At the 21st Century National Service Summit in Aspen today, The Huffington Post talked to YouthBuild's National Alumni Council President, Jamiel Alexander, about the way service turned his life around.
In the ultimate story of redemption, Alexander describes going from court-mandated community service in inner-city Philadelphia to finishing school and getting a job to eventually becoming the president of YouthBuild's alumni council.
Giving back, he says, became the path to personal salvation: "The more I began to help others, the more it began to help me," he said.
Today, Alexander, who still lives in the same gritty neighborhood he was placed in after community service, teaches his children to serve as well. "You gotta give in order to receive," he said.
YouthBuild USA provides education, counseling and job skills to unemployed American youth.
This video is part of a series of interviews with speakers, attendees and panelists at The Aspen Ideas Festival, produced by The Huffington Post in conjunction with The Aspen Institute. For more videos from the series, click here. For more information about The Aspen Institute, click here.
Watch the full interview above, and then check out real-time tweets from the National Service Summit here: