Today we’d like to introduce you to Thomas Bishop.
Hi Thomas, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I got started in this space because of so many mentors who helped me along the way. I grew up poor in Arkansas, my dad was in prison. I joined the military to get away from the disfunction in my early life and in the military I got opportunities because of mentors who believed in me. The most important of those mentors encouraged me to apply to the Army’s strategist program and I got the opportunity to attend Harvard Kennedy School. There, I got the opportunity to work with ROTC students, two high schools, undergraduate students, and students from overseas. I realized that one of the issues that young people need mentorship, but more pointedly, they need sponsorship. They need someone to help them understand the college application process, essays, and in some cases help them study and pay for standardize exams. Many students just want someone they can talk to about next steps, some need recommendations, others need to know how to think about their options for school, military service, and work opportunities. I realized I had all of those skills or knew people who had them.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been a smooth road. Funding issues, especially in the current grant environment has been difficult. More directly, one of our biggest issues is that the largest and best grants want organizations that have full staffs on payrolls. Everyone who works in my non-profit help on a volunteer basis. 100 percent of the help we provide students is free for them. With local students, it has been difficult to get the word out in a way that doesn’t seem like we are selling something, Some of our students come from around the world and they face financial hardships in applying for school, visa delays, and most recently, restrictions on visas coming to the US. Finally, working in juvenile detention centers is a uniquely difficult challenge for us because young people need so many other services outside of career and educational support. Some need housing assistance, treatment for mental illness, and reintegration support.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a US military Officer who started a nonprofit to help student. I am currently still active in my military service (I’ve deployed to Afghanistan, worked in Korea, El Salvador, Honduras, the Netherlands, and Germany). I have 3 graduate degrees and I specialized in military strategy and adaptive leadership. I am a writer and an activist (It may not be best to talk about that work as an active duty person, but I work to support marginalized communities, women, and returning citizens from incarceration).
I am most proud of the work we have done to support young people from those communities reach their goals. I’ve helped at least two people get into Harvard every year since 2022. We have helped a formerly incarcerated man get into Columbia law. And we support students at Johns Hopkins University and the Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conferences (in Baltimore) (in fact, I won one of the awards (the Affirmative Action Award) in the past at the conference.
I am a Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar (I remember doing work with the foundation and The Mission Continues organization in Oliver district of Baltimore).
I am a Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership Fellow.
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Helping young people reach their full potential is the most important thing in the world for me. Growing up I didn’t know whether I had potential or not, I just knew I wanted a life different from the life I had. I’ve found that so many young people know what they want to do, but hey don’t know where to start. What if all they needed was to know what the next step was? What if they just needed help with the right materials to study for the ACT or the GRE? There are still people who can’t afford that. Why allow that to be a limiting factor if I can help it? So I do. I also think there is a loneliness and anxiety epidemic with young people right now. If I can do some small part in helping young people feel like they are not alone, what better way can we spend our time? So I think that is what we have been doing and it has been difficult but so very rewarding. I want to be clear that these young people do all the work because they have the potential, but we walk beside them, encourage them, and in some cases support them through the process.
Pricing:
- We buy books for students and young people in Juvenile detentionso anything there helps.
- We support standardized test and college application costs.
- We support conference attendance for students
- We have a scholarship program $500, $250, $100
Contact Info:
- Website: https://freyomentorship.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freyo_mentorship/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-bishop-pmp-3aa5aa37/
- Other: https://www.canva.com/design/DAG9C-EfE14/3dV2yhzwLGmytT1Cn2rRvA/
