Some successful people give back to the communities that nurtured them, and some don’t. Jerry Walker is one of the former, making it his mission to help kids in his old hometown.
Walker, who was born and raised in Jersey City, runs Team Walker, which he founded in 1996 with his brother Jasper. It opened on May 17 at 373 Communipaw Ave., a three-story state-of-the-art building which has a cafeteria, kitchen, multi-purpose room, conference room, and office space.
Team Walker offers afterschool programs as well as a safe atmosphere for students to learn and be tutored by qualified instructors. Its educational staff consists of 12 education students from Saint Peter’s University, 10 teachers, five recreation aides from the Jersey City Department of Recreation, one social worker, and other role models. Walker also supervises gym activities for children at P.S. 22.
The center receives funding from the city and state, but Walker also holds fundraisers.
Walker and his brother wanted to give Jersey City children the same afterschool programs that the brothers enjoyed while growing up. But Walker says the seeds for Team Walker were sown by his grandfather James “Pop” Curry, renowned for his work with the community. Curry was inducted into the Jersey City Hall of Fame and had a street named after him.
“My grandfather managed to do all of this work while raising 16 kids,” Walker says.
Walker was a basketball standout at St. Anthony’s High School, propelling the Friars to win a national championship. He later attended Seton Hall University and helped to lead the Pirates to three NCAA tournaments. He has played with the Nets and also professionally in France, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.
Can he still hold his own on the basketball court? “I can still do a little something, but not like I used to,” he jokes.
Walker’s inspiration was the legendary Earvin “Magic” Johnson, with whom he played one on one at an eastern invitational basketball camp.
“Magic Johnson was my hero,” Walker says, not only for his basketball skills, but also for his philanthropy. “He is someone that is caring and gives back to the neighborhood and creates a lot of jobs throughout the whole country.”
Learning, Not Loitering
Walker realized early on that children need to have activities to keep them off the streets and away from drugs and crime. “Team Walker has a host of activities that keep our youth going in the right path in addition to keeping them healthy and productive,” he says. “We’re looking to save a lot of lives.”
The afterschool program follows the STEM model: science, technology, engineering, and math. Team Walker’s academic coordinator, Lewis Spears, grew up in Jersey City’s Booker T. Washington projects in the Bergen-Lafayette section of Jersey City and received his teaching certificate from Harvard. “He gets the whole spectrum of the program,” Walker says.
Recently, Team Walker held its first Literacy Night in which students visited the center’s library and were given more than 150 books to take home.
One of Walker’s goals is to teach children not to fear academic excellence. “It’s cool to be smart,” he says. “This is what we’re trying to promote within our youth.”
When Walker ran for mayor in 2013, he wanted to bring attention to educational issues and help reduce drug abuse and crime. “The reason why there are so many violent crimes is that there is this one drug called dip (the neighborhood name for PCP) that is really messing with the kids’ minds and nobody is really talking about it,” he says.
His research revealed that 85 percent of the crimes were due to children being under the influence of dip. “We’ve got to start paying attention to these kinds of things,” he says.
Leadership and Good Living
Walker has also formed a new organization called P.L.O.T. (Progressive Leadership Opposition of Tomorrow) for the betterment of Jersey City [NOTE: Can we explain the organization’s name and what it does?]. “It’s not just about African Americans, it’s about everybody in the community,” Walker says. “If we start getting more engaged, we’ll have a better community.”
On the day I met with Walker, he and his team were holding their weekly Seniors Farmers Market at Dr. Lena Edwards Park at Johnston Avenue and Pine Street which is sponsored by America’s Grow A Row, based in Pittstown, N.J.
“The reason I started the farmers market is to promote healthy eating and living,” Walker says.
Gail Albright volunteers at the market every Saturday morning. “The seniors look forward to coming every week because it gets them out of their homes,” she says. “They come here with so much love.”
Susan Currie, a senior citizen who comes to the market, says, “A lot of us on this line are on a fixed income and we’re only able to buy fresh fruits and vegetables the first of the month when we receive our checks. So being that Jerry Walker brings the farmers market here every week gives many of us who suffer from diabetes in the black community an opportunity to eat healthy.”
Kathy Rowe, an America’s Grow A Row worker, says, “I am a lifelong diabetic myself so I know how important healthy eating is, and I love seeing people getting fresh food and the chance to live healthier lives.”
Walker recently took about 105 seniors to a farm in Pittstown, so they could pick their own fruits and vegetables.
“There’s a lot of positive and wonderful things going on in Jersey City,” Walker says. “At Team Walker we emphasize the three Ds: dedication, determination and discipline. I believe if we apply those three traits to our lives, we’ll be model citizens.”
Walker also believes in the old saying, “It takes a village.”—JCM
Resources
For more information about Team Walker, visit teamwalker.org.
For more information about America’s Grow A Row, visit americasgrowarow.org.
Photos by Stephen McMillian