He wears number 59 on the field, but on Tuesday, Lions linebacker Tahir Whitehead wasn’t facing an opponent but helping Detroit’s ninth graders at Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School on the east side of the city by showing them how they can succeed in life and school by creating a personal culture of success.

To do this, he teamed up with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) for a “Culture of Success” assembly with 350 MLK ninth-graders. The assembly was followed by breakout sessions where students at the Detroit school discussed how to build a strong foundation by creating healthy habits for themselves, choosing their peer teams wisely and reaching out to their support teams such as school staff, community partners, tutors and mentors including the MDDHHS Community School coordinators and Pathways to Potential success coaches for help.

Whitehead is donating his free time on select Tuesdays during football season to help kids in Detroit and make more people aware of the ways to help children and their families tackle obstacles to opportunities that impede success and their long term self-sufficiency. These school programs touch on health, fitness and staying/succeeding in school.

Our own Program Director, Marseille Arbuckle, Jr. was able to represent The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development as a community partner. Check out the full article here