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Our Work in Elbert County, GA

Updated: Aug 7, 2022

We cannot continue to empower our youth if the environment they live in is not inspiring as well.

We all have a responsibility to keep our community clean and beautiful and that’s why we love learning about the work that Keep Elbert County Beautiful is doing in the community and we’re so grateful for amazing citizens like Pam.


We’re excited to join forces with @keepelbertcountybeautiful to help protect the beauty of our county.


It’s imperative that when talking about the advantages of mentoring relationships, we’re able to categorise the influence it can have on different factors in our lives.

Generally speaking, mentoring has a significant impact on the lives of our youth today and should be celebrated everywhere in Elbert County.


Grateful for the opportunity to attend the City Council Meeting this evening in Elberton. As we get to hear our local’s stories and connect with them, we had the chance to chat with Honorable Firefighter Calvin Tate, who has been serving the community for over 30 years and will be retiring this month.


Firefighter Calvin is so passionate about mentoring youth and will be meeting with us soon to see what we can do together. He also mentioned to us that he’s been teaching young men basic skills that will serve them in their personal lives. We can’t wait to share more with you…

Let's thank our firefighters and their families for their service to our country.


And let's recommit to empowering our next generation for the future of our community—there's still so much work to be done to improve our work and perfect our union.

Thanks to our local leaders here in Elbert County for their genuine support for our work here in Elbert County through our organization ARISE Project For Humanity.

Picture Taken by : ARISE Team, outside the City Hall Building in Elberton, Ga



When a community doesn’t have access to mentoring, children are among the most impacted. They are more likely to get drawn into dangerous routes, miss the opportunity to become something, be trafficked by the bad guys, and lose time they could be spending with their mentors.


But thanks to #arise’s community of supporters, our team, and locals like you, mentoring is changing everything for youth around the county and around the world. Thank you for supporting big dreams and brighter futures!


"I think part of being a good neighbor and being part of the community is recognizing that, as business owners, we have a responsibility to the young people of the neighborhood. What ARISE is doing with their mentoring program is the key and I’m all in” —Elizabeth Tyler, Owner of @bodyplexelberton

As part of our ongoing commitment to Elberton’s youth, we invite our locals to come join us to help empower our youth to change their mindset, create their life, and impact their community through mentoring.


When it comes to empowering youth in our community, we all have our own role to play, and that’s why we were invited by the The Elberton Star, a local newspaper here in Elberton to talk about our youth mentoring program and our vision for the youth in Elbert county.

Thanks to Rose and the entire team at @theelbertonstar for being a force for good in our community.

We can’t wait for you to learn more about our story and why access to mentoring is critical for our youth today

Elberton Star Newspaper



Building relationships is key to mentoring youth today. As some of you know that my organization @ariseprojects started mentoring youth in communities here in Elbert County, GA. It’s been quite a journey to see how much impact we can make in the lives of these youth as we’re building stronger relationships with them. These wonderful young people truly are going places. Each individual has their own unique amazing talents and I can’t wait to share more with you on what we’ve been working on.

One of the main reasons why we moved to Georgia was to serve the Lord, to use our talents, gifts and skills to serve our community and it has become so clear to us that this is exactly where we are supposed to be.


"I’m still trying so hard to remember all of their names but every time I step in the building , they all yell “Mr. Will” and it melts my heart.

I would like to thank my wonderful wife @sharlaksintyl for supporting, inspiring and motivating daily, my team member here @empoweruslia for making this happen in the county, my board members all around the Globe for believing in our vision, and to the locals here for trusting us with their time to help us expand our program in the community." - Williamson Sintyl, CEO - Founder


We believe that access to mentoring is critical for Elberton’s youth and we’re excited to work alongside local organizations and partners to ensure that happens!

Picture Taken by : ARISE Team, at the Blackwell cultural Center & Blackwell Gym Building in Elberton, Ga




After our mentoring session in Elberton, our Chief Operating Office, Lia Black met with Mrs. Betty from the Blackwell community to chat about ways to get more youth involved in our program and to start training more young adults to become mentors for these youth.


We invite the community and local families to get involved also to help us expand our program throughout the county.

