Abstract

In this 2025 interview, East Cleveland native and civic leader Mr. Donté Gibbs discusses his childhood, family dynamics, and the strong community networks that shaped his early life. He describes his educational experiences in the East Cleveland school system, his time at Case Western Reserve University, and the academic and social challenges that motivated his commitment to community-based work. Gibbs outlines his professional path through youth development, philanthropy, and institutional partnerships. He also details the creation and evolution of Dante’s Gift Express, emphasizing its focus on family-centered service, volunteer engagement, and large-scale holiday programming.

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Interviewee

Gibbs, Donté (interviewee)

Interviewer

Mays, Nicholas S. (interviewer)

Project

East Cleveland

Date

10-14-2025

Document Type

Oral History

Duration

106 minutes

Transcript

Nick Mays [00:00:00] My name is Dr. Nicholas Mays, and today is October 14, 2025. We’re here in East Cleveland for the East Cleveland oral history Project. I am honored to be joined by Mr. Dante Gibbs, a proud East Cleveland native, Shaw High school graduate and civic leader who has spent his life building and giving back to his community. [00:00:24] Today will explore Mr. Gibbs journey from growing up in East Cleveland to his work in youth development, philanthropy, community leadership, and the values that continue to guide his mission.

Donté Gibbs [00:00:39] Man, that’s a lot.

Nick Mays [00:00:43] Mr. Gibbs, can we start by stating your name, age, and date of birth?

Donté Gibbs [00:00:49] Yes, Dante Gibbs. My age is 37. […] 1988.

Nick Mays [00:00:55] Okay, so we’re gonna start with your roots and upbringing in East Cleveland. Can you tell me about growing up in East Cleveland, starting from the beginning? Yeah.

Donté Gibbs [00:01:09] I mean, growing up at East Cleveland, man, it was really a time, like. Or. You know what I’m saying? It was definitely one of those moments where you think about what families or what neighborhoods are like today. And it’s totally different. Right. And so, you know, we walked to school. We knew who owned the corner store. [00:01:29] We knew the candy lady. Like, we knew all these folks that were really the fabric of the neighborhood. Right. And even though we were in this area of perceived lack, that lack is something that we didn’t really internalize. Right. Like, we were rich in relationships, community, sports, things that really brought the community together. [00:01:53] So I remember times of just going up to Forest Hill park and seeing the Shaw baseball, seeing them play baseball or, you know, feeding the ducks and things like that. And so really, that neighborhood feel and feeling safe was something I remember growing up. Did we do stuff we weren’t supposed to do? [00:02:13] Of course, you know your kids. Right. And so. But I remember, you know, growing up on Windermere, and this is something that I get into conversation a lot with folks because there’s the Windermere Rapid Station, and then there’s the actual street, Windermere, which is directly across from the library. And so at the bottom of that street is the East Cleveland Theater. [00:02:31] And so we remember. We remember, like, cars filling up our streets to go and enjoy plays. We remember getting kicked out of that parking lot because we were playing any bounce, kickball, curveball, like, all these things that we were able to utilize our street and be able to do. And so those are the memories that I hold on to for my childhood. [00:02:53] Being able to walk the streets without a phone. Right.

Nick Mays [00:02:55] So for those who don’t know what Any Bounce is. Can you explain?

Donté Gibbs [00:03:02] Yeah. So it’s like the baseball Bat and then you have a tennis ball, and you set up everyone as if you’re on the baseball field, but then, you know, you have a pitcher and you throw the ball, and if you hit the ball, if someone in the outfield catches the ball while it’s bouncing, then it’s their turn up at bat. [00:03:19] So it’s not really like a score or anything like that. It’s just another sort of pastime that we had, especially during the summertime.

Nick Mays [00:03:26] So fascinating. Can you. Can you talk about your kind of staying in your. Your childhood, your youth? Talk about your family, friends, and the community around you? You talk a little bit about your community, but your family and friends specifically?

Donté Gibbs [00:03:48] Yeah, family and friends was a very big part of growing up. When you hear the words or that phrase, you know, it takes a village, like, that’s something that I truly live. Like, my family is very close knit. We’re pretty much all within the same area between, like, East Cleveland and Glenville. Both sets of my grandparents resided in Glenville, and so we were always around each other. [00:04:10] And the home that I stayed in on Windermere was a two family house. And so my aunt owned the home, and she stayed upstairs and we stayed downstairs. And so it was easy to say like, okay, let me go upstairs and get some sugar if you ran out of sugar, or, you know, things like that. [00:04:25] But it allowed for us to grow up as brothers and sisters, like me and my cousins, to where we were always looking out for each other. We walked to school together. We were all in the same summer camp together. It was literally around like 13 of us as cousins that were not living in that same house, but just throughout the area of, you know, and we. [00:04:51] Our age range were within five years apart. So from my oldest, which was my oldest cousin in that age range, Candace, to my youngest cousin, that age range, which is Deondra. And so that’s across, like four separate families. And so I remember us, you know, piling up in a van to go to summer camp in Collingwood, going over to my grandmother’s house and spending the night there on the floor, putting a pallet on the floor and waking up to Saturday to breakfast or Saturday morning cartoons and things like that. [00:05:22] And so all of our time was mainly spent together, whether it was church, whether it was volunteering or going to Geauga Lake or, you know, ix indoor amusement park. My grandmother, my grandma fellow, she was very instrumental in sort of instilling what service means to us. And so as early as age 5 and 6, we were volunteering with her at the Hunger center, which was across from my childhood church faith tabernacle off Superior. [00:05:53] And so to have sort of this close knit family that’s based in faith and also service, it really sort of set the tone for who we will be today.

Nick Mays [00:06:04] What did you. That’s interesting because I grew up just like that. I grew up around, you know, 10, 15, because it was almost like we were brothers and sisters, were all growing up and sharing space at the, you know, at the same time. What did you learn about that dynamic later on in life? [00:06:25] Because, and I say that because for us it was like a natural, natural thing.

Donté Gibbs [00:06:32] Yeah.

Nick Mays [00:06:33] But then as I, you know, as I became an adult, this wasn’t a traditional, this is not a traditional family dynamic.

Donté Gibbs [00:06:42] It’s not. It’s funny you say that because I joke with several friends now and just saying, like they say I’m cousins with everyone in the whole city, right? It’s like I’m literally still finding out new cousins to this day. Like I found I have a new cousin last year and I’m just like, where have you been all my life? [00:07:00] But it’s something that I realize is not traditional or, you know, quote unquote normal because I would say, well, where’s your cousins? Or like, do you and your cousins do this? And they’re like, no, it’s like, it’s just us, like, you know, very small families. And I’m just like, wow, what my childhood was, what I thought was what everyone was experiencing is totally different. [00:07:24] And so how do I sort of share that love and that close knit with friends and things of that sort? And so that just allowed for a lot of my close friends, we just kind of fold them into the family, right? So they’re just like family. They’re there to celebrate in our achievements and sad moments. [00:07:43] And, and so they have been also a pillar to add to that close knit of where my cousins were. Right. You learn how to negotiate because, you know, everyone is sort of fighting for a space or the last piece of Pisa or something like that, right? You learn what it means to really be your brother’s keeper in a sense. [00:08:08] Like, you know, what it means to look out for each other. Me and my cousin Ashley, who we are the same age, but we were attending Superior and we were in the same classroom and folks didn’t know we were cousins. And so she was getting in trouble and I stood up for her and we were getting ready to fight. [00:08:27] I’m like, if you gonna put your hands on my cousin, then we about to Put hands on you. Right. And so. But that’s something that we were always taught to, like, look out for each other and really be there for each other. And so that’s a lesson that I take with me to this day in terms of being there. [00:08:46] But also, what does that support look like physically, emotionally, and spiritually? Wow.

Nick Mays [00:08:51] Thank you for that. It’s definitely unique to the black family, the black experience. And that’s one of the things when I’m teaching African American history. Right. You know, I talk about community in the black community, because of external forces, whether it was slavery or whether Jim Crow or other socioeconomic factors, they had to build communities where grandma lived right here, Auntie lived right around the corner, other uncle lived two streets down. [00:09:23] And that’s not for the black family. That’s not a recent phenomenon, but that’s something that they were forced to do in order to support each other because of the lack of institutions, especially coming up, of slavery. So that’s. That’s. Thanks for sharing that.

Donté Gibbs [00:09:38] Yeah, yeah. And. And even just add to that, I think that’s why there’s such this deep, deep love for. For Shaw High School, Right. If you talk to any Shaw alum, like, you’re gonna know they’re from Shaw, right? You’re gonna know they’re from East Cleveland. And it’s something that’s not. I wouldn’t say, like, learned, but it’s just something that’s just in us. [00:09:59] Right? And so it’s this sort of inherent behavior and. And sense of pride to where we’re all here together, but we’re never going to lack in terms of what it means to be there together. Right. And so I think about my teachers at Shaw, even the ones that I’m still in touch with to this day. [00:10:17] I’m still in touch with my sixth grade teacher, like, Mrs. Finch, and I’m like, these are the relationships and mentorship that has really shaped a lot of us throughout East Cleveland to where this is what it means to be from East Cleveland. This is what it means to defy the odds when no one thought that we would graduate, no one thought that we would go on to trade school or open up our own businesses or go to college, let alone a school like Case Western Reserve, which seems so far away, but is literally right there. [00:10:47] These are the moments that I sort of reflect on in terms of why Shaw is such a special place.

Nick Mays [00:10:53] And we’re gonna get there.

Donté Gibbs [00:10:54] Okay?

