Jim Cummings, a long-term client of SCORE Mentor Jerry Steinberg of SCORE Palm Beach County, has spent more than 30 years working to get kids in western Kenya access to a better education. He’s also building a cross-cultural connection between them and students right here in our area.
He started small by creating a nonprofit in Palm Beach County and now, the group just recently finished building their first independent school in Kenya...
Jim worked with SCORE Mentor, Jerry Steinberg, through the formation of his nonprofit, Board by-laws & recruitment, initial & current fundraising, and following his school's continuing building campaign in Kenya.
For more than a decade, Cummings taught history at Seminole Ridge High School in Loxahatchee and the Benjamin School in North Palm Beach.
That’s where his nonprofit, ‘Kijana,’ came to life.
Kijana means youth, or young person, in Swahili and that is their main focus – empowering youth.
“My vision is to develop a holistic education including the arts, global connectivity, environmental protection and helping these kids develop skills that are necessary for 21st century learning and also building connection with our kids here,” Cummings said.
His vision came to life last year when the group opened the doors to their first ever global innovation school, and he says there’s nothing like it in all of western Kenya.
They started with just 15 students, but today, there are 120 kids on campus with the hope of growing to 400 or 500 in the next couple years.
The entire concept of the school, from the curriculum to the art on the walls, was a collaboration between people here in Palm Beach County and across the world in Kenya.
If you’d like to learn more about the nonprofit or get involved with their efforts, visit the Kijana website.
View the whole featured news story about Jim and Kijana here: https://cbs12.com/news/morning-show/hometown-heroes-local-teacher-builds-new-global-innovation-school-in-kenya
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