From left, Baltimore Ravens coach Sterling Lucas stands with his former North Carolina State University Wolfpack football teammate, Young Professionals of East Orange founder and Chief Executive Officer Akeem Cunningham, on Saturday, March 17, during East Orange Mayor Ted Green’s first Black Tie Gala at the Parsippany Hilton Hotel. Cunningham is involved in a myriad of activities in both East Orange and Orange.
EAST ORANGE, NJ — The Young Professionals of East Orange are on the move in East Orange, as was evident on Saturday, March 17, at Mayor Ted Green’s first Black Tie Affair in the Parsippany Hilton Hotel.
“We’re having our annual gala here tonight and we had a great turnout. We had people from every sector here, but we also had our (Young Professionals of East Orange) here that have been doing an outstanding job with Akeem Cunningham, whose leading the charge, and our other young people that have really gotten involved in civics and the community,” said Green at the event. “We’ve got some young people on it that really want to see our community grow. They’ve been a stellar organization in the community for the last two years and, going forward, I want to work with them as mayor and help them do whatever it takes to succeed for the city and the community’s sake.”
The five founding members of the group are: Akeem Cunningham, Casim E. Gomez, Ajah Baldwin, Kaylan Jones and Marquis Salley, and they were out in force at the mayor’s Black Tie event. Cunningham and Salley are also members of the East Orange Fire Department, which will be throwing the “Bridging the Gap” party at Taste in Newark on Thursday, April 12, from 7 to 10 p.m.
“We’re having a party,” said Cunningham on Sunday, March 25. “I put it together for the Fire Department. Open bar from 7 to 10 and appetizers at Taste venue in Newark. You know everybody is more than welcome to come out and participate.”
Jones said the YPEO will also be hosting a “Vision Board Party” at the East Orange Public Library on Thursday, April 19, at 5 p.m. April is Black Women’s History Month and the event is all about “empowering teen girls,” she said.
“It’s free for girls ages 10 to 16 years old and we’re doing it in partnership with the East Orange Fire Department Community Outreach,” said Jones on Tuesday, March 27. “Our goal is to get young girls to envision their success with the help of young professionals with diverse careers. Black girls need to know that, if you can dream it, if you believe in it and work hard, anything is possible. A vision board serves as a constant reminder to focus on the attainable.”
“I think Mayor Green is the perfect example of what he himself is talking about when it comes to our elders empowering younger people and helping them by serving as mentors and role models,” said Cunningham on Saturday, March 17. “As someone who’s from the community, as a young man growing up to watch him reach the levels that he’s at now, to actually become the mayor and lead the city council, it lets us all know that this isn’t by luck. Nobody gave this to him. He actually got out and worked for it. So when he says ‘work for it,’ we know that’s an opportunity that we can all reach as well.”
Cunningham also credited Green as being anl inspiration to him and other YPEO members. Last year, the group rented a storefront on Main Street to serve as its headquarters for outreach efforts, and held its first open house mixer at Bogies Lounge on William Street last April.
“Many people always told us growing up: ‘Think outside the box,’” said Cunningham. “Mayor told us there is no box to think outside of. He’s been there from the beginning.”
The son of current 4th Ward Councilman Casim Gomez, the younger Gomez agreed with Cunningham and Green about the future of the YPEO group and the role it has to play in the new administration’s progressive plans for the city.
“We’re trying to spur development and community interaction for people from the ages of 18 to 40,” he said at YPEO’s first social event last April. “We’ve got the pointer right here: financial services and businesses; service and projects; programming arts, music culture; economic development; and community gardens and what have you. So we have a robust outline of what we want to do and tonight was very successful in bringing people together, so we can start the process of forming committees and getting stuff off the ground.”
Green said that sounds like a blueprint for success. He said Gomez, Jones, Cunningham and the other YPEO members inspire him as well.
“These young people also inspire me because, at the end of the day, we have to make room for them because, as we move on in life, we have to make sure that opportunities come their way also,” the mayor said. “I can tell you that I will never ever be a mayor to hold any of our young people back, because somebody gave me an opportunity and I’m very grateful for it and I want to share that with our young people.
“I think that embracing our young people has to be one of our goals and that we have to embrace it and don’t play around with it and be serious with it, because they really are the future.”
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