Nick Mays [00:10:55] I promise you.

Donté Gibbs [00:10:55] Gotcha.

Nick Mays [00:10:56] Thank you. Thank you for that. But I want to get out of. I Want to get out of youth, experience in early life. So what be. We’ll talk about Shaw, but what schools did you attend growing up in East Cleveland?

Donté Gibbs [00:11:13] Yes, I went to Superior Elementary, Kirk Middle School, and Shaw.

Nick Mays [00:11:17] Okay, so Shaw High School is. Is a. Is a big part of the East Cleveland story. What was your experience there, and how did it shape you? Right. 9th through 12th?

Donté Gibbs [00:11:36] Yeah. So funny enough, I wasn’t even supposed to go to Shaw, Right. My mom wanted me to go to a different school. Right. So when I was at Kirk in the eighth grade, I was in an honors program. And so it’s just like, okay, Donte is smart, so like, let’s be able to provide him with resources and things that I help to continue that path. And so I remember going to Horizon Science Academy for the first day. I think they started on a Thursday, and Shaw started on a Friday. So in the process of, like, moving our records and stuff like that, I went to Horizon, and I was just like, mm, this is nice. But I’m like, this isn’t me. [00:12:14] You know what I’m saying? This ain’t me. Then the next day, I go to Shaw, and, like, my brother was a senior, so I remember, you know, being able to see all his friends. I remember seeing friends that I went to school with, and it just felt like home. It felt like a family. [00:12:28] It felt like this is something I could do. Because, you know, going to high school may be daunting for some folks, but this felt like just a natural progression to where I knew I would have the support that I needed. So the next part was being able to convince my parents that I would do well at Shaw. [00:12:45] And, you know, so promise to keep my grades up, promise not to get in trouble. If I got in trouble, my brother would take care of that, right? He either keep me out of trouble or not. And so I think I held up that bargain because I graduated as valedictorian in 2006.

Nick Mays [00:13:01] Congratulations.

Donté Gibbs [00:13:03] Appreciate it. But that’s what sort of my experience at Shaw was really just kind of like this coming of age, right? And so I played baseball for Shaw, and then realizing that sports was always sort of viewed as this path out of the hood, right? Or this way to sort of take care of your family, right? [00:13:27] Mainly basketball. So I was already kind of defying that a little bit by playing baseball and really being interested in baseball. But I also said that I didn’t want to go to whatever school I chose, so I didn’t want to go on a sports scholarship. I wanted to go on an academic scholarship. [00:13:41] Because I remember attending my Brother’s graduation in 2003 from Shaw High School, and it was a guy named. I think his name was Mike, and my brother’s name is Mike, but he was graduating as valedictorian. He gave his speech. I remember looking over to my mom and my mom saying, like, that should be you when you graduate. [00:14:02] And I don’t even think I’ve even said that out loud to this time. Like, just planting that seed in me was sort of like the path of growth for me to be able to do that, to say, like, look, mom, you said I could do this, and I did it right? So there’s always that sense of making your mom proud. [00:14:20] But it was something in me that said that I also wanted to, you know, do something different in a way that’s not typical. And that’s why I wanted to make sure I was going to higher ed on an academic scholarship versus a sports scholarship.

Nick Mays [00:14:35] Looking back now, how do you think your four years or your years at Shaw kind of shaped you as a person, an individual, a professional? And then, you know, what mentors did you have at Shaw?

Donté Gibbs [00:14:58] Yeah, I mean, Shaw shaped me in this way of being able to make do with what you have. Right. You know, we didn’t have, you know, the latest computers or, you know, the new textbooks. Right. I mean, some textbooks, you can look and say, like, oh, dang, like, my Cousin went here 10 years ago, and here’s his name, or here’s her name right in the book. [00:15:19] But that’s where I feel the relationships and the mentorship from some of the teachers and coaches sort of stepped in. So I think about, you know, Ms. You or Ms. Yaragady Eiler, Ms. Moore. I think about some of the coaches, like Coach Coleman, folks, that I didn’t even have them as a teacher or a class, but they were still there in the hallways. [00:15:44] They were still there talking about your family. Because my family matriculated through Shaw High School. And so it was sort of that line of legacy that you had to measure up to as well, too. And they made sure that you did. They made sure that you weren’t in the hallways too, too long. [00:16:03] Right. It’s like, get the class and things like that. But for me, the original Shaw, it was really set up like a college campus. And that’s something that I wish, like, the new students had to experience. You know, Corb Lounge, the courtyard, Corb pool. So we had to learn how to swim. That was a requirement for us to graduate. [00:16:23] And so being able to have these different experiences, whether it’s sports, whether it’s swimming, or being able to go from class to class and making sure you’re there on time. It was something that really instilled the sense of what it means to be punctual. Consequences around that, but then also a network of folks to be able to help you. [00:16:50] Right. And so if someone took this class and you were having trouble in it, I knew there were folks that I can go to to sort of get that help if it wasn’t a teacher.

Nick Mays [00:16:59] Wow, thank you. I want to kind of pivot here. I had this question for later on, but I’ll just ask it now since we’re talking about Shaw. So we met at the 2025 Shaw reunion. My first time ever, you know, ever attending the event. And from the external perspective, from the outside, looking at someone who’s not from East Cleveland or didn’t grow up in East Cleveland, this event. [00:17:33] And I heard about it, but what I saw.

Donté Gibbs [00:17:35] I know you did.

Nick Mays [00:17:36] Yeah. Like, I heard about the Shah reunion, but when I encountered was kind of different than what I imagined it was. You know, what I would tell what I’ve been telling people. So it’s just this, like. It’s more like an event, but like an entity. It was a phenomenon. It was very interesting. [00:18:00] It was intergenerational music, love, culture, representation of Shaw, you know, the different classes.

Donté Gibbs [00:18:12] Yeah.

Nick Mays [00:18:13] Food, you know, it was just, it was a. It was a beautiful thing. I’ve been, I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around it. I’ve been trying to grapple, you know, with, with the, the Shaw Union and the. Just the, the entity. It came, the event. It’s like a holiday. It’s, it’s. It’s big. [00:18:37] It’s. Right. Can you, can you speak to why Shaw. The Shaw reunion is important to the East Cleveland community. Even for those who don’t graduate from Shaw.

Donté Gibbs [00:18:50] I mean, it truly is a holiday, Right. I mean, it’s tied to Labor Day weekend, right? Oh, yeah. Labor Day is Saturn, so it’s tied to Labor Day weekend. And it’s just something that you just know about. Right. Sometimes it goes. It’s a three to five day celebration in some instances because depending on your class and what year you’re graduating, you’re celebrating a milestone. [00:19:13] My class is going to be celebrating 20 years next year. And that’s crazy to me to think about. It’s been 20 years since high school. But the reunion allows for everyone to really come together and everyone is on, I would say sort of like equal playing Field, Right. It’s a place of love, it’s a place of respect. [00:19:36] It’s a place of camaraderie, joy and fun. Right? This is something that we’re able to call our own and be able to do and be able to enjoy each other when there are so many external forces saying what we don’t deserve, what we can’t have. And we’re often forgotten. But in that moment, no one is forgotten when they show up to Shaw High School reunion.

Nick Mays [00:20:01] Wow. All right, who raised you?

Donté Gibbs [00:20:07] The streets? No, just playing.

Nick Mays [00:20:14] Maybe I should have communicated that, articulated that question better. Were you raised by your parents, your grandparents? A little bit of both.

Donté Gibbs [00:20:25] I mean, it’s. When I talk about that village mindset, it’s. I mean, we raised ourselves in a sense as well, too. You know, my mom was at work, my dad wasn’t always in the home. And so I think in sociology, it’s the term like, latchkey kid, where, you know, you leave school, you come home, you call your parent or your guardian and say, like, I’m home. [00:20:50] And then there’s like two to three hours before they get there. And so you got chores, you got homework, and then oftentimes you’re getting dinner started, you know, or not, if you forgot to take the chicken out the freezer, right? So there have been plenty of times where I’m trying to rush. I’m like, I can’t rush defrosting the meat. [00:21:08] But like. But it’s those sort of things that help sort of like raise us, right? So my parents, my grandparents, there were times we spent time there, especially around the summertime, if, you know, when you’re kind of in that in between age where you. You’re kind of too old for like the typical summer camp, but you’re not old enough to like, have a job, send them to grandmas, right? [00:21:35] So grandma was a part of that. My aunts, my older cousins. And so our neighbors would, like, look out for us as well, too. Maybe too much. Like that was a little annoying at times. But I’m like, you ain’t gotta tell my mom everything, right?

Nick Mays [00:21:51] And so. So I wanted to preface this, the following question with the last question. You’ve mentioned your grandmother in our kind of pre discussion. Also, there’s an article on you in the East Clevelander. You’re on the front page and everything. And you talk about your grandmother there as well. Can you talk about your grandmother and the powerful influence that she has on you?

