Through his music, mentorship programs and social justice initiatives, Devine Carama has excelled at facilitating connections that build community, so it was no surprise when he was tapped by Mayor Linda Gorton last May to be the director of One Lexington. The program was created to coordinate, leverage and mobilize city government and community resources to enhance safety and quality of life in neighborhoods experiencing violent crime.
Devine Carama
Gorton recently credited Carama during her 2022 State of The City-County Address about doing a lot of the upstream work with youth to combat violence before irrevocable actions are taken.
“Devine and his volunteers mentor youth, mediate disputes, connect with gunshot victims and their families, make sure young people in high-risk neighborhoods have safe passage home from school, partner with Galls and Central Bank to create the ‘Be the Change’ scholarship, and engage African- American men to stand in solidarity against youth gun violence and to become involved as volunteers,” said Gorton during her Jan. 18 address.
Now 10 months into the job, Carama is enjoying the new challenge of continuing the work he started years ago through his grassroots organization, Believing in Forever, from the other side of the aisle as a member of the mayor’s administration.
How has your approach to social activism and youth mentoring shifted since taking the position with One Lexington?
Before this job, when I was the director of my own organization, I was able to operate in more of an isolated, rogue way. I could see what needed to be done and, with limited red tape and bureaucracy, I could go out and attempt to be that change.
But the thing is, the job of keeping our community safe is not a one-man job. Although there’s more red tape and I can’t be quite as reactionary, this job has slowed me down and taught me the values in making connections and bringing more people into the fight so we’re able to get more done.
"My background is as an artist, and as an artist, you have one mic, one stage to do your thing. I’m used to being independent, but I now understand more than ever before the power of connection and being a bridge between organizations and pockets of our community who otherwise may not connect."
My background is as an artist, and as an artist, you have one mic, one stage to do your thing. I’m used to being independent, but I now understand more than ever before the power of connection and being a bridge between organizations and pockets of our community who otherwise may not connect. It’s those kinds of changes that need to be made in order for Lexington to become the best city it can be. It’s not about what I can run around and do, but how I can inspire others to be the best versions of themselves and to live their life’s purpose.
Tupac has one of my favorite quotes. He says: “I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.” I think that encapsulates my view of the work I’m doing now.
How have you been able to find so much success with your mentoring and making an impact in the lives of local youth?
It’s important to meet young people where they are, which is something that comes naturally for some and is di cult for others. I feel like everybody has something to offer young people, but for me it’s a calling and a gift. It’s often easier for me to speak with teenagers than it is with adults. Mentorship and guidance are also a growing need among our young people. Teachers are a shrinking industry, especially among people of color.
I’ve been talking with Ciera Bowman, Youth Services Center Coordinator at Henry Clay High School, about bringing our mentoring program over there after they recently surveyed 400 students and had 60 percent respond saying that they wanted mentoring as part of their engagement. That’s not parents or a think tank of outsiders, but the students themselves telling us they want that help. That’s a powerful statement.
It takes everyone actively listening and contributing to make real change happen. That’s why we adopted the “it takes a village” mantra for our programming, because it literally takes a village. It’s not just one person, one organization or one mayor. All of us have a part to play.
What’s the next step for you when it comes to pushing for more equity in our communities?
I want to continue inspiring other people from grassroots backgrounds like myself to get more involved, but the city of Lexington has just as much of a responsibility in that as well. I hope that me taking the job will inspire others to get more involved as well. In addition to getting more grassroots people involved in government, I’d love to see our government normalize working more with those grassroots organizations that are truly on the ground doing the dirty work.
You mentioned earlier how your background as an artist ties in with your mentoring and work in the community. Do you have anything new in the works on that front?
My producer JK 47 [J.K. Wyche] and I have made an intentional decision to pause things this year. Instead what we’d like to do this year is continue the work we were doing through the University of Kentucky and its Agents of Change series and through the Black Girl Project. What we want to do is connect some elders, emcees and the community with some of our local, up-and-coming artists to create some projects under a new initiative called Bridging the Gap. We’ll be partnering with the Northside Public Library on it with JK producing. I’ll likely record a few lines for the project, but it will mostly be for those up-and-coming artists to shine.