Meet Narcy Jackson

In 2005, the NBA All Star Game was hosted in Denver. The event was an economic boon for certain parts of the city. But, as visitors arrived at Denver International Airport, they drove right by the Montbello neighborhood on their way to the game downtown without spending a dime in one of Denver’s predominantly Black neighborhoods.

Narcy Jackson saw this – as well as the imbalance of Black players and mostly white fans – and it sparked an idea to bring an organization to the community that would nurture young athletes in their own community and in their chosen sport and beyond.

With that, Athletics and Beyond was born.

For many years, coaches for Athletics and Beyond, or A&B for short, were working with kids wherever they could find space, mostly borrowing school gyms or outdoor sports facilities. Each year, as principals changed, Narcy hustled to connect with new school leaders and make sure that the growing roster of athletes – mostly kids of color from far Northeast Denver – had a place to practice.

Fast forward to the summer of 2020, after 15 years of hustling for space, Narcy was able to pull together enough funding and community support to rent a warehouse space in a commercial development near Peoria and 49th Avenue.

Narcy opened A&B to create opportunity through exposure, and he’s encouraging the parents of student athletes to provide even more opportunity by enrolling their kids in My Spark Denver. My Spark launched in the fall of 2023 to provide eligible Denver Public School students in 5-8th grades with $1,000 to participate in afterschool programs. The goal of My Spark is to help Denver kids find their passion and pursue their sparks, because participation in afterschool programs improves youth self-confidence, self-awareness and positive social behaviors. However, nearly 60% of parents say the high cost of afterschool programs keeps them from enrolling their kids.

The goal of My Spark is to help Denver kids find their passion and pursue their sparks, because participation in afterschool programs improves youth self-confidence, self-awareness and positive social behaviors.

Narcy is leveraging funding through My Spark as well as increasing public awareness about racial inequalities in all parts of life as he builds the A&B community.

“COVID hit and then the social awareness after George Floyd’s death hit, so people were seeing the inequities in the distribution of funding. Prior to that, it had been a struggle,” Narcy said. “We got a SBA loan, we got a nonprofit finance fund loan. And then the landlord went to our website, and they liked the work that we do. They thought that we would be good for the community. And that’s how we got the building.”

Spend just a few minutes at A&B, and you’ll experience firsthand the community being built.

Narcy Jackson, executive director of Athletics & Beyond poses in front of a mural that represents the A&B community and vision.
Photography & Design: CierraAnn Media & Mimarie Creative

Start in the lobby with the mural of the Pan-African flag, the Mexican flag, A&B’s logo and mission – to create well-rounded individuals who are prepared for success in all areas of life. Pass through a hallway with portraits of A&B alum — college athletes, pros, Denver firefighters, marketing creatives, area business owners — into the community room that Narcy says is the heart of what A&B does. Read a book donated by an alum, grab a bite prepared by local food pantries and Denver’s Tasty Bites program or pull the tables aside for yoga.

On any given night, the community room is where you’ll find coaches reviewing footage with 7v7 football players who just returned from a weekend trip to New Orleans where they visited LSU and Tulane. The players met with the academic department before they met with the football staff, a reflection of A&B’s values and what it takes to play at these schools.

A&B coaches took 60 high school athletes to New Orleans for a college visit and 7v7 tournament. Every athlete, regardless of their family’s ability to pay, makes the trip.
Photography & Design: CierraAnn Media & Mimarie Creative

Nurturing Young Athletes

Once you’re through the community room, head to the gym, which is sectioned off into five flexible spaces: the boxing ring, basketball court/tumbling area, free weights, open space for drills and the batting cage, and then cardio. Standing in virtually any spot in the gym you’ll see trophies, medals, and the only Dr. Dish basketball shooting machine and VertiMax vertical jump and speed training system within 25 miles of Denver.

As coaches, athletes and parents arrive for the after-school after-work rush, the energy increases. Kids of all ages and genders are in the boxing ring. Little ones as young as four are tumbling. Middle school boys are running drills with their football coach. A few adults are sweatin’ it out on cardio equipment. Parents watch from the side or get into the mix. Younger athletes watch the high school athletes review footage from the week’s tournament. Through the course of the night, about 70 kids will be in and out of the gym.

“Sports is what brings the kids here. They come in here to work,” Narcy says. “They want to be here because they want to develop and get to the next level. We train them and give them a roadmap, and we also know we need to get them thinking about what’s out there beyond this sport they love.”

Narcy and the coaches level with the kids – not everyone gets a scholarship to Tulane or LSU. But, the University of Northern Colorado might have a full ride for you if you can keep your grades up. A junior college might be the path to Division I ball. Or, you might find that the best way to stay in the game is to be in the front office. Or, to be the engineer who keeps Ball Arena running. Or, to come back to the A&B community as a coach or with your own kids who are nurturing their own passions.

This is the heart of the A&B mission and community. A community that is growing.

“Sports is what brings the kids here. We train them and give them a roadmap, and we also know we need to get them thinking about what’s out there beyond this sport they love.”

My Spark Denver

My Spark Denver is providing nearly 4,000 Denver Public Schools (DPS) middle school students with $1,000 to enroll in afterschool programs. Students can use their My Spark Denver card to sign up for activities offered by more than 200 providers in the Denver area.

Since launching in October 2023, the most popular programs have been sports and athletic training, martial arts, tutoring, swimming, dance, music and coding. All told, My Spark Denver will invest almost $4 million in Denver-area afterschool programs like Athletics & Beyond.

The City of Denver, Gary Community Ventures and Mile High United Way launched My Spark Denver because participation in afterschool programs improves youth self-confidence, self-awareness and positive social behaviors.

