Hasan A. Stephens

Hasan A. Stephens long dreamed of using his talents in hip-hop culture to help shift youth culture and its perspectives. During his career and work as a leading youth advocate, mentor, entrepreneur and educator, Stephens recognized many of the same people continued to revisit youth detention facilities. In response, he started the Good Life Youth Foundation to help prevent youth recidivism, violence, poverty and incarceration. An educator and co-contributor to the book Rebel Music: Resistance Through HipHop and Punk, Stephens currently serves as a professor of Africana studies and hip-hop at the State University of New York College at Cortland where one of his courses is "Evolution of Hip-Hop Culture". He also is an active member of the Onondaga County (Syracuse, New York) Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative Steering Committee, and the Central New York State Regional Youth Justice Team. In addition, Stephens is a leadership consultant for the Central New York Community Foundation, Inc., The Leadership Classroom. He currently serves on the board of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance (UMEA), a minority chamber of commerce for Upstate, New York. Stephens is a member of the Madden School of Business Advisory Board at Le Moyne College, and serves as an entrepreneur in residence for the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship.