Former NFL Star Ed Reed Visits Prison & Leadership Intervention Unit
The Government of Belize has embarked on a plan to work with young men, primarily those caught up in the criminal justice system, through its leadership intervention program. It is the brainchild several people, including Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa, William Dawson from the Wagner’s Youth Facility at the Central Prison and Doctor Richard Rosado of the Belize Police Department, among others. Minister Musa says the established Leadership Intervention Unit provides opportunities to hundreds of persons as a gang and crime fighting strategy. Today, former NFL star and hall of famer Ed Reed is in Belize. He was invited by Minister Musa and was given a tour of the Wagner’s Youth Facility at the Kolbe Foundation and the Leadership Intervention Unit based in the heart of PIV in the Martins area. Reed was once the star athlete for Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and the New York Jets, but the now retired NFL star has been working on violence prevention and youth development. As News Five found out, Reed grew up in the slums of New Orleans and strives to be an inspiration to young people.
Ed Reed
Ed Reed, Former NFL Star
“I work in the community. If you look at my community, this is truly where I come from.”
Duane Moody
“Your message for them?”
Ed Reed
“Mien, there is strength in numbers. You know, like what they are doing now – cleaning the community – just imagine doing that through every community. It changes, it builds it up, it makes it better. I always give the analogy of a fist. You want to get into a fight, you are not going to do it with your hands wide; there is no power there. But when you put it together, when everyone comes together like so, this is what you get. That’s how you change communities, that’s how you change countries, that’s how you change the world – by working together.”
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“I had the opportunity to meet up with hall of famer, Ed Reed and it was quite an engaging meeting that we had. Of course, everywhere I go, I sell Belize so I told him of course about our jungles and our beaches and our warmth and culture and our people of course. And we got to talking about his foundation and it is similar in so many ways to the type of work that we are trying to do in a transformative way in terms of the leadership intervention unit headed by Doctor Rosado and Mister William Dawson and Michael Novelo and all these guys who came to see me about six months ago to formulate this plan of action. So at a time when our government didn’t have resources, we were just grinding, coming up with a plan. It’s a very elaborate plan; part of it includes offering employment opportunities – but not just civic pride, beatification opportunities. We have to diversify; we have to identify the strengths of these young men and get them to work. So some of them would want to be carpenters, some of them would want to do construction; some would want to do welding, so this is just the start.”
