Funny how y'all don't get this
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2014/10/lebron_james_changing_lives.html
AKRON, Ohio – LeBron James is helping about 800 children from his hometown graduate from high school one day -- kids who otherwise might have ended up on the streets.
That's what he means when he says he wants to make an impact that lasts after his basketball career is over.
"That's part of my whole plan," the Cavaliers' superstar said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with the Northeast Ohio Media Group. (
Read the interview transcript here.) "I wanted to do something that (Akron youths) would be empowered by, that was going to be sustainable, something that would last for generations."
All week, the Northeast Ohio Media Group has chronicled James' empire -- his
basketball stardom that will grow even more Thursday night in his return debut with the Cavaliers
, his business interests,
acting, and now his LeBron James Family Foundation.
Each facet of his professional life is built so that James
will hold power and influence when his basketball career ends, with perhaps none more influential than his charitable foundation.
It's through his foundation that James developed a mentoring program, called Wheels For Education, to help kids beginning in the third grade -- identified as "at risk" of dropping out -- through their graduation from high school.
It's at that level -- third grade -- when children who suffer primarily from poor reading and math skills (but also societal problems such as poverty and absent parents) become at risk of failing to graduate without intervention, education professionals say.
James' program is in its fourth year and has grown to 800 students. He won't know until 2021 -- the year the first class graduates -- if the program is truly doing what it's intended to do, but early results are promising.
James told the NEOMG he would even consider taking his program statewide. The foundation spent about $305,000 on the program in 2012 -- the last year in which financial data is available.
"If this thing is sustainable, which we believe it is ... if the opportunity presents itself to do it in other places besides Akron, we would love to," James said.
Wheels For Education evolved from the
bike-a-thon the foundation used to sponsor each year in which Akron kids would receive bicycles and ride the city's streets with James. Now, children in James' program also participate in the Akron After School intervention program, which serves the same purpose of trying to prevent children struggling in reading and math from eventually dropping out.
It's a partnership. Through the foundation, James motivates children to be diligent in their attendance to Akron After School, with support from James' corporate partners such as Nike and Samsung.
Children feel connected to James in the program – he constantly speaks to them via social media, giving them a sense of pride by association. Akron administrators say the children do not want to disappoint him.
AKRON, Ohio – LeBron James is helping about 800 children from his hometown graduate from high school one day -- kids who otherwise might have ended up on the streets.
That's what he means when he says he wants to make an impact that lasts after his basketball career is over.
"That's part of my whole plan," the Cavaliers' superstar said Tuesday in an exclusive interview with the Northeast Ohio Media Group. (
Read the interview transcript here.) "I wanted to do something that (Akron youths) would be empowered by, that was going to be sustainable, something that would last for generations."
All week, the Northeast Ohio Media Group has chronicled James' empire -- his
basketball stardom that will grow even more Thursday night in his return debut with the Cavaliers
, his business interests,
acting, and now his LeBron James Family Foundation.
Each facet of his professional life is built so that James
will hold power and influence when his basketball career ends, with perhaps none more influential than his charitable foundation.
It's through his foundation that James developed a mentoring program, called Wheels For Education, to help kids beginning in the third grade -- identified as "at risk" of dropping out -- through their graduation from high school.
It's at that level -- third grade -- when children who suffer primarily from poor reading and math skills (but also societal problems such as poverty and absent parents) become at risk of failing to graduate without intervention, education professionals say.
James' program is in its fourth year and has grown to 800 students. He won't know until 2021 -- the year the first class graduates -- if the program is truly doing what it's intended to do, but early results are promising.
James told the NEOMG he would even consider taking his program statewide. The foundation spent about $305,000 on the program in 2012 -- the last year in which financial data is available.
"If this thing is sustainable, which we believe it is ... if the opportunity presents itself to do it in other places besides Akron, we would love to," James said.
Wheels For Education evolved from the
bike-a-thon the foundation used to sponsor each year in which Akron kids would receive bicycles and ride the city's streets with James. Now, children in James' program also participate in the Akron After School intervention program, which serves the same purpose of trying to prevent children struggling in reading and math from eventually dropping out.
It's a partnership. Through the foundation, James motivates children to be diligent in their attendance to Akron After School, with support from James' corporate partners such as Nike and Samsung.
Children feel connected to James in the program – he constantly speaks to them via social media, giving them a sense of pride by association. Akron administrators say the children do not want to disappoint him.
