Akron, Ohio, can seem a dismal place, especially in winter. In a video produced by Nike, LeBron James describes his childhood and current foundation projects on a driving tour of the city. As the car drives under grey skies and slush-frosted streets, LeBron comments, “When you’re not from here, it’s hard to get a grasp on it but we get overlooked all the time.”
Housed in a former administrative building for the Akron Public Schools, the I Promise school has aesthetic dignity, starting with its prominent clock tower and grand foyer, with a dual staircase swirling upwards as gracefully as the one at the Metropolitan Opera House. At the I Promise School opening, LeBron remarked, “People ask me, ‘why a school’? And the reason is, I know exactly what these kids are going through … I know all the dreams they have—the nightmares that they have—and that they just need to feel like someone cares about them. Kids just want to know that we care about them.”
He announced that every student at the I Promise School would receive a free bike and helmet. When a Wall Street Journal columnist interviewed him about his commitment to bikes, James explained that as a kid, having a bike made him feel free: “Me and my friends, when we got on our bikes, we would just ride … there was a sense of joy and comfort. There was nothing that could really stop us … If you had a bike, it was a way to kind of let go and be free.”
There are three key features of the I Promise School that demonstrate LeBron’s holistic sensibility as a philanthropist. One is the aforementioned bikes, which underscore the commitment to children’s flourishing and freedom. Another is the school’s grand design and aesthetic, which underscores the dignity and worth of all who enter. The third feature is the expansion of the school’s programming well beyond the classroom.
A guiding principle of I Promise is that children’s success depends greatly on what support is available for their families. James knows this firsthand: without a stable home, he and his mother often lived far away from his school with no car or bus route. He missed 83 days of school just in the fourth grade. Much of what the LeBron James Family Foundation funds at the I Promise School is the wraparound services for the families of enrolled students. The Family Resource wing includes an anonymous food pantry, with meal pickups available for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as a barbershop, legal aid resources, and job counseling.
The LeBron James Family Foundation has expanded its footprint to offer relief and additional structural support to I Promise families. James’s own experience with housing insecurity, combined with data on the I Promise’s students housing situations, inspired the creation of a housing facility, the I Promise Village. The Village is a 22-unit apartment building, with beautiful leaded windows, high ceilings, dark woods, arched doorways. Murals on both interior and exterior walls, comfortable couches, and a community garden demonstrate that this is more than a shelter—it’s a sanctuary. The Village is just five blocks from school, and walkable to downtown Akron, so residents have autonomy (especially on their bikes).
The I Promise Village is for families of students in the I Promise School who qualify for transitional housing assistance. It can house up to 16 families at a time, who have their own private units and can stay for free, with no time limit. Enrichment programs round out the sense of affirmation, rather than shame and discipline— residents have access to music lessons, yoga classes, art classes run by University of Akron students, and even cooking classes that use produce from the garden. In 2022, the LeBron James Family Foundation expanded its reach even further, announcing plans for health quarters to provide medical, dental, ophthalmology, and mental health services, right down the street from the I Promise Village and School.
During LeBron’s video tour of Akron, one shot shows a ripped, sagging basketball hoop at a public park. That image quickly cuts to a grand chandelier, one of many at House Three Thirty, a community center down the block from the I Promise School. The LeBron James Family Foundation purchased the building where LeBron used to attend banquets after his basketball tournaments, renovating it into a community center with “celebration spaces” that families can use for special occasions, as well as a cabaret for musical acts and a coffeeshop for everyday socializing. The purpose of House Three Thirty is to offer a place “to gather, to eat, to enjoy,” offering “a source of pride and a sense of belonging.” The vendors include local favorite Mitchell’s Ice Cream, Malley’s Chocolates, and a gourmet popcorn stand; the cabaret room was restored to earlier historic glamour. The enjoyment is the point: these families, too, can have access to spaces of leisure and enjoyment.
From THE PRICE OF HUMANITY. Used with permission of the publisher, Melville House Publishing. Copyright © 2023 by Amy Schiller.
