America Inspired: Amir Jackson nutures the creative mind Continue reading on Examiner.com America Inspired: Amir Jackson nutures the creative mind

It started 5 years ago, with one class in one elementary school.  Now, Amir Jackson and his foundation, Nurture the Creative Mind, have expanded across three counties and touched the lives of over 3,500 students.  Nurture the Creative Mind is a nonprofit foundation that helps at-risk children increase their self-esteem through self-expression and positive feedback. 

When asked why he started the foundation, and why he has dedicated the last five years of his life to its success, Jackson tells a story from his youth.  Due to some family difficulties, Jackson was sent to live with his grandmother and aunt.  “Aunt Pam and I bonded immediately, as if our connection had been ordained and determined before I took my first breath,” said Jackson.  One day, Jackson showed his aunt a piece of writing he had done.  “The piece of writing that I gave her reflected my emotional and mental state at the time…I had been acting out in school and at home shouting “SEE ME!,” finally, someone did.”  His aunt was encouraging and positive about the writing, and asked him to continue to write and to show it to her when he did.  “This positive statement of reinforcing encouragement along with her slight smile was enough for me to do just that.”


Jackson knows that his childhood troubles are not unique to just him.  “There are so many youth in our community, society, and the world over screaming 'SEE ME!'” He believes that his troubles were just a way to prepare him for what he was born to do—to see kids and to encourage their creative development and expression. “When I first began the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation in 2007 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 by placing my feet in one at a time.”

Jackson’s success started at Lincoln Elementary in Layton, Utah, where he was a teacher’s assistant for a special education learning center.  The teacher, Ms. Theresa Larrabee, could tell Jackson was special from the first day he started.  “The mannerisms he had with the kids, he just had a calming effect on them.  He was in tune right away with what each kid needed individually.”  Jackson was assigned to Larrabee’s room to help with a specific child, but was always eager to reach out to all of the kids.  The kids were drawn to him, and responded well to his interactions.  And then, the music started.  Another volunteer, Victor Lawrence, had been coming in to read stories or play guitar with Larrabee’s class, and Jackson asked her if she thought Lawrence might be able to teach him some stuff on the guitar.  When Lawrence came in again, Jackson sat next to him and was able to mirror everything he did.  And from that moment on, he would play for the students, engaging them in even more ways.  Jackson started using poetry and music to help students in the other classes as well.  At the end of his first year at Lincoln Elementary, Jackson came up with the idea to host a Poetry Café in the school library as an evening performance for the kids to read their poetry.  Jackson engaged the community and had local businesses sponsor the event by donating coffee, hot chocolate, and snacks for the evening.  The school expected to have a handful of students and their parents attend, and were surprised to have hundreds of people show up.  “The kids were nervous before they got on, but then they’d start to read and they would just start beaming,” said Larrabee, fondly remembering the event.  “Kids write stuff and we pick it to pieces, we stifle the creativity sometimes because of ‘the way’ we’re supposed to teach language arts.  Amir gets to go in and is like an archeologist; he uncovers the hidden creativity these kids have, instead of expecting kids to write to a certain mold.”

Jackson spends his time developing the foundation, going to school, and working as a special education teacher’s aide in Davis School District.  Jackson’s impact reaches beyond just the students he is able to work with at school assemblies and other NCM workshops.  In April, Nurture the Creative Mind published its first book, Yes, I am Still Here,a 100 page book created and authored by young girls who are survivors of abuse.  These young girls demonstrate empowerment as they share stories of their abuses and the poems that were inspired by these abuses. The book is available for purchase via paypal on the Nurture the Creative Mind website.

In May of this year, NCM and Jackson teamed up with Chuk’s to host a fashion show as a fund raiser for the foundation.  In July, Jackson and others involved with the foundation held their annual “Starving for Education” hunger strike in front of the Starbucks on Hillfield and Antelope Drive in Layton.  The goal was to raise $2,500, and they pledged to continue the strike for as long as it took until the money was raised.  By 6 PM the night of the strike, they had met their goal.

Most recently, Jackson teamed up with Vintage Cupcake Co to host the first ever “Bake and Build” workshop. The younger group of kids developed team work and interpersonal relationship skills while baking cupcakes.  The older group also learned about the steps they would need to take to start a business on their own and developed leadership skills by coaching their peers.

Jackson also oversees Blank Page, a youth created and driven magazine that addresses the issues that are specific and important to the youth in the community.  Blank Page will be releasing its first issue in January, 2012.

