As part of Black History Month, the Minnesota Timberwolves honor leaders who are making a difference in the community. On February 24th, the Timberwolves honored Leon Tazel III, founder, President, and CEO of the Tazel Institute, a Minnesota company with a focus on exposing African American males to different business industries. Leon works with African American males from grades 9-12 and brings them to a different business or government office every six weeks to learn about the organization, different jobs held by the people who work there and the education required to get those jobs to create a vision for these young men from the classroom to the board room. Leon believes by showing students successful African American males, it helps the students believe that they can be successful too.

Leon Tazel 1/18/17 Leon Tazel 1/18/17

Tazel Institute Exposes African-American Male Students to Career Opportunities

There are countless motivational and inspiring speeches to be found online. But on Wednesday, a group of men, and their words, were bound for a more personal audience. Juniors in the Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan School District are taking part in the Tazel Institute.

There are countless motivational and inspiring speeches to be found online.

But on Wednesday, a group of men, and their words, were bound for a more personal audience.

Juniors in the Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan School District are taking part in the Tazel Institute.

A program for young African-American males.

"They are the most incarcerated, they are the most with joblessness, and I don't think it is because any kid is bad, I think it's because a kid hasn't been shown the right way," Leon Tazel, owner of the Tazel Institute, said.

The institute connects students with African-American men who've been successful in their careers.

"What we try to do is open these kids minds as to what they can achieve," he adds.

Getting them out of class and into real world settings shows them possibilities.

"The goal for this day is to make sure these young men know they have an opportunity here at the university, but we want to make sure they know they have an opportunity in whatever path they decide to take,"said Barkley Barton, Associate Director with the Office of Admissions at the University of Minnesota.

The institute has been in existence for a couple years, already this year students have visited law offices, the Met Council and now the university.

In addition to the speakers, these young men toured campus to see what student life is like.

Juniors David Wright and Victor Wedden say the program has absolutely opened their eyes to opportunity.

"It was the last speaker that really hit home for me, I could relate to a lot of his family situations as well as goals and intentions," Wright said.

"You learn a lot of things you wouldn't normally learn by yourself, and this group just opens us up to that," Wedden added.

The Tazel Institute is always looking for more businesses and corporations around the metro to partner with, if you'd like to help, you can reach out to Leon Tazel at: ltazeliii@comcast.net

The original article first appeared on: http://kstp.com/news/tazel-institute-african-american-students-university-of-minnesota-leon/4374850/

Leon Tazel 4/16/16 Leon Tazel 4/16/16

High School Students Visit Met Council

Leon Tazel of the Tazel Institute is determined to expose African American male youth to job possibilities they might not know about and the Met Council is working to attract and build its future workforce

About 80 high school students from Apple Valley, Rosemount and Park-Cottage Grove high schools visited the Metropolitan Council in March thanks to a partnership between the council and the Tazel Institute.

The students toured the Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant, the East Metro Bus Garage, and the Green Line Rail Operations and Maintenance Facility, where they learned about the skills needed to perform many different jobs. They finished with a lunch hosted by Metro Transit.

“This is a passion of mine,” said Tazel, vice president and senior manager of employee relations at TCF Bank. “By seeing successful African American males, it helps the students believe that they can be successful, too.”

Regardless of their economic circumstances, African American male youth go through the same challenges in adolescence, Tazel said. One of those challenges is how education is brought to them – they learn about the world in theory but not in practice. So he established the Tazel Institute to organize visits to workplaces where they can see what is possible after graduation.

In a little more than a year, students have visited a law firm, a bank, a county attorney’s office, a university, a construction company, and more. The institute also gives them other opportunities, such as taking a financial literacy course that offers certification for completion.

“We greatly appreciate that the Tazel Institute brought a large group of potential future workers to our work sites while they are at an impressionable age, and that we could showcase some of the careers available here at the council,” said Cedrick Baker, manager of equity implementation in the council’s Office of Equal Opportunity.

“Many of these careers are not obvious for most high school age youth.”

Two of the major disparity measures in the region are around employment and household income, Baker said. Over the coming year, OEO also will be engaging specific youth organizations to increase youth exposure to the council as a future employer, including Southeast Asian, Latino, and Native American youth, white youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and youth with disabilities.

“We believe these types of engagements will help cultivate an interested pool of future job candidates here at the council,” Baker said.

Tazel emphasizes to the youth that “they have to have school as a base” for their future, but believes that exposing them to a variety of work opportunities is also critical.

“I want to plant the seed, because you never know when that seed will take root,” Tazel said.