Jahmal Cole Used to be Homeless. Now He’s a World-Changing Social Entrepreneur.

The Creative Muscle

Jahmal Cole thought his only career options were to be a basketball player or a rapper because that’s all he could see in the neighborhood where he grew up. It wasn’t until a Greyhound bus trip to Texas took him outside the city that he realized there was a great big world out there waiting to be discovered. Decades later, Cole is a multiple award-winning youth mentor, author and community organizer who has been named “Chicagoan of the Year” and one of the “20 Most Inspiring Chicagoans.” His organization My Block, My Hood, My City takes youth from under-resourced Chicago schools on field trips around the city in order to overcome isolation, boost educational attainment, and open them up to new possibilities for their lives. In one of our most inspiring interviews to date, Jahmal Cole tells the Creative Muscle his harrowing story of overcoming obstacles, using creativity to beat seemingly insurmountable odds, the importance of mentors, the need for the long game, and power of goals.