It was a long way from the streets of Windsor, Connecticut, where Raishaun McGhee and his childhood friends Devontè Dillion and Terrell Huff once dreamed of NFL stardom. But for McGhee, now a Stanford Business School student, this moment represented something bigger than personal success – it was validation of a vision he shares with two friends who refuse to forget where they came from.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” McGhee says, sitting in the Stanford Town Square during a recent interview. “We don’t see people on Wall Street that look like us. We don’t see private equity fund managers. That’s not what we’re exposed to growing up. We’re exposed to athletes who come from similar backgrounds, and we’re like, alright, that’s it – that’s my ticket out.” McGhee, an African-American and son of a Jamaican Immigrant, thinks deeply about how race and exposure plays a critical role in professional outcomes.
In Hartford County, where Diligence Training (Dillion, Huff, and McGhee’s organization ) operates, the numbers tell a stark story: only 24% of students read at grade level, and just 16% are proficient in math. More than 150 schools lack basic health services. But statistics don’t capture the daily reality of children growing up in communities where dreams often feel constrained by circumstance.
“I never imagined that I would go to Harvard,” McGhee recalls. “I didn’t have anyone telling me that it was even possible to go to Harvard.” After graduating as an economics major and working in private equity at TPG’s RISE Fund, he could have easily left his hometown concerns behind. Instead, he and his friends chose to dig deeper and pour into their community.
Their approach began taking shape in 2022 at Dilligence Training, their gym in East Hartford, Connecticut. “Through the gym, we were doing a lot of community work, naturally for the youth,” McGhee explains. “And in 2022, we decided to officially start a nonprofit to focus all of the work that we were doing and make a bigger impact, with goals to eventually scale this nonprofit to make an impact outside of just the Hartford community.”
The nonprofit, DT Cares (“DTC”), now serves 150 students across multiple schools. McGhee’s voice grows passionate when discussing their approach: “It’s unique in that its truly holistic. It incorporates physical health, mental health, and emotional well-being into the kids’ mentorship. It’s in the gym, in the classroom, and it’s at home. A lot of the kids, even though we may have them for an hour or two, once they leave they’re put in an environment that is not conducive to their growth and it’s easy to go right back to their old habits. They no longer have that support system or guidance that they need, which is what we focus on providing at DTC.”
The impact is evident in stories like that of Yayo Rodriguez. Growing up in Hartford’s south-end projects, Rodriguez lost several family members to gang-related violence. Today, he’s the first in his family to attend college, on a full scholarship to Albertus Magnus College.
“It’s kids that their parents have been incarcerated or in and out the house,” McGhee says, describing their typical students. “Some have been in shelters. It’s truly kids who are going through adversity that you couldn’t even imagine. But when they step into our facility or when we join them in their classroom and they’re with us, we’re truly making a world of a difference by giving them unconditional care and support.”
DT Cares operates programs across several schools, including Gideon Welles Middle School in Glastonbury and Sage Park Middle School in Windsor. They also work with kids at the high school level such as in their flagship “More Than An Athlete” mentorship program which pairs high school students with college student-athletes at top institutions, expanding their vision of what’s possible beyond professional sports.
“A lot of what we are doing is ran by just the three of us,” McGhee notes, “but we’re making a huge impact. We’re reaching around 150 kids through our programs and the number is increasing.” Dillion and Huff are boots on the ground in Connecticut, while McGhee spearheads their virtual programs and growth strategy from Stanford’s Campus in Palo Alto.
The organization’s approach to mentorship goes beyond traditional academic support. “For middle school, we’ll focus on leadership development and confidence building” McGhee explains. “For high school programs, we’ll focus on resume building, college applications, and public speaking. We’ll also do career panels. All things that schools may touch on at a high level, but they’re not going in depth or tailoring their support.”
Their commitment to athletics remains central to their mission, but with a broader purpose. “Football gave us so much in terms of discipline and role models with coaches acting as father figures to many of us when we were younger” McGhee reflects. “And it gave you both mentorship and a sense of belonging that you didn’t really have anywhere else. It was truly was our outlet and it helped shape us into the men we are today.”
Now, as the dedicated team seeks $500,000 in funding to expand their reach, McGhee sees their work through both a personal and systemic lens. “We want to expand because we truly believe that our mission and vision is differentiated given our story and our holistic approach,” he says. “That being said, we want to expand across the nation. Why not? And truly be the go-to nonprofit that is helping kids at the middle school and high school level through mentorship with a health and wellness focus.”
When asked about his driving force, McGhee doesn’t hesitate: “It’s being able to be of service and pour into those who I see myself in given their circumstances or upbringing. When I see some of our young scholars I think ‘that was once me’. And I could have easily gone down a very different path. So, I want to make sure we can put as many kids on the right track as possible, because it’s very easy to get caught up in the distractions in the community where we grew up.”
Their motto, “Be who you needed growing up,” might sound simple. But as McGhee puts it, this isn’t just another charity focused on youth development. It’s a mission born from lived experience, driven by the understanding that sometimes the difference between success and struggle isn’t talent or drive, but simply having someone show up, day after day, with both barbells and books, with both push-ups and possibilities.
