Calief Housen, CEO and founder of local structured academic mentorship company Career InTouch Inc. has the kind of life experience kids can relate to. It’s one of the reasons why his company’s outreach in Kingston City School District in just its second year has been a success, and why both the district and Career InTouch hopes it will continue into the future.
Housen grew up in Kingston, attended school in the Kingston City School District (KCSD), and is a member of the Kingston High School Class of 2019. Like many kids Ulster County’s most urban school district, Housen didn’t have a clear path to success from childhood.
“My upbringing as far as socio-economic status, we were really low. We grew up in downtown public housing,” Housen said. “But the support that I’ve always received from the faculty and administration throughout the district as I was growing up, it was safe for me to say that there was never a point where I wasn’t connected to at least one adult, one administrator, faculty member, who just always looked out for me in the slightest ways. It was always that presence was always felt, that someone cared.”
Feeling like someone cares is at the heart of the Career InTouch credo, which identifies “the importance in community, the power in self-awareness, and the pursuit of your purpose” in increasing student retention and academic success.
Career InTouch first began in the KCSD in February 2023 with two programs, both geared toward critical transitional periods in a student’s life. At John F. Kennedy Elementary School, the organization used their “3 Pillars of Success” program for boys and girls in grades 3 and 4. The pillars are identified as self-awareness for understanding, self-reflection for realization and self-discovery for identification.
“With that, we went into the elementary school and we had our workshops set up,” Housen said. “We had our informational workshop, our motivational workshop and our inspirational workshop and we would zone in on a soft skill for that week.”
Among other things, soft skills are personal attributes that enable harmonious and effective interaction with other people. The 3 Pillars of Success program worked with 17 students at JFK, 53 percent girls, 47 percent boys; 72 percent of all kids in the program were students of color. Due to funding shortfalls, the 3 Pillars program didn’t return this year, but it could in the future.
Soft skills are also at the heart of the I.M.I. program for secondary schools, a student-centric peer mentorship initiative at both of the KCSD’s middle schools. Currently for boys only, last year I.M.I. worked with 29 students, 72 percent students of color. That program has expanded this year to include 47 students, 70 percent students of color. Five mentors are part of the I.M.I. program. And among the mentors are other students.
This year, Career InTouch partnered with the Small Business Development Center of New York on EntreSkills, a free online course with capacity for 18 students, all 9th grade boys, with 78 percent students of color. That program includes one facilitator and two peer mentors.
At a meeting of the KCSD Board of Education held on Wednesday, February 21, Housen outlined Career InTouch’s plans for the 2-24-25 school year, including the expansion of the I.M.I. program. The former is expected to grow to 72 students, and open up to girls for the first time. The latter would also return, running at the same capacity.
At that school board meeting, Housen spoke of the wisdom of having students help one another.
“We often think who’s the most inspirational person in a 13- or 14-year-old’s life? You might think some famous NBA player, or perhaps mom or dad,” Housen said. “Well, everyone doesn’t always have mom or dad, and you’re not sitting with LeBron every day at lunch. So what I realized is it’s another 13- or 14-year-old.”
Some of the kids in the program spoke during the meeting, as did one older sister, and a mother, the latter named Andrea Drake.
“As a parent, one of our greatest hopes is to see our child thrive, not just academically, but also personally and emotionally,” she said. “Before joining the program, Emanuel struggled with authority, academics, positive male role models, and connecting with adults in the district, as well as many other things. It was heart wrenching to see him struggle with these challenges, feeling at a loss about how I can best support him. Discovering the I.M.I. program last year was a turning point for us. The transformation in Emanuel, since he started participating in the program, has been remarkable.”
Drake credited Housen — who she said was known as Cai to students in the program — with being a “true role model” for her son.
“Kai shows up for football games, goes to the gym and checks on my son daily,” Drake said. “The positive influence that Kai has had on him is unexplainable. Emanuel now exhibits a newfound confidence and sense of responsibility that was not apparent before.”
Drake added that her son’s academic performance has improved since joining I.M.I. last year, where he went from failing three subjects to passing and excelling.
“But more importantly, his outlook on life and his ability to navigate personal challenges has matured,” she said. “One of the most beautiful aspects of the program is its commitment to fostering genuine connections. Emanuel has often mentioned how the activities and discussions led by Cai have not only been fun, but deeply insightful. These experiences have not only enriched his understanding of the world around him, but have also instilled in him a strong sense of empathy and community.”
Drake said her son is talking about going to college for the first time, a milestone she credits to Housen and Career InTouch.
In an interview with Hudson Valley One, Housen said I.M.I. and other Career InTouch programs are able to be used in other school districts, something he hopes to add to future school years. But there’s something particularly gratifying about being able to work within the KCSD, where Housen himself found a pathway to success. That’s significant for other mentors as well, to be able to help students from within their own community.
“I always tell our partners that the students, the mentees, they get a great service, but when we’re talking about student retention, we’re not just talking about elementary school or middle school, we’re talking about the whole lifespan of a child’s academic journey,” he said. “And so for a senior, or you know, a student who just recently graduated to be able to go back to their community, and be deemed as a role model, as a leader, and get put in a position that they simply get to make a positive impact in a child’s life just through their shared living experience, it’s beyond gratifying.”
For Housen, that meant being candid about his own struggles when he was in school.
“I can speak from my personal experience and it was a way for me to be able to take my scars and my insecurities and make them beautiful, make them worth something,” he said. “We have a saying that life is ten percent what happens to you, 90 percent what you’re going to do about it. And so we put kids in a position to where, you know, when they were younger, they couldn’t control all the fact, external factors that were affecting their academic and/or personal lives, but now they’re in a position to where they can do something about it, and they can make a change.”
Back at the school board meeting, trustees spoke highly of Housen and Career InTouch, and a partnership with the KCSD they hope will continue to grow and flourish.
“You are bringing so much to our district and our students individually, but also at a larger scale,” said board member Cathy Collins. “I mean, you can see what an amazing role model you are for the kids. But also as a program, you have measurable outcomes, and you’re giving the kids tools and mechanisms to achieve goals and resolve conflict and inspiring and inspirational, effective, relationship centered goals. It’s just all there.”
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