Colorado Springs' unseen heroes honored for inspiring youth
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — While empowering Black youth in Colorado Springs’ Southside Community is the goal of OneBodyEnt, a local organization that provides family-friendly educational entertainment and events, the group also aims to recognize individuals who work to create positive change.
“We want our young Black youth to see other Black people who are successful, so they can grow up and remind themselves, ‘If this guy can do it, so can I,’” explained Birdie Miller.
On Saturday, August 13, OneBodyEnt, founded by community member DeAndre Smith, hosted its fourth annual “History of Colorado: Honoring Heroes in Our Community” event. Birdie Miller, a retired educator, was one of the honorees.
A Colorado Springs’ resident of 30 years, Miller has a lifetime of experience of working with the youth in her community.
From volunteering with the African American Leadership Conference and the Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival to helping the Pikes Peak Library, Miller has committed her free time to inspiring children to reach their full potential.
“So many young people are so talented and so gifted. But often go overlooked in the school districts,” Miller said. “We find a way to mentor them, to give them information that maybe they're not getting at their schools.”
Miller told Rocky Mountain PBS that she grew up extremely poor in Haynes, Arkansas, where she picked cotton. Miller said her mother died when she was two years old and was raised by her grandparents.
“I was fortunate to have grandparents who told me every day about how special, talented and bright I was. I also grew up having several supportive teachers who encouraged me. Most kids today don’t even have that kind of support at home. My life’s work is to strive to be that inspiration for young people,” Miller said. “I was poor, Black, and female. My life story could have been written differently.”
Now, Miller is paying it forward. She believes it is important to help young people succeed just like others have done for her.
“I see myself as the person who connects the dots,” Miller said. “I find resources, and then I try and figure out who can benefit from those resources, share it, and then pass it along to others who need help.”
Montaque Muhammad was also an honoree at Saturday’s event. As a mentor for local children in Colorado Springs, Muhammad teaches youth football, basketball and is part of the USA Boxing in Colorado Springs. Muhammad doesn’t get paid for his time mentoring kids, but the work is important to him.
“Every basketball camp I started, I did it all out of my pocket,” Muhammad said. “I don’t charge because kids who grow up poor don’t have financial support from their parents. I can’t charge for a gift that God gave me.”
Muhammad tells Rocky Mountain PBS that he can relate to the kids he works with. He said he didn’t grow up with much; he didn’t even have his own room, for example.
“You’re not going to be perfect; you know? Life has obstacles. Life is about the choices you make. I want to help young people make good choices,” said Muhammad.
Jennifer Smith, DeAndre’s wife, said Saturday is a perfect example of how her husband wants Colorado Springs to be viewed by the youth who live here — a fruitful place to live and thrive.
“These are people that people don’t think about—people that are actually doing the work behind the scenes. These amazing people think no one is watching, but we are,” Smith said. “These are just normal people who stepped up and wanted to be the change they wanted to see. They go out of their way to make people feel comfortable and loved. These are the people that we want to be in our community. The honorees told me they are humbled, but the reality is we are just lucky to have them.”
Lindsey Ford is a multimedia journalist for Rocky Mountain PBS. You can reach her at lindseyford@rmpbs.org.