We believe that access to mentoring is critical for Elberton’s youth and we’re excited to work alongside local organizations and partners to ensure that happens!









You cannot do all the good the world needs but the world needs all the good you can do!

Thanks to the locals here in Elbert County for supporting our work.


Take a moment to listen to our first interview with Chinwagging podcast with Ruck here in Elbert County.


This episode is about the 4th of July and also the celebration that happened in Elbert County that acknowledges the freedom of black slaves called Juneteeth. The world @ariseprojects is doing in the community and our founder’s new book @rising_fromtherubble . This episode is history. Enjoy the many guest from all walks of life.

Picture Taken after the podcast interview by : ARISE Team, at the Blackwell Gym Building in Elberton, Ga


We are committed to empowering the next generation to change their mindset, create their life, and impact their community through mentoring.

Today, there are 46 million young people, aged 8-18, living in America. 16 million of them are growing up without a mentor. That's one out of every three young people who, outside of their family at home, don't have a trusted adult who they believe they can turn to for advice and guidance. Of those young people, 9 million face a variety of day-to-day challenges that put them at-risk for falling off track.


Mentoring creates meaningful connections that can positively impact the lives of both mentor and mentee. Those who receive mentorship are more likely to see improved academic, social, and economic prospects. Those who mentor are able to further build important leadership, management and creative skills, while giving back to their community.

That means that EVERY mentorship matters.


Source: MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership



- Chamber of commerce, Tuesday, July 26th / Networking event.


Tonight’s #ChamberCheers event was a success! Thanks to everyone who joined us to connect and meet new people! Special thanks to those who volunteered to help set up and tend the bar, and to Williamson Sintyl from ARISE Project For Humanity for sharing his story and his vision for the youth of Elbert County.


And of course the event wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of our sponsors, Empower Us Life Coaching with Lia Black, Dyal Jenkins, P.C. , Richard’s Restaurant, and IKonèk Life Coaching!

There is so much power in telling our story, sharing our truth, and inviting others into our journey. Tonight, we had the opportunity to share our mission and vision with the citizens here in Elbert County and it’s wonderful to see what we can accomplish when we all come together.


Let’s use this networking event as our new start, so our future generations can look back and see that we can go further when we come together as a community.


We also thank the local officials from the County and the City, businesses, and organizations who showed up to support our networking event tonight. It’s great to see the impact our mentoring program is already having in the community on the youth in Elbert County.


We’re so grateful for our local leaders for their willingness to step up to help make concrete change happen in the community. We’re looking forward to working with them to empower our youth to change their mindset, create their life and impact their community through mentoring.

PS: Please stop by at the chamber of commerce to check out our Founder's new book.


You can also order your copy on amazon today:



In June 21st, 2022, we kicked off our first mentoring session together here in Elbert County, GA. Together with a local organization called Elbert County Community Friends who has been working in the community for decades. Thanks to you, our youth have reason to feel hopeful for their future.


Our team held two sessions. One at the Blackwell Gym and the Cultural center where over 50 youth showed up to learn more about the mentoring program in the community.

We’re grateful for local organizations and leaders who have been supporting our work and have made these connections happen.


1 in 3 young people will grow up without a mentor. Research confirms that quality mentoring relationships have powerful positive effects on young people in a variety of personal, academic, and professional situations.

If our youth have access to mentoring, it will have a significant positive effect in their lives, their community, and generations to come. That’s why ARISE Project For Humanity is now expanding our mentoring program in the U.S to reach more communities.


"Try to always be flexible, because opportunity rarely comes at the right time."

Our Founder @williamsonsntyl spoke today during the youth oratorical hosted by Clark & Clark Law Group, LLC and the MLL Planning Committee at the Blackwell Cultural Center here in Elbert County.

Our goal with this ongoing youth development movement in the community is to inspire young people to change their mindset, create their life, and impact their community through mentoring.

Williamson’s talk was about the power that lies within. Together we can help them discover their true power so that they can be who they were created to be.



We had a great time at the @jimreemuseum celebrating Juneteenth with friends and locals from Elbert County. Special thanks to the White family for putting this event together to help bring a joyful celebration in the community.



