Meet David Rivera | Founder of The Hood Squad 216

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Rivera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, what do you attribute your success to?
The success behind our brand is everyone who is apart of The Hood Squad 216 working together to help the inner city & unsheltered community. The Main Goal is to bring joy to that person from the 15-20 minutes we have with each individual treat them like you would want to be treated. A smile and conversation goes a long way.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Before starting The Hood Squad 216 I was a Maintenance Engineer for over 16 years. I started The Hood Squad 216 in 2020. So your probably asking yourself why would someone name their non profit 501 c3 The Hood Squad 216 we’ll It means (H)elping (O)ur (O)wn (D)evelopments (S)peak (Q)uality (U)plift the youth (A)ccomplish goals & (D)ecisions and 216 is our area code. We our a mobile non profit 24/7 rain, snow or shine. I experienced homelessness in 2014 until 2015 living on the streets of the east coast and was taking showers in fast food restaurants bathrooms I didn’t want anybody else to experience that. So I wanted to start a non profit 501 c3 to bring hot showers, clothing, food & care products to the homeless and inner city communities without leaving anyone left behind. We have collaborated with many different organizations and here our the numbers 15,000 + Meals served with Luis Gonzalez and Luis Gonzalez Jr Directors of the Hunger Center in 2020 & 2021. In 2021-2023 Participated in National Night Out. In 2021-2023 Stop the Violence Against Asian Hate. In 2021-2023 Voices Against Violence. In 2022 Jkl program speaking to youth (John Adams High school) In 2022 Helping rebuild Puerto Rico. In 2023 collaborated with the Ques with 1st Annual day party for the homeless. We provide 40+ showers monthly 10+ showers weekly. Bringing smiles to peoples faces is the biggest reason why we do what we do.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
With Everything I’ve been through I’m such a stay at home type of person but whenever i have friends in town, one of my favorite things to do is to eat at Cleveland Vegan, I also like driving around edge water, followed up by a baseball game and The improv. I would end the trip up with a few days at Cedar point, The Rock n Roll museum, Jamie’s flea & the last thing we would do is chill at the metro parks and talk about life.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
We would like to shout out Jessica Oktober for opening up her doors at her business and allowing people to drop off donations there with her support the past 4 years ranging from fund raiser’s and sharing what we do as a non profit 501 c 3 we have been able to give out so many donations to the communities she has been a life saver!

Website: https://Thehoodsquad216.com

Instagram: The Hood Squad 216