Grady Talks is a project that is owned by a new start up non-profit organization called, “Talk About Your Future, Inc.”. Last week, we put out a press release announcing our new website, gradytalks.org. Wow, what a response! We got picked up by media organizations across the country. If you do a Google search on “Talk About Your Future, Inc.” you will see our results.
We’ve also filed for official 501c3 status with the government. If we receive the designation, you will be allowed to make a tax-deductible donation to our organization. Here is how we described Talk About Your Future, Inc. in the filing:
TAYF is a Georgia non-profit corporation in good standing, which has been and will beoperated exclusively for charitable purposes, particularly educational purposes and combatingjuvenile delinquency. TAYF provides mentoring and career counseling to urban high schoolstudents, with an emphasis upon at-risk populations. TAYF’s two principal initiatives are: (1)a series of motivational talks given by business, civic and political leaders, as well as celebritiesand athletes, and (2) career coaching in small group sessions and workshops. Today, TAYFoperates a pilot program at Grady High School, an urban high school in the City of Atlantapublic school system. TAYF is presently funded by donations of board members and individualdonors. TAYF is seeking an exemption under Section 501(c)(3) to facilitate the solicitationof charitable gifts, which would allow TAYF to expand its operations to other City of Atlantapublic schools. For more information about TAYF, see http://gradytalks.org.
TAYF aims to give Hope, Guidance, Inspiration, Motivation, Direction and Connectionsto high school students and show them the possibility of moving forward in directions they neverdreamed possible. Far too many students are not sufficiently engaged enough in school to stayafter the legal drop-out age of sixteen. Many young students have had no meaningful or positiveexposure to the world they are about to enter and as a result do not see their own possibilities.Our program aims to open up that broader world to them, and help them make decisions andchoices now that will set them on a path to fuller and more productive lives in the future.
TAYF began as small volunteer effort by a parent to provide free career coaching to highschool students, and has evolved into a weekly speaker series featuring an impressive list ofcorporate leaders, celebrities and professional athletes. The consistent message from the speakersis: “Find something that you love to do and are good at, and make that your future.”
Thespeaker series kicked off in September 2010 with basketball superstar, Chris Webber, talkingto a packed auditorium of 300 Grady High School freshmen about achieving their dreams.Public Broadcasting Atlanta’s recording of Chris’s talk is available HERE.
Other speakers includerepresentatives from a wide variety of prominent companies, organizations and institutions suchas The Home Depot, WSB-TV, Chick-fil-A, Turner Studios, Georgia Tech and the CDC, as wellas leading law firms and other professionals.