By Ariyana Griffin
AFRO Staff Writer
Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy is taking it a step further when it comes to removing financial barriers for its students and their families. On Dec. 3, the school held a grand opening for its Care Closet, a resource center where parents can pick up care items on campus for free.
The Care Closet is a joint effort between Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy, Unlimited Potential Mentoring and Amazon. Together, these partners strategized to address the needs of their learning community by providing access to various household items. The closet will hold a wide range of essential items, such as laundry detergent, soap, toothbrushes, hand sanitizer, diapers, hygiene products and more to help relieve the financial burden for parents.
“When we think about students at the elementary level, we know that their success is very dependent upon families,” Ladaisha Ballard, the principal of Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy said. “Our barriers are beyond what students are facing in the classroom – and as much as we can break down some of those barriers, the easier it is going to be for students to continue to show up to school.”
She emphasized that the school operates in a source of love and support for its student body, and they will continue to do their part to prioritize their needs.
According to a report by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, a philanthropy-based organization in Baltimore, “the city’s poverty rate for children and youth ages 6 to 17 jumped from 24 percent in 2022 to 28 percent in 2023.” The partner organizations want to help alleviate the pressures within a child’s home that may prevent them from attending school regularly or participating in other social settings.
One goal of this effort is to give students access to the essential items they need for daily living which will allow them to show up for school confident, focused and ready to learn. According to the U.S. News and World Report, the school “enrolls 91 percent economically disadvantaged students,” however through programming such as this one they are working diligently to address the needs of their students.
PHOTO: AFRO Photo / Ariyana Griffin
Haneef Hardy, former teacher at Furman L. Templeton Preparatory Academy and founder of Unlimited Potential Mentoring Inc., says that the closet can support families during their time of need to help regain focus on critical things, such as the student’s education. He shared that this allows families to also focus and invest in other things because they can save money on a few essential items.
“This is just a step one of removing our people out of survival motion or survival mentality to abundance,” Hardy told the AFRO.
The fourth and fifth grade students participating in the closet also attend a college course at Loyola University Maryland, titled Creative Mindset, once a week after school as a program through Unlimited Potential Mentoring. The students are able to intermingle with college students and learn about innovation and entrepreneurship at a college level. Hardy shared that applying the skills they learned in the classroom to real-life scenarios is key.
“This is the first of many things that y’all are going to own,” Hardy told the cohort of students. He emphasized that the closet was their space and the impact they had on being the motivation to curate the sustainable space.
The closet, set up in a storefront style, will be operated by the same students as a way to provide them with responsibility and teach them the importance of pouring into their community. It will also allow the students to experience what it takes to run a store and bring the idea of entrepreneurship from a concept to completion.
Sidequa Perry, a parent of two including a fourth grader who attends the school, expressed that the closet is a positive tool for families.
“As a parent, I feel like the closet is able to help a lot of parents from struggling or feeling like they don’t have anybody to go to when they are in need of something,” Perry told the AFRO. “It’s a good thing – it’s something that’s inside of the community where they won’t feel bad about it.”
Families will have the opportunity to receive a check list form to fill out what items they would like to pick up from the closet. Pick ups will take place on the first and third Wednesday of the month from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. The closet will officially be in operation starting January.
Hardy is excited to create more experiences and opportunities within the Baltimore community and beyond, to learn more about his youth organization, donate or find out how to volunteer visit unlimited-potential.org.
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