Funded Partner Spotlight: Keshawn’s Korner
Ricquesha Fuller’s life changed permanently on June 13, 2023, when her son took his life at the age of 21.
Looking to find meaning in her loss, and prevent others from experiencing similar tragedy and heartache, she started Keshawn’s Korner to support for people facing mental health challenges by providing a safe network of resources and assistance.
In 2024, Keshawn’s Korner received a $10,000 capacity-building grant from the Foundation, in partnership with Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital, and an invitation to attend a series of capacity-building sessions on topics ranging from grant writing to evaluation to board development.
“We used the training sessions and funding to help structure the back-end of our program so that we can operate legally and effectively,” said Fuller, adding that she attended all but one session offered. “You go in with a cool idea and you leave knowing what you need to do to help bring that to life. Now, I’m in a much better position to partner with other organizations to collectively serve our community. It take a village, and I want the community to get back to being a supportive village.”
Earlier this year, Keshawn’s Korner hosted a Youth Summit to help young people and adults connect around issues of mental health. During the summit, a panel of teenagers and young adults, separated from the audience by a privacy curtain, shared candid insights with adults about mental health and wellness, interactions with parents, and more.
After the event, Fuller received numerous texts and phone calls from community members letting her know how much they learned from the opportunity – and how it was already impacting their relationships with their children as well as their own understanding of their mental health.
“When we were young, we were taught that was goes on in the family stays in the family. Men were taught be strong, Black and proud. Women were taught be strong and proud. Being strong was almost like a badge of honor, and it can almost make to you feel like you can’t say anything when you’re feeling bad,” Fuller said. “Imagine complaining about your job or your feelings when your 94-year-old grandmother lived in the aftermath of slavery and during segregation.”
For a long time, Fuller said, suicide and mental health were not viewed as problems in the Black community. In the last decade, however, data is indicating otherwise.
The suicide rate among 10-17 Black adolescents rose 144% between 2007 and 2020, according to Pew. Compounding that trend is the fact that Black youth are less likely than their peers to receive mental health care due to inequities in access as well as cultural stigmas.
To combat this trend, Fuller believes trust needs to be built between mental health providers and members of the Black community. She’s hoping Keshawn’s Korner can help play a role in such work.
With a recent funding award from 100 Women, the group is launching Korner Konversations, a peer-to-peer mental health first aid and crisis de-escalation training program later this summer. The hope is that trained peer counselors/mentors can go out and have conversations with people in the community, helping deescalate crises and then offer a warm hand-off, when ready, to appropriate mental health care and services.
“We want you to be able to meet up with a peer mentor, someone who looks like you, in a familiar space, and build trust to help people navigate services. We don’t want to replace mental health care professionals, but we do want to serve as a cultural bridge from the corner to the couch,” Fuller said. “I want my culture to know that it’s okay not to feel okay, and it’s okay to ask for help. We’re all human.”
On June 14 from 10 AM to 2 PM, Keshawn’s Korner will be hosting their second annual Six Thirteen: Youth Mental Health Awareness & Suicide Prevention Resource Fair at Lake Vista Park. For more information on Keshawn’s Korner and how to get involved through mentorship and more, visit their website.