We first saw Yasmine Arrington at the BET Black Girls Rock taping in 2012. As the camera profiled the crowd, it would catch her bright eyes and charming smile several times. Her presence was as innocent as a child’s, unscathed by the brutal experiences of adulthood. Surely, all was well in her youthful world.
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But as the fun black girl power night continued, we would eventually hear Yasmine’s story—and it was far from the rosy picture we’d painted. Her father was (and remains) in and out of prison her entire childhood, and her mother passed away while she was just a freshman in high school. Life’s unpredictable deck of cards left Yasmine and her brothers to be raised by their grandmother, who she says is “my number one advocate.”
Through it all, however, she pressed through to tell her story and now helps children with similar journeys to tell theirs. Yasmine, at the time 19-years-old, was being honored at Black Girls Rock for ScholarCHIPS, a non-profit scholarship program she had started three years prior. ScholarCHIPS was designed to award Children of Incarcerated Parents (CHIPS), like Yasmine, financial assistance so that they could go to college.
Three years later, we still remember Yasmine’s story of resilience. BlackEnterprise.com tracked down the now 22-year-old college scholar to see how things were going, and we were inspired all over again.
“It was definitely difficult being the child of an incarcerated parent,” Yasmine says. “Of course that wasn’t anything that I talked about openly.” She remembers feeling sad and left out as her friends would brag on their fathers and parade them to daddy-daughter dances.
That emotional burden was coupled with a heavy financial weight as Yasmine saw her grandmother and mom try to make ends meet. “I watched my grandmother and mother, both single women, really struggling to pay all the bills and make sure my two younger brothers and I had all of our uniforms for school, books, school supplies, food, and the list goes on and on.”
Grieving the absence of a father, while also witnessing her family face a financial bind, only got tougher when her mother died.
“I watched my mother for a number of years—she got really sick,” she says. “She had gotten gastric bypass surgery when we lived in California. That was a contributing factor to her health declining.” Depression followed, and Yasmine’s mother began drinking and smoking while taking “medication on top of medication” until she passed away. “I would just say that all of that together was emotionally draining and financially draining.”Finish reading Yasmine’s story on the next page.
But like a true champ, Yasmine didn’t let her unfortunate circumstances drain everything. One day while searching for scholarships, Yasmine’s grandmother—who she unknowingly giggles over every time we mention her in our talk—said, “Yasmine, I really don’t see any scholarships for teens with incarcerated parents.” Intrigued by the observation, Yasmine began doing some research. She found out that there were millions of children in the United States just like her. From there, the groundwork began. “I understood the financial and emotional struggles of being a child with an incarcerated parent. I just had to do something about it, so that’s how ScholarCHIPS started.”
The Strategic Communications and History student minoring in African and African American Studies says that she wants people to know that even though some kids have an imprisoned parent, that doesn’t negate the fact that “They’re all very intelligent; they’re scholars.”
Her road hasn’t been easy, but she takes it all in stride as part of her “assignment.” She’s finds it “therapeutic, and it helps me to keep everything in perspective.” The promising youngster says, “When I tell people my story, it inspires them beyond ways I can’t even see on the surface.”
After a life of events that some adults twice her senior can’t even relate to, Yasmine credits her peace and youthful glow to her grandmother and her faith. “Thankfully my grandmother has been very strong throughout the whole process,” she says with an airy relief. “I also found support in my church members. Sometimes they would take up collections for us.”
Yasmine’s commitment to helping others through her testimony is one that is here to stay and evolve. “The vision is that it
will become a national scholarship and mentoring program. Not only for the high school graduates and college scholars, but for the younger generation,” the aspiring minister declares. “I would say like all the way from 12-years-old to about 22-years-old. Internationally.”To date, ScholarCHIPS has been able to award over $44,000 to students like Yasmine. Her efforts to bring awareness is ongoing, as she shares the awesomeness that is ScholarCHIPS whenever the time allows. As the official D.C. representative for the Miss Plus USofA National Pageant, Yasmine even dedicated her platform to Supporting and Mentoring for Children with Incarcerated Parents.
Yasmine’s story leaves us with many thoughts, about ourselves and our varying journeys. We’re reminded that pain doesn’t have to be in vain, nor is it supposed to be. Like Yasmine, we can bounce back from all of life’s blows and use our story of victory to better serve the world.
View the SchoarCHIPS submission guidelines here. Applications for 2015/2016 must be postmarked by March 15, 2015. You can also donate to the ScholarCHIPS fund.