Black Wall Street Reno is a nonprofit organization spearheaded by its two founders Donald Griffin and Romar Tolliver, going stronger and stronger in its second year of existence. Both men hope that their organization can be one that steers local teens away from the adversity that they faced as youths and young men.
“This organization is to provide preventative measures for teens,” Tolliver said during a recent interview with Our Town Reno. For him, Black Wall Street Reno is a way for youths to channel their energy into productive learning and enrichment activities instead of being out on the streets.
“I got in trouble as a kid,” Tolliver said, referring to the time he spent in the Nevada Youth Training Center (NYTC) when he was younger. His experience at NYTC was an eye opening one, and it’s marked in his memory as eight months of his youth that could have been spent doing something better.
The Nevada Youth Training Center is a you correctional facility in Elko, Nevada that has appeared in the news multiple times for wrong reasons. "It was a lot of discipline-- things of that nature," Tolliver said. "But it kind of helps you prioritize and focus on the things you need to do in life."
As a Reno native, Tolliver has experienced what it’s like to grow up as an at-risk youth in Reno, but he doesn’t see his ordeals as a purely negative experience.
“It’s kind of a give and take,” Tolliver said. “We wouldn’t have created [Black Wall Street Reno], if I hadn’t gone through those hardships.”
As a non-profit organization, Tolliver believes that it’s important to connect with the youth community. “You have to have, you know, some empathy to where you can kind of put yourself in their shoes and kind of understand what they're going through.”
Tolliver gave out lunches at a recent outreach event.
Pulling from his own experiences and feedback from the kids, he is able to plan programs that cater to their needs.
“When we are passing out lunches, we interact with them, you know. Ask, what are they learning in school ... You know, how would they give back to the community?” Tolliver said.
Over the summer, Black Wall Street Reno took 75 kids to Project Discovery on Mount Rose Highway. Project Discovery offers dynamic learning programs and child-focused summer camps.
“There were a few at-risk kids that came along with us, and we could tell throughout the day that they were slowly opening up-- coming out of their shell,” Tolliver said about the day they went to Project Discovery. “Learning social skills, kind of questioning their upbringing and, you know, the habits that they're developing. None of these kids knew each other. So to see them in their shell and uptight at the beginning of the program, to supporting each other by the end of the program-- it was a great experience,” he said.
More recently, Black Wall Street Reno hosted a Thanksgiving food drive, partnered with Reno/Sparks Mutual Aid to provide a free community narcan training, and currently pass out after-school lunches outside their office on Wells Ave. on a weekly basis.
As the organization continues to grow and learn, they hope to provide more outreach programs that include financial literacy workshops, and food and clothing drives for the community.
“We've grown tremendously from the community support,” Tolliver said. “That grassroots support kind of keeps the ball rolling.”
Their next event will be a holiday toy and shoe drive on Saturday, December 18. “I’m trying to give away a hundred pairs of shoes and a hundred toys,” Tolliver said, adding that shoes will go to teens aged 12 to 17, and toys will go to kids younger than that. They are looking for donations, which can be dropped off at their office between 3pm and 5pm, Monday to Saturday.