The story of Concrete LYFE began before there was ever an organization, a name, or a vision. It began with a family, a community, and a lesson about what it means to invest in people.

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Tony Galvao grew up in Boston, but his family’s story began in Angola. Tony’s mother was born in Angola after his family moved there from Cape Verde. They lived in Angola during a time of civil war. ​Tony’s grandfather believed in investing in people. He gave to young people in his community and supported them even when he had no way of knowing what that investment might mean in the future.​ One of the young people his grandfather had supported eventually joined a rebel group. Before the rebels attacked the village, killing many people, that young man came back to warn Tony’s grandfather.

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The kindness and trust his grandfather had shown him stayed with him.

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Because of that warning, Tony’s grandfather was able to warn others and escape with Tony’s grandmother and their children.​Tony grew up knowing that story.​ It taught him something that would stay with him for the rest of his life: When you invest in people, you also invest in the lives they touch, the communities they help build, and the places they go. Your support creates a ripple effect that reaches far beyond one person.

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Tony’s own experiences deepened that belief. After losing friends to community violence at a young age, he began wondering what might have been different if they had received support to navigate social and environmental challenges, discovered the beauty and potential within their own neighborhoods, and experienced what the world had to offer beyond them. What opportunities, experiences, and possibilities might have changed their paths if they had been introduced to them earlier in life?

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He often thought:​

What if they had seen what I eventually got to see?
What if they had more opportunities?
What if they had been given more reasons to believe in a different future?

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Those questions stayed with him.​ Later in life, Tony was given a book of Tupac Shakur’s poetry. One poem in particular stayed with him:

 

The Rose That Grew from Concrete.

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Day after day, Tony saw that many of the same conditions Tupac wrote about continued to exist. The circumstances had not changed enough. Young people were still growing up around violence, limited opportunity, poverty, and other barriers that could shape the direction of their lives.​​ Tony wanted to create something that could reach young people before their circumstances defined them. Something that could expose them to possibilities, create opportunities, build relationships, and give them reasons to believe in themselves and their future.

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That vision became Concrete LYFE.​