Dr. Dedrick Sims launched the Sims-Fayola Foundation (SFF) in 2014 with a
dream and a $30,000 loan from personal funds. His dream wasn’t based on the
fantastical premise that the foundation would glide into a quick and smooth
finish, waving a “mission accomplished” banner within a few short years. As
a youth, he experienced both abuse and addiction in his childhood home; and
while working as an educator and witnessing Black and Latino male youth
trampled and ignored by the status quo, Sims realized the hurdles and
distance ahead.
While Sims’ professional resume is impressive, many of his most valuable
skills were developed through extracurricular experiences and endeavors
neither compatible with, nor easily summarized, on a curriculum vitae. His
premise for SFF was based on the idea that education is a constant effort.
He doesn’t consider the educational experience to merely reside in the
classroom and abruptly pause when the final bell signals the school day’s
end. Likewise, spring, summer and other assorted breaks aren’t an excuse or
respite from duties that he considers obligatory – not only to teachers and
school administrators, but also to parents, businesses and the overarching
community.
Such ambitious aspirations initially chafed against existing expectations
that educators should serve as disciplinarians – rather than counselors – of
at-risk male youths of color. While some may consider Sims’ efforts to be a
lost cause, he views them as a conceivable challenge; albeit one requiring
patience and perseverance.
Sims spoke with Denver Urban Spectrum two weeks before Christmas, and it’s
apparent that he is grateful for SFF’s considerable successes over nearly a
decade. While he’s thankful, it’s also apparent that he’s still not
satisfied – that there’s still work to be done in order to fulfill his
initial aspirations from the foundation’s launch. He’s excited about the
enduring journey to propel youth of color past and through pitfalls that
often end in deferred dreams and poverty, at best; incarceration and death,
at worst.
Black and Latino boys seldom envision a place for themselves outside their
immediate circumstances and environment. Sims’ own experience with mentors
inspired him to pass along and pay forward encouragement.
“This foundation is an extension of everything that I needed as a kid,” he
explains, as a prime impetus for the organization’s existence and efforts.
“I grew up in a pretty tough situation. My mom was a drug addict and there
was some abuse going on in the house. It was teachers who saved my life; it
was teachers who showed me something out of my four-block radius. When I
knew there was more, then I started to strive for more. Our foundation
focuses on mentoring, socio-emotional learning and support, financial
literacy and all those things.”
With many boys of color suffering from “social isolation,” Sims realizes the
importance of presenting broader horizons – not only geographical, but also
personal and professional – to encourage ambition and determination. He
targets SFF’s programming outside the classrooms.
“That’s what led me to start the foundation…To be able to have something
that not only had practical services for the boys, but that could be an
advocate for what we needed as boys of color; not only in the schools, but
also in the community in general,” he explains. The scope of work is broader
than the traditional concept of a teacher’s job description, but Sims peers
past conventional terms and norms to upend systemic neglect and failed
outcomes.
A Grand Vision
SFF’s Strategic Vision Overview presents the problem in stark and succinct
words, all based on academic research.
Both Black and Hispanic male youth fall behind their white peers in reading
proficiency by the fourth grade, and receive disciplinary actions at higher
rates throughout the remainder of their educational experience through 12th
grade. SFF’s strategic vision references other disturbing and debilitating
statistics supported with cited research. It references the perception of
Black males through a “criminal lens,” and with Black male youth dismissed
as “aggressive,” “troublemakers,” “too active,” “hyperactive,” and
“dangerous.” Sims strives to change those preconceptions and any associated
self-fulfilling consequences.
While the organization’s goals are lofty, the commitment and risk required
to achieve them are even more towering. In nine short years, Sims has
steered SFF from a startup – based on raw experiences, dreams, and goals –
into a “multimillion dollar organization” with operations in multiple
states.
“I bet on myself,” he reflects. “Nine and a half years later, (we) survived
the pandemic, because we do good work.” He observes that good work attracted
funding through grants and fee-for-service endeavors to increase staff,
operations and reach.
Arriving at this point wasn’t without challenges. Sims recalls early efforts
to secure grants explaining, “You have to prove yourself. There were a
couple of years where we went through this proving period with our
programming. No grantor would give us any funds until we showed proof of
concept and showed what we were doing.”
Proof of concept came through applying strategic solutions and creating
tangible results. A significant aspect of SFF’s successful concept relies on
socio-emotional learning. The Committee for Children describes
socio-emotional learning as “the process of developing the self-awareness,
self-control and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work and
life success.”
The committee’s description is aligned with Sims’ efforts to provide young
males of color with tools within and outside the classroom to navigate
life’s challenges and choices, and avoid the outcomes that often plague
these boys and young men. The SFF formula further explores and applies three
avenues to achieve results: Building Awareness, Building Capacity and
Building Equity by Design.