Gandhi once said, “Be a positive role model, be the change you want to see in the world.”  Jackson responds to this by saying:

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 acknowledges 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

At the foundation’s five year anniversary party, Jackson announced that beginning in February, 2012, Nurture the Creative Mind will begin touching the lives of the youth in Boston, MA; officially making them a national organization. 

Awards received:

Outstanding Community Service nominee 2010
Newman Civic Fellows Award 2011
Mayor's Award for Literacy and Arts Education 2011

Other links:
Standard Examiner: He helps children bloom
Davis County Clipper: Non-profit receives alcolades for helping students
Nurture the Creative Mind Blog



Continue reading on Examiner.com America Inspired: Amir Jackson nutures the creative mind - Salt Lake City Single Mom | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/single-mom-in-salt-lake-city/america-inspired-amir-jackson-nutures-the-creative-mind#ixzz1g0f0WI5X

He Helps Children Bloom

This is an article that was written about the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation in the Standard Examiner. We were extremely grateful when we saw that it had made its way all the way to the front page. : )


By Nancy Van Valkenburg
Standard-Examiner staff
Fri, 05/13/2011 - 12:01pm


LAYTON -- The young girl stood slumped, her chin low, blond hair hanging to cover her face except for one burning-red cheek as she read her poem to her sixth-grade class at Layton's Lincoln Elementary.

All her 11- and 12-year-old classmates applauded, and the visiting poet told her that her poem was amazing. Looking up to reveal a huge smile, the girl raced to her teacher for a hug.

"She could barely speak, she was so shy," said Rise Timpke, sixth-grade teacher, as the girl returned to her seat to cheer the next reader.

"The first time she read her work and got positive feedback, she beamed. I had never seen her face like that before. You can see what a difference he has made. It's all him."

"He" is Amir Jackson, founder and director of Nurture the Creative Mind, a nonprofit foundation that helps at-risk children increase their self-esteem through self-expression and positive feedback. Jackson is also the foundation's sole worker, and since 2007 has personally led workshops attended by more than 500 youths from Weber, Davis and Salt Lake counties.

This month, Jackson was among 135 people to be named an inaugural Newman Civic Fellow. The award recognizes inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country. The Fellows are nominated by university presidents.

"People have told me this work changed their lives," said Jackson, 30, a Weber State University psychology major. "When students read what they've written, it takes me back to a time when I was 12. That's when I realized this has an emotional benefit."

Jackson, a native of Rochester, N.Y., was a young boy when his mother married a man who had no use for a "leftover" child, Jackson said. As Jackson's mother and stepfather had more children, the man's hostility grew and verbal abuse gave way to physical abuse. For his safety, Jackson was sent to live with his birth father's mother and sister.

"I was naturally kind of meandering to a negative place at a time in life when a lot of people get lost," Jackson said. He was misbehaving in class when he wasn't skipping school entirely.

Then, for no particular reason, Jackson put his dark, melancholy feelings into a poem, which he showed to his aunt Pamela.

"She said, 'Amir, this is good. I want you to keep writing, and keep giving me your poems,' " Jackson said. "She bought me a journal. That positivity felt good, and I became addicted to it. It was a defining moment."

Jackson continued writing during four years in the Air Force, including an assignment to Hill Air Force Base. Jackson set his sights on Weber State and a degree he hopes will lead to his working full time for his foundation. He currently divides his time among Nurture the Creative Mind, studies at Weber State, and working for the Davis School District as a special education employee.

Timpke said when she first heard about Jackson's program in 2007, her expectations were low.

"My daughter, Sarah, was in one of the first student groups," she said. "She's a sophomore at Northridge High now, and she has published poetry and gone to district conferences. She has kept every journal she had, and she writes three to five poems a week, just because."

Sarah Timpke, now 15, remains a Jackson booster.

"Amir taught me that no poem and no emotion is wrong, and everything you write is perfect because it came from you," Sarah said. "He is an inspiration. Amir cares about every student and wants them to succeed. I am where I am today, writing-wise, because of him."

Jackson has published a book of poetry and stories by young survivors of abuse. The book, titled, "Yes, I am STILL here," is available through nurturethecreativemind.com.

Back in Timpke's sixth-grade classroom, students continued reading their work about crying themselves to sleep, the beauty of flowers, and even the virtues of Airsoft pellet guns.

A young boy read a poem about mourning a death. A young girl stated, among other observations, that "Tears are only water."

Jackson high-fived his young students, who are applauded both when they stand and when they finish.

