692. Serving the Underserved with Anthony “A-Ram” Ramos

[00:00:01] Alright y'all, we're in the house for another Kingdom Building conversation. I got the man

[00:00:15] himself. He goes by A-RAM sometimes, but professionally. Anthony Ramos, Philadelphia,

[00:00:23] living now, native of Puerto Rican descent, currently serves as a project director at

[00:00:28] Esperanza's Faith and Capacity Initiatives. And he's an adjunct professor teaching faith

[00:00:34] reason and justice in Bible 100, the first year students at Esperanza College. Give it up for our man A-RAM.

[00:00:41] Thanks for being in the building bro. It's good to see you. Likewise. You know it's crazy that we've lived in such

[00:00:47] close proximity but never had a chance to catch up face to face. I know this is the first time. Wow.

[00:00:52] Yeah wow. 40 minutes away. I mean it's actually I think probably not too uncommon for many of us in the Philadelphia Tristit area

[00:00:59] particularly post pandemic. You know what I mean? I think it's like it's hard to just get out. Yeah and the reality is

[00:01:06] is like there's this idea of the sixth degree of separation. Yeah yeah yeah. Like how big Philadelphia is.

[00:01:12] I think we have like what six million people. Philadelphia is big. Yeah but it's so small in terms of like how many people

[00:01:19] you might know just steps away. It's a big market and it shows too. Anytime you try to do anything with media

[00:01:24] like radio and things like that. One of the highest price markets man just a densely populated market. Yeah.

[00:01:31] I think it's one of the best cities in the world. I love it. I just think because you get to New Jersey in 30 minutes

[00:01:36] Maryland 30, 40 minutes, DC hour 20. It's the birthplace of America. Right. I mean so yeah. So how's everything bro?

[00:01:45] Things good. Yeah things are well families good. Work is going well as well. Yeah we have some programs that we're

[00:01:52] getting ready to start. New initiatives Christian parenting that we're helping parents and caregivers have the right tools

[00:01:59] to transmit their faith values to their children and helping church leaders and church congregations to have the right tools for that.

[00:02:06] So we're really excited about it as a new project but yeah it's new season and then we also have some programs that we

[00:02:11] already launched that we're going through cohort learning experiences for their year-long program so it's been really good

[00:02:16] and then we got this conference coming up. Yeah so I went up to the conference too quick. So let me ask you this just so people get to know

[00:02:23] totally A-Ram what's one thing you can share that even those who are like closest to you may not know that they were here and go

[00:02:30] I've known this brother for more than a decade maybe two decades I never knew that. Hmm it's a great question really good

[00:02:40] You got me stoned. I got you stoned. Yeah I feel like I kind of wear my life on my sleeve where you know even people that know me don't know this about me.

[00:02:55] Yeah exactly you're very transparent. Yeah yeah I tried to be. That's a great question. I don't think most people know this you know that I can do the

[00:03:06] Undertaker eyes. What is the Undertaker? Yeah you know how like the wrestler? Yeah the wrestler yeah I can do that. I can show you that

[00:03:14] you know others can see it but yeah I can do it. Alright y'all you have to let us know later. You might have him back do that.

[00:03:19] Yeah yeah. Undertaker eyes okay. Yeah I guess that's your big WWF fan. I used to. Yeah WWF I don't know what it is now if it's still that

[00:03:26] but yeah back in those days. Jimmy Snickham was my guy. Remember the tag team Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson?

[00:03:35] That's probably a little bit before you. Yeah I think so. So for those who don't know if you love the rock his father was a wrestler

[00:03:42] Rocky Johnson trickster one of them dudes that like danced around the rings flips and all that he had a partner named Tony Atlas

[00:03:50] who was like just a muscle man and I'm too like the tag team champions man for years. Yeah and then you had the Samoans

[00:03:57] and I mean bro I'm back in the Bob Backland day. I'm talking about yeah this is like you know. Yeah yeah man definitely

[00:04:03] my era was like Stone Cold the rock. I like Stone Cold. When John Cena came first on the scene like that era. Yeah my Stone Cold

[00:04:09] so we're both Philly born bread we were talking about this before we came on. Well technically I was born in

[00:04:14] I was born in Lemonsterre, Massachusetts. Oh okay got you. Yeah but I came in Philadelphia when I was about eight months. Got it.

[00:04:19] Yeah with my family. Got it and so you're behind me we're not going to go through ages but you'll be behind me a little bit

[00:04:25] but we both got that Philly love. Totally. Yeah totally high school ball. Yeah yeah that's right we talked about that a little bit.

