Concrete Rose Nonprofit Organization was incorporated by E. R. Stallings LLC on March 11, 2016. The idea was sparked when the Founder Earnest Stallings Jr. was reciting “The Rose That Grew From Concrete, a poem written by Tupac Shakur. After reading the poem to a group and trying to interpret the meaning to them, a child rose her hand and asked “Am I a Concrete Rose?” “Yes you are” Earnest replied and a concept was born in that moment. Earnest and a small group of volunteers regularly returned to the library to educate and encourage the youth there. It wasn’t until a parent asked for help with keeping her son motivated that Concrete Rose was born. We noticed that the son was good at drawing, but there were no nonprofit art classes to help him perfect his skill. There were nonprofit classes for adults but not for children. This developed into a resource research mission. Classes were available if you had the money, which wasn’t the case in the situation. The mother worked, however she just didn’t have the disposable income to afford art classes. Was there not one organization that helped develop skills and talent in kids for the under privliged? We discovered that, although we have always encouraged our children to strive to be whatever they wanted to be, the programs to aid in this accomplishment just wasn’t there. We were so determined to find an outlet for him that we created that outlet ourselves. We find it unfair that a hardworking mother, who just wants the best for her son, couldn’t get access to help. With so many registered nonprofits in America it was hard to believe how difficult it was to address this issue. Today we operate and serve as a youth resource organization working hard to bridge the gap between poor and prosperous.
No. Concrete Rose Nonprofit is inspired by a body of work published by 2pac Shakur, but unfortunately is not affiliated with the artist nor his estate.
Concrete Rose is funded solely by the generous donations of our founder Earnest R. Stallings Jr. and the helpful donations of patriots who believe in our cause or at least want to help.
Concrete Rose is located in the city of Compton, however we will operate wherever needed. Our donations come from everywhere. We feel so should our candidates.
Yes. We are a fully recognized and registered tax-exempt 501(3)(c) nonprofit. All donors will receive a certified receipt of the total value of their donation. If an item was donated; an estimated value will be placed on the item based on the information provided on the “Other Donations Form”.
Our mission statement is:
“WE STRIVE TO ELEVATE LIVES”
Our Tagline is:
“EVERY ¢ENT MAKES $ENSE”
It’s simple and basic, but we believe in it wholeheartedly.
What’s sad is the fact that I didn’t even know I could be more than a hoodsta until I was incarcerated. All of my juvenile life I believed all black males were either gang related or well-off. As the son of a Pastor, The moral complex was “Why is God setting me up for failure”. I never actually joined a gang, but I don’t think that matters to my victims. I vowed that once I was released I was going to try to inform as many lost souls as myself that you’re not defined by your defaults.