"The foundation has given my life purpose," Jackson said. "This is something that I wake up and think about. I know what I should be doing. Everything else is secondary. We don't make money or fatten wallets, but I am continuously happy."

Newman Civic Fellows Award

Encouraging Creative Expression Leads to National Recognition for WSU Student and the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation

May 3, 2011
OGDEN, Utah – Amir Jackson, a Weber State University student who started a nonprofit organization to help at-risk youth, is one of the first individuals nationwide to be recognized as a Newman Civic Fellow by the Boston-based Campus Compact.

Jackson was among 135 Newman Civic Fellows, who received the inaugural award this May. The Newman Civic Fellows Awards recognize inspiring college student leaders who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country. The Fellows are nominated by college and university presidents.

“I’m honored to be selected as a Newman Fellow, but it means so much more in terms of the awareness it brings to my foundation,” Jackson said.

A junior pursuing a degree in psychology, Jackson is the founder and director of the Nurture the Creative Mind Foundation (NCM), a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization he started in 2007.

The NCM program uses creative expression as a path to building self-esteem in youth. The inspiration for the program comes from his own experiences growing up in Rochester, N.Y. When he was 12, Jackson left an abusive home situation to live with his grandmother and an aunt who was just a few years older than him.

“I was naturally kind of meandering to a negative place at a time in life when a lot of people get lost,” Jackson said. He wrote about his feelings and emotions in a poem that was “melancholy and had a dark side to it.” Then Jackson shared the poem with his aunt.

She told him it was good and bought him a journal so he could continue to creatively express himself. Jackson recalls his aunt’s encouragement as a defining moment.

“That poetry was my way of getting someone to see me in a positive way,” Jackson said. “That positivity was addicting. It let me know that I was valuable.”

After graduating from high school, Jackson served a four-year stint in the U.S. Air Force, which brought him to Utah. Following his discharge from the service, he wound up volunteering at Lincoln Elementary in Layton, Utah, a Title I school with a diverse population, including students from a lower socioeconomic background.

He started off teaching the program to one class at Lincoln Elementary, encouraging students to abandon their preconceptions and embrace music and poetry.

“I tell youth to open their minds, since most students are opposed to or have negative thoughts about poetry,” Jackson said. “I ask them what would a song be without words. If we took music and took melody and instruments away, what would that leave? Just the words, which are poetry.”

Rather than focus on their differences, Jackson encouraged the youth to use creative expression to find the connections between one another. Based on that initial success, he was asked to come back the next year and teach two classes.

“I started to see the benefit of the program, and I started to think, not about how many we had worked with, but how many we hadn’t,” Jackson said.

That led him to offer the program at treatment centers, women’s shelters, the YWCA and anywhere else he could find at-risk youth. In the past three years Jackson has worked with more than 500 youth from Davis, Salt Lake and Weber counties.

The 30-year-old Layton resident would like to make the program available statewide, and someday, he’d like to take it nationwide.

“I’ve seen what has happened with a minimum amount of people supporting it. Where could it be with even more people and support?” Jackson asked. “I know it’s a program that works both in terms of building self-esteem and academics.”

Jackson points to students who, when assigned to write one or two poems, return to class having written five or six. At the start of the program students take a pretest. The average pass rate for the pretest is 67 percent. By the end of the eight-week program, the collective pass rate for most classes is 83 to 84 percent.

Jackson recently published “Yes, I am STILL here,” a collection of stories and poems written by teenage girls who are survivors of various forms of abuse. The stories show the contrast from young women struggling with their experiences, to their newfound ability to recognize and celebrate their self-worth.

Jackson said that along the way, he’s learned as much from the program as the students he works with.
“The foundation has given my life purpose,” Jackson said. “This is something that I wake up and think about. I know what I should be doing. Everything else is secondary. We don’t make money or fatten wallets, but I am continuously happy. The work itself brings me happiness.”

Campus Compact is a national coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents — representing some 6 million students — who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education to improve community life and to educate students for civic and social responsibility. Through the Newman Civic Fellows Awards, college and university presidents acknowledge students with the ability and motivation to create lasting change in our communities. For more information about the Newman Civic Fellows, visit compact.org.

Attachment: High resolution photo of Amir Jackson attached.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
Contact:
Amir Jackson, founder and director, Nurture the Creative Mind
801-499-2371 • amirjackson@nurturethecreativemind.com
Author:
John Kowalewski, director of Media Relations
801-626-7212 • jkowalewski@weber.edu

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