We continue to be inspire by Pastor Jim McColloughs’ dedication to help build stronger connections in the community and to bring interfaith together. Pastor Jim and so many other local leaders here in Elbert County understand that the future of our youth is important - they’re ready to do the work.


For those of us who fervently believe in the ideals of mentoring, our invitation for you is to continue to be a force for good in our community.

Picture Taken at the Elberton First United Methodist Church on 132 E. Church St.



The mission of Arise is deeply rooted in a set core values, principles and goals. These core values are embraced by our mentors through a pedagogical key of mentoring which is the foundation of Arise’s unique purpose, goal, and vision.

Make ARISE Project For Humanity your charity of choice in your United Way or other workplace giving program!


We’re amazed by Attorney Clark’s commitment to “Balancing the Scales of Justice” in the county. During our visit with him in his office, he shared his interest in supporting our mission to empower the youth in our community through mentoring. Last night, he hosted a large gathering and invited us to come to share our mission and vision for the community.

Attorney Clark achieved the rank of specialist 5 in the United States Army before he was honorably discharged in 1971. After serving his country, he completed his education. John graduated with academic honors from Savannah State University (1975) and Southern University Law Center (1978). ​ After successfully passing the Georgia Bar, Attorney Clark became the first African American attorney to practice law in Elberton, Georgia as a member of the Northern Circuit District Attorney’s Office. John eventually opened his own general service law firm with focus on civil rights. Attorney Clark teamed with several other lawyers to successfully force the city of Elberton to move to a ward voting system. That ruling led to more African-American voices in Elberton city government.

Visit Clark & Clark Law Group, LLC

We’re excited to join forces with him to help empower our youth in the community.



Today, Our team met with Freddie Jones, the founder of The Granite City Life Skills Foundation. The mission of Granite City Life Skills Foundation is to promote scientific, athletic, educational, cultural, and social development for the community of Elberton County.

They’re now raising funds to redeveloping the six-acre Blackwell Memorial High School property into an after-school program.


The University of Georgia’s College of Environment and Design conducted a design charrette for the Blackwell community to bring recognition, appreciation and attention to the African-American school history and to Principal Paul J. Blackwell, to prepare the Granite City Life Skills Foundation to begin fundraising for phased rehabilitation work on the Blackwell Memorial High School site and buildings, and to explore design improvements for the Blackwell Cultural Center and the Burke Street Gym to better connect all three sites physically and socially.

Our visit at the Blackwell Gym with Commissioner Freddie Jones, CEO of Granite Life Skills Foundation


We had the opportunity to sit down again with the Executive Director of the Elbert Chamber of Commerce and talk about ways to implement our mentoring program in the community and how we can be a great partner for locals. Rebecca is a force for good and we loved our time learning about the stories of the county and her love for our mentoring program. The chamber believes that empowering the youth with positive mindsets and applicable strategies will be great for their personal growth and will “pay it forward” mentality.



Honored to have meet Mayor Kelly Girtz again today and had lunch together with my team member Lia Black . Planning and strategizing further to empower the youth here in our community through our mentoring program and see how our organization can work with the locals here in the Athens-Clark County.

We are committed to empowering the next generation to change their mindset, create their life, and impact their community through mentoring.

Today, there are 46 million young people, aged 8-18, living in America. 16 million of them are growing up without a mentor. That's one out of every three young people who, outside of their family at home, don't have a trusted adult who they believe they can turn to for advice and guidance. Of those young people, 9 million face a variety of day-to-day challenges that put them at-risk for falling off track.


Mentoring creates meaningful connections that can positively impact the lives of both mentor and mentee. Those who receive mentorship are more likely to see improved academic, social, and economic prospects. Those who mentor are able to further build important leadership, management and creative skills, while giving back to their community.

That means that EVERY mentorship matters.

As we continue to building our network here in GA, we’re excited to work with local organizations that are working effortlessly together to help empower our youth in the community.

We’re so excited to share more with you on our work here in Elbert County...

for any info, please email us at suppor@ariseprojects.org

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