One day, Kimberly Lloyd came home from her job as a Chicago police officer and as she spoke to her daughter over the phone, they both watched the news of an African-American boy on the South Side of Chicago who had been killed over his shoes.
“At that moment I decided,” she told host Amy Boyle in the latest episode of the Speaking of Phenomenal podcast. “I called everyone I knew…I said, we got to do something. This child today, we don't know, but the next one we may.”
What should have been a normal evening in Kim’s life turned out to be the beginning of We Got You Covered, or WGYC, an organization founded by Kim to educate, mentor and care for Black boys.
Besides running WGYC, Dr. Kim, who was initially featured in the 52 Phenomenal Women Project and the Phenomenal Impact mini documentary, works full-time as a police officer. With a vast background in education, her professional goals have always been tied to literacy, even when dealing more directly with public safety. She earned her Ph.D in educational leadership in 2021.
Dr. Kim started her career at a catholic school in Chicago. She has also worked at Chicago Youth Centers on the West Side, eventually took an administrative position with the Chicago Board of Education, then at Molson Elementary School in the Bronzeville community and finally at High Park Career Academy.
“I had a front-row seat that allowed me to see the things that children try to navigate along with the pressures of the outside of where they live, where they go to school, gangs, poverty, subpar teaching…And then they try to navigate being a boy.”
She had been concerned about African-American boys in Chicago who struggled academically in the fourth grade. But then she realized it was a national issue. One of her professors texted her an article from the New York Times at two in the morning one day, which prompted Dr. Kim to start doing more research on the subject. The data she gathered was the catalyst she needed to keep going.
During the episode, she shared that U.S. literacy has improved by 17 percent in 142 years. And when it comes to the prison and juvenile systems, 90% of the incarcerated individuals are illiterate and read on a fourth-grade level.
At WGYC, Dr. Kim and her team of volunteers organize events like Barbershop Monday and Black Men Speak. Boys receive advice from experienced men who understand the struggles these boys may be facing, like fatherlessness, for example.
They are also planning a book club, where Dr. Kim hopes to assess the boys’ literacy level and talk to them about it. WGYC partnered with DePaul University in Chicago and a local author who wrote a book series that brings narratives the boys can relate to.
As Dr. Kim reminds us, the lack of literacy for young Black boys is a national issue. If you want to help, you can reach out to WGYC to connect, volunteer or donate. A donation recently came in the form of a washer and a dryer to make sure students could have clean clothes despite their economic abilities.
Any help can make a difference in those boys’ lives, even simple things like having an informal chat with them, giving a talk or just stopping by to visit.
“We're dealing with what we have in front of us,” Dr. Kim told Amy. “And we do it one step at a time.”
Carolina Baldin is a freelance journalist from Brazil. Having worked in law, policy and regulation, she is passionate about everyday stories that illustrate larger issues. She graduated from a master's program at Northwestern University in 2023 and became a guest blogger on the "Speaking of Phenomenal" podcast blog in March 2024.
Comments