After surviving an IED in Iraq, this Black veteran brings positivity to Bradenton kids
Derrick Randall, a 44-year-old native of Rubonia, has made his reputation as a dynamic, inspirational leader by lifting up others — particularly children and young people — and working to revitalize his community.
As the chief executive for United Community Centers, he has positively influenced countless lives in Bradenton as well as in Rubonia.
But he would be the first to say that his road to becoming the man that he is happened only after taking a hard turn through Baghdad, Iraq, during war time, when he nearly lost his life.
Roadside ambush
In the predawn hours of Feb. 9, 2005, Iraqi insurgents detonated an improvised explosive device under Randall’s tractor-trailer, mangling his leg and killing his passenger.
Randall, part of an Army convoy of about 20 vehicles, was hauling Humvees about five miles south of Baghdad.
The blast — which Randall describes as a loud noise, a bright light and then darkness — threw him from the cab of the truck, helping save his life.
“It was guerrilla warfare. We never saw anyone. Someone detonated it remotely, maybe with a cellphone,” he said.
Later, he reflected that it could have been him that died instead of his passenger, a 25-year-old sergeant from Chicago.
Less then a minute before the blast, she had offered to drive and Randall replied that he was OK to continue.
The worst of the blast hit the passenger side.
Although the two met on the convoy, Randall — who was born in Manatee Memorial Hospital in 1979 — learned that Sgt. Jessica Housby had enlisted in the Army with a goal of becoming a school teacher.
“It was a very traumatic moment,” Randall said.
Although he could see the blood on his pants, he didn’t know the severity of his injuries as he lay on the ground in the dark. When he attempted to stand, he could see his right foot was turned grotesquely to the side.
It was only when he heard the sound of a Blackhawk helicopter that he knew he might survive — or he might not.
“It was solace for me when I heard that Blackhawk coming in. I don’t know how long I lay there, but I clearly remember the sound of the Blackhawk. I knew it was going to be one way or the other,” he said.
The long road back
Randall was evacuated to Walter Reed Army Hospital, which would be his home for the next two years as doctors worked to save his shattered leg.
For months, doctors operated on his leg every 72 hours, including attaching his calf muscle to the front of his leg to help him walk again.
“Every day was like Monday. The anticipation was to wake up on Tuesday,” he said.
While at Walter Reed, then-President George W. Bush stopped to visit and presented him with a Purple Heart for wounds suffered in combat.
In 2008, Randall was medically discharged from the Army and found himself retired at 26.
He had intended to make the Army a career after graduating from Palmetto High School in 1996 and attending one year of college at the University of South Florida.
Back home after Walter Reed and the Army, he turned to alcohol.
“I self-medicated myself,” he says. “I can remember being the drunk of the community, because I was fighting demons.”
But he began to turn his life around after getting married to his childhood sweetheart, Kiara, and committing himself to living a positive life.
“The blessing was that I had been given a second chance,” Randall said, reflecting that it was a chance that his passenger outside Baghdad did not have.
He enrolled in Hillsborough Community College, where he earned an associates degree, and then enrolled in St. Leo University to pursue his bachelor’s.
Initially, he though he might become a teacher, but then remembered how much impact a social worker had at Walter Reed in helping him with his recovery.
He imagined that as a social worker he could return home and help the people of his beloved Rubonia.
Randall earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and stayed on to earn a master’s in advanced clinical social work.
In his last semester, he was interning at Manatee Childrens Services and was offered the opportunity to work with children in Rubonia in Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church.
Later, while taking a grant writing class during his doctoral studies, he submitted a grant request for $175,000 and received $150,000 for a program mentoring children. That program, focusing on children 5 to 14, taught life skills, community engagement and self worth.
In the summer of 2016, about 180 children were taking part in Rubonia in programs introduced by Randall.
“The community center came back to life. We also developed programs for seniors and other adults,” he said.
13th Avenue Dream Center
In 2018, impressed by what they saw Randall accomplishing in Rubonia, the 13th Avenue Dream Center board of directors reached out to him and asked him to be CEO.
Now, under the banner of United Community Centers, Randall leads the Rubonia program as well as programs at the 13th Avenue Dream Center, 922 24th St. E., Bradenton.
The 13th Avenue Dream Center programs include:
- Before and after-school programs, including meals
- Alternatives to drugs
- Peer empowerment
- Cultural arts and physical education
Many of the children come from one-parent households and receive little adult supervision. About 97% of the families participate in free or reduced lunch programs. About 89% of the children are Black and 10% are Hispanic.
“We provide sanctuary and solace for them,” Randall said. “My goal is to make a community center with community dinners, events and as a meeting place. My goal is to provide the resources the community needs to grow and develop.”
Chianti Josey, the business manager at the 13th Avenue Dream Center, said Randall brings tremendous energy to the job.
“It’s a great environment here. He is very passionate about the work and very energetically meets everyone who comes here whether staff, visitors or the children,” she said.
Carey McCoy’s grandchildren have taken part in programs at both the Rubonia and 13th Avenue campus.
“Derrick is always a person trying to help others. He is a deacon at our church and is always like that. He likes to work with children to help them grow up as responsible adults. God sent him for that purpose,” he said.
Responsibility in leadership
“I still miss the military. A lot of what I learned in the military I apply in my everyday life,” he said.
“When I came home from Iraq, I felt I had been given a second chance. It drives me to this day that I could easily have been on the other side of that truck,” he said.
That drive helps explain his commitment to helping others in the Bradenton area.
“I get such a high from bringing positivity to the community,” he said.
“As an African American male, it is important that I take the responsibility in leadership. It’s not just about me. There is an opportunity for all of us. It’s about being a positive example whether you’re an African American, Caucasian or Asian. At the end of the day, I am a good person and I want to leave it that way,” Randall said.
He also wants to be a model for his children and inspire them to do good things.
Randall, 44, and his wife, Kiara, who runs the day-to-day operation in Rubonia, are parents of four children: three boys and a baby girl.
In a quest to continually improve himself, Randall completed his doctorate at St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens in December.
“It is a gift to myself,” he said.
Randall is an only child and the pride and joy of his mother, Mary Ann Barton.
“I am over joyed with him. When I hear his name it makes my heart flutter,” Barton said.
When Derrick was in Walter Reed, determined to keep his leg, Barton flew up frequently that first year to offer her love and support.
And since then?
“I am amazed at how well he has dealt with everything.”
“It’s been a great thing to have a place for children to go. It keeps them busy and off the street,” she said.
Know of a local story or person the Bradenton Herald should write about to celebrate Black History Month? Send tips to jajones1@bradenton.com.
This story was originally published February 16, 2023 at 5:50 AM.
