Board Member Nathaniel Crittenden Wins Ford’s Men of Courage Award for State of Maryland

Mission of Love Charities (MOLC) Board member Nate Crittenden won the 2022 Ford Motor Company Fund’s Men of Courage Award for 2022. This award is designed to build communities by advancing the narrative of black men through storytelling. The Men of Courage Barbershop Challenge recognized Crittenden for his pivotal role as Owner/CEO in N’ Style Hair Salon, a business that has been open since 2008 and has four locations in Maryland that include: Bowie, Laurel, Capitol Heights and Greenbelt. “I won the Men of Courage award for Prince George’s County, then competed with Baltimore and won for the state of Maryland,” remarked Crittenden.

Crittenden joined the Board of Mission of Love Charities in 2022 and has been an effective community leader and participant in many public events held by MOLC. He is also active in other local organizations such as: Bowie State University, Fraternities, Jack and Jill of America, Inc., NAI Michael, City of District Heights and SLK Health.

Crittenden contributes to Mission of Love Charities once each month by giving haircuts to the homeless. “The joy that you see in these people’s faces after a haircut is priceless,” said Crittenden. “They get a shower and get cleaned up. It’s just like you gave them one hundred dollars. It makes them feel good and you appreciate what you do for them. We do haircuts once per month. In the spring we want to give them twice a month,” he added.

N’ Style Hair Salon provides straight razor services and four levels of Adult Grooming as well as Teen Grooming and Kid Grooming at the Salon. Crittenden maintains a community space as well as a highly professional Salon that is family friendly. For events like the Backpack Giveaway, he provided haircuts to get children ready for the school year. Crittenden brought a chair and hair cutting tools to give free haircuts to kids during the event. Crittenden says, “The people really love it. After some events we had the grandparents of the children visit the shop and receive a haircut.”

N’ Style Hair Grooming was also towel sponsor for the MOLC Annual Golf Benefit Tournament held in September. As part of professional grooming services, each client at N’ Style Hair Salon receives a hot towel after treatments. This service tied in well with providing towel sponsorship for the Annual Golf Benefit Tournament in September.

Crittenden has been a resident of Prince George’s County for over 41 years. His commitment to children in the County remains strong. He is an active participant in helping local schools by giving students haircuts. The schools include: Laurel and Charles H. Flowers High Schools (Band & Cheerleaders), District Heights and North Forestville Elementary Schools. For Christmas Crittenden gave away 25 coats to local students in need of them. The work he does impacts the youth in a positive way.

At the Greenbelt location of N’ Style Hair Salon, Crittenden has sponsored quite a few public events. “We did special events on the themes of mental health, HIV testing, COVID testing and booster shots and financial literacy,” said Crittenden. All of these events drew a turnout from the community and the interest of local politicians like Prince George’s County Councilman, Calvin Hawkins.

The haircuts he gives to those in need and the ways in which he gives of himself and his profession are numerous. “Nate Crittenden is a man who loves his community and gives back in so many ways,” said Deb Martinez, CEO of MOLC. Mission of Love Charities is pleased to have a Board member who is so dedicated to the Mission and the elevation of his own community.