The Cycle Breaker

Inside The Labb, a local Syracuse barbershop, the buzz of clippers is often drowned out by heated conversations about life, politics and relationships.

For young people who walk through the shop’s doors, The Labb is more than a place to get a haircut. It is a place to find someone to look up to.

At the center of it is David Moore, the shop’s founder, who is challenging a cycle that has shaped generations of his family: broken families, absent fathers and the pull of illegal activity in an environment where negative influences can be difficult to escape.

In 2025, 65% of U.S. children under 18 lived with two biological or adoptive parents. For Black children, the figure was 37%. For David, those numbers are not abstract. They reflect a reality he experienced firsthand.

David grew up without his father. But from an early age, he held onto a simple dream: to build a family of his own.

That dream became a decision to break a cycle.

Moore became the first person in his family in 100 years to raise his children to adulthood in a two-parent household with his wife.

Now, he is trying to make that path visible to others. People may walk into his barbershop looking for a haircut, but they can walk out with something more: a testimony that a person is not simply a product of their environment, but can choose to live a positive life.

Today, Moore and his family continue to run The Labb while using the barbershop as a space to serve the community. They host community events, including book-bag giveaways for local families, and create job opportunities for young people looking for a positive path forward.

“Do not be scared to be you. Because sometimes, that flow that you make, it can send shock waves through the whole world, through your community. It can change people’s lives forever,” Moore said.