Donté Gibbs [00:22:44] Yeah, it’s. It’s hard to put into Words like sort of what she meant to and still means to our family in terms of, you know, just her grace, her sense of class, her leadership for the family, you know, being a matriarch, you know, coming up from Georgia and moving to Cleveland and settling in Glenville and raising four kids and then raising, you know, the grandchildren and things of that sort. [00:23:19] And so her sort of presence and aura was always felt. I remember we used to joke because she would say, you know, she’s gonna iron the bed sheets or iron the curtains. I’m like, why are you gonna iron the bed sheets? They just gonna get wrinkled anyway. But, like, this was her sense of how you are presentable, right. [00:23:41] And how you are in order. Because her experience was, you know, being able to cook, clean for, you know, white folks during that time, to be able to make a living. And so what she learned in that space is what was her lived experience, Right? And that’s all she was able to share with us. [00:24:00] And not all in terms of, like, that’s it, but like just that wealth of knowledge, that wealth of experience. What it means to. To be black in America, black in Cleveland. What does it mean to be a black man in Cleveland? Right. These are. I remember my mom will always say, you know, as a black man, you have to work twice as hard as a kid. [00:24:21] You’re like, I’m just trying to, like, play any bounce. I’m just trying to play basketball with my friends and make sure I’m in by the street lights. But what does that mean? And it wasn’t until I got to case and got beyond case to where I really understood what that phrase meant. That was something that was just said frequently, but, you know, with some intention, I imagine. [00:24:45] And so those. That. That’s. That stems from my grandmother, right? And so for her to be able to share her lived experience, for her to be able to introduce service to us, to introduce faith to us, religion as a. As a place of refuge and a way to sort of shape our own moral compass is something that we still hold on to this day. [00:25:09] And what I hold on to. And so as I think about Gift express and I think about all these community things that I do, it points back to her. It points back to my Grandma Gibbs, who was a lunch aide in Glenville for some of the schools and her experience with working with students and families to just to ensure that they were eating every day.

Nick Mays [00:25:29] You know, can you. You said something about introducing. Introducing you to service. But before that, can you share the name of your grandmother?

Donté Gibbs [00:25:44] Yeah, yeah, Betty Ruth Fellows and then Jessie Mae Gibbs.

Nick Mays [00:25:48] Okay.

Donté Gibbs [00:25:49] I don’t know why I said they whole name like that. It just feel like it’s right.

Nick Mays [00:25:54] The initial, when you first respond, began responding. You were talking about Betty Ruth. Betty. Betty Ruth. Okay. You said she introduced service or taught you about service. Can you. Can you unpack that a little bit for me?

Donté Gibbs [00:26:17] Yeah. And so. And this was through the church, Right. And so through church, we would, you know, volunteer at different local shelters. We would put together Christmas gifts for families. Like, we would take our old shoe boxes and we would fill it up with, like, toiletries or toys and games, and we would wrap those up and take those to shelters. [00:26:41] There was another church directly across the street from us, and they had a food pantry, which we called the Hunger Center. And so on the weekends we would go there and we would pack bags of food for families and for ourselves, too. So. But that was a way that we were able to learn what it means to be viewed as without, but then also being of service to folks like us. [00:27:10] Right. And so never putting ourselves above, never putting ourselves below, but we’re right alongside folks as well.

Nick Mays [00:27:16] Wow, I never heard it like that. And then let’s give Grandma Gibbs some. What did Grandma Gibbs teach you growing up about life and service?

Donté Gibbs [00:27:26] Yeah. So her house was the fun house in terms of the grandma’s, because that was my dad’s side. You know how sometimes they say, like, oh, your dad’s side of your family is the funniest, but it was true in this sense. And they were literally a street over from each other. And so Grandma Gibbs was one that was able to allow us to kind of explore the city. [00:27:47] And so I remember catching a bus from 105 to go to Euclid Square Mall, and, you know, just being able to walk around the mall, get some curly fries from the Arby’s that used to be there. Like, that was the experience of Grandma Gibbs. Right. You know, not afraid of anything. Right. And being able to teach us how to catch the bus, teach us where to go, and really teach us how to take care of ourselves. [00:28:16] There was a garden at the end of her street that her and her daughter, my Auntie Jan, was very involved with. So that’s where I sort of got, you know, more of a community feel in terms of exploring the city and not being afraid of it, but being a part of it, learning it, living in it, and not trying to shy away from it. [00:28:38] You know, not trying to say, I want to build home somewhere else. Like, this is home.

Nick Mays [00:28:44] Wow. Thank you. And thank you for sharing your experience with your grandmothers with us. So I want to pivot. I want to talk about education. So you graduate from. From Shaw. What year did you graduate from?

Donté Gibbs [00:28:59] 2006.

Nick Mays [00:28:59] So from 2006. In 2006, you graduated from Shaw. Can you talk about your educational career from undergrad to grad school, your majors, and why you majored?

Donté Gibbs [00:29:15] Yeah. Yeah. So graduating from Shaw, I had in my mind that I wanted to be a doctor, maybe a pediatrician. I knew I enjoy working with young people. I did tutoring programs at the Civic center or the civ in East Cleveland. I volunteered with, like, Boy Scouts and things like that. And so the medical field was something I was exposed to with my mom being a lab technician. [00:29:41] So all my science projects were, like, petri dish experiments and all that type of stuff. And so when I got to Case, it was still undecided, but on the pre med track, Huron Hospital. I remember working with Dr. Reedus. I did a summer internship there on my way to Case, just to kind of get a feel of, you know, what it would. [00:30:03] What it would take to be a pediatrician. I took chemistry 105. And things change, my boy. I said, I really didn’t like science this much. Right. You know, and so I was really trying to figure out where were my interests, that I knew it was community. I knew it was young people. What career is that? [00:30:27] I didn’t necessarily want to be a teacher because I knew I just didn’t want to grade papers and stuff like that. No offense to professors and things of that sort.

Nick Mays [00:30:35] Thank you.

Donté Gibbs [00:30:36] But we all play a role. And I’m like, I don’t know if that’s the role. Right. I’m a teacher in a lot of ways. Right. And so I wanted to sort of explore all these different classes at Case. And so my first two years was undecided, but I took a course in sociology, and I was just like, okay, this is kind of the study of, like, how humans interact with the world. [00:30:59] And then I took a course called Urban Sociology. And they were talking about, you know, sprawl, disinvestment, population loss. And I’m like, this is literally East Cleveland in a textbook, or Cleveland in general. And so this was something I was able to read about and apply it to a real world that was literally two different worlds that are literally three minutes apart. [00:31:22] Right. And that was just really fascinating to me to try to dig deeper. And so after I went through my whole chemistry 105 and dropping that class and declaring my Major in sociology. Then I had to take statistics. And I’m just like, here we go with this math. And so Case was tough in this sense because it’s a culture shock. [00:31:51] You go from East Cleveland, that’s all black Cleveland, that’s majority black on the east side. And you have Case that’s sort of like this bubble within the bubble of university circle. And my roommate is white. I have another roommate that was from Sydney, Australia. And I’m just like, you came from there to here. [00:32:09] Like, why? And so it really allowed me to zoom out and see this value and what case is and what case means globally or internationally in terms of this amazing school. And so that allowed me to say, okay, how do I embrace this journey a little more? During that embrace, I failed my first class ever in life. [00:32:32] And that was, like, detrimental to me because, you know, I’m the valedictorian. Like, I don’t fail classes, right? But at Case, everyone was the valedictorian. They came from far better school districts or better, in a sense, of better resourced, right? I remember my freshman year, I didn’t know what ipod was. I didn’t know I didn’t have a laptop to my name. [00:32:56] I had to call my uncle in Chicago and say, like, uncle Ronnie? Like, I need some stuff for school. I need a laptop. I need this. I said, I got a gift card, and it says itunes. And I’m like, what’s itunes? And he was like, oh, it’s an ipod. So he sent me his old one. [00:33:11] He sent me his old laptop. And then I was able to feel like, okay, I’m starting to belong in this space because I have these things, right? But outside of those material things, I had to dig deep because after failing statistics, I was placed on academic probation. So remember I say I was priding myself on being here on an academic scholarship. [00:33:36] What if I don’t graduate on time? Like, how is that gonna look for my family? What do I tell my family? What do I tell my friends? Because everyone is already saying, oh, yeah, you’re gonna go to college, but you’re not gonna graduate in four years. Like, you may graduate in five or six. [00:33:48] And I’m like, I don’t want that to be my story, right? I don’t want that just because someone says that. Like, I don’t have to internalize that. And so I really had to dig deep. In my senior year, I was taking 18 credits, but both semesters just to try to, like, catch up and to graduate on time because I felt it was really Important to show that someone like me can come from East Cleveland, can go to a school like Case, and can graduate on time and then also further that education and get my master’s.

Nick Mays [00:34:21] You graduated undergrad with a degree in sociology?

Donté Gibbs [00:34:26] Yep. Yep. So Bachelor of arts in Sociology, 2010.

Nick Mays [00:34:30] Did you matriculate in to in case your master’s or where did you do your masters?

Donté Gibbs [00:34:36] Yep. I stayed at Case. I was doing the urban development field, so I wanted to do, like, community social development. And I think if I would have went to csu, I would have take the GRE or something like that. If I would have stayed at Case, I didn’t have to take it. So one less test, I’m going to just stay at Case, pile on the student loans. [00:34:54] They already there.

Nick Mays [00:34:58] What was your program?

Donté Gibbs [00:34:59] It was at the Mandel School, so it was. So I have my master’s in social science administration, and I did the community and social development track, and then I have my certificate in nonprofit management.

Nick Mays [00:35:14] So you studied sociology and then social science administration?

Donté Gibbs [00:35:22] Yeah.

Nick Mays [00:35:23] Is it both with a focus on community and social development? What made you choose those fields? Was it intentional about maybe what you wanted to do, perhaps as a professional?

