Southside Jamaica to NYU Stern: Help matt break the cycle

From Southside Jamaica to NYU Stern: Help Matt Break the Cycle

The kid who wasn't supposed to make it just got accepted to one of the world's top business schools.

At 17, I was in handcuffs, falsely arrested for crimes I didn't commit. The case dragged on for two years before being dismissed, but those nights in a cell taught me something crucial: the system is broken, especially for young Black men from neighborhoods like mine. Instead of letting it break me, I decided to fix it.

My name is Matthew A. Wynter, and I'm from Southside Jamaica, Queens – where dreams go to die and statistics become prophecies. I watched friends disappear into the streets, saw potential wasted, and felt the weight of a community that society had written off. But my mother saw something different in me.

She believed in education when everything around us said it didn't matter. Even as cancer took her from me in 2022, her last words were about my future, about using my mind to change not just my life, but the lives of others who look like me and come from where I come from.

I became the first in my family to graduate college – 3.85 GPA, Dean's List every semester at LaGuardia Community College. But that was just the beginning.

Now I have 30 days to raise $39,000 or lose my spot at NYU Stern.

NYU Stern School of Business just accepted me – one of the most prestigious business schools in the world. This isn't just about me getting a degree. This is about proving that zip codes don't determine destinies.

Here's my plan:

- Graduate from NYU Stern with the business knowledge to create real change.

- Attend law school to fight the injustices I experienced firsthand.

- Build businesses that bring jobs and ownership back to Southside Jamaica.

- Mentor young people who need someone to believe in them.

The same community that raised me is watching. Kids who look like me need to see that someone from their block can walk into boardrooms and courtrooms as an equal. They need to know that their dreams aren't too big.

Every dollar is an investment in breaking generational poverty.

I've already secured partial funding through scholarships and grants, but I'm still $39,000 short. Without this support, I'll have to defer my admission and potentially lose this life-changing opportunity.

Your donation isn't charity – it's venture capital. You're investing in someone who's already proven they can turn obstacles into opportunities. Someone who's already beaten the odds and is ready to help others do the same.

$25 covers textbooks that will teach me how to build businesses in underserved communities.

$100 funds a week of classes where I'll learn to navigate systems that have kept people like me out.

$500 helps cover housing so I can focus on studies instead of survival.

$1,000 brings me significantly closer to walking through those doors this fall.

This is bigger than me.

When I graduate, I'm coming back. Back to Southside Jamaica with knowledge, connections, and resources. Back to prove that we can lift each other up. Back to show every kid in my old neighborhood that their dreams are valid.

My mother's legacy lives through this journey. Every law I'll change, every business I'll build, every young person I'll mentor – it all traces back to her belief that education could transform not just one life, but an entire community.

The kid who was supposed to be another statistic is about to become a lawyer and entrepreneur. But I can't do it alone.