ABC News(NEW YORK) — When LeBron James joined his fellow NBA superstars at the ESPYs to plead for an end to violence and make a powerful declaration of their commitment to helping create change in their respective communities, it was very personal.
“I definitely could’ve been a statistic,” James said in an interview that aired Thursday on ABC News’ Good Morning America with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols. “I mean, I grew up in a single parent household. My mother was 16 when she had me. I grew up in the inner city where there’s a lot of violence.”
James, who plays for the NBA champions the Cleveland Cavaliers, told Nichols that there were times when his early life felt like a struggle.
“You know, I had days where I just felt like it was just me and mom, you know, and no one cared, you know, and there’s no way that– we’re going be able to make it out of this,” he said.
Of course those days are far behind him, but the 31-year-old father-of-three hasn’t forgotten them. And he wants to help other children who are facing a similar struggle.
In 2004, he founded the LeBron James Family Foundation, whose mission is to help children and young adults through education and co-curricular educational initiatives. In 2011, the foundation partnered with public schools in Akron, Ohio, to launch a program to help high school dropouts. With its expansion into the Akron I PROMISE network for middle school students, the initiative is now serving more than 1,215 students by providing them with the programs, support and the mentors they need for success in school and life.
Brandi Davis, who sits on the advisory board of James’ foundation, discussed the importance of targeting third-graders.
“That is the key time when we start to see children fall through the cracks and we start to see the achievement gap broadening … we can grab and save these kids,” she said.
Last year, James announced that the mission had broadened when he announced a partnership with the University of Akron to provide college scholarships for the students in the program who graduate from high school.
Casandra Morrow cried as she discussed the impact the scholarship would have on her daughter.
“It’s amazing,” she said. “It gives you that that sense of life for your own kid because we didn’t have it. So to know that she’s going to have that, it’s great.”
And there’s even an initiative to help parents.
“We have a lot of parents here that didn’t graduate high school,” James said. “So not only are we tracking our kids here to make them become better, we’re also lending a helping hands to a lot of the parents that didn’t graduate high school, and putting them in programs where they can get their high school diploma, and get a GED.”
That will give Ericka Rouser a welcome second chance to complete her education.
“I had my first son when I was 16,” she said. “And I went to school for a little bit, then I dropped out … And it always kind of haunted me, like, ‘Go back to school. Go back to school,’ and stuff. So when I got the letter in the mail for the orientation for the GED class, I kind of was jumping up and down, like, ‘It’s my turn now.'”
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