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 Where There Is a Need: The Man Behind the J.C. Coleman Foundation

 Forming the J.C. Coleman Foundation was based on a father’s desire to make sure his daughter was happy. 

 I always wanted to make an impact on the lives of children. I had been a middle school teacher in inner city Dallas and a professor at Armstrong Atlantic State University in middle grades education so I had seen first- hand how public education in general fails to address the needs of inner city children. Inner city kids are generally at risk for not finishing high school, and, indeed, in Chatham County 71% graduate as compared to the state average of 79%.

Inner city kids in Savannah needed help: I knew this. So I started the J.C. Coleman Foundation in fall of 2008. Using an effective after school model that incorporates tutoring, homework help, and enrichment activities, we have reached many kids. Grades have improved. Conduct grades have improved. Attitudes toward school and each other have improved.

Eighty-six percent of the population does not have access to after school assistance. But the thirty-four students of the J.C. Coleman Foundation/John S. Delaware Recreation Center are more fortunate than most. They can go to a safe facility after school, get a snack, do homework, get tutoring, then settle into a lesson or current events, literacy, media appreciation, arts and crafts, or sports and recreation. After enrichment, the participants are served dinner by American Harvest, and by 6:00 pm, they are ready for parent pick up.

The summer camp program is a joint venture between the J.C. Coleman Foundation and the City of Savannah. Housed at the Delaware Center, students rotate among activities such as educational time, library time, gym time, games time, speaker time, arts and crafts, and field trips. This program is a healthy outlet for the summer kids with the right balance between structure and free time.

Why did I decide to spend my inheritance from my father on this foundation? Because there is a need and too many kids have limited choices. He would have approved. When he died 27 years ago, he made me promise to be happy. And because of the need, my goals are slowly being realized.

My father was born to deaf mute parents at the end of the Depression, so not only did he grow up poor, he grew up on the margins of society. He did not speak until he started school at age six and was mercilessly teased by his classmates. He attended a one-room school house in a rural area between Dallas and Ft. Worth.

At age seventeen, he enlisted into the Navy during World War II and, after his tour, he worked in the mailroom of a small town oil company called Magnolia while he attended college on the GI Bill. He moved up to accountant when his degree was conferred.

He married, had one daughter, and continued working with this oil company whose name was later changed to Mobil Oil. He died in 1983 after 33 years with the company.

So if my father could rise above insurmountable odds and do so with grace, humility, and Christian charity, I think I can start a foundation with a mission to help kids whose backgrounds may be in some way similar to my father’s. 

We are the J.C. Coleman Foundation.

 

 

Jo Ann Coleman, Ed.D.

President and CEO

The J.C. Coleman Foundation, Inc.

www.jccolemanfoundation.org