Today we’d like to introduce you to LaShaun Jackson.
LaShaun, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started in 2002 when I was working as a consultant for a company called the Blue Gargoyle. My job was to work with the administration of their alternative school called Bronzeville Academic Center. My task was to help the school get more organized, as it was on probation and possibly going to be shut down. During my work with the school, the school’s Principal was fired. I was asked to lead the search for the new Principal, and to be the interim lead administrator for the school until a new Principal was hired.
One thing led to another and I ended up being the Executive Director of the school. I called on Omar Moore, a business colleague and longtime friend, to help me run the school. He eventually came on board and became the Director of Operations. We ran the school under the auspices of the Blue Gargoyle until 2009. Then in 2009, the Blue Gargoyle was forced to shut down due to financial concerns. The Blue Gargoyle ceased operations on April 1st, 2009; as such the school was being shut down in the middle of the school year. This was going to leave the students and staff in a very bad situation.
Omar and I were able to prevent the closure of the school and the lost of employee jobs by starting our own nonprofit corporation, CIRCLE Foundation. We developed partnerships with Youth Connection Charter School and the Alternative Schools Network, and we were able to keep the school doors open and the staff employed without missing a beat. After taking over the school we renamed the school to Innovations High School. In 2011 we moved our nonprofit headquarters and our school to the Chicago Loop. This March we are celebrating the 9th Anniversary of the CIRCLE Foundation. It’s been a long road, but we are not weary.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The line of work we are in does not come with a smoothly paved road. In actuality, part of our job is to lay new pavement to repair the many potholes we have to travel across daily. We work with students that have many challenges. Most of our students come from disenfranchised and high crime rate communities and unstable homes situations. 98% of the youth we serve come from low-income families.
As a result of these factors many of the students that enroll in our school come with a background of emotional and/or behavioral problems, truancy, low academic performance and showing a lack of interest for academics. To top that off, there are many political struggles to overcome because many people do not know or understand the complexities it takes to get our students back on track.
It is clear that traditional educational practices have not worked for our students, yet many political entities expect us to fit the standard academic operational mold. These political struggles have gotten better over time, but there is a constant need for us to educate people on what we have found “works” in changing the lives of the youth we serve.
Please tell us about CIRCLE Foundation.
The CIRCLE Foundation’s mission is to provide educational programs, leadership development, guidance opportunities and support services. Our major focus is on working with disenfranchised minorities within the Chicago-land area.
Our high school is our biggest program, and we also operate several mentoring programs that work with youth and adults ages 12-21. All of our employees have a personal desire and dedication to partake in the work they do, they are not just here for a paycheck. No one can stay in this profession without having an inextinguishable passion to help people. However, passion alone can’t accomplish the work. We work hard to make sure we keep our professional skills as sharp as our personal urge to do the work.
We are very proud of the growth our organization has attained over the years. This is our 9th year of operation, and although the work has been challenging we have many accomplishments to celebrate. A few of our successes include increasing our student enrollment from 150 to over 400, maintaining over 90% graduation rate at our high school, assuring that all students are either accepted in a college or enter into a vocation upon graduation, we have also expanded our mentoring programs and now provide mentoring services over 100 youth a year.
We strive to inspire, motivate and empower the youth to create fulfilling lives and to be productive citizens. We plant seeds and sometimes we don’t get to see those seeds mature, but we are constant gardeners. We know that those seeds will eventually blossom. It’s very rewarding when students reach out to us years after they have graduated, to tell us how they’re lives have changed for the better and that we played a huge roll in their transformation.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
There is nothing I would change if we had to start over. Any mistakes we’ve made in the past have only made us more aware of our need for growth. Our challenges have helped us grow more than our successes. Our organization’s story is one of tenacity, transformation and progress; our goal is to replicate these three things into the lives of the people we serve.
Contact Info:
- Address: 17 N. State Street 3rd floor
- Website: Circlefound.org
- Phone: 3129999360
- Email: Info@circlefound.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/circlefdn/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CIRCLE-Foundation-359171612806/
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