Help Youth See Better, Dream Bigger & Do Greater

Co-organized

Kimberly Durden and Athena Harshaw are organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hello! My name is Kim Durden, owner and Chief Foodie Officer of Divine Dine Food Tours, a Black woman-owned food tour agency in Chicago. The pandemic hit my business pretty hard. Everything I do heavily relies on an open and active travel and restaurant industry. But when both of these industries shut down, so did my business. I'm excited to announce that slowly but surely my business is bouncing back. However, the pandemic made me realize that I could be doing so much more and making a greater impact through my business serving a group that is and has always been near and dear to my heart - young people. I took a leap of faith and my business launched Out the Block Experience aka OTBE.

OTBE is a transformational youth outreach and mentoring program that exposes disadvantaged, underserved, Chicago junior high and high school students to experiences, opportunities, and people out the block by way of cultural and culinary exploration. Our goals are to positively impact their lives, change their mindsets and position them to see better, dream bigger, and do greater. OTBE will show our students that there is life outside the block. Originally, I created this program to provide experiences that will cultivate our students’ minds while simultaneously addressing the diverse barriers that prevent equitable opportunities for certain Black and Brown youth living in impoverished Chicago neighborhoods. And, though this is still the goal, after a dreadful event, my mission has changed...

On August 19, 2023, my dear sister and friend, Athena Harshaw lost her 14-year old nephew-son, RayJohn Harshaw to gun violence just steps away from their home. Now, along with Athena, OTBE has added to our mission to honor the life and legacy of RayJohn. We will teach our students the principles that he lived by and was known for by everyone who knew him - The RayJohn Effect - Respectful, Active, Youthful, Joyful, Open-minded, Humorous, and Naturally Fly. RayJohn's life was cut short on the block that he grew up on. Though the world will never see the great potential of this young man who excelled academically and athletically (he was quite the baller), they WILL experience his infectious and positive impact through the students of OUT THE BLOCK EXPERIENCE..

OTBE had our kick off event on Monday, January 15, 2024 on MLK Day. We took our students to a new coffee shop on Chicago's southside, Erin's Cup, owned by a 17-year old high school senior. Our students got to witness someone who looks just like them realize her dreams of entrepreneurship at such a young age. This one experience was life-changing for many of them. One of our students re-visited her business plan for her lip gloss business and is excited to get it rolling again. When you know better, you do better, yes but when you see better, you dream bigger and do greater. That's what we believe at OTBE and we are 100% committed to positioning our students to do just that.

Our vision is to take our students on these experiences FREE OF CHARGE. Not one dime will be asked of our students or their families.

We need your financial support to make this program a BIG success. Our plan is to host at least one experience every month for minimally 12 students. January is won and done and we're so thankful. We have 11 months to go and an amazing itinerary has been planned for our students which includes visiting Little Rock, Arkansas in March for a real-life history lesson on the Little Rock Nine and the torment they experienced desegregating Little Rock Central High School, and traveling to Tulsa, OK in September to see the place that once exuded Black excellence, Black Wall Street and learn what happened and why and what is happening to rebuild this historic Black Mecca. We'll also take our students on local Chicagoland tours and nearby areas like Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. Your donation will cover the cost of transportation, lodging, food, and other expenses.

For each Experience, we host up to 12 students at a time plus 3 chaperones. This is how your donations will be used:

For local Chicagoland area cultural and culinary Experiences, minimally $150 per student includes round-trip transportation, 2-3 meals and beverages, tax and gratuities and cost of tours and/or supplies needed for the event
For out-of-town Experiences like Little Rock, AR and Tulsa, OK (Black Wall Street), $750 per student includes round-trip air travel, lodging, ground transportation, daily meals and beverages, tours and other supplies needed
Funds will also be used to help students get their State ID. At our first event on MLK Day, we found that a lot of our high schoolers did not have an ID yet.

Please help us transform our students' lives through cultural and culinary experiences that will take them OUT THE BLOCK and into a world of endless possibilities.

Humbly submitted,

Kim Durden and Athena Harshaw

Out the Block Experience MLK Day