Don Griffin

Written by Lisa Lee, a Washoe County Reprentative.

When I met Donald Griffin, he was brought to the VOICE (Voices of Inspiration, Courage, and Empowerment) writing group by a mutual friend. Donald was early in his recovery at that time but he had a head full of dreams and visions to channel the most painful parts of his story into helping youth in our community avoid the path he took. Fast forward to 2022, Donald has manifested so much of his vision. He is now a PRSS, a CHW, a UNR student, and the co-founder/director of Black Wall Street where he helps so many in our community to find purpose and get their needs met. He is deserving of recognition for all of the good he does--he lives it and breathes it--and is such a good role model. Here is a bit from his bio (https://blackwallstreetreno.org/about-us/) here:

"Black Wall Street held the last house on the block for me. My mind recovering from the bumps, and bruises given by this special gift we call life. No longer controlled by alcohol, the tattooed track marks made by the needle were healed, and my clarity started to clear.

Three years into my sobriety, I began to notice (or finally started to pay attention for the first time) the increase of youth overdose, homelessness, school drop-out, and suicides in Reno, Nevada. Remembering who my role models were, and the influence I received that impacted most of my life, I trembled in fear. Where was Superman when you needed him? This superhero had to look like them, talk, walk, listen, and most of all relate to the PTSD they suffered from.

We call our youth “The children caught in the crossfire.” – And I was willing to walk behind enemy lines. New Generation DARE was created to bring awareness to youth addiction and homelessness. I spoke about saving, and giving back to the community so much that my co-worker asked, “Who are you? New Generation DARE?” He didn’t realize God just used him to give me the name that would later lead me to Black Wall Street.
...Two years later, we now distribute over 5,000 after-school lunches per month, and host suicide prevention & “Stop the Bleed” classes. Additionally, we host backpack drives, offer a food pantry with senior citizen food delivery, and produce youth summer and winter events. We could add to this list infinite.

As Co-founder/ director and as a parent myself, my responsibility is to make sure our youth have the proper education in self-preservation, credit building, vocational skills, home economics, leadership training, and FUN while learning how to be productive members of society. Most of all, my goal is to make sure they can be proud of themselves."