Building Awareness, the first route to fulfillment, gives voice to young
males of color, relaying their opinions, desires and needs to educators and
organizations charged with serving, sponsoring and directing them. One
primary platform the organization developed to grant these youth a podium is
the “Boys Are Talking” forum series. Sims describes this forum series as an
opportunity for 10 boys to respond directly to power players such as
educators, city council members and state legislators to discover if their
programs hinder or help.
Sims describes the impetus for the Building Awareness focus area. “One of
the reasons why I created that program is that we typically do things ‘to’
these young men and not necessarily ‘with’ them,” he explains. “They’re
rarely a part of their own solution. We have all these programs and things
we want them to do – it all comes from our best intentions, but we don’t
include their voice and include them as a part of the work. Then when it
doesn’t go right, we struggle to understand why.”
Historically, Black and Latino youth haven’t been encouraged to speak up to
authority. There have been even less opportunities to assist authority
figures in charting and structuring their educational and societal paths.
Building Capacity involves coaching and guiding organizations “that want to
increase their capacity to deliver their services through an equity lens.”
According to the SFF Strategic Vision Overview, these endeavors include the
Empowered Ambition Youth Development Program, Fayola Man Summer Leadership
Academy, Fayola Man Career Academy, Community Mentoring Program and
Community Virtual Mentoring Program. Interestingly, SFF mentors other
service providers that work with young males of color.
The Empowered Ambition Youth Development program, which engages youth in
socio-emotional learning practices that encourage lifelong success, is the
organization’s signature program.
Building Equity by Design unites SFF with the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK)
Denver chapter in efforts to “support the development and growth of programs
and schools through an equity lens.” MBK’s objective is to “disrupt and
rebuild” systemic barriers and practices that discourage the success of
young males of color.
Power In Partnership
MBK is a national mentorship effort created during President Barack Obama’s
administration. The former president created the signature program as a
six-point plan designed to support young boys and men of color before and
after formal education. The collaboration between SFF and MBK’s Denver
Chapter is a particular point of pride and satisfaction for Sims, who was
honored when former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock awarded stewardship of the
chapter to SFF before exiting office.
“Now we are the backbone for Denver for My Brother’s Keeper,” he states. He
describes the milestones named in the six-point plan, starting with the boys
“entering school healthy and ready to learn. The second [milestone] is
reading at grade level by grade three. The third one is graduating on time.
The fourth is access to post-secondary education. The fifth is access to the
workforce. The sixth is the right to exist without violence, and to get
second chances.”
While the steps outlined as milestones in the six-point plan offer
guidelines and guide posts, they are a bit more complicated than the
cinematic “follow-the-yellow-brick road” instruction presented in Hollywood
fantasies like the Wizard of Oz. Each milestone involves complexity,
dexterity and determination – its successes are no fantasy.
“Over the last nine and a half years, we’ve served a little north of 16,000
young men,” Sims states. “We’ve also provided support and workshops for a
little greater than 6,000 youth service professionals. Also, one of the best
stats I could give you is that over the last nine and a half years of the
young men who’ve completed our programming, we’ve reduced suspensions,
truancies and negative discipline referrals that have to do with violence by
greater than 60% in each one of those categories.”
SFF & MBK 2.0
SFF’s primary focus in past years rested on reactive work, attempting to
correct the damage done through inequitable systems and attitudes of
indifference. Now, SFF and the MBK Denver Chapter have set their collective
sights on a proactive course. One of the efforts the organizations are
working in tandem to correct is the retention of male educators of color.
With only 4% of Black or Latino male teachers, mentorship through the first
three years of their careers is being devoted to support workplace
sustainability.
The importance of having teachers who resemble and resonate with male
students of color makes efforts to support male educators of color even more
urgent. Sims observes that the lessons shared by teachers who relate to
students can be delivered with more authenticity and extend past standard
curriculum. Without shared similarity and personal identification with a
teacher, Sims states connection with both the teachers and lessons “will not
seem as deep, it’s going to seem more technical, and it’s not going to
resonate.”
Additional proactive activities to revitalize the educational experience of
young males of color include “systems changes,” plans to “influence” policy
makers and designs, and “being at the top, being at the table.” With a
relaunch of MBK’s Denver Chapter in January, Sims plans to realize and
transform these dreams into realities and results through the collective
efforts of SFF and MBK.
“Right now we are a singularly-focused nonprofit, engaging in a lot of
reactive work with program level impact,” he relays. “For the past six
months, using the MBK platform, we’ve been putting the infrastructure in
place to transition into a collective-impact organization engaging in both
reactive and proactive work with the goal of population-level impact for
young men of color in the Denver Metro area. In January, we will announce
the relaunch of My Brother’s Keeper Denver! We are calling it MBK 2.0
Reimagining Our Impact.”
Editor’s Note: To learn more about SFF, visit www.sffoundation.org.
