How to support kids out of the classroom

Nonprofit offers mentoring, tutors, summer camp to change narrative

Jaivyon Wright, a 17-year-old junior at duPont Manual High School, stood still in brief silence while he thought of the three best words to describe Sowing Seeds with Faith founder Da’Marrion Fleming. “Reliable.”

“Loving.”

“Great.”

Jaivyon, one of the tutors at Sowing Seeds with Faith, chose the last one because Fleming always says, “Be great.”

Sowing Seeds with Faith is a nonprofit created in 2017 that provides after-school tutoring, a summer camp with classes and monthly mentorship events for Louisville students. Although the program has served in several locations, tutoring is currently held at Camp Edwards, 701 South Hancock St.

Fleming, 37, taught algebra and calculus for Jefferson County Public Schools until 2015 and said he saw many defects within the school system, including a lack of resources and teacher accountability.

“It really wasn’t what I thought,” Fleming said. “[There are] a lot of issues and flaws in the school system specifically for Black and brown boys.”

By starting Sowing Seeds with Faith and offering after-school tutoring to local students, Fleming wants to shift the negative narrative about Black and brown kids through education.

He said his students don’t know that poverty, incompetence and incapability are the narratives that surround them.

“They don’t even know that it’s a narrative because they’re just part of a system.”

‘You can be the solution’

The Sowing Seeds with Faith summer camp hosts 150 children every year with even more on the waitlist, he said. Those children take classes in math, reading and Black history every day and have field trips on Fridays. Throughout the year, every student also gets one-on-one tutoring for a minimum of two hours a week.

As an adult, Fleming said he notices the negative comments that surround his community, but when he was a child growing up in Louisville’s Shively neighborhood, his mother did not allow that to be his narrative.

“My mom didn’t allow excuses,” Fleming said. “She said, ‘you wanna be great, you gonna be great ... whatever the odds are, you have to defy them ... you can go be part of the problem ... [or] you gonna be the solution.”

He wants to be the solution.

‘We’re helping one another’

Fleming has run the organization for seven years and said his proudest and toughest moments are intricately connected.

He recalled taking a group of kids to Washington, D.C., in his first year running the organization and ran out of money in the middle of the trip. He said a donor ended up transferring money to complete the trip and get the kids back to Louisville.

Years later, he was able to host the organization’s first gala in February at the Muhammad Ali Center. He felt proud to see the sold-out event full of friends, family and community members, including the donor who helped him with that first trip to the nation’s capital.

Fleming said he still is working to reach his end goal — a $40 million building that gives kids the tools they need to succeed.

But for Jaivyon Wright, Sowing Seeds with Faith is already helping the community by helping to eliminate some of the negativity.

“We’re all together and we’re helping one another and we’re uplifting each other to where there’s no more negativity in place,” Jaivyon said.

To learn more about Sowing Seeds with Faith, visit https://www.sowingseedswithfaith.org/.

PROVIDED BY DA’MARRION FLEMING Da’Marrion Fleming holds his Change the Narrative” award that he received in April.

Jaivyon Wright, a 17year-old junior at duPont Manual High School, is one of the tutors at Sowing Seeds with Faith.