For a few years, Alex Quian has been on a mission to give back to the community and inspire others to do the same.
Now, the 23-year-old DFW resident is rolling his nonprofit Young Leaders for Change, as well as a couple of endeavors launched during the pandemic into one, forming the Better Together Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at creating the next generation of leaders through a community-oriented focus. And he’s also publishing a book to help others follow in his path.
“It all plays into this mission that we’ve recognized is so important, which is promoting togetherness in our communities and embracing differences,” Quian told NTX Inno. “So to that end, we thought it was important just to consolidate our efforts and focus on doing just that.”
While Young Leaders for Change, which launched in September 2019 with a similar mission to Better Together to create “innovative youth centers” that promote things like service, entrepreneurism, life-long learning, professionalism and personal wellness, Quian has been active rolling out other ways to reach people digitally during the pandemic. One of those efforts is the LetsThriveNow.org, a website dedicated to sharing vetted resources on personal and professional ways for young adults to navigate their first economic downturn. The other is Mentor Moments, a podcast focused on professionalism and personal development that has hosted local business leaders Kanarys Co-founder and CEO Mandy Price and Alkami Technology Co-founder and Chief Strategy and Sales Officer Stephen Bohanon.
Since all of the initiatives share similar core values and goals, Quian said it only made sense to combine them with the Better Together umbrella.
“It’s really getting people to think about service in a different way than maybe they traditionally did,” Quian said.
Much of Quian's work in the community began in the summer of 2019. Coming back to DFW on a break from college, he said he was looking to make a difference in the region. That’s when his mentor Greg Weatherford II, SMU’s director of community engagement and special projects, suggested attempting 30 different service projects in 30 days. After getting over the initial shock of the suggestion, Quian got to work. And throughout the effort, he said he began noticing the real impact he could make wasn’t necessarily as an individual, but as someone who could inspire others to get involved, or as he puts it, showing people “how your kindness can ripple through the community.”
“It was those moments that made me realize the impact that I had by completing a service project,” Quian said. “I may have only fed 50 people that day, but the impact on the other people I inspired, who knows what that is and who knows who they inspired to serve.”
Coinciding with Better Together, Quian is also co-publishing a book with Weatherford aptly titled “Better Together.” Like his other endeavors, the book is about helping others find inspiration through service. Still, it also offers some concrete tips and strategies on how to plan and manage community-service projects.
The formation of Better Together and the book also comes with the foundation's launch of some new initiatives. Better Together has launched a scholarship program in partnership with local startup Alkami Technology and JSX. Together, they are looking to award four $2,000 scholarships to high school seniors in the DFW area, with two of them including paid internships with JSX. Also, during Educator Appreciation Week in May, the organization will provide certain school staff with a meal.
“I would just love to see more young people be more motivated to accomplish great things or at least pursue whatever goals that they have set, and I would love to see this culture where young people are as passionate about giving back as they are about anything else,” Quian said. “It’s just wanting to promote that sense of unity and greater love for our communities, and just being more responsible for the futures that we have.”
A previous version of this article misspelled Quian's name and identified him as 22 years old. He is 23 years old.
