TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Gun violence has been a serious issue throughout the city of Tallahassee. Most of the incidents include teens and young adults, ages 16-27.
With all of the violence in the community, it was easy for this local barber to take notice and decide to step up and try to make a difference.
His name is Nick Chuck Fryson and he's a local barber and advocate for positivity within his community.
Fryson, who also goes by Positive Chuck, has been cutting hair for 21 years, but what makes him standout is that he’s the director of a development group for teens and young adults that tries to steer them down the right path.
The group is called Positive Pathways, it’s a Christian based program that meets twice a month.
“In order to have an impact, you must have a system,” Fryson said. “I feel obligated to do the work that I’m doing.”
Fryson uses the barbershop in connection to Positive Pathways. He believes his work allows him to cultivate and have patience with the young men in the neighborhood.
“Naturally, who I am as a mentor, that’s by passion and purpose and cutting hair is by trade,” Fryson said. “It’s about looking at things in a positive way to put them in a positive position to go down a positive pathway.”
Fryson wasn’t the only one who thought he should step up and try to make a difference. Kingdom Life Pastor, Otis B. Young, has had many conversations with Fryson about Positive Pathways.
“I said man, I think there’s more that you could be doing, and it just went on from there,” Young said. “When the guys come, they need more than just a haircut. After they finish a haircut, they need additional things and I believe that creates a safe place.”
After Fryson partnered with the Church to form Positive Pathways, it created an open dialogue with the members of the group.
“Lives are being changed and converted,” Fryson said. “Conversations are starting to be had, these young men need the basic function and that’s care.”
One person to speak to that care is Florida State student, Adrian Fribley. Coming from a single-parent family, Fryson has been the person he looks to for guidance.
“Nick has done so much for my life. I can almost get emotional talking about him,” Fribley said. “We all need guidance; we all need hugs.”
Relationships in the barbershop, and in Positive Pathways; a place where Fryson let’s young men know that they don’t have to go down the wrong path or worse become a victim.