Donté Gibbs [00:35:44] Yeah, I knew I wanted to get more than my bachelor’s. Right. And so I wanted to get my master’s, and I started thinking about, what are the career fields in sort of like social work. I knew I didn’t want to do direct practice or become a social worker. I feel like I’m already that in my family, so I didn’t want to make that as a career. [00:36:08] And so I began thinking about, okay, if we talk about community development, and it’s always around, you know, bricks and mortar and physical structures, like, what’s. What’s the human piece? Where does community actually come into that development? And so when I saw the program was labeled Community and Social Development, it kind of caught my eye, because you could build things, but families are what keeps communities together as individuals and things of that sort. [00:36:34] And so I wanted to base my career off of that to be able to say community engagement is key to community development. You can’t build things without people. And the things that you want, like communities, are only sustained by people and the power of people. Right. And so whether that’s advocacy or just that general engagement piece is what I wanted to base my career off of.

Nick Mays [00:37:03] How did your education prepare you, both graduate, undergraduate, and in graduate school? How did it prepare you? Excuse me? How did it prepare you or inspire you to serve communities like East Cleveland?

Donté Gibbs [00:37:22] It definitely reinforced it because Case had his own bias, right? I mean, it’s a university circle, and University Circle is the largest economic area outside of Columbus in the state of Ohio. Right. And so that’s a vast difference between East Cleveland and part of me doing my work was to prove that East Cleveland is worth its weight in gold. [00:37:51] It’s worth investment. It’s worth realizing that families still choose to be here. This isn’t a place even though we’ve had tremendous population loss, people are still here. Right? And so we can’t discount who’s here based on stereotypes or made up experiences. Right? And so it was always in this act of defying. I remember going to Case and the orientation leader was saying, you know, don’t go under the bridge. [00:38:22] And I’m like, what bridge? And they were talking about, you know, past East 118th. And I’m just like, well, that’s where I’m from, right? Or they’re like, don’t go to that Taco Bell or don’t go to that Walmart that used to be in Severance. I’m like, these are the places that I literally walked and played. [00:38:37] And so if this is something that an orientation leader can say to students that aren’t from here or things like that, these were the conversations that I had to be a part of, even with roommates and things like that, because they’re coming from different areas and they’re like, okay, why shouldn’t I do this? [00:38:59] And I remember being able to take my friends into East Cleveland, take them to my family cookouts and things like that. Because you can’t be around me or you can’t be my friend, and you have this view of where I’m from and you don’t have that view about me. Like, it doesn’t add up. [00:39:18] And you’re okay to have that view and I’m okay to go this way as well.

Nick Mays [00:39:28] Wow. Was there a turning point when you knew you wanted to dedicate your career in life to community building and advocacy, whether it was in school, in college, or post your college career?

Donté Gibbs [00:39:50] I would definitely say my role as, like a power mentor, like the Police Activities League, like, that was a way that I was able to get, like, back to youth and, like, helping them with homework at the Sieve. We did, like, camping trips with them and things like that. But something around, like, advocacy is. [00:40:07] When Cleveland Clinic was closing, Huron Hospital, and there was a lot of talk around, you know, being able to keep it, what would be sort of like the payout that the city would get as they would build the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Health center, which is here now. That’s where I sort of seen, you know, where decisions can be made about a city that doesn’t include the residents. [00:40:34] And how do residents live with that? How do they fight that? What fight is worth fighting for? And who around us is willing to join in with that? Right. And so that was like a real life example of how sometimes folks can be left to kind of fend for themselves is what I saw. [00:40:56] And so I think that was a moment where I said I have to find other ways to connect to the community and the next generation. Right. How do I make it intergenerational? And so I try to create, you know, solution based initiatives around that in my, you know, sphere of social entrepreneurship and creating experiences, programs, initiatives that allow for us to learn and thrive.

Nick Mays [00:41:29] Can you share? You brought up the Civ Center a few times. What is this Civ Center? What kind of programming.

Donté Gibbs [00:41:35] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Donté Gibbs [00:41:37] So the full name is the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic center, and it’s on Shaw. It’s right down the street from Shaw High School. So if you were to leave Shaw High School, you’ll have the Civ, and then it’s in a neighborhood too, and then you have like Chambers and then like the Shaw football field. [00:41:54] But the Civ was the center of the city in a sense, even though it’s not directly in the center of the city. But it was a center for families. You know, there were holidays were spent there, whether it was like around Halloween. There’s a gym, there’s a weight room, and over recent years, it fell into some decay. [00:42:18] So, like, the floors were buckling up. And I was a part of a group called East Cleveland Rise, which we literally went in there and like fundraised to get a new floor, pulled up the old floor hand by hand. I literally have pieces of the wood floor at my home just to kind of, you know, remind me of, like, why this stuff is important. [00:42:38] And we were able to get, you know, external forces and support to help with you know, some of the renovation of the center now. And so there’s a new floor down, there’s new exercise equipment. And then there’s also they’re trying to revamp the programming aspect of the Civ. And so the East Cleveland Chiefs are practicing there, the weight room is being used, and folks are starting to, you know, revive the Civ.

Nick Mays [00:43:08] Okay, so I want to pivot again and talk about your professional journey in civic leadership. You’ve worn many hats. Youth development, advocacy, philanthropy in Your. In your work and in your service, your professional, your profession and in your service. You’re now vice president of community partnership at the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park. [00:43:38] Can you talk about your. Your. Your journey? Right. You graduated from college, your first job is. Is what? And then take us to your position as vice president.

Donté Gibbs [00:43:49] Yeah, yeah. So fresh off of graduating from the Mandel School, I went to Neighborhood Leadership Institute, which I was familiar with because I did a summer internship as a college student. And so I went there and I served as like a youth development coordinator. They wanted to, you know, get some youth programming up off the ground. [00:44:11] Quickly moved to like youth development manager, then director. So I was there for maybe five. Yeah, five years. So I started in 2012 and left in 2017. But during my tenure at Neighborhood Leadership Institute, or NLI, I was able to elevate the youth programming with the MYCOM initiative, which was short for my community, my commitment, which was countywide program. [00:44:38] And so I was able to create program like Future Leaders of the World, or FLO for short. My path, which was around service learning. FLO was around civic and civic learning. Right. And so really thinking about advocacy. So they wrote speeches around topics or issues within their neighborhoods. We published those speeches into a book. [00:45:01] So we created over 89 authors. I don’t know why I said it like that. Over 89, but over 80 published authors. And they were able to receive the proceeds from that book. It was called out of the Mouths of Babes. And we produced four volumes of that book. And I left there because I felt like I was at the height of where I could go and I needed another experience to be able to continue. [00:45:30] Launching nonprofit is hard work. It’s viewed as some of the most meaningful work, but the least paid work. And so I’m like, I’m getting older, you know, I need a little more. And so I need a little more experience. And so I applied for a two year fellowship at the George Gund foundation, which is the largest private family foundation in Ohio. [00:45:55] The family used to own the calves. And I’m just like, okay, this might be something, right? And so I applied and I got the two year fellowship. The first year, you kind of rotate all the program areas from education, economic development, arts, environment. And then your second year, you get to focus on the area that you’re interested in. [00:46:15] And for me, that was democracy building. So I helped shape a new program area for the George Gund foundation around their democracy work. And so they were able to directly support organizations like Cleveland Votes for You know, for the first time outside of sort of like systemic way or network of, you know, folks doing voter engagement, that was an amazing experience because it’s things that I could look back on and say, okay, I have my fingerprints on that. [00:46:49] I also got to travel a lot and went to many a conference around arts, education, environment, went to Martha’s Vineyard for the first time. Right. I say the first time because eventually I’m gonna get back. But you know, event and after that two year fellowship, I was really thinking about, like, what are some things that I could really do to shake up another system. [00:47:15] Right. And so to go from nonprofit to philanthropy, I’m on the other side of the table. How do I enter sort of like another sort of nonprofit community based space? And so I went to the Natural History Museum because it was a space that was familiar but foreign at the same time. You know, it’s a place that I remember going to for a school field trip, but that was it. [00:47:36] Right. And so why is it that this world class institution is here and folks like me don’t know about it? Right. Or why is it that folks in my neighborhood aren’t able to go there on a regular basis or feel welcomed? And so my role as community manager, I took that charged to change that. [00:47:59] Right? And so we created the first teen night. And so I thought about all these adult programs that we have for adults to experience the museum after dark. And I said, we should do this for teens. And so I used my connections and partnered with the radio station, the City of Cleveland Recreation Department, and what was planned to be, you know, 85 students coming on a Friday night ended up being almost 200. [00:48:27] And so. But I remember, you know, pairing it with an adult activity that was taking place called MIX at the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is across from the Natural History Museum. And I remember working with their community engagement folks and saying, like, let’s cross promote. As families are going here and they’re gonna have their adult night, they can drop their kids off here for a teen night. [00:48:53] And so I remember the conversations leading up to this teen night, which were a little bit concerning because, you know, staff at the museum were saying, you know, well, where are these kids coming from? Are they gonna be supervised and we need to close down the gift shop because, you know, it’s an increased theft risk. [00:49:12] And I’m like, do we have this conversation with the adults? Because kids steal. Adults steal. Like people steal, you know, and so. But if we’re going to base this experience off of negativity, then we’re in the wrong business. You’re not here on Wade park to just have your back towards Wade Park. You have to turn around, you have to face. [00:49:33] You have to be a part of the community. And so that’s what that program was aimed at doing. We did a community listening session to say, what are the best ways the community. I mean, the museum can serve the community. And part of my legacy at the museum is creating that free day that’s supported by the Mandel. [00:49:53] So now Cleveland and East Cleveland residents are able to go to the museum for free.

Nick Mays [00:50:01] Wow. Congratulations.

