Founder, The Jerry Clark Foundation
Jerry Clark has been through a lot in the music business. Since starting out as an intern in 1993 at Relativity Records, where he helped break multiplatinum selling acts like Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, to propelling the careers of some of the biggest names in urban music, including Young Jeezy while working at Island Def Jam, Clark’s become one of the industry’s most respect figures. But that sort of acclaim is not what moves him. Clark is intent on helping his community.
In 2008, Clark put his money where his heart is and founded the Jerry Clark Foundation, which reaches out to the urban community through academics and athletics. One of the foundation’s first events was to formulate a baseball camp that allowed 150 kids to attend clinics and meet major league players. The foundation also has a traveling baseball team, the Georgia Raiders, which is comprised of 7-year-olds who are high academic achievers. The foundation plans to organize similar activities for sports like swimming and golf.
“There have been things continuously through my 36 years on Earth that have constantly inspired me to do things for [the] community,” he says, mentioning his foundation’s recent work with the Myles-A-Part Foundation, which focuses on helping autistic children. Clark’s foundation recently gave a van to the family of Myles Dula, the little boy for whom Myles-A-Part was named, to help with transportation.
Although Clark has been focused on giving throughout his career, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina really encouraged him to get involved. Moving forward, he has numerous initiatives planned for the rest of the year that he hopes will continue to spark change in youngster’s lives.
“My parents embedded the idea of giving in me at a young age,” Clark says. “I’m focused on helping the community.” –jh
