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“Coach Khali treats us like we’re his kids,
and he stresses community service and
education more than boxing.”

— Lionel Banks

Recent Ferris State University
graduate Lionel Banks, left, worked
with Coach Khali Sweeney, right, at
the Downtown Boxing Gym. Lionel
credits his mom and the DBG
program with his successes.

14

June 1 • 2017

continued from page 12

As dramatic as the transfor-
mation of the new gym, improve-
ments to the educational pro-
gram have been most significant,
especially considering where
many students come from.
“The academic coordinator
we hired told us our kids were so
far behind we needed an inter-
vention or they wouldn’t make
it,” Coach Khali says. He was
shocked. He knew his students
had a problem, but it was much
worse than people realized. “The
schools are passing along kids,
even those with good grades,
who are still bad at math and
reading.”
The gym raised $20,000 to
hire an independent organiza-
tion, Beyond Basics, to test the
students’ reading skills and then
work with them every week until
they improved.
The results were startling. The
students’ grade points went up
two to three grade levels. The
gym did another testing for math
competency and their skills in
math improved 227 percent.
The gym now pays Wayne

jn

State University’s Math Corp
$7,000 a semester to continue
working with their students, “to
get them caught up,” Jessica says,
“and able to be competitive in
the work force.” With these extra
classes, she reported, 91 percent
of students are more confident
they will graduate high school.

SUCCESS STORIES

In the beginning, Jessica was so
impressed by what Khali was
doing with his students that
she dropped her plans to go to
graduate school to help kids in
other countries because she rec-
ognized there were children to
support only miles from home.
She corralled people she
knew in the Jewish community
like attorney David Moss, 58, of
Birmingham, whom she shad-
owed when considering law, to
become a member of the gym’s
fledgling board and help her
network and raise funds.
“I’m not the only crazy person
who walked into this gym and
never left!” says Jessica, who
eventually raised the $500,000 to
purchase and bring up to code
the new gym on East Vernor.

Since the move, the gym has
doubled its students to 130. The
waiting list, however, skyrock-
eted from 54 to 700, which, on
one hand, Khali says, feels great.
“Parents are bringing their kids
here because of the academics.
It’s a safe place to learn.” But
he’s concerned about the kids
on hold and warns, “The streets
don’t have a waiting list.”
He pushes to include as many
students as possible, needing
more teachers and rooms to
study in, hoping to reach another
265 youth in three to five years.
His students’ successes help
people understand why he and
others give so much of their time
and money to the program.
“If I didn’t go to the gym,” says
Lionel Banks, 22, a former DBG
student who graduated from
Ferris State University in late
May, “I would have gotten caught
up in the streets.”
He says he was looking for
something to do and didn’t have
an afterschool program. Luckily,
a friend invited him to check out
the gym.
Lionel grew up without a
father and credits his mother
and the Downtown Boxing Gym
program with saving him from
becoming one of the dire statis-
tics for a majority of adult men
in his Detroit neighborhood who
wind up dead or in prison.
“Coach Khali treats us like
we’re his kids, and he stresses
community service and educa-
tion more than boxing. College
wasn’t easy at first,” he adds, “but
I learned to face my fears at the
gym, and I looked for a positive
group of friends who pushed me,
studied with me at school.”
Khali spent 10 years working
in construction saving money
to start his free 10-year-old
program. From the same com-
munity, one of the poorest in the
country, where he located his
gym, Khali had his own troubled
past and, saved by boxing, want-
ed to help others like him.
While several DBG students
have won world and national
championships, Khali always
had a bigger dream for them. He
wanted his students to translate
the discipline and abilities they
discovered in their boxing train-
ing and turn that into mastering
an education, to become produc-
tive members of society.
Charisma Parker, 19, liked
school when she first came to
the gym. But she had a difficult

home life, moving from parents
to grandparents to friends, even
being homeless. Through the
upheavals, Charisma stuck to her
schoolwork at the gym. When
her school didn’t offer a class on
taking the ACT college entrance
exam, the gym provided a tutor.
Though a good student, she
did poorly on the exam and was
devastated.
Jessica counseled her to
write a letter to the school and
describe her situation. She did,
and Charisma was accepted into
the honors program at Alabama
A & M University. By her second
semester, she had a 3.6 grade
point average.
“Most important for our kids,”
Jessica says, “is having expecta-
tions, a pipeline for success … A
kid here could discover the cure
for cancer, but society is just
thankful the kid’s not in jail or
dead! That’s ridiculous!”
The coach echoes her beliefs,
which is why the gym boasts 35
enrichment programs, creating
that pipeline, from classes in
health and wellness to career
readiness and a senior high
school camping trip to Colorado.
For many, this includes first-time
experiences on an airplane and
away from the city.
The kids fundraise for their
airfare, Jessica says, and a sup-
porter covers the other expenses.
“If you’re told your whole
life, ‘This isn’t for us [African
Americans],’” Khali says, “you
mentally limit your life. A major-
ity of our kids won’t stand on a
paddle board in the middle of
water,” but they did when invited
to participate in a program on
Belle Isle. “We don’t have local
swimming pools and most rec-
reations centers are closed,” he
says.
But the camping trip changes
that attitude and it’s about more
than having fun. “Maybe you’ll
see a new species of butterfly
and want to become a biologist
or a geologist after climbing and
learning about rock formations,”
he says.
Students are also invited to
participate in a range of experi-
ences closer to home, including
mock trials at the Federal Court
House and using 3-D printers
and robotics. Professionals from
the DMC Medical Center and
Conway Mackenzie visit the gym
to introduce career options in
medicine and finance. “It serves
our community best,” Khali says,