Parent Profile: Melishia Brooks

Melishia Grayson-Brooks loves the academic support that Operation Shoestring’s Project Rise afterschool program provides for her two children, Ava and Asher. And she would know about great academic programs—she’s the Director of Education at The Lighthouse: Black Girl Projects. Grayson-Brooks has lived in Jackson for almost all her life, and vividly remembers Shoestring being there for families when she was growing up.

“When I was leaving Walton’s Open House this year, I saw a lot of people at a table. The woman there was very friendly, and invited me over. Initially, I didn’t even realize it was Operation Shoestring! When I grew up, it was only at Galloway. So, I was just really excited to have the opportunity to have my kids go to Operation Shoestring’s afterschool.”    

Grayson-Brooks, like many parents, values our afterschool program for the nurturing academic environment we provide for her children. However, afterschool isn’t just about educational enrichments for her—Project Rise enriches time spent with her family too. Afterschool programs like ours allow families to focus on quality time together instead of spending their evenings doing homework. “It really does free us up as a family,” says Grayson-Brooks. “It allows us to help them in the evening with their homework only if they need us to, and instead keeps our family time structured around things our kids really enjoy doing.” 

Ava and Asher, Grayson-Brooks’s two children enrolled in Project Rise, are just starting out on their academic journey. Asher is four and his big sister, Ava, is five. For Grayson-Brooks, one of the best benefits of Project Rise is our program’s role in introducing her children to an average school weekday. “It’s great to have a structure for our evening routines. It’s really helpful to have them get home in the evenings, and be able to focus on dinner, baths, and games. It’s been a big help for the start of the school year, especially because they are so new to what school ‘should’ look like.” 

Operation Shoestring’s Project Rise afterschool program helps hundreds of individual families over the year. Like us, Grayson-Brooks envisions afterschool care as a way to empower everyone in the city of Jackson. “For the most part, Jackson is a working-class city. School hours are not conducive to hours for working-class folks. If your kid is able to go to a program where they are being cared for, given snacks, and provided homework help, then it allows you to not struggle with having your kid at home by themselves.” Afterschool helps families, which helps their workplaces, employers, and employees, and which then in turn helps everyone in our city have their afternoons and evenings run a little more smoothly. “I think afterschool is something that’s needed in our city. It’s something that should be accessible for everybody. It’s a natural response to the needs of the community.”