[00:04:32] Yeah I mean for those who don't know too Philly football is a big deal. It is. It's a big deal. A lot of pride.

[00:04:37] I went to Northeast High and so every year there's a Northeast Central game that has gone back for man when I was in school

[00:04:45] it had already been going for decades. It probably goes back at least 40 years man. Totally. My wife went to Girls High

[00:04:52] so there's a little rub with us because Girls High was attached to Central so every year it gets a little frigid round Thanksgiving.

[00:05:01] Do you guys still attend those games? I haven't gone in a while. Okay. I need to go. My skiddy my someone played ball there

[00:05:07] and my someone played college he played at Delaware State and then Westchester. Yeah that's fire. Yeah so I miss it man I miss it.

[00:05:15] So talk a little bit about your music man before we go to Esperanza. Totally. What is A-Ram doing as an artist right now?

[00:05:21] You've done a lot of music but what's coming? Well I do have some songs that I'm working on this year

[00:05:27] I've kind of taken a little bit of a step back in terms of just releasing music and focusing a little bit more on

[00:05:32] facilitation, speaking engagements and stuff like that. And obviously just the project management side but yeah

[00:05:39] I do have some songs that I'm working on with some artists one that would be at the God of the City conference that I'm working on

[00:05:46] Nice. Yeah it's been neat last year was a great year in the sense of it's probably the year that I had the most

[00:05:54] bookings that I've ever had in terms of going out and perform and minister in that way and only release one song last year

[00:06:00] and so I just really just been exhausting the scography and then this year yeah hopefully I do have some songs

[00:06:07] lined up in the vault that I've been working on and hopefully by the summer I can have some of those rolled out

[00:06:12] That's dope. Yeah. That's dope. That's dope. So how long have you been a part of Esperanza?

[00:06:18] So I officially as a professional since 2015 but my time with them goes back to 2011 when I enrolled or 2010

[00:06:29] when I enrolled as a freshman at the Esperanza College. So I went through the educational experience came back

[00:06:37] with my bachelor's and then I began as a case manager for Esperanza College for a year. Gotcha.

[00:06:44] And then from there I went into the Faith and Capacity Initiatives Department which was formerly known as National Programs

[00:06:49] as a project director. How'd you even get to college because I recall you saying you had a rough rocky road in high school?

[00:06:55] Totally yeah yeah so I dropped out of school when I was 16 years old and then my uncle he came out of prison

[00:07:02] and he started mentoring me disciple of me with the gospel and I just knew I wanted to change my life

[00:07:08] and so I was asked to check out Esperanza College. I went the very next day enrolled and this was in January of 2010

[00:07:19] and yeah man it was just me I just I felt at a disposition just I had a reset in my life

[00:07:26] so I wanted to give 100% in everything I was doing and being valedictorian in my graduating class 2011

[00:07:32] then went on to Eastern University which was the branch campus of Esperanza College

[00:07:37] or Esperanza College is the branch campus of Eastern University finished my social work degree out there

[00:07:42] came back and became a case manager for Esperanza College while I was studying from a Masters of Divinity

[00:07:47] but yeah all that to say that I came you know being a 16 year old dropout.

[00:07:52] Yeah that's crazy you know a lot of people question the value of formal education

[00:07:57] yeah particularly college right because it's expensive and what not which how do you feel about it what would you say?

[00:08:02] Yeah I mean I get it too it is expensive to go to you know to higher education and pursue

[00:08:10] just learning I know for myself that's why I needed to get trained in the grounds of just like

[00:08:15] you know theological training and obviously from the social work standpoint how to work with

[00:08:20] you know folks from different communities and understanding the active listening component

[00:08:24] that I think was key for ministry but for folks at least nowadays like

[00:08:29] you can be a professional entrepreneur you can take the creative route where you can be full time in your art

[00:08:36] and I love that. So it's just really discerning like you're calling over your life

[00:08:42] and what are your gifts your gifts and your skill sets leaning into that

[00:08:46] and if higher education gives you that pathway for it and amen and if not

[00:08:50] entrepreneurship is that way and amen or also you know more vocational training

[00:08:57] you know hands-on work that also is that possibility as well.

[00:09:00] That's good that's good so now let's talk about Esperanza and for those who don't know

[00:09:06] maybe explain a little bit about what Esperanza does.

[00:09:08] Totally yeah so Esperanza has been around for about 40 years

[00:09:12] it was founded by Hispanic clergy of Philadelphia and vicinity

[00:09:17] and Reverend Luis Cortez is the president and founder

[00:09:21] they really wanted to advocate on behalf of the Hispanic community

[00:09:26] and a lot of it stems back from police brutality that affected one of the pastors in the Hispanic community

[00:09:33] as well as just access to funding where ATMs at that time were available during

[00:09:40] hours that were convenient for bivocational Hispanic pastors.

