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Jordan, who grew up in
Toledo, attended Start High School and earned a bachelor’s
of science in organizational management from Spring Arbor
University in Michigan, is quick to say that the story of
his achievements and the road to the success of his
organization hasn’t always been easy- but was essential for
him and for his children.
He remembers the
transformation. “I had cried out to God and said if you give
me one more chance I’ll never sell dope again. I was trying
to find work and I couldn’t make ends meet,” Jordan says
about those difficult times when the job he had still wasn’t
enough to cover his expenses, and the ghosts of his past
continued to haunt him.
“I remember I was washing
cars and the dope boys would make sure to come into this
carwash. They’d drive up with the girls that I thought I was
going to be with, and start talking,” he said. “I couldn’t
even pay my phone bill. I was sitting in the car with my
oldest daughter, she had to be five or six at the time, and
I started to cry. When I started to cry she looked me
straight in my face and asked me ‘Dad why are you crying?
Didn’t you tell me that Jordans don’t cry?’ “We locked eyes
and I said that’s right honey. I dried my tears and told
myself that I would do whatever it takes to succeed so that
my baby won’t have to see her daddy cry again.”
What he did was roll up
his sleeves and get busy. “I shoveled snow and cut grass,”
Jordan says. “I even started doing window repairs even
though I didn’t know anything about it. I got a book and
read how to do them.”
Eventually Jordan got a
job at Ford Motor Company where he sharpened his community
outreach skills working within the union. “We would go out
and feed families in need, help with community restoration
projects, and give out Christmas baskets to kids,” he says.
Jordan says it was these
projects that helped fill a niche he’d always had and made
him feel spiritually fit.
And after the factory left
the area, and he was given the option to transfer or take a
company payout, he chose the latter.
“I took the buyout because
I felt as though there was something more in store for my
life then working in a factory and on a line,” he says. “I
started feeling the need to become more invested in my
community, and even when our union wasn’t doing those
projects I would still volunteer my time in some aspect. I
became more creative inside of my church family and started
thinking about how I could help the young men in the area.”
It was the same niche that
Jordan had seen demonstrated by his father, Jimmie L Jordan
– the former pastor of Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church –
and his mother , Rosie Jordan.
“I would watch them do
it,” he says. “I grew up watching them give sacrifices of
themselves. I remember times when we would go without
electricity or go without gas because we paid somebody
else’s gas bill or somebody else’s light bill.”
When he looks back, Jordan
says he understands that what his parents did then was not
out of ignorance but because of the blessings that they had.
But as a young man he didn’t see what they saw and he
attributes some of his “falling away” to that
misunderstanding.
“My dad always taught me
that it’s about what you do on the earth that allows us to
be the salt of the earth,” Jordan says. “And now I believe
in giving back without any recognition. That’s why I move
the way I move in the position that I move in. I believe
that’s part of what we are on the earth to do. That it’s
God’s mission work, and everyone’s mission on earth – to be
an example, to give of your time and your spirit and your
energy.”
After leaving Ford, Jordan
says he continued for another 10 years serving in the
community giving haircuts, buying books, sneakers and sports
equipment for kids in the area. And in 2005 JLJ Victory
Outreach began as a pilot program at Robinson Junior High
School.
“The school believed that
if they had someone to consistently work with the kids the
culture of the school might change,” Jordan says. “We
actually recognized a group of gang members that were inside
of the school at that time, and one of the guys, who was a
chronic gang member and was heavily involved in drugs,
became an honor student and actually got a write-up in a
local newspaper.”
JLJ soon expanded to
Libbey, Scott and Woodward High Schools. “We took those kids
on trips to Washington D.C., to Detroit and Cincinnati, so
that they could look and see that other kids weren’t much
different than they were,” says Jordan.
He says there came a time
when the momentum of the program was threatened because of
funding and he was faced with the need to restructure. “As
you move forward there are always setbacks,” Jordan says.
“And one of those setbacks was the financials. So the grant
ran out. And one thing that breaks the development of these
kids is the inconsistencies of services. I knew that if I’m
falling these kids are falling and the kids can’t fall.”
So Jordan began reaching
out to businesses, friends and families in order to create
the necessary connections he needed to make in the
community. “My message to them was, ‘hey, we need to do
something about our community,’” he says. “It’s not just the
crime-ridden inner cities, but these are the kids that our
kids meet at the mall, and the kids who our kids sit in the
same school building with. These are the same kids who go
home without electricity and without food while we go home
to a refrigerator full of food and spoiling. So how can we
meet that need?”
