East English Village junior creates program to help others dealing with loss of loved one
By Love Jones Voice of the Ville
DeAngelo Hughes, a junior at East English Village Preparatory Academy, lost his mother at the age of 13.
As a means of coping with her death and helping other students dealing with similar losses, he created an afterschool program called “Detroit Flutter.”
“Detroit Flutter is for grief and suicide prevention and to create a space to help children through the process of losing a loved one,” Hughes said.
Hughes created the afterschool program after participating in The Future Project at East English Village Preparatory Academy last year. The Future Project is a New York-based program hosted in many schools throughout the country to provide students with support to discover their potential and build the skills they need to change their lives and the world.
After participating in the project and creating Detroit Flutter, Hughes was invited to New York in November to be spotlighted for Ted Talks, a live network talk show. Hughes had the opportunity to meet the CEO and co-founder of the Future Project, Andrew Mangino, who had also lost his mother.
Hughes believes his program will be a great impact on teens, helping them through their grieving process. Teens mostly feel comfortable with other teens or peers, and he believes his program will have monumental impact because of the peer support.
Detroit Flutter is in negotiations to be a featured program in many Detroit city schools.
Hughes can be contacted via email at Detroit.flutter@gmail.com for additional information regarding the program.
