DESTA has supported me for most of my adult life, through long stretches of unemployment, finding housing, and becoming a young father. Throughout these experiences, the organization has essentially given me a place to belong. With DESTA’s support, I have become a confident, self-aware, and community-oriented 31-year-old, a husband and father of three, and the owner of a successful small business that employs six to twelve DESTA participants at a time. This, to me, is DESTA at its best!
I am also very fortunate to have not just been a participant, but also a staff and board member at DESTA. Each of these experiences has helped me truly understand the issues important to our participants and our supporters.
For these reasons, I have accepted the position of Interim Executive Director of DESTA Black Youth Network. Together with a great team of DESTA founders, alumni, mentors, and community members who all believe in DESTA’s mission, we will make sure that DESTA continues to support marginalized, black youth aged 18 to 35 within the Greater Montreal Area. I am committed to doing this for as long as necessary, in order to give DESTA adequate time to select an Executive Director in whom the team is confident, and who understands DESTA’s mission and can effectively execute it.
I am excited to embrace the challenge of helping guide DESTA in its ongoing development. Your support and collaboration will be very much appreciated.
Sincerely, Barkley Cineus Jr.
