Planting Seeds for the Future: NG3
For Matt Williams and NG3, change occurs one meaningful relationship at a time.
“NG3 stands for ‘next generation,’” Matt explained, “and the ‘3’ is our three C’s: character, community and change. We do character development programs, community service projects and small group mentoring with high schools.”
Matt’s passion for serving high school students grew while he was working for another nonprofit.
“I was asked to help with a local high school and started to see some good change and great response from the kids, the school and the parents,” he explained. “I went to my leaders at the other nonprofit and laid out a vision for what [a high school outreach program] could be.”
While the nonprofit leaders were intrigued, Matt’s plan fell outside the scope of their organization. That’s when Matt decided he would start his own organization to meet this need for mentorship among high school students.
Now almost fifteen years later, NG3 is thriving.
“We currently work with about 20 high schools and serve about 700 kids through a mentorship-style relationship with adults in the community. We have about 150 volunteers that meet with kids each week,” he explained. “High school kids will only follow people who they trust. It’s a very hard demographic to work with, but it’s also incredibly formative.”
When Matt looked to continue expanding NG3, a friend and fellow nonprofit founder — Jim Hollandsworth from Path United — recommended Matt consider becoming a fundholder with the Community Foundation.
After meeting with former Community Foundation President Randy Redner, Matt decided to open a fund, and he’s grateful for the foundation’s ability to maximize the community’s generosity.
“I am super thankful for the foundation from a networking standpoint but also through being really good stewards of our resources,” he shared. “The other pieces of connection, investment, leadership development, strategy and marketing are things you’re not going to get in other places, and that’s a huge benefit.”
These funds from generous donors allow NG3 and their volunteers to continue pouring into high school students and building relationships that will benefit students for years to come.
Matt specifically recalls one student in NG3’s program whose mentor left a lasting impression.
After meeting with a mentor and building great relationships for three years in high school, this student went to college and began making poor decisions in his life, later struggling with alcoholism.
“One night he got to the end of his rope, and he made a phone call to a local church where he grew up at around three o’clock in the morning,” Matt explained. “He left a message and was saying, ‘I’m looking for this man who I worked with in high school who cared for me. I don’t know if he’s still around or not, but I need to talk to him.’”
The church reached out to the former mentor, and the two reconnected.
“The kid ended up moving in with that guy and his family and got completely clean. He surrendered his life to what God had for him, finished his degree and is currently a pastor,” Matt said.
This story reminds Matt why the relationships NG3 builds are so crucial.
“We hope [students] don’t have to go through that hard season, but the thing we always bring our people back to is that relationships are what matters. At the end of the day, the way we invest, the way that these kids will feel and the way that we love them will last a whole lot longer than even what we teach them,” he explained.
For Matt and his team, success can be hard to measure, but they are committed to investing in the intangibles.
“The Bible is clear that some ‘plant’ and some ‘water’, but only God ‘makes it grow.’ For us, our success isn’t always determined by the outcomes because we don’t have a whole lot of control over the results and the decisions that people make,” he said.
“What we do have control over is being faithful and giving kids the opportunity.”
To support NG3 and their high school mentorship programs, click here to donate to its fund!