MOSES NEWSOM TRAILBLAZER HONOREE:
Kevin T. Collins

Being a trailblazer can be a daunting task. Being authentic, even more challenging. However, when it comes to storytelling, both are necessary. This is the journey of MAN UP’s 2024 Moses Newsom Trailblazer Honoree Kevin Collins, the editor-in chief of The Orlando Times Newspaper.

 

Collins distinctly remembers being reluctant about taking over his father’s legacy of leading The Orlando Times, but in his words, “it turned out to be the best decision of his life.”

 

His father, Calvin Collins, started the newspaper in 1976 with three friends, a lawyer, businessman and a dentist. When larger, local publications showed no interest in sharing the stories of the black community, they created The Orlando Times. Almost 50 years later, the publication continues to shed light on the news and topics that impact the black community.

 

Recognizing his father as his mentor, Collins knows firsthand the significance of shaping young minds. It was at the tender age of four-years-old that he began learning about the newspaper business while delivering the newspapers around town with his dad.

 

Even with exposure to his family’s business, he wanted to forge a different and more lucrative path for himself by entering corporate America. After graduating from Florida A&M University with a degree in business administration and a minor in accounting, he was excited to climb the corporate ladder.  Then a soul-searching conversation with his father left him with more questions than answers.

 

“I was getting ready to take another job when my father called and asked me ‘how much longer are you going to continue to make money for other people?’” he recalled. “I was fresh out of college, and I was not trying to work at a black newspaper.”

 

More than 20 years later, Collins has held the position of editor-in-chief since 1999, working side-by-side with his 86-year-old father. His very first mentor.

 

It was through his work with the media, and a newsletter, that he learned about MAN UP and wanted to further support the Wallace family and the youth they mentored, especially their male mentees. Collins began sharing the stories that were in MAN UP’s monthly newsletter in The Orlando Times. This further championed the work the community-based mentoring organization was doing for the local youth. He sees the mission-oriented service that MAN UP provides as an extension of what needs to be added to the landscape of the black community.

 

“I just keep thinking to myself, these young men are being given something that they probably have not experienced before,” he shared. “This organization is priceless. Everything else can be done through grants, programs and groups that don't always care. They'll take you wherever you want. But then there is this person or group showing and giving you things and showing you that you are seen, heard, valued, loved, purposed, and important.”

 

“For these young men, my wish is that they receive the love and respect that is being given and shown to them and they turn around and take that out and exude that same thing,” the father of six says. “And most importantly pay it forward, by being an example of what they've learned.”

 

 

ABOUT MAN UP MENTORING, INC.

MAN UP Mentoring, Inc. is a community-based non-profit 501c (3) charity organization primarily serving at-risk youth ages 11 through completion of high school or the equivalent across Metro Orlando, with a focus on delinquency prevention and intervention by providing social, educational, and mentoring services. Established in 2014 by Orlando natives, brother and sister duo Christopher and Samantha Wallace. Currently, it is managed by an Executive Director, contractors and a full-time staff of volunteers. It is overseen by a Board of Directors with more than 150 years of law enforcement and civilian experience, as well as advisors from the Orange County Public School System and social services.