Donté Gibbs [00:50:02] Thank you.

Nick Mays [00:50:03] Very, very impressive.

Donté Gibbs [00:50:05] So what’s your next stop next up? I don’t know. So I’m at the conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley national park right now. I serve as the VP of community partnerships. So this is another sort of a space that I’m shaking up. Right. It’s a national park. It’s well known among certain circles, but before I applied there, I didn’t realize we had a national park. [00:50:28] And so in realizing that each day is a new journey for me or a new discovery. And so I’m always bringing my family and friends along. Right. You know, as I reach up and reach down and reach across, is being able to bring my whole network with me. Right. And so I tell people sometimes, like, okay, you gonna get Dante, but you’re gonna get everything that comes with Dante. [00:50:52] And sometimes that’s physical. People, like, we’re gonna show up. Like, you’re gonna see us, and you’re gonna know. And so developing programs and experience, like Rhythm on a River, where it’s a summer concert series out at the park with, you know, a variety of music. And these are local bands from Cleveland and Akron. [00:51:12] We have a kids zone that’s ran by city of Cleveland recreation workers. So once again, continuing that thread of the network that I have. And they’re paired with park rangers because we all know seeing folks in law enforcement isn’t always the most welcoming thing. And so I remember having conversations, and I said, yeah, we want law enforcement there. [00:51:34] I said, but I don’t want you patrolling the perimeter of the medal while, you know, the concert is taking place. I want you engaging with families and kids. And so what better way to do that than playing giant Uno hula loop jump rope, flag football? Like, we have the space. Like, let’s utilize the space and break down those barriers.

Nick Mays [00:51:56] I’m wondering if you. What do you see as. Or if you make connections between the work you’ve been doing in the last decade or so what lessons you learned from growing up in East Cleveland?

Donté Gibbs [00:52:17] People gonna talk. Let them talk. Let your work do the talking, because folks will always have an opinion. You want folks to have an opinion. But your work and your dedication, it will speak more than what those thoughts will on a daily.

Nick Mays [00:52:35] I think a better way to say it is how does. Or does your growing up in East Cleveland, how does it inform. Or does it inform the work you do in your career?

Donté Gibbs [00:52:50] Oh, I mean, definitely, because I’m thinking about, you know, the experiences that I didn’t have growing up. How do I shape that for a child that’s in East Cleveland currently? Right. How do I use my own lived experience coupled with my academic experience at case? And how do I use metrics to help tell the story? [00:53:13] How do I have the quantitative information, but also the qualitative that allows for those voices to rise above some of the numbers that may be not as good. Right. Or, you know, different stats or statistics. So for me, the history of East Cleveland, thinking about what it was, you know, we often talk about the John D. [00:53:38] Rockefeller days and, you know, what it meant for East Cleveland at that time. I don’t know if the goal or I don’t think the goal should be necessary. Let’s get back to that. But it’s like, let’s learn from that and let’s learn from what we have today and chart our own future. Right? [00:53:58] That’s indicative of who’s here today using what folks have set for us in the past. Right. And so not saying we just have to be John D. Rockefeller, but thinking about what that meant in that time, who’s. Who’s the John D. Rockefeller of our day today. Right. And it’s not about money, but it’s about, in terms of influence and impact, who’s doing the work. [00:54:26] Right.

Nick Mays [00:54:31] I want to park that. And we’ll get back to that. Make sure you remind me to get back to that. Because it’s like, you know, I want to get. We want to get back, not maybe not to John Rockefeller. Right. Like, I think that’s. I want to unpack that. Okay, so we’re pivoting again. [00:54:53] Dante’s Gift Express. Let’s talk about it.

Donté Gibbs [00:55:01] Let’s do.

Nick Mays [00:55:01] Let’s talk about Dante Gift Express. How did it begin? What’s inspired you to start it?

Donté Gibbs [00:55:11] Man, it’s really thinking about just this, this. Mode of always being in service and of service. Right. And so some friends and I, we did, like, turkey giveaways. And one of my friends came up and said, okay, we Doing turkey, like, you gotta do a Christmas ham, like for Christmas now. And we kind of just like laughed about it. [00:55:34] And then I went home that night and I remember just thinking, like, well, what if we did do something for Christmas? Like, what would that be? Right. I didn’t necessarily want to do like a big produce giveaway because the one that we did was huge. And I’m like, we have like two weeks to plant something. [00:55:50] And so the idea came around. How do we unwrap the joy of family? And so around the holidays, you may spend time with your family a lot, but are you really able to connect with your family just based on all the holiday stresses? If you feel like everything has to be based in money, am I able to purchase gifts? [00:56:14] Can I get a tree? Do we even have a meal? Is the lights on? All this type of stuff that I know families were enduring, because these are things that we endured growing up. And so the idea was to be able to provide each family with a family gift that brought them back to the table to really have that family time. [00:56:35] And so we’ve done like cookbooks and cookware, we’ve done exercise and fitness equipment, We’ve done different memberships to different institutions and museums. We’ve done grocery store gift cards and board games. We used to do movies, but you know, who’s buying DVDs anymore? And so we’ve done like movie baskets where, you know, it’s a basket with the throw blanket, hot chocolate, popcorn. [00:57:02] So something that still invokes the idea of a family movie night. And the board games, Monopoly, Monopoly and Ono would definitely have you arguing as a family, at least their minds. But it is still something that gets you around the table laughing and joking and really just kind of like learning each other’s personalities too.

Nick Mays [00:57:23] So even the gifts are intentional?

Donté Gibbs [00:57:26] Oh, 100%. Because that’s one way that we are able to be intentional. Right. Nothing against, like organization like toys for Tots or Christmas giveaways for young kids. Those are equally as important. Right. But for us, we wanted to really uplift what it means for our family to be celebrated during the holidays. And so we wanted gifts that the whole family can enjoy together. [00:57:55] That way we’re not solely focused on, you know, perceived notions around what a nine year old girl will want or a four year old boy will want. Right. It allows for the family to either spend time together, play this game together, cook together, and just be able to have that quality time.

Nick Mays [00:58:17] For those who don’t know, what’s the concept of Dante’s Gift Express.

Donté Gibbs [00:58:25] Yeah. So I mean, the concept is really around this intersection of joy, community and service, and at that intersection is family. Right. And so with families being a sense of joy, families being something that keeps communities together, and families being folks that you are able to be of service to or be in service to as well, is one thing that we sort of frame what Gift Express is. [00:58:54] But it’s in its nutshell, a way for families to know that they are loved. It’s a way. It’s a sense of hope in a place that’s often hopeless. It’s a sense of safety and just pure excitement around a surprise because we surprise the families. They don’t know we’re coming.

Nick Mays [00:59:20] So it is a three day event or three day process. Can you talk about.

Donté Gibbs [00:59:25] Yes, it used to be just two days. I know my team is probably like, all right, he probably about to make it a four day thing. But so essentially we start off with, you know, like shopping for the families. And these are the family gifts. And so all those things that I mentioned, board games, baskets, things of that sort, is what we go shopping for. [00:59:46] We also have our gift wrapping party. And so that’s where over 100 volunteers will come. And last year we wrapped over 2,000 gifts in two and a half hours. And so that’s the gift wrapping party. We have music, food, food, line dancing. And so that’s the gift wrapping party day. And then we have a day that we will do the surprise gift delivery through East Cleveland. [01:00:11] And so it’s a day that we don’t announce and say, like, hey, we’re going here. We don’t even announce the streets, we don’t even share the streets with the police officers until like the day before, just to kind of keep it a little under wraps. But it allows for us to, to be able to partner with these key community stakeholders, whether it’s the Police Department or McGregor foundation and families, because families still volunteer for this event as well too. [01:00:42] But we pick our streets and then we go. And it’s the school bus, it’s the cars, it’s the blaring lights, it’s the music, and it’s us smiling on our T shirts saying like, hey, it’s Dante’s Gift Express. Merry Christmas. And each gift is accompanied by a handwritten card. And that’s where my grandmother Fellows, Betty Ruth, where she came into play before she passed. [01:01:06] When I came up with this idea, she was like, oh, well, you have to give them cards. And I’m like, grandma, we just trying to pass out the gifts like, who got time to write a card? Obviously we do. So we wrote those cards and we continue to write those cards as a way to just, you know, it’s something about seeing a handwritten note for the holidays and what it means for folks. [01:01:27] I mean we had, we’ve been to folks homes and they’re like, you know, they just lost a family member and you know, they didn’t know what they were going to do for the holiday or they didn’t know if they even wanted to still be here for the holidays in terms of life. Right. [01:01:42] And so when you kind of come across that. Grounds you in a sense that it’s not just the gift, like the physical thing, it’s the presence of someone saying, you know, you are on my mind and I’m here and I want, you know, even for this brief moment, like I’m spending a holiday with you, I’m spending the holiday with your kids. [01:02:10] This is something that your kids are able to enjoy and share as well. So that’s gift express.

Nick Mays [01:02:21] Who’s your team? And then if you may, who supports it? Who’s your sponsors? And this question would be for the oral history, not for the documentary when I ask them who’s know your, your sponsors and, and supporters, but, but also like first start with your, your team.

