Sowing Seeds With Faith
Photo by Santi Vedrí on Unsplash
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Sowing Seeds With Faith summer camp, held in Louisville West End. Sowing Seeds With Faith is one of the funding recipients of the A Path Forward initiative. Da'Marrion Fleming runs the program. During my visit, he showed me the many programs, activities and classes offered to these students. This year the program accepted 141 students, however, this camp is so needed, effective, and desired by the community that this year there was a 271 person waiting list.
While the narrative of the West End of Louisville is one of crime, poverty, and violence, upon entering the building, one immediately sees different data. While not qualitative, one can see and even feel the hope, determination, and talent in the halls and classrooms. The Sowing Seeds With Faith camp is an example of a community coming together to service itself, empower itself, and invest in itself.
The camp serves students from pre-K to the 10th grade. While Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) does provide some teachers, it is not enough, so the community steps in, according to the Executive Director Da'Marrion Fleming. The organization often pays out of pocket to pay for supplies, since funding is difficult to come by. The funding they are receiving as a part of the A Path Forward initiative is vital in their work.
This is not a typical summer educational program. The children want to be there. The adults in their lives want them to be there. This isn’t just summer childcare, although the program does take into account the working hours of single parents. Yes, the children are cared for, but they also learn that being Black is amazing. They learn that they can do more than society expects from them. They learn that they come from people who have always been intelligent, talented, and skilled. Their ancestors were never allowed to try. In this camp, students are allowed to try. They do this every summer, even when they are unsure if they will be able to secure a building and when they know they will need to provide their own instructors.
This camp is more than just academic tutoring. It offers a safe, welcoming environment where students can experience cultural pride and joy. I was able to take some interns from the nonprofit TECH-Nique on a site visit. I will attach a copy of their presentation below. I asked them to compare their experience at the camp with traditional narratives about Black children. I wanted them to challenge that narrative by uplifting missing data points that lead to flawed standard interventions and “support.”
Programs like Sowing Seeds With Faith are responsive to the communities they serve. They consider the shift adults work. They consider the need for children to realize that it is wonderful to be Black. These are data points often missing from narratives that consistently uplift “achievement gaps” and “at-risk” youth. We cannot create effective change without supporting organizations like Sowing Seeds With Faith who have the experience, ability, passion, and personal investment to uplift their own communities.
Please join us as we help Sowing Seeds With Faith collect, analyze, and communicate their data.
To learn more about Sowing Seeds With Faith and to support them, please click here.
Learn more about A Path Forward for Louisville here.
The following presentation is a slide set created by Louisville high school students as a part of the TECH-Nique summer internship program. The present-on is just the slide set, not the actual presentation. I asked the students to find data gaps and missing data metrics that could provide a more complete picture of Black children, education and why programs like Sowing Seeds With Faith are necessary and should be supported.
Sowing Seeds With Faith Intern Presentation