Men About the Culture: Jade Tinner Uplifts Black Men Through Safe Spaces and Opportunity

Jade Tinner wasn’t surprised by the statistics. The disproportionate incarceration rates, the lack of representation in leadership positions, the negative media portrayals – all painted a familiar picture of the struggles faced by Black men in America. Jade herself notes that growing up, “the only positive male role model” was her great-grandfather, Lee Burton, who she affectionately called “PaPaw”.& “My great-grandfather set the standard at which I hold men to – provider, protector, loved his wife, daughter, grandkids and great-grandkids.” Seeing the state of Black men as she entered adulthood perplexed Jade as she wondered where the men like her great-grandfather had gone. But Jade had never been one to dwell on problems. She’s a builder, a believer in potential. So, she took action. “When I first went to Dallas I was trying to get acclimated& and find a niche,” Jade explains. “K104 did a Bowl-A-Thon and a young man got up and spoke about time living with his mom and her abusive boyfriend. At that moment, a light bulb went off,” says Jade. “Men go through things as adolescents and if they don’t get healing it shapes who they become.”& Jade heard this young man’s story and wanted to...