[00:09:44] So they organized and long story short they developed a CDC

[00:09:50] that offered opportunities for the Hispanic community around education

[00:09:54] immigration legal services housing counseling

[00:09:57] from education from K through 12 so a brick and mortar college

[00:10:04] as well as a brick and mortar K through 12

[00:10:08] and then also an education opportunity online through charter school

[00:10:12] and then yeah there's several initiatives we have a workforce development

[00:10:18] that helps folks not only land job opportunities but to retain them

[00:10:22] and they see folks about maybe a thousand people a month on workforce development

[00:10:27] in our specific department we help with the capacity building of congregational leadership

[00:10:32] so for pastors leaders as well as clergy just around contextual training

[00:10:38] resource opportunities where they can apply for grants sustainability

[00:10:43] as well as ministry opportunity and so yeah so my role is around

[00:10:49] guiding educational experiences for these pastors these youth leaders

[00:10:54] to go through these specific contextual trainings but then offer grant opportunities for their ministries

[00:10:59] and contextual training dive a little more into that is that relative to like the culture

[00:11:04] the geographic area what similar

[00:11:08] yeah totally yeah so we primarily serve Hispanic pastors

[00:11:11] it's not exclusive but primarily Hispanic communities as well as understanding the urban context

[00:11:17] so a lot of times like we would get

[00:11:20] not we meaning the general church

[00:11:23] the Hispanic community would receive

[00:11:26] ministry tools from other communities

[00:11:31] specifically Anglo communities that we would have to translate in our own context

[00:11:35] and most of the times the examples or just even the methodology doesn't work for our context

[00:11:41] like for Hispanic communities and maybe even for people of color

[00:11:44] our faith is tangible like we need to feel it we need to be immersed in it

[00:11:48] it's not just more theoretical or you know

[00:11:51] heady if Jane it reminds you those in school like

[00:11:55] if Jane was given ten thousand dollars by her parents

[00:11:58] should Jane you know buy a car

[00:12:01] a condo in LA or buy a house like we can't relate

[00:12:06] we can't relate yeah totally and then also you get youth ministry training guides with

[00:12:12] you know the front cover somebody on a jet ski or somebody you know mountain hiking

[00:12:16] where that's just not culturally or contextually relevant

[00:12:19] and so we would connect with not only facilitators

[00:12:24] but also curriculum designers to help us bring the contextual aspect to the people that we're serving

[00:12:29] people that are serving and working in Hispanic communities

[00:12:32] people are working in serving in urban context

[00:12:35] and then developing curriculum specifically for the people that we're trying to reach

[00:12:39] and so we'll design those educational experiences

[00:12:42] so from workshop trainings to vision trips where we will take them to a different city

[00:12:47] connect with organizations that are doing great work out there to inspire them

[00:12:51] and then yeah as I mentioned earlier just the you know the grant opportunities

[00:12:55] that they can apply for funding to sustain ministries in some ways

[00:12:59] or even to help launch new ministry ideas that after they've gone through the educational experiences

[00:13:05] and they might have been illuminated to some new work that they can navigate in

[00:13:10] and this funds can help accompany that. That's good. So on an annual basis

[00:13:14] how many people would you say you just parrons of trains in touch with?

[00:13:18] Yeah so in our department yeah right now we're probably training over a hundred people

[00:13:24] pastors youth leaders and congregational leadership teams

[00:13:28] so the impact is wide man because each of them then have a flock and staff

[00:13:32] and that they're taking all this back to

[00:13:34] totally yeah so I think right now our ministry teams

[00:13:38] well our department we're serving about 30 different churches at the moment through our different programs

[00:13:42] yeah that's dope man so now let's talk about this upcoming event because

[00:13:46] I got a text from Justin, big shout out to Justin Sarchin at Rapzilla

[00:13:50] Justin like man right there sure you need to know about this event bro

[00:13:53] it's one of the greatest events in the field for trust it is it really

[00:13:56] and then he told me he told me to get with you and I'm like wait a minute I know this brother

[00:14:00] so okay so talk to him about the event. Yeah man so God in the city it kind of stemmed from

[00:14:05] our leadership program it's called the S-Financial Youth Leadership Institute where we train

[00:14:09] youth leaders and their leadership teams across the region

[00:14:14] and it stemmed from that that apart from finishing out the year long training

