Dr. Carol Collum Is Building the Village Chicago’s Young People Deserve
When you ask Dr. Carol Collum what she does, she doesn’t start with titles.
She starts with responsibility.
As founder and executive director of True Believers Community Connections and its youth initiative Stay Lit, Dr. Collum has planted herself on the corner of 79th and Normal in Auburn Gresham and refused to move. From there, her team serves youth ages 11–24 and their families across Auburn Gresham, Greater Grand Crossing, Chatham, Englewood, Ashburn, and Washington Heights.
Her work is not a theory about community. It is a daily practice of showing up.
In this Village Talks conversation with host Damien Howard (on the SELvie podcast), Dr. Collum traces how a career that began in law enforcement and moved through education led her to create a different kind of organization—one built for real, relational impact with young people and families.
This is her story, and the lessons she’s learned about calling, leadership, and staying the course when the work is anything but easy.
From Bulletproof Vest to Open Arms
The vision for True Believers Community Connections was born at the intersection of three careers:
1. Law enforcement
2. Education
3. Social work
For years, Dr. Collum served as a senior corrections parole agent, responsible for 378 newly released individuals. Her job was to ensure they followed court mandates and stayed connected to required services.
On paper, that sounds like support.
In reality, she was often seen as the enemy.
She wore a bulletproof vest.
She drove a squad car.
She had the power to issue warrants and personally return parole violators to Stateville.
“I wasn’t viewed as helpful,” she recalls. “I looked like the people who took their freedom.”
That disconnect stayed with her.
Her next chapter took her into schools as an assistant principal and dean of students. Again, she held positions that came with authority and structure. Again, she felt the weight of systems that limited her ability to offer true wraparound support.
“The school system has its own structures, its own protocols, its own glass ceiling,” she explains. “There was still a stopping point that wouldn’t allow me to embrace individuals and families like I had the passion to do.”
The tension was clear: she wanted to be received as a partner, not an arm of the system.
True Believers Community Connections was her answer.
When Your Calling Outgrows Your Role
Damien connects deeply with Dr. Collum’s story. In 2017, while working as a special education resource teacher at Crane High School, he had his own moment of conviction.
He realized his capacity to impact the city extended beyond a single classroom.
“It started to feel claustrophobic,” he admits. “Like I’m choking. I need breath. I need to stretch my arms a bit.”
He asks Dr. Collum what she would say to people inside systems—schools, agencies, institutions—who feel that same suffocation. People who care deeply, but are bumping into glass ceilings and constraints.
Her answer is simple and sharp:
“When you are a visionary leader, it’s even worse.”
She names that feeling for what it is: self-discovery.
You may not just be burnt out; you may have outgrown the space you’re in.
“The self-awareness is we have to make sure we’re not just overwhelmed,” she says. “But when it’s the suffocation of a vision not being able to be fulfilled, that’s when we need to really be honest and decide: is it my time to go?”
She describes how discomfort can be a signal that a season is ending. When things are smooth, it’s easy to stay. When the ground starts shifting, you’re being invited to pay attention.
“Had I not been disrupted along the journey, I would have stayed,” she admits. “I was successful. Things were well. But something on the inside of me was just not okay with that level of comfortability.”
True Believers was born from that disruption.
The Hidden Cost of Visionary Leadership
From the outside, it’s easy to see Dr. Collum’s work and focus only on the impact:
The young people served.
The families supported.
The partners engaged.
But she is clear: this path is not glamorous.
“It’s been a joy. It’s been turbulent,” she says. “It is sweat, blood, tears… long hours, all of that.”
As the visionary leader, she carries responsibility for:
• Deliverables and outcomes
• Day-to-day operations
• Staff and volunteer alignment
• Training and retraining when the vision isn’t yet understood
Some volunteers show up just to complete community service hours, not to connect with the people. There are funding challenges, administrative demands, and the emotional load of community work.
What keeps her going?
“Something on the inside of you gives you that stamina,” she says. That inner resolve is what keeps her pushing the mission and vision forward when the turbulence hits.
Damien names what he sees in her: the “level five” leadership Jim Collins writes about—a rare blend of executive strength and deep humility.
Dr. Collum doesn’t disagree, but she doesn’t center herself either. She centers the calling.
Gifts, Calling, and the Work You’re Built For
One of the clearest themes from Dr. Collum is the connection between gifts and calling.
“Your abilities and your gifts connect to your call,” she explains. “That is what empowers you to stand in your calling.”
She knows her primary gift: administration.
An administrator, in her view, is empowered to:
• Build
• Lay structures and foundations
• Plant and organize systems that last
Just as a pastor is graced to preach multiple services week after week, she is graced to design and sustain complex community work.
