HOPE Ambassador David Timothy helps build community for male students of color.

Forming connections

Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) business administration major David Timothy enjoys having the opportunity to help students directly through the college’s HOPE Initiative (Halting Oppressive Pathways through Education). “It’s a really beautiful initiative and idea,” he says. 

As a HOPE Ambassador, David forms connections with students at the Boston, Massachusetts–based campus and makes sure they know about the resources available to them to make them successful. “I am able to help people in a different way than I have before — especially because I’m able to affect change and have a voice in how Black and Latino males are seen at school and how they are informed.”

David transferred to BHCC from Berklee College of Music right at the inception of HOPE’s work with the Boston Private Industry Council. While the support he found at BHCC afforded him the opportunity to work on himself and his artistry — his first album is due to be released later this year — it’s his experience as an Ambassador that allowed him to witness HOPE’s impact on retention and graduation rates among his peers. “It’s an opportunity that allows me to change the narrative and to perpetuate a community that ensures the success of its members.”

Focus on youth voices

Last fall, David and his fellow Ambassadors represented HOPE at a youth forum leading up to the Boston mayoral election. The group brought the lens of how the election would affect community college students, particularly Black and Latino males who had stopped going to school or engaging in their society.

“Our main focus was youth voices,” he says. “We focused on the statistical data available. We wanted to get a clear sense of each candidate’s plan to make sure that city youth were strengthened and set up for success, and how they would encourage students to come back to school.”

David believes that more schools should adopt a similar philosophy for their students on an institutional level. He looks forward to seeing the HOPE Initiative continue to grow and expand to other communities on campus.