Donté Gibbs [01:02:43] Yeah, yeah. So my team consists of Dominique, Sarita, India. And so we all went to Shaw High School. Dominique is the oldest, so he graduated 05 and then the rest of us he graduated in 06. But we’re literally a group of best friends, right? So me and Dom are best friends. India and Sarita are best friends. [01:03:09] And so I’m sort of like a connector of sort of both of these sort of best friend groups. And we have, we have gone on to, you know, we went to college, we have our careers. Two of us still reside in the city of East Cream. So we chose to be a home in East Cleveland. [01:03:28] And so one thing that really brings us together is that love for Shaw and that love for East Cleveland. And we’re thinking about, you know, our own childhood experiences which were varied. You know, there were two parent households, there were single parent households. And what it meant for that time when Christmas came around, right, Was it that feeling of sadness, joy? [01:03:49] And we sort of channeled that into creating gift Express. And our support has grown immensely over the years. I mean, we’ve gone from, you know, me paying for the gifts out of pocket to, you know, the GoFundMe accounts to getting support from neighborhood connections or neighbor up and you know, all the way up until our 10th year, I would say, like, our budget was around 6 to 8,000 to try to, you know, do the Betty Ruth gift, but then also doing the general gifts to families. [01:04:30] Our 10th year, we had to raise $75,000 because I wanted to create this free family funding at Tower City. And I had to convince the team that we may have struggled to get $6,000 in 2019 or, you know, whatever the year was, but this year we’re going to actually do it. Like we’re going to surpass that amount 10 times almost. [01:04:59] And so they looked at me like I was crazy, but they stayed there. They stayed at the table. And once they saw it actually take place, now it’s second nature in terms of, like, what we can do. Right. And so it was a way for me to even push my team beyond what they were initially thinking. [01:05:18] Right. You know, how do we continue to grow and add this impact for our city? Because it’s not just about the city of East Cleveland, but it’s about this region. Now.

Nick Mays [01:05:34] What year are you [in]?

Donté Gibbs [01:05:36] Huh?

Nick Mays [01:05:36] What year is [the Donte Gift Express in]?

Donté Gibbs [01:05:37] Oh, this is year 13. So we’ve been, we’ve been doing the family fun day or adding the three day, the third day for this, this, this will be our fourth year at Tower City coming up.

Nick Mays [01:05:49] So for Dante’s Gift Express is the 13th year anniversary.

Donté Gibbs [01:05:53] Yep. For the whole thing, it’s the 13th.

Nick Mays [01:05:55] Congratulations.

Donté Gibbs [01:05:56] Thank you, thank you.

Nick Mays [01:05:57] You know, most, most programming or non profit, non profit services begin and end in the first year.

Donté Gibbs [01:06:10] It’s tough because one what we learned is that a lot of our volunteers and our family and friends, they have added this to, like their Christmas tradition. Right. So every year they’re like, this is what we do. You know, I have people reaching out to me as early as August, like, hey, what’s the dates for Gift Express? [01:06:30] And I’m just like, we ain’t even got to show a reunion yet. Like, hold on. But what we’ve been able to do is really establish a yearly calendar of, you know, the first three weekends in December is Dante’s Gift Express. You know, we’re going to be out, we’re going to be making some things happen, and you got to be tuned in. [01:06:51] I mean, it really elevated us in this sense of creating a website, creating a structure and also creating a nonprofit to sort of house this. And so just got it the other day. So we are going to start moving into what we call our foundation called the Do Good Community Foundation. And Dante’s Gift Express will be up under that.

Nick Mays [01:07:18] wow. Congratulations.

Donté Gibbs [01:07:19] Thank you.

Nick Mays [01:07:20] I want to. I had a question here about the 10th anniversary at Towers City Center. Yes, can you speak to the event?

Donté Gibbs [01:07:29] Man.

Nick Mays [01:07:30] talk about That.

Donté Gibbs [01:07:32] It was wild because. So in my 9 to 5 as VP of Community Partnerships for the Conservancy for Kahaway national park, we were contact. My friend works at Bear Rock and they were trying to think about what they can do to that space where the water fountain used to be at. It hasn’t been operating for, I don’t know, close to a decade, and the parts that it take to fix it are no longer made. [01:07:58] And so as Bedrock purchased Tower City, they were trying to figure out ways to reinvigorate the space. And so they said, what if we create a green space? And so they reached out to us and we created Skylight park, which is a mix of real and artificial foliage that allows for the space now to be a destination as opposed to a pass through. [01:08:21] For years, folks are kind of just walking through there to either get to the Cavs game, get to the food court, or when a movie theater was there or RTA. And so that 10th year was also during the year where we created Skylight park. And they had learned about Gift Express because, you know, people just Google you, right? [01:08:42] And they were like, you know, what are some ways that we can be involved in this? I think they were like, they think this is great. And I’m like, yeah, it is great, right? But humbly, I was just like, you know, give me the keys to Tower City for a day. And they were like, okay. [01:09:00] And so I had to go back to my original team and add some more people to that team to say, Tower City is going to give us a whole day to do programming. What can we do? And it has to be around a holiday. And so that’s when we really started planning out what the experience would be and how it would be, like, culturally relevant and impactful for folks to have a picture with Santa and Mrs. [01:09:22] Claus, to be able to have a hot chocolate station and, you know, bring in the magic of East Cleveland to downtown Cleveland during the holiday to create new memories. Right? And so we always talk about what Christmas was downtown. And so this was a chance for us to be a part of the resurgence of activity, holiday activity back at Tower City.

Nick Mays [01:09:47] How many people?

Donté Gibbs [01:09:48] Man? So this is a crazy stat. So each year we are averaging 22 to 23,000 people on that day. Mind you, the Rocket mortgage arena holds 19,000 people. So if the cast were to sell out a game they still wouldn’t have the same amount of folks that we attract to Dante’s Gift Express Family Fund Day.

Nick Mays [01:10:17] How do you. How do you help to support. Get support. East Cleveland, there’s commute to Downtown.

Donté Gibbs [01:10:28] Yes. So we haven’t been successful with RTA in terms of, you know, being able to provide, like, bus passes or in a rapid. I mean, it makes sense, right? You know, Windermere Rapid Station is their second hub in terms of volume and folks. And then you have your main hub at Tower City. [01:10:48] We’re servicing both, like rta. Make it happen whenever you see this, Right? But so we. We try to work with groups, right, and organizations that are able to help transport folks. And so when we were. We had a partnership with MYCOM, and they were placed within 15 different neighborhoods that included East Cleveland. [01:11:10] And so they were able to provide transportation to their families and young people to the family Fund, a. To just experience a. A new memory. Right. We work with Shaw High School band, and so they come and perform. And then, funny enough, the first time that they came to Tower City and perform, they were only scheduled to be there for an hour, tops, right? [01:11:37] Like, get in there doing their practice and then actually performing and then getting on the bus to go on about their day. They ended up spending the whole day with us because the young people were saying, what is this place, Right? What is Tower City? And they never been, right. And so it threw me back a bit because I’m like, tower City was a part of my childhood, but it wasn’t a part of their childhood until that moment, until Dante’s Gift Express Family Fund Day. [01:12:06] So they were there helping wrap gifts. They help us distribute the gifts. They were doing the arts and crafts. They were participating and volunteering and performing at the same time. And I’m like, that’s East Cleveland, right? Like, we’re there to be of service and to participate.

Nick Mays [01:12:26] I want to move on to the Betty Ruth Family Initiative. I read about this in and the East Clevelander, but before. Before I move to that question, it’s been 13 years working in the nonprofit space, you know, on boards and just being a partner. I understand data and impact, right? 13 years. You have a lot of data. [01:13:01] So my question is, what has been the impact?

Donté Gibbs [01:13:05] Yeah, the impact has been amazing. So we’ve been able to reach over 10,000 homes in and around East Cleveland. We’ve been able to support nearly 30 sort of Betty Ruth families. And that process is where folks are able to nominate families for additional need. We’ve been able to attract 73,000 people to Tower City over the past three family fund days. [01:13:35] Collectively, we’ve been able to provide over 2,000 sort of like, resource kits for families as well. And that includes during the pandemic, you know, we had to have the free washable mask. We were a leading partner in that initiative, Mask for Community.

Nick Mays [01:13:53] And I asked him about that road downstairs. And I meant to say, what has been the impact of Dante’s Gift Express? I just restated that for the camera. Okay, so can you talk a little bit about the Betty Rue family Initiative, how that came about? What is the Betty Rue family?

Donté Gibbs [01:14:27] Yeah, so my grandmother, Betty Ruth, she passed in 2016. And, you know, when I was sort of thinking about a way to kind of continue her legacy or, like, name it, like, put a name to was like, you know, she was instrumental in terms of us, like, you know, making sure each gift came with a card. [01:14:50] So what’s another way to sort of uplift that piece in a way that allows us to support additional families? Because we were starting to get, you know, requests for, you know, specific family support outside of our general gift giving. And, you know, for a while, we’re just saying, well, this is the piece that we do. [01:15:11] This is just the piece that we do. But that’s. That’s not being open. That’s not being adaptive to, you know, emerging needs. And so this was a way that we were able to put a name to it, to allow folks to. Or the public to nominate families that they know that are in need and for us to branch outside of East Cleveland. [01:15:33] Right. East Cleveland will always be the core, the center, and the heart of Dante’s Gift Express, but we also know the importance of folks around us and our neighbors, too. And so it’s not just us here, but we’re all here as you sort of zoom out or zoom in. And so the Betty Ruth family gift allowed us to put a name to the legacy of my grandmother in terms of service through Dante’s Gift Express, but it also allowed us to be able to branch outside of East Cleveland.

