Gang Peace to Street Peace, Finding Solutions through Service with Reverend Rodney Dailey

In this episode, you will meet a living example of how transformation is possible for all of us and our world when we keep love and service at the forefront of our mission.

Meet Reverend Rodney E. Dailey - an outreach specialist with over twenty years of diverse experience in human service management and youth violence prevention. Rodney's work earned him over 90 awards from local and national organizations and governments, including the 1000th Point of Light Presidential Award from President George HW Bush. The Gang Peace program was later re-awarded by President Barack Obama. In 2015, Rodney published his memoir, Gang Peace to Street Peace, The Untold Story. His commitment to peace – more than just the absence of strife, conflict, and pain, but also the presence of wholeness, purpose, and love. Rev Rodney is an ordained elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church and serves as the Assistant Pastor of New Bethel AME in Lowell, MA.

In a moving, inspiring and fun conversation, we learn Rodney’s personal story of reinvention. A gang member in his youth and exposed to violence, drugs and loss, you’ll hear his long journey to becoming a justice seeker and the roadblocks he surmounted to achieving goals for himself and for society. You’ll also hear some practical advice about how to incorporate service into each of our daily lives. Rodney also reminds us how important it is for people to love themselves so they can love one another fully. Tell us about this idea of love being at the core of your actions.

Here are some of the highlights from a conversation ripe with wisdom:
Gang Outreach: “Once we got past the trust issue, which is a big thing if you're doing any grassroot organizations within any of these communities, the trust issue is big. I know right now there's a lot of pastors walking with police, but it's almost like a brick in the road because the trust for the police is not there yet. It will be one day, but it's not there yet.

We have a lot of individuals that are reaching out in those communities to get people hired, but the people that have already tried to get a job and have lost hope, need training to get back into get up and be to work on time. You know, skills like: don't smoke a blunt before you go to work.

“I'm going to ask for people to help fill the need, because we can't do it by ourselves. And and the issue is, is that it's not about money. It's about the people. And so what we can do is we can join organizations that are that are doing something. I think, Martin every would, he said, everybody can be great. It's gonna be great. I'm going to ask for people to help fill the need, because we can't do it by ourselves. And and the issue is, is that it's not about money. It's about the people. And so what we can do is we can join organizations that are that are doing something. I think Martin said, everybody can be great. It's gonna be great. Because anybody can serve.”

Find more information about the Reverend Rodney Dailey:
The New Bethel Church : https://www.thenewbethel.com/ 
Gang Peace to Street Peace; The untold story by Rodney Dailey