When Passion Becomes Profession, pages

When Passion becomes Profession by Anna Grider

From left: Princess Jones, Rising Star since 2019; Anaya Finley, Rising Star since 2021; Falana McDaniel, executive director; Trinity Webb, Rising Star since 2014; and Toni Little, R.E.A.L Summer Program volunteer.

It’s not often you walk into a room full of children on a Wednesday morning during summer break with hands waving in the air, all anxiously anticipating being called on to answer the next math problem, show off their latest artwork, or to identify which word in a sentence was an adjective. But it’s also not often that you walk into a room where Falana McDaniel (’02) is your teacher.

While Families United Training Center (FUTC)- a nonprofit designed to provide training and resources to help build healthy families- officially launched in 2014, for founder and executive director McDaniel, this was a mission that began long before.

Born and raised in poverty, McDaniel came to Co-Lin in 2000 as a single mother with two young sons Treviaunte and Milheil, ages two and three months (now 23 and 21). Ready to drop out, McDaniel will tell anyone that [instructor] “Margaret Britt was God-sent to me.” She continued, “If it weren’t for her guidance, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now. She always kept pushing me to never stop.”

Now, four degrees later and with no sign of slowing down, McDaniel has dedicated her life to giving back to others and is using her own organization to do so.

Back in 2009, McDaniel was teaching a predominately female high school class in McComb when she noticed that no one was paying attention to the lesson she had planned. As she stopped to ask the students what was going on, the stories started pouring out. Students were sharing about being up all night listening to gun shots wondering if they were going to be alive the next day and about being kicked out of their room so their mom could do drugs.

So, what did McDaniel do? She simply began to encourage her students. “Life is hard and we all face challenges,” McDaniel said, “But we can’t let those challenges determine our success, we have to let them make us.” Five minutes and one pep talk later, the students were eager to learn and get back to the lesson.

After McDaniel went home that evening and reflected on what had happened in her classroom, she felt gentle whispers from God prompting her to take up girls mentoring – something she continues to do to this day. Continuing to teach during the week and mentor on the afternoons and weekends, McDaniel began to see how the need for training and mentoring didn’t need to be confined to just the girls she would meet

with, but with their families at home.

“We had an event at the library and I invited the parents because the girls would tell me, ‘You tell me not to cuss, but I go home and that’s all I hear, so how do you want me to stop?’ As I was talking to a mother and daughter one day, the mother said, ‘I cuss and treat her like that because that’s all I know and what I grew up under.’”

McDaniel started bringing in other groups to provide training not just for the girls, but also for their parents. From there, Families United Training Center was born.

Even as the programs gained momentum and the whispers from the Lord grew louder, McDaniel says it was still never her intention to go full-time with this passion. She was working with the Mississippi Community College Board at the time and could not emphasize enough just how much she loved her job.

“I remember a couple of times getting to my desk in the morning and the Lord kept preaching in my heart about how I needed to be working with these families and I just kept ignoring him because I was loving my job and didn’t want to leave it,” McDaniel said.

However, one day in September of 2019, McDaniel decided she was done wrestling with God and jumped in full-time to Families United Training Center with faith that the Lord would provide.

“I was at my dream job, but the moment I gave my resignation, the peace that came from God and the peace and joy I’ve had since then can’t even compare to the money,” she said.

Since 2019, McDaniel has only taken a salary twice and supports her family by doing part-time consulting work two days a week. “God has met every need just when I needed it for being obedient,” McDaniel said. “It’s been awesome to see just how he has provided.”

Today, FUTC has grown to include multiple programs all designed to help disadvantaged people help themselves work toward a brighter future. The Foundation’s main programs are R.E.A.L – Reinforcing Educational Achievement Longterm, Rising STARS for Christ Mentoring, Saving Hands: Single Mom Empowerment, and Parent Training & Education. This past summer, McDaniel led a three-week long program that met daily from 8 am until noon, teaching students reading, math, language, and art with the goal of bringing students up to grade level to prepare them for the next school year.

It’s not just on paper that it looks like McDaniel has made a difference in these young girls’ lives. In sitting down and talking to several of the girls McDaniel has mentored over the years, there came a chorus of, “She’s changed my life” from every girl at the table. As they shared their stories about who they were before meeting McDaniel to who they are today, it became quite clear that truer words had never been spoken.

“There’s a loss of words for just how amazing a woman can be,” said 12-year-old Anaya Finley, “To just step into random people’s lives and just change it that fast.”

As for the future, McDaniel will say that the hardest part of her job is doing everything herself. As executive director, she oversees all aspects of the programs, from applying for grants and fundraising to teaching and mentoring the students.

“I’m playing three different people right now,” she said.

McDaniel hopes to bring in a part-time training consultant as she continues to secure more funding from grants and community support. But don’t expect her to step back and watch as others carry out the programs she created.

“Everything that I have gained from other people pouring into my life, I try to give back.”

To learn more about Families United Training Center, to volunteer, or support the program financially, visit www.familiesunitedtraining. org.

Alece Jones, pictured with her daughter Jaiya (age five), has participated in the Saving Hands program since 2019. A 2015 Brookhaven High School graduate, Jones is entering her second year at Co-Lin in the Business Office Technology program. Jones said, “This organization has really helped me have a life. The single moms program really had my back when I didn't know what steps to take. They helped me set goals and accomplish them. They even helped me go back to school, and that's a big deal for me. I can still be a person and do everything that everyone else can do.”

Tammy Arnold, pictured with her daughters Lillian (left) and Anonna Bradford, is a certified nurse assistant. Her daughters participated in the R.E.A.L. Summer Enrichment Program. Arnold said, “As a single parent, I work all the time. Having my girls step into a positive and constructive environment everyday is a blessing. They come home every day with something new to tell me about what they have done. I’ve never seen them excited about fractions and long-division, yoga and pottery. Falana has made it all so interesting for the kids.”