Strengthening Inner City Youth

An environmental activity sponsored by Budong Elementary.

Jamila Banks has been a giver ever since she was young. Back then, when she was only 12 years old, she was giving back by caring for her great-grandmother. Then she became a dedicated worker, working several jobs at a time, mostly in the area of customer service. And that was at the same time that she was completing high school and college.

She worked so hard at college that she graduated in just three and a half years, with a major in political science and a minor in psychology from USC. Jamila then went on to earn 11 units of early childhood education training at Santa Monica College, then completed a master's program in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of LaVerne. She has worked as a Counselor and Case Manager. Through her working background, Ms. Banks is familiar with working with those who come from the inner city, and her Christian faith serves as a guide to her giving back to the community.



So, it's really no surprise that she founded, and continues as CEO/Executive Director of FOSTER AND BANKS WALK IN FAITH FOUNDATION. The Foundation participates in, and runs, many different community services, including providing an after school environmental education program, AFTER SCHOOL YOUTH EARTH CLUB. The programming also includes adult support groups and family game nights. It is intended to strengthen the families, help youth develop responsibility and increased knowledge about the environment, and become stewards of the environment. There are a wide variety of resources, including handouts, lessons, and various activities.

The program started in two inner city schools in Los Angeles, with twenty different activities throughout its curriculum. Some of the goals were to change students' attitudes towards the environment, to show students that their own activities affect the environment, to increase their knowledge of factors that affect the environment, and to develop a sense of community which includes family and the school.

A group of students from the Youth Earth Club.

There was a book club, school assemblies, a class garden, instruction on composting, recycling as a school community project. Many of these activities are also represented in the after school program, along with the additional help of tutoring and mentoring. Kids in the inner city, although at higher risk for being attracted to some types of negative behaviors, can be helped to focus on the positive through extra involvement by caring adults, that also utilizes the supports available in the community. The larger a child's social network and the more supportive it is, the better that youngster does in making socially positive choices that provide a better future.

One of the children reading at the after school program.

Thanks to this article by Pollination Project: https://thepollinationproject.org/grants-awarded/jamila-banks-youth-earth-club/; and information provided by the above link.

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Click here: THE ENTERPRISE MIND SET - 7 HIGHLY EFFECTIVE HABITS