Al-Tariq Best

The H.U.B.B. - HELP US BE BETTER

Thirteen years ago, Al-Tariq Best had his sons in the car with him in Newark, his hometown. The boys started shouting as they watched a violent beating out the back window. The scene shook Al-Tariq, but not as much as what his eldest asked moments later.

“He changed my life with one statement,” recalls Al-Tariq. “'What are you doing to be part of the solution?'"

Al-Tariq shifted his focus away from the music industry to found the FP YouthOutCry Foundation, which ultimately led to The H.U.B.B. Arts & Trauma Center (The H.U.B.B.), a community organization focused on entertainment, education, and empowerment as key components of youth violence intervention and healing.

Al-Tariq didn’t know it then, but he needed to deal with his own trauma to truly understand how to help young people. In 2016, he participated in one of EJUSA’s inaugural Trauma to Trust trainings and confronted a traumatic event with the police in his past.

“Those trainings have been paramount to the work I do today,” says Al-Tariq. “The H.U.B.B. has a trauma-informed lens with our youth, which helps us to understand that our young people aren’t bad, but they are moving through challenges.”

Al-Tariq has become an essential partner. With EJUSA’s technical assistance and mentoring, he has tapped into nearly $300,000 in federal funding that expanded his impact, leading to more funding and a bigger footprint. Today, he and his staff—all of whom now go through EJUSA's Trauma to Trust trainings—work with hundreds of young people every year.

In February 2020, The H.U.B.B. will launch the first trauma recovery center on the eastern coastline, combining the organization’s signature arts and empowerment model with clinical mental and emotional health services for youth grappling with violence and their own survivorship. The H.U.B.B. HELP Trauma Recovery Center will stand firm on what its acronym means: The Help Us Become Better Healing and Empowering Life Purpose Center.

“If you take a light and put it in a dark place, it can change the world,” says Al-Tariq. “The H.U.B.B. has become that light.”