The Honeycomb Paradigm Project, a nonprofit project  aimed at supporting, enriching, and developing the youth in the aspects of education, health, career planning, culture, and athletics.  

I was fortunate in my upbringing to be able to experience “2 sides of the coin”.  I was raised on the Westside of Long Beach, the Sugar Cove to be exact.  At the time the West was a neighborhood that was  riddled with crime, ran by the local gangs, and occupied by low income families.  On the other side of the coin, my parents worked hard to send me and my brothers to a local private school where we were able to receive a decent education, participate in sports, and, for a majority of the time, keep us out of trouble.  

We were always safe in the confines of the private school we attended.  We were able to experience a taste of the life of some of our peers who were well off and who came from neighborhoods unlike the one we were growing up in at the time.  But once that bell rang and we stepped out of the campus we knew trouble was awaiting us, especially with the gang problem in Long Beach.  

Through my upbringing and the experiences I had growing up, I feel that it’s made me the person I am today.  These experiences helped me become more conscious of my surroundings and has made me take a closer look at what I can do to support the youth of this community.  Regardless of gender, race, religion, or socioeconomic status, we all fall on hard times in one way or another.  I’ve seen people from well off families hit hard times and I’ve seen people facing unfortunate circumstances get through tough times and become successful.  The one glaring aspect of each person's story is the support system or lack thereof can impact the outcome of their lives.  This is how the idea of the Honeycomb Paradigm  came to fruition.  

Honeycomb:  is a mass of hexagonal prismatic wax cells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.

Paradigm: a pattern, example, or model.

The Honeycomb is something that has a little history from when I was in high school.  As stated above, the neighborhood I grew up in was called the “Sugar Cove.”  The sugar cove was a couple of blocks, mainly occupied by Pacific Islanders.  The unique thing about the “Sugar Cove” is that the neighborhood is filled with cul-de-sacs and alleys with dead ends.   The  gang members who lived in the “Sugar Cove” used these cul-de-sacs and alleys to their advantage. When rival gangs were caught up in the “Sugar Cove” they would get lost in these dead ends, leading to major injuries and sometimes even death.  

To me and my friends it was more than just the “Sugar Cove,” but the Honeycomb.  A place with cul-de-sacs and dead end alleys, not for the use of gang wars or a place where tweekers could get their fix, but a place where we could chill,  hoop, play home run derby, or jump a fence to get to our boy’s house to play Street Fighter.  A honeycomb: a place where life is nurtured, sweet things are created, a place where one can feel comfort.  This is what we wanted.  The mission of The Honeycomb Paradigm Project is to provide a hexagonal prism, where every cell of goodness is nurtured: education, health, art, career planning, culture, and athletics. In this Honeycomb we want to establish a mindset or paradigm for the youth to help nurture their future and those that follow to create a better community and stronger support for the next generation to come…….The Honeycomb Paradigm Project.