Episode #23: Dr. Keith Cradle

“That is the crux of being a human being, that we see each other in a way that we recognize were some folks have and some folks have not and how can I get the things they don’t have to them to give them an opportunity.”

Welcome everyone to episode Twenty-Three of the “It Matters To Me Podcast”! I’m your host, Adam Casey, and today my guest is Dr. Keith Cradle, Director of Youth/Juvenile Programs for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office and founder of the non-profit “Camping With Cradle” among many other titles.

Dr. Cradle grew up in White Plains, NY, and kicks things off by talking about his childhood and how the environment he grew up in helped shape him into the highly motivated person he is today.

A major part of that evolution involved him moving to North Carolina where he studied at Johnson C. Smith University and eventually earned both his Master’s Degree and Ph.D. After that, he decided to stay in the Tar Heel state where he got involved with the public sector and became a prominent voice in the community.

From that professional point in his career and based on his own exploration of the natural beauty in the state he now calls home, he started the non-profit, “Camping With Cradle”.

As an outdoor mentoring program, Camping With Cradle is a means for young adults to become more familiar with the outdoors, the program is designed as a group mentoring model with each outing allowing a group of approximately 6-8 youth to experience an outdoor trip they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to be a part of.

Their dedication to helping underserved youth discover the great outdoors and develop life skills that attach themselves to social mobility is originally why I wanted to have Dr. Cradle on the show and is just a really great organization that I hope you’ll check out.

Warning, this one had some technical glitches that we had to work through so the audio is a little rough at times, but Dr. Cradle made for an absolutely amazing and fiery guest. His energy is almost palpable and trust me, it’s going to get you pumped.

Additional Links

Keith Cradle (Website):

https://www.keithcradle.com/bio

Camping With Cradle (Website):

https://www.campingwithcradle.org/

It Matters To Me (Instagram):

https://www.instagram.com/adamcasey/