In the summer, the James foundation started a technology camp, which uses tablets provided by Samsung, to augment the Akron After School summer program.
The foundation motivates parents, too. They can receive a month's rent, free groceries, or a Samsung TV by involving themselves (by involving their children) in the Wheels and Akron After School programs.
It's early, but it's working. Last school year, the reading scores of third graders in James' program grew 6.7 percent more than the children who didn't participate. For fourth graders, or students who had been in James' program for one year already, the growth was 36.9 percent higher.
Fifth graders, with two years in James' program, experienced 30.3 percent higher growth.
"We're showing more growth, now we're looking for significant growth" as the children get older, said Desiree Bolden, manager of Akron schools' intervention efforts who works directly with James' foundation. "We're trending in the right direction. We're intervening in kids' lives and they're showing more growth."
At the same time in Ohio, two initiatives out of the governor's office to improve graduation rates are ongoing. By coincidence, they share some traits with James' program.
In one of two initiatives -- both out of Gov. John Kasich's office -- schools have access to millions of dollars in state funding to create mentorship programs with businesses and non-profits in their communities.
Also, third-grade students are required to pass a state reading test before promotion to the fourth grade.
James model, if he were willing, could potentially work in other districts struggling to meet the state's guidelines. There's been no contact between James and the Kasich administration, and James' focus is clearly on Akron now. But he said "there are kids in other places who need the same coverage, the same activity, to understand how important education is, understand how important role models are just to cover them and look after them."
Akron's performance on third-grade reading tests was the best among Ohio's largest urban school districts. According to the
Akron Beacon Journal, passing rates on the state's reading test jumped from about 80 percent in the spring to 99 percent over the summer.
Bolden said there is no one group or program responsible for the improvement, but she said James' foundation is making an impact, beyond merely reading improvement.
Bolden is impressed with the depth of education policy the James foundation has, which comes from multiple advisory boards of education professionals assembled to assist the foundation.
When the James foundation and Akron After School noticed a need for mentorship after the children leave elementary school (the Akron After School program runs through fifth grade), the foundation added two boards of advisers, one for middle school and one for high school.
"In the early days of our partnership, I was checking for authenticity," Bolden said. "What's this going to look like, you know? This is so way beyond where I ever thought we would be. The attention to detail, the attention to being open and flexible to change to meet the needs of the children.
"And then, because of LeBron's influence, the chance to think outside the box for us and bring things we would never ever be close to getting."
Overseeing the James foundation is Michele Campbell, a Tallmadge native who also serves as chief operating officer for James' LRMR marketing firm.
Campbell said James is constantly involved, but she serves as James' eyes and ears, and as his proxy in the schools and at foundation events James doesn't attend. That includes when James was away from Northeast Ohio for four years playing for the Miami Heat.
According to the foundation's most recent financial disclosure form, federally required of all non-profit organizations, the James foundation raised at least $331,000 each year since 2008, except for one year. In 2011 – James' first year away from the Cavaliers – the foundation raised about $90,000.
It was following that first year with the Heat, when James was vilified in Cleveland and in most NBA cities, that the foundation turned its focus away from a bike-a-thon and toward improving graduation rates.
The foundation, with its new primary goal, raised $752,000 in 2012, with about half from James himself. That year, the foundation spent $255,000 on its Wheels For Education program, $50,000 on the technology camp that summer, and $100,000 for a year-around basketball program for middle and high-school students.
"When he went to Miami, that first year he was there, it's pretty well documented that it was a rough year for him," Campbell said. "He was basically hated wherever he went. That year was the best thing that ever happened to the foundation, because it allowed him to grow as a philanthropist, sit back and learn what legacy he wanted to leave, what kind of difference he wanted to make."
The foundation is engaged in other projects, including
home restorationsin Akron; providing
new athletic uniforms at James' alma mater Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School; and working with the Boys & Girls Club in each city that hosts the NBA All-Star Game that particular year.
Laron Sledge-Bay, the part-time city of Akron employee who works at the park where James and Sprite refurbished the basketball courts, said the people of Akron would see the potential in James' foundation and look for it to do more.
"Maybe, eventually, he can go into housing," Sledge-Bay said.
James, though, remains focused on his mentoring program.
"The evolution for us is to continue to stay on the kids," James said. "Because it's more than just going to school. It's understanding what these kids go through on a day-to-day basis, when they're back home or while they're at school.
"We want to continue to grow, but before growth we want something that's sustainable."
