Who Is Shawn Dove?

Shawn Dove is a father, son, husband, writer, poet, publisher, youth development professional, motivational mentor and inspirational speaker with over 20 years of experience in the youth development and community-building field.

Dove is President & CEO of Dove Ventures, LLC, a publishing and consulting firm created to produce and market success principles through printing, publishing and training. He is the publisher of Dove Ventures’ flagship product, Proud Poppa, a quarterly community-empowerment publication created to celebrate, elevate and replicate fatherhood success principles in the Black community. Proud Poppa launched its premiere edition in June 2006 and has a circulation of 30,000 in several key markets along the east coast.

Dove also currently serves as the Director of Youth Ministries for First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, NJ, where he is responsible for the leadership of the 7,000 member church’s youth development programs and activities.

Before launching Proud Poppa, Dove served as New York Vice President for MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership where he was responsible for the leadership of The Mentoring Partnership of New York (MPNY), the flagship local affiliate of MENTOR. Dove was responsible for leading MPNY's mission to serve as an advocate for the expansion of quality mentoring opportunities for New York City youth and a resource for mentors and mentoring initiatives citywide. In 2004, under Dove's leadership, MPNY launched The Male Mentoring Project, a public awareness and recruitment strategy focusing on the need for more African American and Latino male mentors for New York City's boys and young men.
Before joining MENTOR, Dove served as Creative Communities Director for the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts where he led the launch of a youth development, arts education and community building strategy that partnered community schools of the arts and public housing communities in 20 U.S. cities. Creative Communities was a partnership between the National Guild, National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Before his tenure with the National Guild, Dove served as Program Director of one of New York City's first Beacon Schools - the Countee Cullen Community Center in Central Harlem - operated the Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. Beacon Schools are partnerships between Community-Based Organizations and public schools, that create comprehensive youth and family development strategies in a school-based setting. During his tenure with the Harlem Children's Zone, Dove contributed to the Beacon Replication Initiative spearheaded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Also while at the Harlem Children's Zone, Dove was the founding editor-in-chief of Harlem Overheard, a youth-produced newspaper, and launched the TRUCE Fitness & Nutrition Center, a youth-entrepreneurship enterprise.

An inspirational and motivational speaker, Dove has delivered empowerment workshops and talks to organizations such as Goldman Sachs, the National Community Building Network, the Harlem Children's Zone, Inc., Public Allies New York, Connecticut Mentoring Partnership and Penn State, just to name a few. Dove’s writing and publishing endeavors include work with Black Issues Book Review, New York Newsday, New Vision Magazine and The City Sun. He has published inspirational pocket-sized "Pocket Magic Books," including the self-authored A New Me in the New Millennium and The Anything is Possible Guide for Single Moms by Rita Knight.