The Mission is to develop passionate youth into leaders of nonviolent advocacy efforts backed by kindness and innovation while showcasing and promoting the voices of established advocates and community stakeholders.
Mission Makai:
Making Advocacy Kind And Innovative
Advocates of the Future
Mission Makai connects youth with the people, programs, groups, and resources that develop advocacy skills, community wisdom, and nonviolence expertise.
OUR STORY
How do we should we handle harm as a community?
Mission Makai began from the personal journey of one youth advocate, shocked by the realities of America's punitive criminal justice system propagated by mass incarceration and the Retributive Justice philosophy.
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Since the age of 14, Mickey has participated in Reach For Youth's Teen Court program. This nationally-recognized program brings youth offenders in front of a jury of their peers who decide which restorative consequences would be the best fit to restore the harm that they have caused. Teen Court inspired Mickey to challenge the status quo and ask the question: How should we handle harm in our communities?
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His ongoing journey to answer that question has brought him into many spaces and communities centered around Kingian Nonviolence, Restorative Justice, and beloved community. In every youth group, committee, or coalition, Mickey was inspired by
the power of youth to be kind, innovative, and see social issues from different perspectives.
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Mission Makai is Mickey's attempt to channel the kindness, innovation, and passion of youth into a force for social change centered around institutionalizing Kingian Nonviolence, Restorative Justice, and Beloved Community. These three concepts were chosen as Mission Makai's focus areas because they each revolutionize the status-quo on how we answer the question: How should we handle harm in our communities?
Mickey Makai Carrothers speaking at the re-naming of the Marion County Teen Court Courtroom
Why Makai?
Making Advocacy Kind And Innovative
Read below to learn why Mickey chose his middle name to represent his life's mission.
“Makai wasn't always my middle name. My former name, Mickey Earl Carrothers put me on the receiving end of quite a lot of bullying as a kid. My childhood speech impediment made pronouncing R's a real struggle. I desperately wanted to change my name. I wanted a middle name that sounded cool and that I could pronounce without others laughing. At 10, my parents heard my pleas and legally changed my name to Mickey Makai Carrothers, my first choice. "
He named it after his middle name?
What does Makai mean?
" To me, Makai was a symbol of fighting back against bullying, injustice, and the hardships I faced beause of my speech impediment. Luckily, during middle school I grew out of most of my speaking issues. Yet, my middle name remained; reminding me that I can always take action to overcome or at least get through my struggles. "
Why Mission Makai?
"It was the summer of 22' when my desires to make system level changes in our justice system and inspire my peers to advocate along side me couldn't be held back any longer. I wanted to harness the kindess and innovation I saw among youth around me but I couldn't make up my mind on what to call this mission. I thought to myself, 'I want to make advocacy more kind and innovative.' and just like that, I settled on Mission Makai"