Project I Am

Scholastic: What is your nonprofit business and why did you start it?
Jahkil: It all started when I was 5 years old. My cousins and I went to feed chili to people experiencing homelessness, and I saw that they were sleeping on the ground. Before that, I thought everybody had homes. Afterward, I kept asking my parents if there was something that we could do. Eventually, we started thinking about things we use on a daily basis that they don’t have. That’s when we came up with blessing bags: We could hand out packages of items like hand sanitizer and socks that we thought of as blessings. It blossomed from there into this big organization.

Scholastic: What’s the best part of running your nonprofit?
Jahkil: The best part—besides getting to boss my parents around—is the impact I have on young people. One of my biggest goals is to inspire others to give back to their communities. I teach a social entrepreneurship class. I also do virtual and in-person events for schools. It’s great when a kid comes up to me afterwards and I know I got through to them.

Scholastic: What is your nonprofit business and why did you start it?
Jahkil: It all started when I was 5 years old. My cousins and I went to feed chili to people experiencing homelessness, and I saw that they were sleeping on the ground. Before that, I thought everybody had homes. Afterward, I kept asking my parents if there was something that we could do. Eventually, we started thinking about things we use on a daily basis that they don’t have. That’s when we came up with blessing bags: We could hand out packages of items like hand sanitizer and socks that we thought of as blessings. It blossomed from there into this big organization.

Scholastic: What’s the best part of running your nonprofit?
Jahkil: The best part—besides getting to boss my parents around—is the impact I have on young people. One of my biggest goals is to inspire others to give back to their communities. I teach a social entrepreneurship class. I also do virtual and in-person events for schools. It’s great when a kid comes up to me afterwards and I know I got through to them.

Scholastic: What’s the most difficult part?
Jahkil: Not getting people experiencing homelessness off the street is probably the hardest part. Also, time management is not easy for me as a 17-year-old that goes to high school and plays basketball and does all these extra activities, but I have a village that helps me.

Scholastic: What math do you use?
Jahkil: A lot of math goes into the budgeting. We budget $10 per blessing bag. Based on research we’ve done, the most important item is socks. We also put in tissues, hand sanitizer, shampoo, wipes, and other daily essentials. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of partnerships with companies that make socks, which cost around $5 a pair. I set a higher goal for how many blessing bags we can hand out every year. The first year, my goal was 1,000, the second year was 5,000. We’ve done more than 300,000 bags since 2016!

Scholastic: What advice do you have for kids who want to start an organization like yours?
Jahkil: You can start small. Starting off small gives you wiggle room to make adjustments in your organization. Make sure you focus on something you’re passionate about. Start with volunteer work to see what you like and figure out what you would do in your own organization.

Scholastic: What’s the most difficult part?
Jahkil: Not getting people experiencing homelessness off the street is probably the hardest part. Also, time management is not easy for me as a 17-year-old that goes to high school and plays basketball and does all these extra activities, but I have a village that helps me.

Scholastic: What math do you use?
Jahkil: A lot of math goes into the budgeting. We budget $10 per blessing bag. Based on research we’ve done, the most important item is socks. We also put in tissues, hand sanitizer, shampoo, wipes, and other daily essentials. We’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of partnerships with companies that make socks, which cost around $5 a pair. I set a higher goal for how many blessing bags we can hand out every year. The first year, my goal was 1,000, the second year was 5,000. We’ve done more than 300,000 bags since 2016!

Scholastic: What advice do you have for kids who want to start an organization like yours?
Jahkil: You can start small. Starting off small gives you wiggle room to make adjustments in your organization. Make sure you focus on something you’re passionate about. Start with volunteer work to see what you like and figure out what you would do in your own organization.