Thursday, June 18, 2020

Lewis Mission Moment: Kevin Davenport '11 Answers Call to Empower Black and Brown Youth

From the time Kevin can remember, his mother spent most of her time mentoring youth at her performing arts school. Kevin mastered the curriculum in her program and was teaching his own classes by age 15. Fast forward to 2015, at age 25, Kevin decided to carry on his mother’s vision - and The Ideal Candidate was born.

Compared to every major city in America, Chicago has the highest out of school, out of work percentage for black and brown youth, ages 16 to 24. Kevin and his team at The Ideal Candidate have devoted themselves to changing that narrative.

At its launch, Kevin and his team focused only on soft skill development; however, since inception, they have added onto the existing curriculum and grown more than 35% year after year. The Ideal Candidate is now an award-winning non-profit organization that certifies students with: Financial Literacy, Soft Skills, Etiquette, Corporate Integration, Sales & Communication, etc.

As of January 2020, The Ideal Candidate has added to its operations to start placing students in positions and act as a diversity and inclusion pipeline for corporations and small businesses.

“The Ideal Candidate equips youth with skills they can use forever,” says Kevin. “I designed the curriculum to address all the skills needed to excel and thrive in the workplace that are not taught directly in a traditional high school curriculum; many of which are typically taught in the household. And when it is not being taught in the household, and they are not teaching it in school, some students enter adulthood with zero exposure to these skills. We address these issues head on. The Ideal Candidate program prepares an individual for getting the job, keeping the job, and knowing what to do with your new stream of income. We’ve impacted 600 plus students to date.”

This organization services black and brown youth from all over the Chicagoland area, many of which are dealing with major issues. Some have to cross gang territory to get to and from school or had a classmate or family member die due to gun violence. At The Ideal Candidate, a critical aspect of the job is to build a strong relationship with the students, so they feel heard and know they are in a safe and open environment for learning.

For Kevin, it is important that each 'Ideal Candidate' graduates with a new sense of confidence and truly believes and feels that they are equal. "I want them to know they add value to any room they walk into, and that their value will continue to compound over time."


Kevin is very grateful to Dr. Ayers and Dr. Enyia of the Lewis Communications Department for being amazing teachers and going above and beyond to support him throughout his journey at the university.

“I really took advantage of their open-door policy, and I gained so much knowledge in creative thinking and problem solving just from seeing how they think and dissect problems to recreate solutions. Lewis University taught me grit, time management, problem solving and creative thinking, which have all laid the foundation for my professional career.”

Lewis’ Mission statement is a guiding star for how Kevin chose to design his life after graduation. He created a non-profit [The Ideal Candidate] to provide resources to a diverse student population and provide education. He then created a for-profit company [The Ideal Training Academy] to help with the diversity and inclusion issues corporations have when hiring new diverse talent.

“Every day, I wake up fulfilled, humbled, grateful that I can live and work in my purpose. I feel like I am doing the work I was put on earth to do. Very challenging work, but simultaneously very rewarding work. And I’m just getting started,” says Kevin.

And that is no joke. On August 1, 2020, Kevin and another partner are launching a new company: Ideal Digital (ID). ID is a digital marketing, advertising, and branding company that will hire directly from The Ideal Candidate.

“This is a very exciting time. For the first time ever, I will be able to directly hire my own graduates from The Ideal Candidate. Allowing a student to complete our full cycle (Training - Job Placement – First check) 100% under our guidance.”

Kevin recently received two awards for his outstanding work: FWD (For Women & Diversity) Award – Chicago 2019 and the Mayor’s Award of Excellence – City of Aurora 2020. In addition, The Ideal Candidate was recognized in 2019 by the Chicago Community Trust – Young Leaders Fund with the Community & Economic Development Award and in 2020 Chicago Housing Authority CHCS recognized The Ideal Candidate with the Community Impact Award.

To learn more about The Ideal Candidate, visit www.theidealcandidate.org.

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