DCPS Partner Founded 2017

Helping young people connect their story to their future.

Crowns Incorporated delivers relationship-driven youth development through mentoring, multimedia social-emotional learning, restorative justice, mediation, leadership development, family engagement, and community-based experiences.

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Mentoring Multimedia SEL Restorative Justice Community Leadership
Crowns leadership facilitating a youth development session with young people in Washington, DC.
250+ young people served since 2017

Our Mission

Build trust. Strengthen voice. Create pathways forward.

Crowns creates consistent spaces where young people can develop self-awareness, communication, conflict-management skills, leadership habits, and a stronger connection to school and community. We pair relationship-building with practical experiences that prepare youth for what comes next.

About Crowns

Community-rooted by design.

Founded in 2017, Crowns Incorporated works across youth development, school culture, restorative practices, community engagement, reentry support, and outreach to people experiencing homelessness. Our model is built around consistency, accountability, healing, and opportunity.

01

Relationship First

Trust grows through weekly presence, listening, reliability, and follow-through.

02

Whole-Student Development

We strengthen communication, identity, emotional awareness, leadership, and future readiness.

03

Restoration Over Reaction

Restorative practice and mediation help young people repair harm and strengthen relationships.

04

Real-World Relevance

Media, storytelling, civic engagement, field experiences, and career exposure make learning tangible.

Crowns youth participants and staff during an outdoor learning experience.
A young participant smiling during a Crowns youth program.
Young people learning photography during a Crowns multimedia experience.

School-Based Programming

A consistent partner inside the school community.

Crowns can support a focused cohort, grade level, or broader school culture through weekly or multi-day programming. We work alongside school leadership to align mentoring, SEL, restorative practice, family connection, and student voice with the needs of the school community.

Start a school partnership →
Students and community members participating in a school-wide Crowns event.

01

Weekly Student Support

  • Individual and small-group check-ins
  • Mentoring and goal-setting
  • Attendance and engagement support
  • Conflict prevention and mediation

02

Multimedia SEL

  • Storytelling and identity development
  • Podcasting, photography, and media
  • Stress management and emotional intelligence
  • Communication and social decision-making

03

Restorative Practice

  • Restorative circles
  • Relationship repair and accountability
  • Peer leadership
  • Culture-building initiatives

04

Family & School Connection

  • Family outreach and engagement
  • Resource navigation
  • Staff collaboration and student advocacy
  • Quarterly school-wide events

Program Goals

Designed to strengthen the full school experience.

  1. Increase students’ sense of belonging and connection to school.
  2. Strengthen emotional regulation, communication, and conflict-management skills.
  3. Build leadership, accountability, and readiness for life after high school.
  4. Deepen family and community engagement around student success.
  5. Support stronger attendance, academic engagement, and performance.
Youth producing multimedia content with cameras and recording equipment during Crowns programming.

Tell Your Story

Multimedia as a tool for SEL, confidence, and student voice.

Tell Your Story combines social-emotional learning with creative production. Students use conversation, reflection, podcasting, photography, and media-making to build communication skills, understand their experiences, and develop the confidence to tell their own stories.

Student voice Creative expression Media literacy Emotional intelligence

Programs

Support that extends beyond the classroom.

Our programs connect young people and families with trusted adults, practical experiences, community resources, and opportunities to lead.

School & Youth

Crowns Mentoring Program

Relationship-based mentoring centered on decision-making, accountability, personal development, and future planning.

School & Youth

Tell Your Story

Multimedia SEL using storytelling, creative production, and reflection to strengthen voice and connection.

Youth Development

Community First

Leadership and personal-development programming that connects practical skills with community responsibility.

Community

Safe Spaces

Consistent youth drop-in programming centered on conversation, food, mentorship, recreation, and trusted support.

Reentry

The Malcolm Project

Support for returning citizens focused on trauma recovery, transformation, employment connections, and reintegration.

Community Outreach

Sacred Grounds

Street-level outreach and resource connection for people experiencing homelessness, centered on dignity and consistency.

Impact

Consistent programming. Practical outcomes.

Crowns combines direct service with experiences that allow young people to practice leadership, build relationships, and see themselves as active contributors to their communities.

250+young people served since 2017
100+families supported
150+displaced citizens served
50+returning citizens connected to jobs and services

School Partnership

Anacostia High School

Crowns implemented a school-based program serving a 20-student cohort through mentoring, multimedia SEL, restorative practice, student engagement, and school-wide events. The work developed into a consistent school presence supporting student voice, leadership, culture, and connection.

The expanded model brings together multimedia SEL, mentoring, restorative justice, mediation, family engagement, and quarterly initiatives in a deeper school partnership.

A student practicing photography outside Anacostia High School during Crowns programming.
Young people participating in an outdoor learning experience during Crowns programming.

Summer Leadership

Southside Summer

Crowns delivered a six-week youth development experience for participants ages 14–22 featuring work readiness, restorative justice, civic engagement, financial planning, wellness, media production, community service, and field experiences.

Twenty young people completed the program successfully and received Certified Community Leader recognition.

Crowns community outreach and resource distribution in Washington, DC.

Community Beyond the Classroom

Service is part of the model.

From food and resource distribution to homelessness outreach, reentry support, and family connection, Crowns works with young people in the context of the larger communities they call home.

Community Impact & Recognition

Documented beyond our own walls.

Independent coverage and institutional programs have documented Crowns leadership and community work across youth mentoring, violence prevention, healing, and direct service.

DC History Conference • 2025

Gun Violence Survivors Speak Up

Derek Floyd is listed as Founder and Director of Crowns Inc. for a public discussion on lived experience, gun violence, and safer DC communities.

View program →

Greater Washington Community Foundation

DC Youth Violence Prevention Coalition

Crowns Inc. is identified as a coalition member working with community organizations focused on prevention, healing, opportunity, and youth-led action.

View recognition →

DCist / WAMU • 2023

Youth Mentoring & Community Healing

Coverage documents youth mentoring, Barry Farm football coaching, and support for young people navigating grief and community violence.

Read coverage →

The Washington Post • 2020

Community Response During COVID-19

Coverage highlights community organizing, food and mask distribution, testing support, and direct service in underserved DC neighborhoods.

Read coverage →
Derek Floyd speaking at a community event.

Leadership

Derek Floyd

Founder & Executive Director

Derek Floyd is a Washington, DC-based youth-development and community practitioner whose work has included youth mentoring, violence prevention, restorative practices, conflict management, mediation, community organizing, family support, youth athletics, resource distribution, and school-based programming.

His community work has been documented by The Washington Post and DCist/WAMU, and he has represented Crowns in citywide conversations on gun violence and youth development through the DC History Conference and the DC Youth Violence Prevention Coalition.

Certified Restorative Justice Facilitator Conflict Management Mediation Professional Development

Community Network

Partnership is central to how we work.

DC Public Schools Bread for the City Martha’s Table Dreaming Out Loud 18th Street Farm / UDC Barry Farm Recreation Center Critical Exposure / Black Swan WPGC 95.5 Trigger Project YPS Collective DC Parks & Recreation
Students gathered in a school gym during a Crowns-supported school culture event.

Partner With Crowns

Bring relationship-driven support to your school or community.

We work with schools, agencies, funders, and community partners seeking culturally responsive youth development, restorative practice, SEL, mentoring, mediation, and community engagement.

Based inWashington, DC
Primary ages14–22
PartnershipsSchool, community, agency & funder

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