Most of us would agree that our lives would be fulfilled if each of us left a legacy to inspire our family, friends, and the youth that come behind us. Wouldn’t it be remarkable if we left a legacy that existed long after we were gone? Dallas native and former Texas Tech Red Raider Andre Emmett has done just that.
Drafted in the second round of the 2004 NBA draft by the Seattle Supersonics, Emmett created the Dreams Really Exist foundation before his untimely death in 2019. Ambushed by three men after coming home from a Dallas area nightclub, the men demanded the chains and watch the 6’5” Emmett former Carter High basketball star was wearing and subsequently shot and killed him outside his home in 2019. Emmett left behind two daughters, yet thankfully his Dreams Really Exist foundation continues to support the local youth of his hometown in Dallas, TX.
Emmett was passionate about giving back to the youth, who grew up with a similar upbringing as he did in the Texas metropolis. Emmett’s Kutz and Kicks initiative is still alive and being run by fellow Texas native President Baylor Barbee and Consulting Director Teirney Guinyard. Along with his Holly Jolly initiative, which is also a product of his Dreams Really Exist foundation.
Barbee, a former football player at Baylor University, worked out frequently with Emmett, and the two like-minded men shortly became best friends. With similarities in their upbringing as athletes, they often discussed the challenges and pressures they both experienced as young athletes with limited resources.
They set out to make “counseling cool.” Specifically for the youth growing up in low socioeconomic areas, who don’t have access to certain resources. Understanding that young athletes often feel pressure to do everything themselves and internalize all their thoughts and feelings. Which can lead to long-term problems as they grow into adulthood.
“How can we make a difference to where kids understand life skills at an early age so that their foundation is stronger? So that as they continue on to adulthood, they become meaningful members of society. With a great foundation, regardless of their upbringing,” says Barbee about the vision of their union.
This was their impetus for starting the Dreams Really Exist Foundation by focusing their work on middle school kids. They feel they get the best traction with their efforts, and the kids are old enough to understand the concepts.
“We do a lot of social, emotional wellness, and mental health training. They are old enough to understand the concepts and not too far removed to where it becomes too hard to change the behaviors,” explains Barbee. “Our primary focus is in that sixth to eighth-grade range.”
Understanding that, to kids, your outward appearance is important, and partially because Emmett was really into fashion, the Kutz and Kicks program was a strategic initiative meant to target the youth where they are. Working with local partners, barbers, and others who wanted to donate in the south Dallas area, they gave brand-new tennis shoes and haircuts to local kids.
“The whole goal is to get kids to feel good about themselves, then we could probably increase their performance in schools,” says Barbee. “We did that for a while, then we expanded it because we wanted to show that hard work pays off. So, we started our champions program.”
“This is a social, emotional wellness program where we help students. By talking about confidence, teamwork, how to deal with conflict resolution, and identifying strategies for mental wellness,” Barbee explains.
Their goal is to make this a licensable afterschool program that is easily scalable long-term across the nation. They also are exploring ways to overcome the hurdle of bringing in licensed professionals for those in need and look forward to further counseling and therapy.
Emmett and Barbee’s initiatives support the theory that it takes a village to raise a child. While they aren’t likely to disprove the notion that we are a product of our environment, the culmination of communal efforts can show that your environment doesn’t have to hinder one’s growth. If you want to get involved and support their cause, you can find more information about their efforts at dreamsreallyexist.org.