Research echoes what parents already know – afterschool programs are not nice to have, they are must haves for kids. In fact, parents often share personal stories when they sign up for My Spark. We often hear comments like:

My daughter is a bright, smart girl who is very outgoing. She is determined to take cooking classes. She has trouble with bullying, and I think this will be a positive experience for her to be happy and excited about something. I’m interested in this program to give my child an opportunity that I can’t financially give her.
My son has autism. He has a hard time communicating sometimes, but he loves swimming and water. I believe that participating in the swim program can help him learn how to swim. It also can be a form of exercise for him since he has gained a little bit more weight. Overall, he loves swimming.

Left & Right: A&B athletes enrolled in the My Spark Denver program, running drills together.
Photography & Design: CierraAnn Media & Mimarie Creative

It’s been three years since A&B signed a lease on its first location, and the program is quickly outgrowing the space. “We need to buy a building and find a permanent home,” Narcy says. “That’s something I try to tell the kids, too. You need to own something in order to control your destiny.”

While he’s laying the groundwork for a capital campaign, Narcy is appreciative of the local funders and programs – namely Chance Sports, the Daniels Fund and My Spark Denver – that supplement what A&B is doing.

“We have never told an athlete they can’t go on a trip because their parents can’t pay,” Narcy says. “Some kids are full-pay and we get funding from local organizations, so those revenue streams help supplement the cost for any athlete whose family can’t cover all the costs for travel or other expenses after they’re in the program. There is life beyond the field.”

On the day we visited A&B, Narcy shared more about his motivation to open, the people who give to the A&B community and his vision for expansion.

Photography & Design: CierraAnn Media & Mimarie Creative

Narcy Jackson Q&A

When you were younger, what were you passionate about?

I grew up in the Lincoln Park projects near Metro State and sports was an outlet for me. It kept me busy. I grew up playing every sport I could possibly play, but I loved football. I was better at baseball.

My mom made sure we didn’t have idle time. She would say, “You will not have idle time to find other things to get into,” because she knew that keeping us active and involved in the community would keep us safe and prepare us to succeed as adults.

I lived in the rec centers, and we did everything there. It was sports and also our social life and the free lunch program. The rec centers were a big part of the community, and who my siblings and I became later in life. The exposure my mom gave me to the rec centers growing up inspired what I’m doing today.

It sounds like community was just as important as sports. Was that your vision for A&B?

Absolutely. In creating A&B, I wanted to embody community in every sense of the word. None of this would be possible without the athletes who train here and come back. Our college guys mentor our high school students, our college graduates mentor our college students, and we mentor kids about careers if students are looking for work and something else other than sports.

There is a comfort here and the relationships people have with the program. If you go to a commercial gym it won’t be kid-friendly or an authentic part of the neighborhood. You are a number when you come through. Kids come to A&B because of the relationships they have with the trainers and the comfort. When you come in here, the music is what you’re used to hearing, you feel safe and you see people who you know care about you.

It’s gratifying to see our alumni come back, because 80% of what we do here is life skills, social-emotional development and career development. Just 20% of what we do is sports. Most of our kids come here for sports, but we create a culture that helps kids see that their true calling is to give back to the community.

Why is it important for you to create that culture and spread that message that there is life beyond sports?

Being a college athlete or a professional athlete is not for everyone. That’s why we take our kids on trips to Louisiana, Houston or other tough markets and higher levels of competition.

We might say “Okay. Are you the athlete that you think you are? You’re competing against this guy that’s 6’3” that runs right by you and has a 4.0 GPA. He’s probably going to get that scholarship that you think is yours.”

So, we find out from our kids what their interests are. Once we find out what their interest is, we give them a roadmap that will help them get to whatever their goals are. We have learned that a lot of our kids have no interest whatsoever in going to college to play ball. They just want to play football and be around their friends, but they could take a TV apart and they’re interested in how things are built. So, we talk with them about other career pathways in college or skilled trade schools.

The reason why our name is Athletics & Beyond is we want our kids to understand that they can be successful without a ball in their hand. We want them to see that having an education or skill set will help them through their entire lives, and being a part of something bigger than you is more important than individual success.

“We want our kids to understand that they can be successful without a ball in their hand. We want them to see that having an education or skill set will help them through their entire lives, and being a part of something bigger than you is more important than individual success.”

How do the kids respond when you’re having those conversations?

It’s our alumni who really reach them, and they talk about their experiences in sports and what they’re doing now. When the kids hear from the older guys, they are exposed to other opportunities and begin to create other visions for their futures.

For example, one of our alumni with a master’s degree in engineering came home and he took the kids on a scavenger hunt. They purchased all the parts to build a computer for gaming, and we now have gaming and a STEM program. We’re programming drones, and just doing whatever it takes to meet the kids where they are.

As you’re meeting more of their needs, how is A&B growing?

We’re taking the kids on trips, hosting boxing tournaments and bringing in new programs outside of sports that get the kids excited. We’re still holding onto the community and the assets of the community the best we can. As we grow, we want to stay in this neighborhood and have kids from the neighborhood come up here.

At the same time, we’ve outgrown the building in the past two years. We’re planning to start a capital campaign so we can buy a permanent home that is twice the size of our current space. Owning a building is a financial lesson for the kids, too. We want them to see that when you own something instead of renting then you have true assets.

We’re always finding the lesson in what we’re doing and teaching the kids.

PEOPLE

Meet Narcy Jackson | Athletics & Beyond

A Gary Community Ventures partner

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By Mary Gerlach

Lead Photographer: CierraAnn Media

Assistant Photographer: Mimarie Creative