Words from our Supporters and Sponsors

"At Solstice we are very excited about the early results of the program.
Solstice is a residential treatment center for teenage girls. Mr. Jackson works with our girls on expressing themselves through the arts. His time has been very beneficial to our students.
Our students come from a variety of backgrounds and many do not possess healthy ways to handle what life has thrown them. The outlet of poetry is a wonderful way to help them improve. Also, the students who Mr. Jackson has been working with are doing better with their regular course work.
Amir kindly donates his time to students who have not had the easiest of lives and shows them hope. For that I am thankful to him."
Lisé A. K. Palmer
Assistant Academic Director

"We noticed week after week the excitement and interest that the youth expressed concerning the Nurture the Creative Mind program and the things they were learning. In between individual sessions, the youth would put into practice the concepts that they had been learning from the Nurture the Creative Mind Program. youth that had never had any significant interest in poetry were giving it a chance."
Matthew Newbury
Site Coordinator, Stampede Program


"Amir recently came to our club to demonstrate, first hand with our youth, what the Nurture the Creative Mind Program entails through a workshop. The teens were engaged and it was evident that they were receptive towards what Amir was teaching. After the programs display, The Boys and Girls Club is eager and looking forward to establishing a routine schedule to where Amir can come in weekly to execute the full Nurture the Creative Mind Program.
I and the staff at the Midvale Boys and Girls Club believe programs such as this that help and allow teens to express themselves are necessary in developing the minds of our youth. Most of our teens come from broken families with below poverty level income. A lot of them sadly don’t even believe that they have talents or that they will never amount to anything.
We hope that we will be able to have the honor of Amir teaching his full course at our Club. The impact that we foresee could be "The" impact that actually contacts the core of our teens and then leads them to a new and positive shift in their thinking."
David Brooks
Youth Development Professional


"Anyone who works with Amir Jackson knows that writing poetry and expressing himself through music is what allows him to connect so well to the students that he works with. I however, looked at the NCM program and sought to put my own stamp on how I taught the children in my class. First, my talents are in literature and performance and my perspective on writing follows the same lines. In our follow-up meetings, Amir and I discovered the adaptability of the NCM curriculum. The pliability of the program means that students from mid-elementary school grades to disenfranchised youth in treatment programs can all benefit from the same curriculum. The only change is the performance of the packaging."
Stephanie K. Heath, MA
Recruitment Coordinator
Teachers of Tomorrow & FEA-Professional Advisor

Our Newest NCM Member and Program Instructor

Stephanie Kilgore Heath believes in life as a performance. She graduated with a Masters of Arts in English degree from Weber State University in December, 2009. She graduated with a BA in Communication with minors in English Language and Literature and Public Relations in 2005 from Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Stephanie graduated from LSSU at the top of her class as the “Outstanding Communication Graduate.”

Her literary research interests include Literature from the Middle East and Africa, particularly postmodern, performative texts; Shakespearean Studies, and American Literature from the 40s and 50s. Her current research is on the works of Kathy Acker and Diane di Prima. Stephanie enjoys finding the voice of women in texts.

As an undergrad, Stephanie was part of a Competitive Papers Panel for the CSCA National Conference with a paper on how Jane Austen molds rhetorical space with her writing. Stephanie had a paper presented at the 2009 RMMLA Conference titled: The Ceremony of the Conceptual Self in Silko’s Ceremony and Acker’s Blood & Guts in High School. Her performance studies credits include: Eliot Enacted: at the Petit Jean Performance Festival in fall 2004; Things Reveal Themselves, a weaving of mini personal narratives: at the St. Cloud State Performance Festival in spring 2005; Majoring the Minor Characters, a spatial exploration of the women of the Beat Generation: at the Superior Festival where she was the featured solo performer in fall 2009; and Tristram Shandy, Gentleman: at the 10th annual Superior Festival in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan during the fall 2010.

Currently, Stephanie works at Weber State University as the Recruitment Coordinator for the Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education where she was awarded the WSU Crystal Crest Friend of Student award in spring 2010. Her future plans include pursuing a Ph.D in Performance Studies, where she can continue her research on victimization narratives, decision making processes of the individual, and adaptation of literature for academic performance. She has been married for almost six years to David Heath and has a four-year old son, Holden and two-year old daughter, Harper Jane.

"We Are..." May 2010 Speech

First I want to address the students that I have spent time with over the last few months. The time spent has never seemed to be enough, but I want each of you to know that in the little time that we have shared I have grown to care about each of you deeply and individually. I want you each to know that you are all very special to me. I speak for your family, our community, our society and the world; we need and are grateful for you. I want to tell you and you to believe that the possibilities in life for you are countless and without boundaries. Remember that it is not always the most intelligent, talented, or the brightest that make it, but often those who persevere. The individuals that meet their obstacles head on, look them in the face, assess and overcame them, those who do not ask the question why me, rather what now?
Now to the parents and audience members, thank you for supporting these students. Understand that you have provided a lantern of light and the smile that you see on the children’s faces and the laughter you hear is a mere shadow of the light that shines within them.
I wanted to take a brief moment to explain what the NCM Foundation is and how the program works. As I was preparing the details of what I would outline I realized that telling you about our established curriculum and our lessons would only give you a surface understanding of what it is we really are about.
We the NCM Foundation are the counter investment to the sometimes negative investment of the media, society, music, and all other forms of negative stimulus up to and including the youth themselves. We do this because we understand that a positive investment in our youth today virtually insures a brighter tomorrow. We do this because proactive positive attention greatly lessons the need for negative attention later. We do this because failing youth is the blame of the society that has failed them. When we ask what has happened to are youth? All we need to do is look toward ourselves and there the answer will be.
We help the student see the value in themselves and the worth of others. We illustrate how regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, religion, and background all are important and should be respected and appreciated as a basic rule and not a luxury. All of this we do with the colorfully distracting packaging of poetry and music. So if you have questions concerning what it is we do; look toward the place where you will find our future, just look toward the children they have tangibly displayed what it is we do and the significance of it.
We are the positive counter investment, this is what we do and we ask you to please help us so we can continue doing what is so very much needed.