The Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame inducted Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House this month.
“Yes, he is a faith leader and runs one of the megachurches in this city,” T.D. Jakes Foundation President and CEO Hattie Hill said. “But outside of the church walls he actually has a lot more impact.”
In 2020 Jakes started the T.D. Jakes Foundation STEAM Academy in partnership with the Dallas Mavericks to expose students to careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.
“His vision,” Hill said, “Young people cannot be what they can’t see.”
The Foundation held a STEAM camp in June that was in-person for the first time.
Students from across North Texas and from 8 different countries participated.
Jake’s church, The Potter’s House, also has a mentorship program called Boys to Mend. The idea behind it is similar; to provide boys with examples and opportunities.
“Helped me to evolving into becoming a man. I don’t have my dad in the house right now, so it just really helps step into that position and fill it,” 14-year-old Rashad Clark said. “You really want to know what you can be in life and what your purpose is and God called you to be in it, you would come.”
“Boys to Mend has helped cultivate the gift that God has already put inside of him,” Clark’s mom Fareedah James said.
Clark said he wants to be an architect one day.
“To give opportunity to one child in a family can change the trajectory of that family for years to come,” Hill said. “And that’s the vision of our chairman, T.D. Jakes.”
Among the other inductees in this year’s class of the Black Music and Entertainment Walk of Fame; Prince, Run DMC, Steve Harvey, and Angela Bassett
