Today we’d like to introduce you to Omar Durham. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Throughout his career, Omar Durham has worked at various independent and private education institutions as a certified special education teacher and athletic coach. Omar’s expertise in the education system allowed him to influence, mentor, and cultivate several underprivileged and at-risk students and athletes. He was a teacher in multiple Houston school districts with a certification in special education.
SPED, as they call it now, has evolved into a lot of behavioral and mental disorders including those not always easily recognized, such as depression. Through teaching and coaching, Omar has been able to help many young men and women athletes, but he quickly found that our school system’s “no pass, no play” program wasn’t enough and was failing our young adults. Most were being pushed through the system for standardized testing and even in some cases athletic department benefits from limited reading, writing, and life skills for after high school. Because of this “push through” most were not able to utilize their athletic talents to obtain scholarships because the reality of limited scholarships isn’t communicated accurately and in many cases, the students can’t pass SAT or ACT tests for college acceptance.
In 2018, limited by independent school district red tape and after 13+ years of teaching, Omar decided to disconnect from the education system and found Bridge The Gaps – a registered nonprofit that helps to reconnect education and athletics to ensure our active youth are utilizing sports to be successful in the classroom and in life after sports. Omar dedicated his career to assisting and mentoring students by reconnecting their cultural, emotional, and educational gaps.
From this concept, Bridge The Gaps was formed.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Starting a non-profit is hardly smooth. The term “non-profit” alone, I swear, means struggle! Ha. We’ve definitely seen our share of challenges along the way as we approach our 5-year mark. We’ve had students in our home that struggle with the new environment; they steal items, they lash out, they look at you and promise you they’ll do better and the next day do exactly what you urged them not to do. When coming from a culture of defense, it’s challenging to expect quick change, and Bridge The Gaps understands this. We keep trying. In so many cases, these young adults (most of which have been young men, but we also would love to help more young ladies) just need a positive figure in their lives. But, struggles…challenges…they make us strong. If you want to get better you have to embrace and face the struggles and challenges.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The mission of Bridge The Gaps (BTG) is to assist underprivileged, lower-income, minority, and at-risk athletic students by reconnecting their cultural, emotional, mental, and educational gaps.
What makes us different is we go into the classroom and work with the educators and coaches. We ask which students could benefit from our guidance and mentorship. We consider ourselves an extension of the team set to help each student be successful. In many cases, this includes student-athletes.
We’ve incorporated a variety of programs including BAMM – which focuses on student behavior, attitude, and mental mentoring. The BAMM program targets at-risk students and under privilege athletes who may be faced with personal and or mental challenges that can reflect on their ability to perform or learn in the classroom.
Another one of our programs is Play4Purpose – Bridge The Gaps assists at-risk, athletic students who have shown an active interest and role in society through their passions in various athletic activities. Play 4 Purpose provides resources, and educational tools, and helps with ancillary expenses that are not covered for most underprivileged students to include SAT/ACT test fees, and tutoring resources.
Bridge The Gaps Family First initiative is a community program to assist the families in the community as a whole. This program is dedicated to preserving the family structure by offering: financial literacy, GED testing, job readiness skills, and financial assistance to low-income families. The outcome of the Families First program will be rebuilding families in order to create thriving self-sufficient young adults in viable communities.
BTG believes all students should have access to the resources they need for mental, social, and physical wellness needed to live healthy lives.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
We truly believe that Bridge The Gaps should have a presence is ALL schools in the future! The way our country’s education system is set up, we are already putting so much stress on our educators and administration. Teachers are underpaid, and overworked, with classrooms getting fuller, making it harder for our students to receive an education. Resources like Bridge The Gaps are currently mostly focused in underprivileged neighborhoods and schools but ideally, all schools could use an outside resource that is not bound by the red tape of our current system.
The big shift WILL come as we continue to see teachers going on strike, a decline in educational graduates, and a higher turnover rate for current education employment. The quarantine of 2020 has truly shed some light on this when parents were forced to “home school” but teachers also saw students could teach in virtual environments and for some this insight was huge because several were no longer in unstable or unsafe teaching environments. The return to the classroom proved a loss of teachers off to fulfill new self-employed initiatives and new careers.
Pricing:
- We are a non-profit so services for students are free.
- We do accept donations of all levels to help support our initiatives.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bridgethegaps.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/btg4youth
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/btg4youth
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=btg4youth
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmHkTKzx1mTvfeBfwnbh7Q?sub_confirmation=1
