We are Accountable to our Supporters/Donors

I believe that a proper amount of transparency and complete accountability is necessary for trust to be established between the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation and our supporters. With that said I have put together a list of NCM Foundation purchases that have been made in the last year that justifies the donations you, the supporters, have so graciously given.

Cost of 8 week program per class-
-Materials- $250x6=$1,500
-Reinforcers- $150x6=$900
-Music education scholarship package (1st place poetry contest winner)- $150x6=$900
- 2nd and 3rd place poetry contest winner (poetry book)- $40x6=$240
-Certificates- $25x6=$150
*8 week program total for 6 classes=$3,690

Marketing and Promotion i.e. fliers, banners etc.- $250

Web Site- $2,500 (donated)
NCM Tees- $350
Book publishing- $1,300
-Printing- $1000
-ISBN- $300
Photographer-$100
*book cost=$2,700
-2 books will be published this year

State registration- $75
Federal registration- $850
*registration total=$925

Camera for documentary- $250
Camcorder for documentary- $400
Mac G5 computer for documentary- $1500
-$900 of cost was deducted NCM Foundation paid $600
*documentary cost=$1,250
-the documentary has not been created yet so this total does not reflect all the costs that will be incurred by the NCM Foundation in the creating of the film.

Total overall cost to run the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation for one year is estimated at $8815.00+
*this does NOT include any personal compensation for any of the members that are affiliated with the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation

The total amount that has been donated in the past year is estimated to be $5,175.00
-Grants=$1,300
-Private=$3,875

Total amount that the NCM Foundation incurred directly in the last year=$3,640.00

Thank you all very much for your continuing support. The future of the NCM Foundation is bright and this is due to supporters like you. On behalf of the entire NCM family you are much appreciated and I personally am eternally grateful.

Peace and Blessings,
Amir A.H. Jackson, NCM Founder
www.NurturetheCreativeMind.com
"The whole is always
greater and stronger
than its individual parts"

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.

NCM's KUED Channel 7 Interview

Recently i was blessed with a great opportunity to be interviewed on KUED Channel 7 about the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation and our upcoming Starving for Education event (ABOVE VIDEO). At times it is a bit overwhelming to see how far the NCM Foundation has come and the impact that it has had in a relatively short period of time. Although overwhelming it is of little surprise because the NCM Foundation's supporters, you, are of the highest of caliber. if i do not say it often enough thank you, thank you, thank you. The NCM Foundation's Mission is one that strives to better our youth and because of this, any success that the NCM Foundation achieves is a success for us all; our community, our, society, our country, and the world over.
I leave you with words that have guided me along my path: Be humble, be genuine, be thankful. Appreciate and value everyone you come across. Lead by example, words they are not enough. Always remember that the whole is greater and stronger than its individual parts.
I love and am grateful for you all. Peace and Blessings

What made you start a Foundation for youth? Understanding, believing and living my purpose

I often get asked the question, “What made you start a foundation for youth?” Although the question may seem simple on its face the answer is indeed complex and to do so, it is necessary for me to open up about events in my life that are not common knowledge and have only been shared with the closet of friends.

There was a time when I was a child where I casted a shadow but in my life there was little light. Due to difficulties at home I was sent to live with my father’s mother. My father’s name is Kenny Jackson and I knew who he was, but that was the extent of our relationship. The lack of relationship with my father created a meager relationship with his side of the family and due to this inadequate relationship the transition to living with my Grandma Jackson was a strained and scary one, to say the least.

I wasn’t the only person living with my Grandma Jackson; there was also her oldest daughter and 2nd oldest child, my Aunt Pam, along with Aunt Pam’s son and my cousin Vernon. Aunt Pam and I bonded immediately as if our connection had been ordained and determined before I took my 1st breath in this world. Her energy and love was undeniable and genuine,it showed through whether she was smiling at something silly I did or said (I always loved to be the clown) or she was frowning from frustration due to my disappointing actions at home and at school. Never did I question her sincerity, because never was her sincerity questionable.

One day I came home and went up to my Aunt Pam and handed her a piece of paper that had some writing on it saying,
“Aunt Pam what do you think of this?”
After reading what I had written she asked,
“Mir (That’s what she and her son called me) where did this come from?”
I replied,
“I wrote it.”
My Aunt then said,
“Yes Mir I know that, but where did this come from?”

The piece of writing that I gave to my Aunt Pam reflected my emotional and mental state at the time. I didn’t know it then, but this was my expressive attempt to get someone to see me. I had been acting out in school and at home shouting, “SEE ME!” finally someone did.

My Aunt rather than continuing to try and get me to admit what was obvious as much as it was obvious I did not want to just said, “Mir this is really good you should write more and when you do let me see them, I would really like that.” This positive statement of reinforcing encouragement along with her slight smile was enough for me to do just that. Anytime I wrote I would give it to my Aunt Pam first, sometimes before it was finished because I knew that smile was waiting for me and I was just too impatient and too overwhelmed with warmth inside to wait for the completion of the current piece.

The troubles I had in life are not unique in any way or measure to me. There are so many youth in or community, society and the world over screaming “SEE ME!” I believe that I went through that phase of my life because I was being prepared for my purpose. This purpose wouldn’t be revealed to me until I was ready to receive it, which was much later in life. Even when I first began the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation I truly and honestly had no plans of building a foundation, I Just saw the foot prints before me in the sand and I humbly accepted each one by placing my feet in one at a time.

Knowledge has a cycle and the cycle of knowledge is only complete when you share and apply it. I started the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation because it is the purpose I was prepared for and it would be a sinful injustice for me not to live out that purpose. A dear friend told me that Gandhi said, “Be a positive role model, be the change you want to see in the world.” What I want to see is a society that embraces more than it shuns, one that actively encourages rather than passively, I want to see a society that is forward thinking and acknowledes the world’s greatest asset, our children, understanding that a positive investment in our youth today greatly lessons the need for negative investment later in life.

- This post is dedicated to my Aunt Pam. Thank you for seeing me.
- The above picture is of the very first Nurture the Creative Mind Class, NCM class of 2007

What is the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation and What Exactly do we do?

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 tangibly display what it is we do and the significance of it.