The Muhammad Ali Center Council of Students (MACCS) is a diverse group of young leaders, committed to improving themselves and their communities through the practice of Muhammad Ali’s six core principles: Respect, Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Spirituality, and Giving. As a youth-led organization, these dynamic students make decisions that guide the course of their service work and leadership development.
What is the Muhammad Ali Center UCREW Program?
UCREW is a ground-breaking social enterprise program of the Muhammad Ali Center available to high school students. The program offers a unique opportunity for students to not only learn about social entrepreneurship, but to work in teams to develop an actual social enterprise. During the school year, students will meet twice monthly to explore the issue of “poverty” in their communities and to reflect on ways to combat local poverty through creative business endeavors. By the end of the program, students will have conceptualized, produced, marketed, and launched a small social enterprise business.
Supported in part by Louisville Metro Government Department of Community Services.
Alumni Spotlight
Lauryn Johnson
MACCS/UCREW Member 2015-18
Current Position: I just graduated from DuPont Manual High School in May and I have enough credits to have senior status in college. Therefore I will only need one more year of college to graduate. Currently I am working as an AmeriCorps VISTA member at the Muhammad Ali Center where I will be helping out in the education department and expanding my network in the nonprofit field for the next year until I begin my final year of college at North Carolina A&T in Fall 2019 and be set to graduate in Spring 2020 with a BS in Social and Behavioral Economics; a minor in Criminal Justice and African-American History; and a Certificate in Entrepreneurship, family coordination, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Impact: The Muhammad Ali center was the first place that actually felt like home for me in Louisville. I moved here when I was younger and I’ve grown up here but always felt out of place. For this reason I was always looking forward graduation and to getting to leave and go somewhere else. I Applied for MACCS my sophomore year and was declined but was referred to a program called ucrew. First I was a little bit disappointed but this blessing in disguise was the perfect introduction I needed into the legacy that Muhammad Ali Center held. Being in this program taught me so many things like that I was interested in helping people with the profits I would make in pursuing entrepreneurship rather than just being a millionaire with a giant house. Social entrepreneurship was a huge change for me because it offered an intersection between nonprofits and business, two things that I loved dearly but didn’t know could work together. But more importantly the center was where I found my tribe and for the first time felt like I was a part of a group that wanted to be something and had aspirations and goals that related to the world like I did. The center has been like a home to me ever since i discovered it and has been there to support me through thick and thin.
