What if we intentionally and robustly invested in nurturing the hearts and souls of young Black boys in Baltimore City and everywhere? Listen to Damion Cooper’s compelling story which grounded his work at Project Pneuma, and consider ways that we could rethink schools to focus on hearts and minds work as well as the academic work.

Damion Cooper uses his life’s experiences to teach lessons of forgiveness, self-control, discipline, and redemption via mentorship. His own experiences inspired him to create Project Pneuma; a holistic program focused on social emotional learning, forgiveness and curbing impulse actions from trauma due to Adverse Childhood Experiences in young African American males by teaching them yoga, mindfulness, breathing techniques, conflict resolution/de-escalation, and martial arts. Project Pneuma also partners with the Baltimore City Police Department so that the young men and new officers can build bonds of trust, respect, and cultural competencies.

Damion is a 2014 BMe Leadership Award Recipient, 2016 Maryland Out of School Time (MOST) Emerging Leader, 2017 Presidential Volunteer Service Recipient, 2017 Champion of Courage Recipient, 2017 Warnock Foundation Social Innovation Fellow, and 2018 Kings Landing Women’s Association MLK Man of the Year. Damion was awarded the 2019 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize for his op-ed, “Surviving a gunshot, one man’s story” in the October 18, 2018, Baltimore Sun. Damion is also the NFL and Baltimore Ravens 2023 Inspire Change Changemaker Recipient and FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award Recipient. Damion holds degrees from Coppin State University (BS, Business Management & Marketing) and the United Baptist College & Seminary (Th.M., Theology) and is a 2018 graduate of The Leadership: a program of the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Aleta Margolis is the founder and president of Center for Inspired Teaching, a nonprofit that has spent nearly three decades investing in teachers as the leverage point for change in the education system. At Inspired Teaching, she helps teachers redesign their roles in the classroom. Instead of merely delivering a curriculum, Inspired Teachers are Instigators of Thought, who fuel students’ curiosity and innate desire to learn. Aleta is a former elementary and middle school teacher, teacher for court-involved youth, and professor of education at American University. She is the creator of the award-winning Hooray For Monday article series and teaching tool and is an Ashoka Fellow committed to investing in teachers.

Dr. Lisa Carey is an education specialist, teacher educator, researcher, and author focused on the intersection between K12 schooling and pediatric medicine. Prior to her current roles, she was a special educator in Maryland Public Schools focused on inclusive programming. Lisa co-founded the Hospital Education Liaison Program (HELP) at Kennedy Krieger to support communication between healthcare teams and school teams surrounding the needs of individual children. Lisa is also co-author of the new book, Supporting Student Executive Functions: Insights and Strategies for Educators.