[00:14:19] what are all the resources that they can tap into

[00:14:21] and so we developed this we launched hard soft launched it in 2021

[00:14:26] with a rally but then we put together a full Fletch conference

[00:14:29] in the past we've done capacity building conferences

[00:14:32] but it was specific for mentoring organizations and housing organizations

[00:14:35] and we had some component of it in ministry now it's full Fletch youth ministry

[00:14:40] those that are working with young people

[00:14:42] and so yeah this will be our third year

[00:14:45] we looked to train over 150 youth leaders or those that are working with young people

[00:14:51] throughout the conference and then in the evening

[00:14:53] you put together a rally or this year we're calling in an after party

[00:14:57] about 300 people will come together just to have a good time

[00:15:00] and it's also a place where you know if maybe you have a young person that might be considering the gospel in some ways

[00:15:06] maybe they're not opposed to it

[00:15:08] and it might be attractive enough because of the setting

[00:15:10] music and just the ambiance that they'll be present

[00:15:13] and who knows what God will do in that space

[00:15:16] so yeah this would be our third year we're super excited about what's going to happen

[00:15:20] but it's going to be June 1st Saturday

[00:15:23] and we're excited

[00:15:25] yeah I think I have to travel that weekend like I was telling you man

[00:15:27] I'm disappointed because if my travel falls through

[00:15:30] I will be coming through man looking for

[00:15:32] I saw your facilities online and just like beautiful facilities

[00:15:35] yeah it's all stems from our core values

[00:15:38] so our core values at Espanol says faith, integrity and excellence

[00:15:41] the excellence component is that our people regardless of

[00:15:46] the medium economic household income

[00:15:50] in our community that we deserve excellent

[00:15:55] because it does something to someone's self-worth and how they see themselves

[00:15:58] so for example we have a basketball court

[00:16:01] that the middle school and high school students utilize

[00:16:04] and it's made out of maple wood it actually has the specs of the NBA

[00:16:07] you have to keep it room temp at a certain temperature

[00:16:11] just to keep it good and maintain

[00:16:13] and the idea is that they get to experience something of quality

[00:16:17] like I understand growing up in that same neighborhood

[00:16:20] where we would play basketball we would have a milk crate

[00:16:22] we would create our own basketball experiences

[00:16:25] and that didn't stop us from having fun

[00:16:27] but at this point it's more bringing excellence to a community

[00:16:30] so that they can feel better about who they are

[00:16:33] it essentially goes back into even just scripture around the Imago day

[00:16:36] that we've been creating in God's image

[00:16:38] and because of that we should be deserving of good things

[00:16:43] yeah that's good man

[00:16:45] June 1st

[00:16:47] and tell everybody where they can get more information online

[00:16:49] yeah totally so they can visit esponosa.us

[00:16:52] or they can look up God in the city on the church bar

[00:16:55] they can register there right now

[00:16:57] it's at a discounted rate of $50 for the conference

[00:17:00] the conference includes two general sessions

[00:17:03] as well as your selection of two workshops out of ten workshops

[00:17:07] and then also we like to feed our people

[00:17:10] breakfast and lunch is included in that

[00:17:12] and then obviously the networking opportunity is going to be amazing

[00:17:15] from folks from all over actually last year

[00:17:17] we have individuals from eight different states coming here

[00:17:20] so we're looking to keep that growing and growing

[00:17:23] and then in the evening it's a the after party

[00:17:26] the entrance is $5

[00:17:28] and there's going to be food vending

[00:17:30] there's also again more opportunities to network

[00:17:33] and then it's just going to be a great time

[00:17:35] there's going to be some great headliners

[00:17:37] we have Bianca and her husband Borreiro from Puerto Rico flying through

[00:17:40] we have local artists like Q-Flow, Pradi, Able

[00:17:43] but then we're also bringing out red tips from Florida as well

[00:17:46] so we're going to have a really good time

[00:17:48] and yes, some of the facilitators are amazing

[00:17:50] we have some great contextual workshops

[00:17:52] for those that are working with young people in the urban setting

[00:17:55] all from funding your youth ministries

[00:17:58] to guiding young people through mental health wellness

[00:18:01] to using arts as vocation for the ministry

[00:18:04] it's just a great opportunity

[00:18:06] I think it's a great event and we're looking forward to it

[00:18:09] Hey y'all, get there, God in the City

[00:18:11] go to Esperanza.org

[00:18:13] or dot com

[00:18:15] Esperanza.us and be on the lookout too

[00:18:18] A-Ram's going to be dropping some music

[00:18:20] Hey brother, thank you for coming through man

[00:18:22] Thank you for having me

[00:18:24] See you next time, blessings