South Florida has numerous youth mentorship programs that make a difference in students’ lives. Project Transforming Hope is among that group, but their approach to guiding and mentoring is different from many of their counterparts. Their holistic and unique methods of teaching refine the individuals, making them sharper and brighter than when they began. The organization concluded its sixth year with a coating ceremony to celebrate the latest batch of fellows finishing the program. Parents and community members came that evening to celebrate the end of this chapter.

“This has been an eye-opening experience, and I feel like a lot of people should join it.  It helped me learn a lot of different things. It let me learn about different young black men and the opportunities they get, and this was an opportunity that most of them do not get.” said King Pollock, Project Transforming Hope Fellow and 7th grader at Beacon College Prep.

Project Transforming Hope’s Coating ceremony took place on Saturday, June 7, at the Betty T. Ferguson Center in Miami Gardens. The event was to celebrate the 23 students who completed the eight-month program. Each fellow was gifted a navy blazer with the organization’s logo embroidered. Project Transforming Hope is a mentorship program that teaches young Black boys in 7th through 12th grade life skills, economic mobility, holistic wellness, and more. 

David L Jackson and Rashard Johnson founded the program in September 2019. The duo created this program to help young Black boys have the necessary skills they’ll need post high school. Jackson’s and Johnson’s experiences as college freshmen at their alma maters, Syracuse University and Florida State University, made them feel like they should have been more ready for what lay ahead of them.

“Rashard and I went to predominantly white institutions. We noticed that we felt underprepared during our time there. We felt that there was a little more we should have known going into that space. Upon moving home, I was a classroom teacher, and I realized that that same violence exists where we weren’t giving students everything that we could so that they can be successful as they transition out of school,” said Jackson, who’s the Chief Transformation Officer of Project Transforming Hope. 

Jackson and Johnson solved that problem through their curriculum, which is composed of enriching experiences. Project Transforming Hope taught its fellows career readiness, post-secondary education, financial literacy, water safety, and AI. The organization also took its fellows to distinct environments, such as the Everglades and the Miami Waterkeeper facility. The most memorable session current and past fellows mention is the Shark Tank, a session dedicated to presenting business ideas to local entrepreneurs.

“My favorite session would probably be the Shark Tank. It allowed me to understand that you won’t be able to do it by yourself. You need a team of people who actually work well together. It showed me how good community is because I was provided a team where I thought if I would do everything myself rather than collaborating and thinking, it would go smoothly. That wasn’t the case,” said Geraldy Refuse, Project Transforming Hope Alumni and Junior at Doctors Charter School of Miami Shores.

“The Shark Tank was my favorite activity. We had to come up with our business plan for people who had a real business like Richard Lamondin Jr. and David Castro,” said Jamison Brown, Project Transforming Hope Alumni and Syracuse University graduate.

Guests of the event not only got the privilege to see the young men put on their coats during the coating ceremony, they were also shown a video presentation featuring the activities the students participated in during Project Transforming Hope. Current and past fellows of the program reminisced as they saw scenes from the first coating ceremony, The CPR training session, and pictures from the Everglades trip. 

What’s next for Project Transforming Hope is expansion. Jackson and Johnson want to host more young men in the program. This year, they had 31 fellows from all three South Florida counties. Jackson and Johnson intend to continue the work of Project Transforming Hope. They want to ensure that more young black boys do not face any barriers to success. Project Transforming Hope is now accepting applications for the 2025-2026 cohort. 

For more information visit: https://www.projecttransforminghope.com/

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