Educating Young People at No Stones Movement
"It is more important than ever to provide Afrikan-centered education, because as the years progress so does the attack against our children. It becomes more embedded... and so it's not always clear, lots of things are done under cover, and we need to continue pushing the idea of liberation for these children, because it becomes cloudy.
It becomes a situation where people might feel that it's not necessary. In a world where 'black lives matter' is on TV, the way things look are not necessarily how they are because while 'black lives matter' is on TV, the you also have laws going into place to challenge Critical Race Theory. So you want to make sure that we have these opportunities and maintain these safe space, so that we continue to do this work, and continue to push for our children to be educated about things that are going on in the world and how they affect them directly as Afrikan people."
Filmed and Edited by Mery Simmons; Photos by Brian Parks of the TSK Prep Production Team
An Afrikan-Centered Educational Experience at Tamu Sana Kanyama Preparatory Academy
“We are proud parents of Tamu Sana Kanyama Preparatory Academy. I can't speak enough about how much TSK means to us, our family, the community and what an impact it's made on my boys lives.
We decided, probably before we even decided to have children, that we were committed to giving them an Afrikan-centered educational experience.
It was so important to us, for them to grow up and thrive in an environment that teaches them who they are, to love who they are, to celebrate themselves as Afrikans. TSK has been that place for us.”
Filmed and Edited by Mery Simmons; Photos by Brian Parks of the TSK Prep Production Team
Connect with Changemaker
Aynda Kanyama-Jackson
Working with DevoCenter
It has been a wonderful two years. I can't thank DevoCenter enough for the confidence we've been given as an organization, because honestly, I think that's the biggest piece.
Working Together and Celebrating
We joined Blacks in Nonprofit and then met up with DevoCenter and an accounting firm, and between the three of us - both other Black women supporting me - we've just increased by having our budget together, and we did a big celebration when we did our first payroll session. Now payroll is just a thing, right?
Getting Paid as an Entrepreneur
When I got my first W-2s all of that was just really big steps for us. And like she said, we've been going as No Stones Movement actually since 1999. The school started in 2008, which was 14 years ago. So to have it be in the last two years that I got my first check from my business, I mean, we've gotten like stipends here and there, but I got a paycheck. It was really awesome.
Good Systems, New Knowledge and Confidence
We were able to track money we used to let get away at the end of the year. Parents didn't pay. It's just like, ‘oh well’... now we have a tracking system in place. And we've actually had, about this year, we've had almost 5,000 recouped from clients that say, oh, I can't pay. And I would be like, oh, okay, well, I guess they can't pay. I'm a nonprofit. So, and this is just things I didn't know to do. So yeah, the knowledge and the confidence alone that have come with this process are just innumerable.