Erica Ford, Why this great woman deserves to win the hoodie award

 Raquel Mclean

I had the wonderful chance to encounter Ms Erica Ford on my quest to start working for Russell Simmons, She reached out to me and said why don’t you donate some time writing on gun violence and for peace, which I accepted, We talked on the phone and exchanged emails from time and time and as I got to know Erica I started to truly realize I was talking to a important and great person,

She is the president and CEO of Life Camp, INC an organization that started in 2002, It’s goal is to prevent violence in schools, the mission is to provide a second chance to youths 13-24 and teach at risk youths ways to avoid jail, gangs, substance abuse and dropping out of school.

Ms Erica is up for the hoodie awards tomorrow Wednesday July 13^th, it was started by Comedian Steve Harvey and it’s the only award show that honors businesses, religious and community leaders, churches and high schools for their contributions throughout the country. Voting times will be Wednesday from 6am-6pm

I had the opportunity to speak to several people in Ms Erica community on why she should win the hoodie award, Their stories at times were enlighten, Sad, Funny but always touching, I wanted to include in my blog the stories and why Ms Erica should win and help get her as many votes tomorrow as she truly deserves it,

The first person I spoke to was an Ms Ceillise Craig; she has been with life camp since she was 15 years old, almost 10 years; she first met Ms Ford in Jamaica Queens, When a school mate was killed and Ms ford went to the school to speak and attended the funeral Ceillise was actually going thru a dark period in her life and attempted suicide Ms ford was the first person to visit her, She would give Ms Craig rides to school and guided her on the right path, Ms Craig is now 24 years old and an aspiring lyricist and at a positive place in her life.

The next person I spoke to was Ms Penny she has known Ms Ford for years but she started working with her in 2009 when her son was killed in South Jamaica in a triple homicide, She had to add that Ms Ford is a great inspiration for the community, She works countless of hours to improve the lives of youths and end gun violence and that Ms Ford deserves this award and that she and the whole community stands behind her.

The last person I spoke to was Mr. Danny Barber he is an employee for the New York Housing authority, He has known Ms ford for a year and has did many marches and rallies with her including; Stop the violence march, Mother’s day march and youth rallies, He says Ms Ford is a inspiration to the community and because of her the youths have met people they normally  would not had a chance to encounter in their everyday lives including Al Sharpton, The Attorney General and members of Obama campaign staff. And that Ms Ford gives youths hope and a reason to see a good future ahead of them.

As you can clearly see this is a great woman who has done so much work and has put forth tirelessly countless hours of effort to improve the lives of the youths in her community, The hoodie award was made for people like Ms Erica Ford, If everyone could take a second out their day tomorrow and vote for her it would help someone who truly deserves this award to be recognized for the hard work she has done for her community. Here is how you can vote for Erica Ford.

On Wed From 6-6pm Vote 4 Erica Ford  Best Community Leader on http://t.co/79y7vOE or text hoodie to 88656 and reply H3