Nick Mays [01:16:09] What do you think people misunderstand about East Cleveland and its residents or misconception? And I. What informs this question, really, is the East Cleveland that I found or I engaged in the media, in the news, in the historical or academic literature versus the East Cleveland that I’ve been engaging, engaged with residents, the people, community leaders in the last couple of months? [01:17:00] When you go into the public discourse about East Cleveland, you know, you hear the poorest city, the most violent city, and ect, etc, right. Political crises, you know, name a crisis, right? You go on YouTube, you Google East Cleveland, and all that comes up. So. And I say that to say. [01:17:35] And so that really informs, you know, my question. So when you think about East Cleveland, do you think. And. And its residents, what do you think is most. What’s the. What do you think? People misunderstand.

Donté Gibbs [01:17:51] I think they misunderstand, like, what they may view as, like, a lack of pride. East Clevelanders are one of the most prideful folks that you would probably meet. Right. There’s also this misconception of the city not being safe or, you know, we don’t have any police, right. There’s always this sort of running joke. [01:18:13] We don’t have enough police officers and things like that. And granted, there are definitely some challenges within our city services, but multiple things can be true at once. And so we have some of the fastest response rates for emergency services, despite the perception of. Or reality of limited resources, like, we’re still making it happen. [01:18:41] I think part of that is because we are three square miles, so it’s not a big city. Also think that there’s this sense of no one caring. There are a lot of residents that do care, but these residents that do care are also tired of, as you mentioned, the political turmoil or crises. [01:19:05] And so there are moments where, you know, a dark cloud of hopelessness, because for so long, our leadership could be viewed as sort of fell in the residence, or they can be viewed as, you know, there’s these sort of sweet spots that they have or, you know, glimmers of light. But overall, where has the city moved in terms of moving the needle, in terms of financial recovery, new business development, additional educational resources and spaces for our young people to continue feeling safe? [01:19:44] And so those are some of the misconceptions that I think hover around East Cleveland outside of, you know, our school district being, you know, at the bottom, you know, year after year.

Nick Mays [01:20:03] In that same vein, then what do you want people to know about East Cleveland and its residents?

Donté Gibbs [01:20:10] In that same vein, what do I want folks to know?

Nick Mays [01:20:14] Pride.

Donté Gibbs [01:20:15] Yeah. I mean, you know, pride is one. It’s a stubborn pride at times, but it’s there. Right. I want folks to realize that there are actual, real people here. I think sometimes when folks talk about East Cleveland is as if they. It’s like this throwaway. And I’m like. But you do realize people are here, families are here. [01:20:38] You know, folks are still raising their family here by choice or by circumstance. Right. And so we can’t discount the folks who are here and continue to be here. So that’s one thing I would want to lift up.

Nick Mays [01:20:57] That’s fascinating.

Donté Gibbs [01:20:58] Yeah, I, I think that’s it. I don’t think I have to go.

Nick Mays [01:21:05] Thank you for that very thoughtful response. You, you, you, you said, or one of your team was quoted saying in, in the East Cleveland article that we’re building where we live. What does that mean in, in practice and, and why is it important right now? And I think this is probably a good time to kind of connect that with something you said earlier in, in the interview about getting back to, and maybe getting back East Cleveland. [01:21:50] Getting back, you know, should be to the Rockefeller days. Then. Then what? Ideally, what should East Cleveland be getting back to?

Donté Gibbs [01:22:03] Yeah, I think. Yeah, yeah, getting back to it. It’s kind of like getting back to the basics. Right? So it’s, it’s us knowing our neighbors. It’s is us being able to. Dictate the stores and the services that we need as a community. Right. It’s us being able to help those businesses thrive. It’s us sharing that pride in East Cleveland with our business community as well and also holding them accountable. [01:22:32] Right. Those are pieces that I think of when you say sort of like getting back to or sort of building where you live. It’s being able to say like, hey, I know there’s an issue right here. What skill set, what skill set do I have or someone else that I know that could help address this? [01:22:53] Can we do this together? Right. You know, there are a lot of times where we try to do things our own in our own way, and that just creates more chaos. And so what are, if we’re truly here for the betterment of East Cleveland, then how are we working together and getting out of our own way to be able to make some things really happen? [01:23:15] Is what I mean when I say building where I live. It’s an action statement. It’s not passive. It’s putting one foot in front of the other. It’s movement. What movements do you create or can we create to continue the upliftment of East Cleveland?

Nick Mays [01:23:40] In East Cleveland right now, there’s a food desert. Can you, can you talk about businesses or the lack of businesses now? What you see versus what you saw as a teenager?

Donté Gibbs [01:23:53] Yeah, I feel like the physical structures are still there, but are they occupied? Right? Are they, are folks inside of those spaces? Spaces, I think is what has changed. You go from more of a close knit community or, you know, kids walking to and from school to not seeing as much as that now when you think about the enrollment within the schools, when you think about, you know, this building used to be one of the after school programs that I went to. [01:24:26] Right. And it’s no longer there. Those are the things that I view are sort of like different from my time growing up to what it is now.

Nick Mays [01:24:36] Do you. What businesses do you remember growing up? For example, do you remember Peter Pan’s?

Donté Gibbs [01:24:43] Of course, the wing special $5.25. Five wings and fries. Yeah.

Nick Mays [01:24:51] It’S still vivid.

Donté Gibbs [01:24:52] It’s still vivid because it was. And it’s so crazy because it was a place that was open 24 hours. And, you know, each time that I go, I will see some of the same, like, older gentlemen or folks there, and they were either, you know, playing like the little table games or reading a newspaper, having their coffee with their donut. [01:25:11] But then there’s also sort of this mix of like young people in here as well, too. So it was a space that you didn’t feel out of place. And it was a small space. It was up on a hill. So it was hard trying to park there in the wintertime for sure. But it was a place where you felt respected, no matter your age. [01:25:32] And it was just. It was just good. It was good food, and it just felt like an extension of home, even if your home was, you know, just down the street. So Peter Pan’s, AJ’s, which is right on those. That was a candy store. Superfly Barbershop, the cleaners that used to be right here across from AJ’s on those. [01:25:57] And Euclid used to have a grocery store. It wasn’t always the best, but, you know, it was a grocery store here and off Hayden. Those are some of the. I mean, McDonald’s was always there from what I can remember. Pizza Hut has been there in two different spaces as far as, you know, East Cleveland. [01:26:22] But St. Philomenas was a place where there was after school programming. Some of the churches had after school programming, and they’re not necessarily doing all of that now. There were three libraries. So there was the main branch and then there was the one on Hayden, and then Caledonia branch. So I think it’s just this one now is the main location that’s open.

Nick Mays [01:26:48] Outside of the food businesses like Peter Pans, aj, There’s a couple other ones you brought up. Do they still exist? Are they still.

Donté Gibbs [01:26:58] So like, Peter Pan’s doesn’t exist. B M still exists outside of East Cleveland. So they’re still in Glenville, and then they’re like North Randall or Oakwood Village.

Nick Mays [01:27:12] Do you recall any black owned business businesses when you were a kid or growing up?

Donté Gibbs [01:27:17] Yeah, B M was black owned. Peter Pants was black owned. AJ’s was black owned. Ronnie’s and Yanni’s, which was a store close to Shaw, they were black owned. Those were sort of like the black owned business that weren’t like sort of like franchise like, you know, fast food restaurants. But even within those, there were still like, you know, black managers, things of that sort. [01:27:52] The churches have primarily been led by black pastors as well too.

Nick Mays [01:28:02] I only have a couple more questions.

Donté Gibbs [01:28:08] Unswapp the battery or film.

Nick Mays [01:28:12] Did I get a text? How are we doing on photos D?

Production Assistant [01:28:18] D Amazing. Amazing.

Nick Mays [01:28:23] Just got a couple wrap up questions.

Nick Mays [01:28:26] We’re good to go. You good just to have space for. That’s not the. Is it? Sorry, that’s not the new one, is it?

Donté Gibbs [01:28:48] It’s the new one.

Nick Mays [01:28:49] Oh, okay. We just put the old. Oh kind of thing on. Oh, I see. Let me know when I’m ready.

Production Assistant [01:28:59] You’re ready.

Nick Mays [01:29:01] So in the last couple of years, there’s been ongoing revitalization efforts in these Cleveland developments coming, especially coming up, Euclid. Do you in general support these external revitalization efforts? That’s question A–the first part of the question and then 2 second part of the question is what does responsible development look like to you? Excuse me? What does responsible development look like to you?

Donté Gibbs [01:29:50] I like how the question is framed because I’m in support of responsible development. Right. And so circle east. That’s coming. It’s sort of like the, I don’t know, the first sort of housing construction in almost a decade within the city. Right. To that scale. And so East Cleveland is not going to get out of its current situation with just East Cleveland. [01:30:18] Right. We’ve tried that. We’ve seen it. It has not worked for us yet. And so we do need some external forces to walk hand in hand with us to do it. Right. I do think that our leaders and our residents should be a part of that leading as opposed to just being taken for a ride. [01:30:39] We very much so need to be in the driver’s seat, but we have to be open and trusting to outside expertise. Our own lived experience doesn’t lend to us trusting, you know, folks in power and political figures, because we have been taken for a ride over and over and over and over again. [01:31:05] You know, prior to me even knowing that there was an issue. Right. You know, just being a kid playing any bounce, like I don’t know, the issues are, that’s facing our city at that time. But responsible development to me is really engaging the residents in terms of wants and needs, having clear plans and not feeling like that plan is just plopped down in front of us and we’re just supposed to just take it. [01:31:34] Right. Circle east did some engagement. I do feel like, you know, the county can do a lot more in terms of ongoing communications and engagement of residents, because clearly they’re here. Clearly Circle east is happening. But as we invest in new home ownership, what does that investment into the current homeownership look like? [01:32:00] Right. If this project is, and I’m just throwing this number out, if this is $20 million to build and attract new homeowners, the current homeowner fund cannot be 20,000. It can’t be 60,000. It shouldn’t even be in the thousands. Right. Because we know that the housing stock in East Cleveland is aging, our infrastructure is aging. [01:32:26] Like, these are things that are considered deferred maintenance and deferred support or disinvestment. And so as we build new, what are we doing to continue to build the quote, unquote, old or established? So that’s what I view as sort of being responsible. Right. Not just coming in to get us to write on some flip chart paper and say, yeah, we want a park or we want this or this. [01:32:51] But it’s actually being able to support the current residents and their needs now as opposed to just thinking about new residents. We do need it. We do need to increase our tax base, that’s for sure. We need new businesses. And I view Circle east, and I want Circle east to be that vehicle for new development, for high speed Internet fiber. [01:33:17] I mean, that’s been talked about for years. So how do we really create sort of a truly connected and smart city of East Cleveland? Right. I mentioned it’s three square miles. That’s not a lot of real estate, but it’s a lot of structures within the city. And I think we’re at the right size to be able to do a lot of this sort of like, forward thinking, innovative development.

