Today we’d like to introduce you to Shira Ackerman.
Hi Shira, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Creating Young Minds was founded by Dr. Shira Ackerman, Mathis Crowder & Charley Brown in 2011; creating Young Minds Academy is using basketball to help change young men’s lives and learn valuable lessons. Creating Young Minds is a 501 (c)(3) Non-Profit organization located in Lake Dallas, Texas. CYM was created to help young men achieve success in life that otherwise would be unavailable to them. We focus on teaching, grooming, and developing young athletes into young men. The primary objective is to teach young men how to have a purpose in life, how to humble themselves, work hard, and have good character. Our vision is that the young men living in our communities will gain a broader appreciation for self and others, education, and athletics through basketball, school, support, and guidance. Our missions is focused on teaching young men about the importance of education, hard work, and being humble in all aspects of life.
We started Creating Young Minds in 2011 because we had a young man we were working with at the time who needed to attend a Prep School to earn his remaining core course to become eligible to play college basketball. We sent him to a Prep School that another young man we previously worked with attended in the Dallas, Texas, area. At this time, we were still living in Washington State. The prep school was not working out the way we thought it would, so my husband, Mathis, moved into the prep school in the Dallas area. He took some of the young men we were working with at the time from Washington State. After being part of the Prep school for three weeks, my husband, Mathis, called me and said, “we can do this, and we can do it better!” My response was “what are we doing?” A prep school was the answer in Texas. After this phone call in November of 2011, I created our Non-Profit Organization in the state of Texas, moved Mathis and our young men into different housing, made sure they were secured in their high school education at the local charter school and made preparations to move to Texas myself the following April.
Our Prep School began in 2011, CYM Academy, and continues today. At this point, we have helped over 150 young men earn college scholarships to play basketball around the United States across all levels: NCAA Division I, Division II, NAIA, and Junior College. All of our young men have graduated college with a 3.0-grade point average or above, and some within three years with a 3.7-grade point average.
We have since expanded our program to include CYM Academy, CYM Undiscovered League, and CYM UL Youth Program.
CYM Undiscovered League is a Professional Basketball League. The purpose of the CYM UL is to help former, current and aspiring professional basketball players compete at a high level in front of Scouts, Owners & General Managers and Sports Agencies to earn contracts to play professional basketball at the highest levels possible.
We are replicating the European model of training, developing, and preparing young athletes into Professional Athletes with the combination of our CYM Academy, CYM Undiscovered League, and CYM UL Youth Program. The younger players from CYM Academy and CYM UL Youth will have the opportunity to train and play alongside Professional Basketball Players in the CYM Undiscovered League.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
As a non-profit organization, our struggles are always in the area of fundraising and donations. It is difficult to find consistent and repeat donors for our program. We have, however, found that if a potential donor spends time meeting the young men in our program and watching how hard they work, they are more inclined to financially support the program and its continual growth.
As you know, we’re big fans of Creating Young MindsTM. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about the brand?
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Lake Dallas, Texas. We specialize in helping develop our youth in the area of basketball. But we are much more than a basketball program. We teach all our youth about life, entrepreneurship, maturity, appropriate usage of social media, leadership, mentorship, growth, positive outlook, and many more areas to help create positive role models for our communities. We spend a lot of time volunteering in our community, teaching/coaching our youth (ages 5-12), and working with local schools with the young men in our program. We have expanded our program to include our own Professional Basketball League: CYM Undiscovered League. Our professional league is designed to help former, current, and aspiring professional basketball players play at a high level in front of scouts, agents, general managers, and coaches for professional teams within the US as well as around the world to position them to obtain professional contracts to play professional basketball at a higher level. We work with our youth from the ages of 5 to 30, which allows us to develop all stages of our youth both on and off the court.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Success is when the youth in our program grow and are now helping others grow.
Pricing:
- Monthly Training: $300
- Full-time CYM Academy: $600/month
- Housing: $800/month – $1300/month
- CYM Book: $15.95 on Amazon
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.creatingyoungminds.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cymbasketball/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CYMBBall/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/15308292/admin/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CYMBasketball
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuvH1KTiJBDTeSNcsKDuW4w/
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BF31GJYZ
Image Credits
Jason Harris
