 "Photo: Jonathan Resendez")
About a year ago, Monty Todd was a baseball player from Mineral Wells on the verge of receiving a scholarship to Texas A&M when he suffered traumatic brain injuries in a car accident that left him in a wheelchair.
Today, Todd is able to stand—and even dance—thanks in part to David Howard, CEO and president of Empower Me, a program which serves individuals with developmental and cognitive challenges whose corporate headquarters will soon call the Wesleyan neighborhood home.
“[Todd] fought back,” Howard said. “He goes out in the community. He’s got his own home. He’s doing well.”
Howard calls Todd his brother, as the unlikely pair jokes and carries on. At 6-feet-2, one could say Howard is built like a linebacker—because he actually was.
Howard played professional football for 11 years as an outside linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings. He was then traded to Dallas in the Herschel Walker trade in 1989 before finishing his career with the Patriots in 1992.
“It was a fun, illustrious career, but during my years playing professional football I became an entrepreneur or business person,” Howard said. Howard received a degree in economics and history from St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minn.
After more than a decade of owning his own restaurant, Howard moved back to Texas in 2001 and developed after-school food and nutrition programs at D. McRae and Meadowbrook elementary schools, to name a few, which eventually led him to opening Empower Me.
“I started learning about autism, developmental challenges, diagnoses and physical challenges,” he said, “and that led me to open up Empower Me Inc.”
Empower Me is certified by Social Security and the Department of State Rehabilitative Services and keeps a caseload of 35 to 55 individuals. The program also helps individuals find jobs and supports them at the jobs.
“The [economic] part of my schooling was economic development,” he said. “That’s what led me to the Poly-retail or Texas Wesleyan area. I was noticing some of the dilapidated buildings along here, and I looked at Texas Wesleyan in conjunction to the buildings, and that’s what brought me to 3116 [Rosedale].”
Albert Woolridge, owner of the old Poly Goodyear building since the 1920s, said he met Howard casually while Howard was looking for a building for Empower Me’s headquarters two years ago.
“I’m grateful to him because he’s a good man,” Woolridge said. “And he’s an ex-Dallas Cowboy, too. I said, ‘All right, that’s a plus.’”
Howard’s willingness to help has allowed others to pursue their own entrepreneurial dreams.
Through his own ambitions and motivations, along with Howard’s help, Eugene Graham went from living homeless on the west side of Baltimore to president and CEO of his own janitorial and vocational training services, GMMG Enterprise.
“There was a lot of obstacles there and challenges growing up,” Graham said of Baltimore. Baltimore’s heroin problem is one of the worst in the country, according to a study done by the Abell Foundation. Graham’s mother died of a drug overdose when he was only 7.
“In the middle of high school, my grand-folk went to jail, and I had to become the man of the house,” Graham said. “From there, I did things outside in the streets to support my family, but I overcame all that.”
He said sports was what kept him focused on school. He drifted through several colleges throughout the nation.
In spring 2008, while training to compete internationally, Graham was injured and came to Texas.
“I thought, ‘What am I going to do now, once this ball stops bouncing?’” he said.
Graham’s life changed when he got an attendant care position to take care of Monty Todd in February 2009.
“By the graces of that, I met Mr. Howard,” Graham said. “He looked past the tattoos and the facial hair and was able to give me an opportunity.”
Graham now works 18-hour days while Howard mentors him and shows him the ins and outs of owning a business.
“I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to come in my life and give me this opportunity,” he said. “Right now, I’m on cloud nine, and it’s a blessing for all the hard stuff I went through.”
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