Lead with consequence

While still in high school, Yasmine Arrington Brooks founded a nonprofit called ScholarCHIPS to create academic opportunities for children with incarcerated parents. Today her work is paving the way for scores of young people to reach unprecedented heights.

RUNNING through the stream of Yasmine Arrington Brooks’ on-paper accomplishments would tire out most people: a degree in strategic communications and history, a master of divinity degree, a 2023 CNN Hero of the Year nomination, features in magazines including Teen Vogue and Forbes, a humming plus-size modeling career … and the list goes on.

But there’s another — more personal — tidbit you might be surprised to learn about Brooks: Growing up with an incarcerated dad inspired so much of her success. “I know firsthand the struggles that come with having a parent in prison — all too often you become marginalized or dismissed as a delinquent,” Brooks says. “If it weren’t for my family and teachers giving me a chance, I would not have made it to where I am today.”

Despite her smarts (aka, being a self-professed “nerd” in high school), Brooks and the maternal grandma who helped raise her came up short when searching for college scholarship and mentoring programs targeted to the millions of teens with incarcerated parents throughout the country.

So — as a Girl Scout final project, no less — she created one.

Since 2014, ScholarCHIPS has worked to empower youth with incarcerated parents to graduate college, establish upwardly mobile careers, disrupt cycles of poverty and incarceration, and contribute to their communities in positive and transformative ways. The organization provides laptops and money for emergencies (like rent), and to date has directed more than $450,000 to nearly 100 students.

Those who have benefitted from Brooks’ organization have gone on to earn advanced degrees and practice everything from law and medicine to math and filmmaking.

“There are 2.7 million youth in the U.S. with an incarcerated parent, but as a teen, having a parent that’s incarcerated can be so shameful and isolating,” Brooks shares. “In addition to the direct support from ScholarCHIPS, connecting over a shared and lived experience is a lifeline that gives kids like I was a chance to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”