Nate Nichols’ Valley Youth House speech will move you

If you follow Technically Media on the Snapchat, you might have noticed a recent takeover by Nate Nichols, founder of creative agency Palette Group.

It was pretty dope.

But Nichols has come a long way. In a recent speech the founder gave at Valley Youth House in Allentown, Pa., Nichols spoke about his upbringing — his experience with foster care, life in a single-parent household and his immigrant parents —  with 100 former foster, homeless and underserved youth.

“Harold, my father, hasn’t shared a breath or a phone call, a secret handshake or a talk on how to go zero to one hundred real quick, quick, with the ladies,” said Nichols. “Ever.”

It’s worth a watch.

“I’ve slept on a mattress with no bed frame, no headboard, just a mattress on a floor of a dark, dingy warehouse with no shower, no kitchen and barely and sunlight,” said Nichols. “Invisible to the world, government, family, friends and society.”

The speech serves as a reminder of a few failures of the system — especially its inability to totally track the number of people experiencing homelessness and the structural racism that plagues government institutions — as well as the need for providers and government to fill the gaps that allow youth to experience such horrors.