Jeff Jones gets a lot of calls from students at his alma mater, Grambling State University in Louisiana. He’s the kind of man who always answers. “‘Hey Mr. Jones, somebody told me to reach out to you,” he recalls a student telling him once. “‘I’ve got one year left of college, and I don’t know how I’m gonna pay for it.’”
“So I got on my phone. And this thing right here? It’s my superpower,” Jones says, waving his smartphone up on a Zoom video call. “I called and started getting people to donate $20 or $30. We raised her tuition for the whole year.”
She wasn’t the first student Jones has helped, not by a long shot. A native of Las Vegas’ Historic Westside, the ex-Army vet and juvenile justice professional has nearly 30 years of experience advocating for Las Vegas youth. He was also the first Black man to lead Las Vegas’ Spring Mountain Youth Camp for troubled teens.
Today, Jones is the executive director of Core (corewecan.org), a local nonprofit that aids under-resourced students through a longterm leadership program for success. Core follows students from grades 6 through 12 and into post-graduation, and it boasts a 100% graduation rate and a 100% college acceptance rate for its cohorts. Families also receive support from Core’s “two-generational” model, which provides parents with such educational opportunities as learning English if it isn’t their first language.
The Weekly caught up with Jones to chat about Core and how he found his calling.
What put you on the path to wanting to help kids in such an impactful way? I grew up in a place called Casa Rosa, which was subsidized housing. It was a dedicated apartment [run by] this nonprofit called Kids on the Move, and they had all these different activities for us to go to around the city. It was something to keep us busy and off the streets. That was the hub of where I draw a lot of this from. I also had great parents who gave back to the community. My mother was a nurse; she used to see the elderly in the hospitals and pray with them and whatnot.
Then I ended up going to Grambling State, where I was a criminal justice major, and my internship was at a place called the Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston, Louisiana. In that place, I found my niche, I found my purpose. My direct supervisor was a guy named Keith Rhodes, who is now the president and CEO of Red Cross [North Texas Region]. The first day he saw how I interacted with the kids and said, ‘Man, you’re a natural at this.’ People like to be recognized for their gifts. They like to be recognized for what they do well, because there’s so many times that people beat us down for things that we can’t do well. That just fed my hunger for continuing to do it.
When you were leading at Spring Mountain Youth Camp, you partnered with CCSD to help more teens graduate. Did you know then it might lead you toward an educational nonprofit? I didn’t have any idea that I was going into education, but I know that education changed my life. Before that, I was a guy running the streets in Las Vegas, and I didn’t have a direction. When I went to Grambling State, the slogan was, ‘Where everybody is somebody,’ and I’ve always wanted to be somebody.
[Later,] I realized that I had become somebody just by graduating. I needed people to see that education could change your life. It gives you a reset that you can draw from, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from you.
When did you find Core, and what compelled you to join? Core came into my life roughly two and a half years ago. There was a point in the juvenile justice system where I found that locking kids up really wasn’t working. That’s why I started collaborating with the education system. … We’ve got to give them something more, something that’s sustainable.
As I was planning to retire, I was looking to get on a board that was education-based but also youth-based and family-based, and Core’s principles lined up with my core principles.
I had no thoughts of coming out of retirement. I was traveling every three weeks. My life was great—I was exercising, my skin was beautiful (laughs). But I started thinking, why does this position sound like me? You’re the face of the community. You’re an advocate for youth and families.
How are you adjusting to the role? My skill sets allow me to see the field from a different perspective … I can direct traffic better. I know what’s coming, what the pitfalls are, what the challenges are for these families, because I was one of these family members. I know what great caseworkers look like, great advisors and great social, emotional champions.
I’ve seen it over and over in my life, where young people have come back to me as grown people. There’s a kid that bought a house across the street from me that I had in my dorm when I was working in juvenile probation. But that’s where life takes us. You never know the impact you’re going to have on somebody’s life.
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