Jelly Roll gives back to his community opening new Nashville youth centre where he was previously incarcerated

13 August 2024, 14:21

He's giving back to his community.

Jelly Roll is also giving back to his hometown community in a way that's incredibly close to him and his personal history.

On 8th August 2024, the 'All My Life' star revealed that he was working hard on his new project, heading up Nashville's Youth Campus for Empowerment.

Roll - whose real name is Jason Bradley DeFord - grew up in the nearby town of Antloch, Tennessee.

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Throughout his troubled youth, the country singer was incarcerated in Nashville's former facility, Davidson County Juvenile Justice Center, on multiple occasions during his youth.

Due to the time he spent there, and the necessary support he was given in his rehabilitation, he's partnering with the city to help fund the new facility.

"I celebrated my 14th, 15th, and 16th birthdays there,” Jelly Roll revealed at the unveiling ceremony which was documented by local Fox affiliate WZTV.

“The only reason I wasn’t there at 17 was because I was charged as an adult," going on to say he wants to offer youths the same level of care and nurturing to help turn their lives around too.

Jelly Roll called the youth-orientated new venture "well-spent money", adding that the old centre "hadn’t changed nothing but the paint in 30 years," which he knew "because I was there."

"Get rid of stuff that makes you feel like a caged animal," he continued. "Make these kids feel loved and give them a chance in life."

"A lot of these kids are victims of their circumstances. This is a really great chance to change things."

As per Nashville's Juvenile Court Creek website, the new facility "will be a family-oriented, trauma-informed campus."

Set for completion in 2027, the 14-acre set will include facilities to help struggling families, as well as a 24-hour centre for youths in crisis, court rooms, and numerous meeting spaces.

Jelly Roll speaks at the groundbreaking for Nashville Youth Campus Empowerment.

This isn't the first occasion Jelly Roll has stepped in to help his former youth facility either.

Back in 2022, he donated a recording studio to the facility, a dream of his which finally became a reality in May 2024.

Talking to People magazine at the time, he said: "I was in and out of there for about three, three and a half years. I spent a lot of time there and eventually got charged as an adult for a crime I committed as a juvenile."

"And I just realised that was the most impactful thing that ever happened in my life, and the darkest moments of my life still were being that 15-year-old scared kid spending Thanksgiving away from his family."

"It's important, man," he added. "I think it's important that we give back, especially [to] our kids ... They were born into just whatever situation it was, and sometimes they can't see past that situation or that neighbourhood or that environment."

"I just hope to bring hope to that and kind of be a beacon and a light for those kids."