For some young folks, there comes a time when they age out of child-serving social services. Their safety nets get thinner and they can struggle to find their footing with limited resources or experience. These sixteen to twenty-four-year-olds are called "transitional age youth" or TAY.

This is the crowd that Desire Johnson-Forte helps. She cares because she was once one of them.

Desire is currently the Executive Director of The BIZ (Black Intergenerational Zeal) Stoop. The organization has three main goals: First, to increase Black life expectancy through group conversations addressing fatalism. Second, helping young folks from the east bay tell their stories and shifting public narratives about them. Third, the Biz Stoop helps young people earn a living wage and build businesses through coaching, economic education and financial support.

Desire has been doing thins kind of work since she was a young person transitioning into adulthood, dealing with all that life threw at her.

This week Desire shares a bit of her story, why her work is important right now, and how she grew from a place where she needed assistance to being the person who provides.

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