It was a moment of pride as Jordan Morgan stood for a photo with the 50-plus kids in attendance to close the 2nd Annual Jordan Morgan Foundation Home Court Initiative: Basketball and Wellness Camp.
Jordan had just handed out backpacks to each camper filled with supplies and a notebook they had kept over the four-day camp at U-D Jesuit. Last year, just 19 kids participated.
“The setting was intimate, the kids really took a lot away from it,” Jordan told WTKA's Ira Weintraub of last year’s camp.
“They learned about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, academic excellence. So this year we said, ‘Let’s make it bigger and better.’ Our goal was still 50 students, which is what it was last year, but this time we had about (60) kids enrolled.”
JMF’s camp is about so much more than basketball. It’s important to Jordan that the 10–14-year-old kids leave with insight into other areas of life that will serve them as they near high school graduation.
“I didn’t want it to be a standard basketball camp where you throw the basketballs out, have the guys run drills and give them pizza for lunch,” Morgan told the Detroit Free Press.
“I wanted to make sure that they left with something. So they all leave with a backpack full of school supplies, and they also have their enrichment sessions. This year they’ve learned about financial empowerment, entrepreneurship, sports safety and nutrition.”
Jordan’s approach is to wrap the off-the-court skills into a basketball camp to make it easier for the kids to digest. His humble beginnings in Detroit allow him to relate to the campers and how they can apply what they’re learning.
“It’s really humbling to know that people want to be a part of these programs and it just speaks to what we’re doing,” he said. “It speaks to the fact that we’re developing value-added content. Our program grew year-to-year in large part from word of mouth.
“That’s something to be proud of because people are leaving the camp with good things to say and more people want to get involved because of what is being said about the program.”