The Brian Jordan Foundation (BJF) was founded in 1998 by Brian Jordan, a two-sport Major League Baseball Player, National Football League defensive-back and Emmy award-winning sports analyst for Bally Sports. The foundation is dedicated to building healthy minds, strong bodies and supporting places to grow for children and their families in metro Atlanta.
“Our motto is: Be focused. Be dedicated. Be determined. And you will be a winner,” said Todd Gladden, executive director of BJF.
During the coronavirus pandemic, BJF created a virtual mentoring series for current and former scholars to provide guest speakers on various topics, the first of which was held with Brian Jordan and the BJF Board of Directors in March 2020 to allow the scholars express their needs and how they were doing.
“We really just wanted to see how they were doing mentally and physically with all the changes, and needless to say, it was a real eye-opener,” said Gladden. “They were very open and honest and shared their challenges and the need for mentoring in the areas of interviewing skills, resume building, networking, financial literacy and internships.”
COVID-19 also showed the leaders at BJF the importance of financial literacy for their program participants.
“Recognizing the limited experience many of our scholars have with budgeting and saving, we are looking forward to leaning on one of our generous sponsors, Georgia’s Own Credit Union, to help guide our scholars on this subject matter in upcoming webinars,” said Gladden.
BJF hopes to be able to return to more of its usual programming soon, which includes elementary school reading challenges, sports camps, a scholarship program and a mentoring program to support current and past scholarship winners.
“If children have no place to go, no one to care for them and no philosophy to model themselves after, they may travel down the wrong path,” said Gladden. “The foundation’s dream is to give young people positive alternatives by creating programs and building places where they can develop to their full potential.”
Who’s helping?
The Brian Jordan Foundation
Services: BFJ creates elementary school reading challenges, sports camps, a scholarship program and a mentoring program to support current and past scholarship winners to foster growth in Atlanta’s youth.
Communities served: BJF serves the entire metro Atlanta area, as well as offering scholarships to students across the Southeast.
Where to donate: Supporters can donate at www.brianjordanfoundation.com/donate.html and sponsors/golfers can support the 2021 Celebrity/Legend weekend at www.brianjordanfoundation.com/2021-celebrity-golf-weekend-info.html
How to get involved: Younger students can ask teachers to look into the BJF reading challenge (www.brianjordanfoundation.com/bjf-reading-challenge.html). High School students can apply for the BJF scholarships on the website in March of 2022.
If you are involved in or know of an organization working to bring relief to the Atlanta community during the coronavirus pandemic OR you are with an organization with supplies that you don’t know where to donate, please email us at Shannon.n.Dominy@gmail.com.
