Jahmal Cole

Chicago, Illinois

Founder & CEO
My Hood My Block My City

On the nomination form for theGrio Heroes, an individual familiar with Jahmal Cole’s value to his community wrote this about his work: “I had $10 in the bank, but I believed in his vision and wanted to somehow support. So I gave $5 of that.” That’s how much faith many folks in Chicago have in Cole’s mission and activism. And for good reason: the Wayne State graduate’s social impact organization, My Block My Hood My City, has been the fastest growing. Much of its rise is attributable to how Cole, 39, shows up in ways that are endearing, consistent and meaningful to people who need a hero.

The 2014 origin story for what he calls a “mom and pop nonprofit” comes from the kind of idea that escalates so quickly and seamlessly, it validates its own worth — introduce teens from low-income Chicago neighborhoods to activities around the city that they typically wouldn’t do. Take a cooking class. Ride on a sailboat. Cole just wants his Explorers program to broaden their perspectives and get them out of their comfort zone. He also organizes volunteer initiatives that serve Chicago communities year-round. In the winter, he rallies armies of volunteers to decorate Martin Luther King Jr. Drive during the holidays; in the summer, he enlists those same Samaritans to cut grass at the homes of elderly residents.

Always leading with love, Cole is not motivated by sexy, headline-getting action. In his inaugural program, he filmed and interviewed people across the city’s 77 communities to bridge social and cultural gaps. Last year, the champion of social justice ran for Congress, using his platform to build a more interconnected Chicago on the pillars of service and education. Still, he’s not armored against the issues in the city that he’s trying to help remedy. In 2021, after being shot in the arm weeks earlier, the one-time Chicagoan of the Year dove under a car to avoid being shot again in midday gunfire. — Janelle Harris Dixon