That clarity matters because it changes how you interpret difficulty.
If you’re misaligned—using your gifts in a space that doesn’t fit—you will feel drained. If you’re operating in your lane, the work will still be hard, but there will be an unusual stamina.
Her challenge to others is direct:
• Know your gifts.
• Name your abilities.
• Pay attention to where your energy rises instead of collapses.
Those clues will point you toward the work you are meant to do.
Joy, Radiance, and the Work That Makes You Come Alive
Dr. Collum doesn’t reduce calling to emotion, but she refuses to ignore joy either.
“Find those moments that make you smile from the inside out,” she says.
You should feel fulfilled—and, as she puts it, you should also look fulfilled.
“You should really be radiant because you found those things that you align with in life,” she explains. “If you’re not feeling that type of joy… you’ve got to dig on the inside and find your niche.”
Damien adds another dimension. For him, even when life is overwhelming, there is power in the simple act of choosing to smile.
“There’s a simplicity and the power of putting a smile on your face that has the ability to start impacting your psychology,” he says.
If you’re smiling on the inside but not on the outside, he challenges, try letting it show. Sometimes the outward choice feeds back into the inner life.
And if your workplace gives you no genuine reason to smile?
He has a suggestion: go find Dr. Carol and volunteer.
The Village Behind True Believers
True Believers Community Connections may have started with a single visionary, but it is sustained by a village.
Dr. Collum is quick to name them:
• Volunteers
• Staff
• Community partners
• Funders and donors
“We’re blessed beyond measure because of that,” she says.
And yet, she doesn’t romanticize it. Not every volunteer arrives with a heart for people. Some just need hours. Not every partner fully grasps the depth of the work.
Her role is to keep training, retraining, and aligning everyone around the mission: supporting youth and families in the neighborhoods where support is most needed.
That commitment has not gone unnoticed.
In November 2023, the Church of God in Christ presented her with its highest international honor for recognition of distinguished service.
She didn’t apply for it. She was recommended by her pastor and bishop.
“I am elated that others view it as such,” she says quietly, holding up the award. “There is no other higher recognition in the Church of God in Christ.”
For her, it’s not about prestige. It’s about the fact that people outside the daily trenches see the work happening in Auburn Gresham—and view it as global in significance.
Why Chicago Still Inspires Her
Damien grew up in Auburn Gresham, just blocks from where True Believers now operates. For him, this is home.
He asks Dr. Collum what she loves most about Chicago, and how that shapes the way her organization serves.
Her answer focuses on exposure.
She loves the city’s:
• Culture and arts
• Museums
• Universities
• Landmarks and institutions—from Navy Pier to the Google offices to the Obama Center on the South Side
Those aren’t just amenities. They are tools.
They become field trips where young people step out of their immediate blocks and see a wider world. College tours. Corporate visits. Experiences that teach by showing.
This is how the city itself becomes part of the program model.
A Hard-Won Distinction in Youth Development
Late in the conversation, Dr. Collum shares a detail most people don’t know:
True Believers Community Connections is the only organization accredited in the Midwest region for community youth development.
She doesn’t share this to brag. She barely wanted to mention it.
But she does, because it illustrates what consistent, values-driven work can lead to over time: credibility, recognition, and a higher standard of practice.
That accreditation is the result of years of hard work, grit, and follow-through in the day-to-day operations. It’s proof that what’s happening on 79th and Normal is not just heartfelt—it’s also rigorous.
Don’t Let Another Season Pass You By
Dr. Collum closes with a challenge that reaches far beyond Chicago.
“Please, if you know that there’s something down on the inside of you that you have not been able to tap into yet, don’t let another season go by,” she urges.
She remembers the awkward, uncomfortable place of knowing she was called to more but not yet acting on it.
“Don’t let another season go by where you’re not feeling the fulfillment of who you are called to be by who created you to be that,” she says. “Don’t miss another season.”
Whether you’re a teacher feeling boxed in by policy, a social worker weighed down by caseloads, or a community member who simply knows you were made for more than a paycheck, her message is the same:
Listen to the suffocation.
Name your gifts.
Be honest about the season you’re in.
And when it’s time to move, move.
For those in Chicago, the invitation is concrete.
True Believers Community Connections is located at 459 West 79th Street, on the corner of 79th and Normal. You can reach them at 773-966-5651 or visit truebelieverscc.org to learn more, seek support, or explore volunteer opportunities.
If you’re curious about how other organizations are building supportive ecosystems for youth and mentors, you can also learn more about how mentoring at scale is being supported at https://www.sel-plus.com/selvieai.