Posse growing in 2012

By Staff Report December 1, 2011

The Compton Jr. Posse has notched another successful year of “keeping kids on horses and off the streets,” and is already looking ahead as to how it can up its game in 2012, according to the group’s founder Mayisha Akbar.
“What we’re working on is two-fold, building and developing our board of directors so they can take a lead on our fundraising, and building a new facility so we can serve more kids and also have the riding space to set a full jumper course.”

Currently, the Compton Jr. Posse is headquartered on three contiguous residential properties in the Richland Farms area of Los Angeles’ Compton.

In addition to the founding board, which consists mainly of people from the equestrian community, Akbar is looking to diversify with five additional members that are well-connected in the non-profit world to comprise a “managing board,” focused exclusively on fundraising. Once the new board is in place, the organization can proceed full-bore with its expansion initiative. “Our primary financial goal is to raise enough money to hire a paid staff to run the organization, so there will be a capacity to build out the organization and serve the children into the future. That will make us a lot more viable. We have so many different requests coming in every day―from foster agencies, the police department, the probation department. We can’t really manage it just with volunteers.”

The CJP has a core group of about 25 that ride regularly and compete, and another 25 that rotate through on an occasional basis to explore the world of horses. Akbar is always looking for ways to expand and improve, recently pacting with the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to create a Junior Ranger program. The yearlong program sees the kids traveling to the Santa Monica Mountains once a month, studying animals and nature and getting certified in CPR. “They do some camping trips, and at the end of the year they get a certificate that makes them eligible to become paid interns. Of the five we just graduated, four are now paid interns.”
The CJP has set May 12 as the date for its 2012 fundraiser, at Brentwood’s Luxe Hotel.

More info at www.comptonjrposse.org

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