebody else needs, but you should, I think we should all be reflective. We should all be iterating and all be like, like thinking about ways that we can improve. Every day, I'm reflecting on like, okay, how could I have done what I did yesterday better? And I know that that plus surrounding myself with positive friends was like my key to success. Like my friends, especially the ones that went to Hampton with me, my freshman year, we're still best friends. And we still hold each other down. we're still at each other's weddings, funerals, like, barbecues, like, and we push each other and we hold each other accountable. And that healing piece, though it's internal, I think initially, I think it also, like,

moves through your social groups as well. I love that you said poor. I always look at poor as an acronym. So pause, open up, unwind, and restore. Ooh. Yeah, I love that you say that. Pause, open up, unwind, restore. I like that.

You know, for men and women, the youth, young girls and young guys, I have a foundation that always go by that. You know, we help young women, older women, families, all of that. And that's what I had a Mother's Day event recently, and that was the name of it, women who poor. I love that. I love that you said, it just pouring to yourself, pouring to each other. You never know what somebody else is going through.

Yeah. So I love that. Yeah, I love that too. Thank you. Appreciate you for joining us, Dr. Stephen Chambers. Thanks for having me. The New York City Young Men's Initiative, And thank you so much.

Yeah, thank you. Good to meet you. Thanks, y'all. Hampton's own. That's right. Dr. Street. My way of Delaware. Not by way of Delaware.

You're not from New Delaware. Ohio. It's all right. It's all right. Just leave it. Don't put that on them. Sorry. It's the breakfast club.

It's the breakfast club morning. Oh, no. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The breakfast club. You're all finished or y'all done. Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now, there's a new and exciting way to start your journey.

toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, How to Kot Me. If you're craving inspiration, support, and useful tools to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Listen to Joy 101 on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. This is Teddy Mellencamp.

And Tamara Judge from Two T's in a Pod. There's been one scandal that's consumed our, lives these last couple of months. We're recapping the three parts Summer House reunion, and as always, we're being brutally honest. We're dissecting timelines, receipts, blind items, and previous episodes. Amanda and Wes, watch out. We're not getting to be easy on you.

Listen to two teas in a pod on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. June is Black Music Month, and on the Drink Chams podcast, we're speaking with the hottest names in the culture, like Sway Loo. Do you realize how legendary you are? I appreciate that. I'd be seeing it, but I'm like, man, I still got like so much more to do. Like Prince, he dropped like 30 albums.

We dropped like five right now. Like, that's the rate we got to be going. Yeah, that's a good attitude. No matter the era, Drink Chams brings you the biggest names and the most unfiltered conversations. Listen to Drink Chams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of a latest,

Santa, you already know, there's a lot to break down. Corsha accusing Kelly of sleeping with a merry man. They holding Kay Michelle back from fighting Drew. Pinky has financial issues. On the podcast, Reality with the King, I, Carlos King, recap the biggest moments from your favorite reality shows, including the Real House Wise franchise,

the drama, the alliances, M&T, everybody's talking about. To hear this and more, listen to Reality with the King on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.