Nick Mays [01:33:45] I see. So with respect to the Cuyahoga Land bank or any other external partner, you would like to see communication and partnership with the residents.

Donté Gibbs [01:34:03] Yeah. To their defense a little bit. Like, I get it’s not knowing who to talk to or who to partner with, because it is a bit chaotic between our leadership and some of our, you know, community leaders not trusting the system. Right. And the process. But that doesn’t mean, like, give up. Right. [01:34:26] You still have to prove yourself to the residents.

Nick Mays [01:34:31] Right. Okay. So moving on. And we’re going to wrap this up. You’ve done so much for East Cleveland and a little bit more than a decade. And go beyond that, growing up with your grandmothers. Right. What keeps motivating you to keep going today?

Donté Gibbs [01:34:55] I knew this question was going to come up, and I was trying to figure out what this answer would be, because it is these moments when I mentioned that being in a nonprofit space is tough. The civic sector is just as tough. Right. And when you’re in sort of both. I made the conscious decision to be an East Cleveland homeowner. [01:35:15] Are there days where I’m just like, what the hell am I doing? Right, of course. Right. But for me, it’s thinking about who’s coming up behind me. Right. And what I sort of stand for in terms of being a role model or being this person for folks to say. If I look at anyone who is able to make it through these different systems, like, how do they draw inspiration from that? [01:35:43] How do they become better than me? Right. And so for me, it’s not about, oh, Dante, Dante, Dante. Right. It’s about, you know, someone was able to look at my path and say, okay, I can do this. I can do this this way, and I could continue impact, or I could create new impact. [01:36:01] And so that’s part of what keeps me going, is thinking about sort of like, this current generation or this next generation in terms of being able to really, like, see something fully through and not sort of, like running away from it. If I was to move from East Cleveland, would I view that as running away from it? [01:36:22] Like, probably not. But East Cleveland has been so central in and who I am and what I do that it makes sense to be, you know, on the ground and proximate to the work and also to the solution.

Nick Mays [01:36:39] What message would you share with the next generation of East Clevelanders about community, about service, about leadership or anything?

Donté Gibbs [01:36:51] I would say some advice is trying to figure out your interest and being able to follow that. I think if you find something that you’re passionate about, then it doesn’t feel like work. The money will come, the money will follow, but it’s being able to create this lane for you to have those multiple streams of income and don’t always view college as that sole route. [01:37:20] You know, there are folks that are able to make a better living than me, and they have their own business, but they were able to take a risk on themselves. And so I would say, take that risk on yourself. Believe in yourself. Enough to be able to take that risk. And you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish.

Nick Mays [01:37:41] What gives you hope for East Cleveland future.

Donté Gibbs [01:37:47] This election coming up November 5th.

Nick Mays [01:37:50] Or do you have.

Donté Gibbs [01:37:51] I do. I feel like this election is really a turning point for the city. I mean, we’re seeing this massive investment from the county. Right. And that. That breeds questions. Right. But. And then the state is saying we’re in receivership or state receivership. So what does that mean? How do we crawl, walk, run, limp out of this? [01:38:15] Right. Is something that provides hope. Because I feel like now you have folks that are getting more involved in some of these conversations and some of these civic conversations. Folks are looking for this next leader to really lead us into a space of hope, happy, and ultimately a space of being able to thrive. [01:38:40] Right. And so flipping the narrative of East Cleveland on its head, Right? So think about the past 20 years, what folks have been saying about East Cleveland. These next four years will sort of be the beginning of that sort of political shift, hopefully, to be able to say this is. And I don’t want to be, like, cheesy and cliche, like, this is the new East Cleveland, but, like, this is, you know, East Cleveland, you know, 2.0 or, you know, what do we envision East Cleveland being within the next 50 years? [01:39:16] Things that, you know, or next 100 years, things that may necessarily not be something that I see and experience, but we set the foundation for East Cleveland to be where it needs to be.

Nick Mays [01:39:30] What do you say about. And this is not a question. This is a question that I even have. But now that I think about it, I’ve been engaging a lot of folks like yourself, professionals, college graduates and not, but professionals, entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s who have been leveraging in the last last decade or last years their skill sets, their careers in the betterment of East Cleveland. [01:40:00] Is that a generational thing kind of happening now? Is this. Is this a legacy? They always, you know, Dante’s and from East Cleveland and folks in East Cleveland, young people who are leveraging their skill sets and college degrees to support their.

Donté Gibbs [01:40:20] I think there’s bits and pieces of it. I think there’s space for it to be sort of more of a united front in terms of, you know, I mean, I think about Shaw High Reunion, right? We have these moments of, like, reflecting on what folks are doing and how they’re successful in their businesses or careers. [01:40:40] How do we broaden that to say, like, this is what we are able to do as a Shaw High community to really, you know, Take a strong investment in the future of East Cleveland. I think there’s space for that to happen. It happens in certain circles or like, you know, committees or, you know, friend groups. [01:41:03] But how do we take that same energy for, you know, eight to 10 people and multiply that to 200 in 2000?

Nick Mays [01:41:10] Is that inspiring to you that there are people like yourself in 20s and 30s and 40s who are intentionally leveraging their skill sets and degrees?

Donté Gibbs [01:41:19] And businesses, of course, because the main messaging that we got, you know, whether it was from adults that we trusted or folks outside of East Cleveland, was that, like, we’re not going to make it. Like, we’re not going to be here, we’re not gonna be able to go to college, like, all these things, and to look around and see folks with businesses, and we’re still here, and we’re still, like, healthy. [01:41:50] And, you know, wanting to be involved is something that really is inspiring. This past Shaw reunion weekend, we did, like, a cleanup at the East Cleveland Theater. And I was very intentional about that because I’m like, this is happening a Sunday before Shaw weekend, right? And so it’ll be leading up to it. [01:42:10] And I said, what if the folks that are coming back or the folks that are here, like, what is this? This could be a way to get them back into the city doing some service, but also learning about, like, the East Queen Theater, like, what’s going on with it? What’s the plan? Is there a plan? [01:42:24] How do they, you know, use some of their skill sets to. To help sort of resurrect a community treasure? And we were able to do that through service, through picking up trash and cutting the grass. So that was one way of me sort of trying to kick start that and thinking about how do we use our businesses, our careers and our education and our love for East Cleveland to reshape it.

Nick Mays [01:42:53] What is going on?

Donté Gibbs [01:42:55] Yes. I mean, there’s a current grant that’s out now with Sean Ward, who was running for mayor, around being able to revitalize or renovate the theater. But that’s the extent of what I know it now. I know we would definitely need a dynamic leader and a visionary to help sort of lead that process and being able to instill arts back within a community. [01:43:18] Arts right now is the. The band, which is great, but, like, we have this whole theater right here. We have the Greg Riis Performing Arts center as well, too. And so I think this next leader or this person that sort of picks up that mantle has to be this visionary that understands East Cleveland culture, but also innovative enough to really drive a new sort of love for theater.

Nick Mays [01:43:47] What’s the theater called?

Donté Gibbs [01:43:49] It’s the East Cleveland Community Theater. And when you think about community theaters, there are not many, Right. You think about Karamu House, which is the largest or the longest operating African American theater. And then you think about Playhouse Square, which is second to Broadway. And then you have Cleveland Public Theater. And so when you think about support for these, like, foundations have to be willing to be innovative in their thinking of how they fund arts. [01:44:21] And then we also have to have a dynamic business model that helps shape revenue to help sustain the business as well, too.

Nick Mays [01:44:29] Wow. All right. And then finally, when people talk about your work years from now and Dante, and your programming, your. Your support for community, your initiatives, your empowering communities, what do you hope they say about your legacy?

Donté Gibbs [01:44:49] How did he do it all? I really want them to view it as something that was really steeply community based and family oriented and a way of how you marry all these different passions and interests and skills, skill sets together to reshape systems, reshape communities, and reshape love for people. Wow.

Nick Mays [01:45:15] Mr. Dante Gibbs, thank you for your support.

Donté Gibbs [01:45:17] I appreciate you. Thank you.

Nick Mays [01:45:19] What an amazing job.

Donté Gibbs [01:45:21] Thank you, man. Appreciate that. Wow.

Nick Mays [01:45:25] How do you do it all?

Donté Gibbs [01:45:27] Yeah.

Nick Mays [01:45:29] You’re an inspire.

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