Real Champions

May 24, 2021 – The Jubilee Community Partnership is pleased to provide support to Real Champions—a deep-mentoring program for children based in Ridgeland, South Carolina.

Real Champions hires full-time employees to provide intensive mentoring to low-income youths whose parents sign them up for the program, starting in kindergarten. Each mentor is responsible for eight youngsters, each of whom are given two to four hours of time with the mentor every single week.

The mentors stay with their children as they rise through school ages. (If the mentor retires, a substitute permanent mentor is provided by the program.) Mentors are available all the way to high-school graduation if the child and parents desire. Each year a new group of mentors is hired to befriend and counsel a fresh intake of kindergartners.

A similar charitable model was pioneered and proven effective by the national charity Friends of the Children. Real Champions has adapted its efforts to the special conditions and needs of families in South Carolina.

In addition to its financial support for Real Champions, Jubilee Community Partnership is providing professional development for program director Ricardo Perry—who served as a police officer for a dozen years before becoming a successful developer of charitable programs for African-American boys, and now any youth in need.