Jordan says that it was
those types of conversations that created an understanding
about what he was trying to do. “These were the like-minded
people who would say ‘Keith you’re right. I don’t like
seeing kids coming to school with clothes that haven’t been
washed or poor hygiene. You know what here’s a bag of
hygiene products or here’s $150 let’s see if we can get this
kid something.’ “
“And instead of giving
that money to one kid or one family, I did like Jesus did
and took the two little fish and the five loaves of bread
and I expanded it,” Jordan said. “I’d get $50 gift cards
for three families and then ask someone else to donate
vegetables and fruit and then I’d go to grocery store owners
and ask them could you match that?”
That was then. Today JLJ
Victory Outreach operates on a $250,000 annual budget and
serves more than 2,000 kids a year through its various
programs, says Jordan
The Buddy Program is an
alternative placement program that works to keep kids in
school during a suspension or an expulsion.
“You know statistics
show that a certain amount of school days missed by kids in
third and fourth grade can actually determine if they will
graduate from school or if they will fall behind in
classes,” says Jordan. “So we keep these kids in the
building, supervised, where they can do their school work
and at the same time we work on character development
practices instead of them sitting at home not learning
anything and getting into criminal mischief in the
community. When other schools start to see the expulsion
rates and the suspension rates going up, they call and say
we need JLJ inside of our schools.”
Another arm of the
organization is its Men of JOEB program, an eight-week
workforce development program for ages 16-24. The program
runs during the summer and places those who demonstrate
excellence and commitment onto entry level job sites. Jordan
says that the program encourages positive work ethic and
instills, in young adults, a penchant for community service.
Successful participation in the program can lead to
permanent employment.
In addition to its ongoing
programs, JLJ Outreach also hosts its yearly Summer
Extravaganza. The day camp runs from June-August and is open
to 45 kids ages five to 16. And like other programs in the
organization, students who are committed are given priority.
“We will take up 70 kids
on an on call basis,” says Jordan. “If kids don’t come and
aren’t consistent with attendance, we will put someone else
in that slot. The emphasis is on having a safe place and an
educational enrichment zone for these children during the
summertime. The brain is like a muscle and if we don’t work
it out it gets flabby and doesn’t stay in shape. So these
kids keep exercising so that when they go back to school in
the fall they are already on task.”
The summer camp offers
three focused areas that are structured to help prepare
campers for a favorable future: The educational component
that works in partnership with TPS and includes onsite STEM
based curriculum and weekly college tours to those ages
13-16.
The behavior modification
section features a “Breakfasts with Leaders” event and a
structural organization session to help students understand
how community systems function and the role the student can
play within the community. Then there is the physical
fitness section, because Jordan says, “We know that our
community struggles with hypertension and juvenile diabetes
issues.”
Through it all Jordan
emphasizes the need for reliability when it comes to
community services.
“The successes of JLJ are
in its stability,” he says. “Our programs are customized to
each individual so we must be consistent in implementing and
developing models for these emerging leaders. So through
good and bad moments we never throw up our hands and quit.
Instead we ask can you help me and how can we do better?”
He wants the community to
know that he will continue to move forward in serving and
teaching others how to serve. And he says that he is always
looking for new ideas in order to be better. “Right now I’m
looking for new methods of educating our young black men,
who are coming out of detention, and through life cycles,”
he says.
In his phone, Jordan
carries a picture of a single flower emerging out of a crack
in the pavement- evidence that he can identify with those
who have gone through some challenges in life and
confirmation that there is always hope.
“This is me. This flower
grew through that rough foundation,” he says. “Whatever is
in my past, yeah I did it. I owned it and I moved on. But
the thing is that I didn’t let that story be the story they
told on me- I told the story. And the people that I come in
contact with are down. Like me, people have told them that
their lives are nothing. People have told them ‘you’re a
fake and a phony and you’re never going be anything.’ “So
you’re right, I’ve got a chip on my shoulder because I’ve
been through the fire. I tell people that I’m like a bull in
a china shop. I only can be one kind of way. I can only be
me. But guess what? I’m college educated I’ve got a degree
and I’m about to finish another one. I’m opening up these
kids’ eyes and their parents’ eyes and letting them know
that if I can do it they can do it. And though I don’t make
nearly as much money as I made when I was working at Ford,
at the end of the day I am so happy. I love what I do and I
am honored to give back.”
For more information about
JLJ Victory Outreach or the Summer Extravaganza visit the
website:
http://www.jljvisionoutreach.org/ |
