How Ashton Burrell Is Rebuilding Communities

How one mentor spent 15 years betting on young people, and why it worked.

Not every story worth telling comes with a tracklist. Some are worth telling simply because they remind you what one determined person can build. Ashton Burrell’s is one of those. Over fifteen years, the New Jersey educator, author, and community leader has turned a single belief into thousands of changed lives: that communities rise when someone bets on their young people. It’s a story about resilience, persistence, and the kind of quiet impact that rarely makes headlines but reshapes everything it touches.

For more than fifteen years, Ashton Burrell has treated one belief as non-negotiable: communities rise when someone bets on their young people.

A nationally recognized leader, author, and educator, Burrell has spent his career turning that belief into programs, and those programs into thousands of changed lives across New Jersey and beyond.

His own story began in Philadelphia, where he was born Ashton Sterling before relocating to New Jersey with his family. The transition was not easy, and the resilience it required became the foundation of everything that followed.

In 2011, Burrell founded The Live Mentorship Program, a youth initiative built around leadership, mentorship, and life skills for students ages 9 to 19. The numbers are hard to argue with. LMP has served more than 3,000 students and posted a 100 percent high school graduation rate among participants, with several alumni advancing to professional careers in the NFL and NBA.

The same year, he launched Shoot Hoops Not Guns, a basketball-based program promoting peace and positive decision-making that has since reached Atlanta, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

As Director of the Zone 6 Teen Youth Center, Burrell oversees programs serving every age group, from infants to seniors.

In 2025, he expanded the center’s food distribution effort to three days a week, now reaching more than 500 residents facing food insecurity.

His reach extends further still: global outreach in Africa, disaster relief, and social justice advocacy, including one of New Jersey’s largest demonstrations following the death of George Floyd in 2020. An accomplished author, Ashton Burrell published A Breakdown of Impact in 2014 and the novel Hope 4 A 2nd Chance in 2025, a story of resilience, injustice, and redemption set inside the U.S. prison system. Fifteen years in, the work continues.

Stay tuned to EDM Revival for more stories worth telling — on and off the dance floor.

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