Alimi Ballard, has co-starred in Hollywood’s hit television show “Numb3rs” and the hit movie “Fast Five,” but he got his inspiration to act as a teen in the Bronx at Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center. At age 16, with his childhood friend Gilbert Glenn Brown, he toured New York City high schools, elementary schools, libraries and local theaters performing in plays with positive themes.
On April 16, Mind-Builders and the Coalition of Theatres of Color (CTC) saluted Ballard and Gilbert Glenn Brown at the Pregones Theatre in the Bronx as “Outstanding Alumnus of Mind-Builders” for their work in creating positive images for African American youth.
“It was 1989 and crack was king. Mind-Builders was the safest environment that I knew outside of my home,” Ballard said. “Mind-Builder’s changed my life completely.”
In addition to his work on “Numb3rs” and in “Fast Five,” Ballard has a recurring role on television’s “NCIS” and in the Marvel animated series and video game “Super Hero Squad.”
Actor/playwright Brown, is the director of Mind-Builders’ youth theater company Positive Youth Troupe. “I have a lifelong connection to Mind-Builders,” said Brown. “I tell the young people in PYT that there are a lot of avenues that we can walk down. It can’t be all about you. It has to be about service. Somebody is helping you.”
Brown’s work in theater has earned him three NAACP Theatre Award nominations and a Drama Critic Award. He’s appeared as Martin Luther King Jr. in Negro Ensemble Company’s production of “Martin: An American Musical” and in several television shows.
The awards program included a performance by the Positive Youth Troupe and an official proclamation from Council Member Larry Seabrook and Council Member Oliver Koppell.
“Alimi Ballard and Gilbert Glenn Brown are role models to the youth in the Bronx, especially young people in Mind-Builders,” said Madaha Kinsey-Lamb, executive director and founder of Mind-Builders.
Kinsey-Lamb founded Mind-Builders in 1978. The organization, which offers a wide-range of performance arts training, is currently housed in the former convent house at St. Brendan’s Church in Norwood. This fall, Mind-Builders is scheduled to open a newly renovated headquarters on White Plains Road and East Gun Hill Road.
Editor’s note: A version of his story appears in the May 3-16 print edition of the Norwood News.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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