About Us
We help young leaders break through, achieve excellence, and go further.
WHAT WE DO
Founded in 2013, Empower ME Academy provides a holistic training experience. Student-Leaders develop better basketball skills — and in addition, improve their attitude, commitment, and discipline. Ultimately, our Student-Leaders become well-rounded leaders and adults, successful on the court and in life.
Mission
To prepare each student-athlete for a lifetime of achievement and meaningful impact (on and off the court) by living a life of integrity, purpose, empathy, and love.
Vision
Sports becomes the ultimate magnet to attract ALL kids and young humans, while creating the safe-haven environment that optimally enables the development of leadership skills for life through the process of self-actualization. After graduating, these leaders will carry a framework for being a positive and productive member of society through their own unique expression of what it means to be a good person.
Our culture
EMA’s culture defines us. It is what we stand for and value as an ecosystem of people pursuing a shared mission. It is the powerful force that guides the way we work together, treat each other, and treat those around us.
EMA’s culture is our differentiator, and when it comes to life, it is our competitive advantage.
The following values create EMA’s culture of family—our superpower.
(4) CORE VALUES
Trust
Nothing is more valuable to us than the trust we cultivate with our families, team, and everyone in our ecosystem. We earn this trust through our professionalism, honesty, transparency, excellence in customer service, and asking for feedback.
Relationships
Relationships are the fabric of EMA. We create powerful relationships by cultivating raving fans, not clients, and by treating people better than they expect by exceeding their expectations. If our families, partners, and team are raving about us, then we have achieved our goal. We’ll ALWAYS value people and our relationships over profits.
Integrity
Always tell the truth. We believe that nothing is more important than our reputation—behaving with the highest levels of integrity is fundamental to who we are.
Inclusion
Working with people of different backgrounds, cultures, demographics, and thinking styles helps us grow into better professionals and leaders. We accept people as part of the EMA community when their intentions and heart align with wanting to become a good person and positively promote others' journey. We recognize and acknowledge that people are at different starting points. This means that each person is unique. However, we do not align with malintent or intentional hate that is counter to this intention.
(7) Leadership BEHAVIORS
We Develop L.E.A.D.E.R.S.
Listening
Listen with ears to hear you. Listen with eyes to see you. Listen with heart to connect with you.
Empathetic
Seek genuine connections by understanding the needs of others and being aware of their feelings, thoughts, and body language.
Accountable
Embrace mistakes to become your best version.
Daring
Engage every challenge with courage and enthusiasm by taking risks without fearing failure.
Energy-giving
Raise the confidence of others by making people feel good about themselves—every day.
Resilient
Bounce back stronger from setbacks with hope and optimism.
Self-less
Prioritize WE over me.
(4) EXPERIENCES
Positive outlook
At all levels of the organization, we exemplify our values. What we expect from each other and our students—we see the best in everyone.
Passion
We are grateful that we have a job that feels more like a life’s purpose.
Bold
We embrace going beyond our comfort zone.
Mindfulness
Our ethos gives everyone the enthusiasm and safe space to think — to be present — leading to mental agility, resilience and self-awareness.
2013 - Started as a non profit
Empower ME Academy was founded to create a programmatic system that values the intent for athletic excellence but does so by growing the whole person, not just the athlete.
From the very first day EMA started its operations, the organization has prioritized access and inclusion.
Since 2014, EMA has awarded the equivalent of $1.1 million in financial aid to cover over 100 student-athletes’ tuition. Currently, 20% of its students receive tuition assistance.
2014
Where EMA Began
$140,000 awarded
2015
$130,000 awarded
74 recipients
2016
$130,000 awarded
115 recipients
2017
$145,000 awarded
273 recipients
2018
$450,000 awarded
200 recipients
2019
EMA becomes a 501c3
Homecourt search starts
$650,000 awarded
300 recipients
2020
$TBD awarded
TBD recipients
Fort Mason Pier 3 Rented
LMS Architects engaged
2021
First basketball-thon
organized In august.
Our Founder’s Story
Coach Jerome Gumbs leads a healthy lifestyle that revolves around making sure each Student-Athlete gets the support they need to succeed on the court and in life. The responsibility he carries in doing so is his greatest privilege.
READ HIS FULL STORYARE YOU
ENROLLED?
APPLY TODAY
Ready to join the
Empower ME Academy?
Awesome. We’re about something bigger than basketball. And we want you to be a part of it.
For our son Maddox, Empower ME has been the best and most important academic or athletic after school program.
Stephen Davis
Father of Maddox Davis
(HS Class of 2021)
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
Learn, grow, and grab first dibs on what we offer. Get our Empowering News (E-NEWS) — written by Coach Gumbs and the EMA Team — every month.
#GivingTuesday is here! 💙💛
⚡ As one of the largest donation days of the year, please consider making a donation to Empower Me Academy today. 😊
🔗 Link in bio to learn more
1 day until #GivingTuesday ! 💛💙
👏#GivingTuesday began as a day for everyone, everywhere🌐 to give.
Now it has grown into something even bigger than that. ☺️
2 more days ! 💙💛
#GivingTuesday is here! 💙💛
⚡ As one of the largest donation days of the year, please consider making a donation to Empower Me Academy today. 😊
🔗 Link in bio to learn more
1 day until #GivingTuesday ! 💛💙
👏#GivingTuesday began as a day for everyone, everywhere🌐 to give.
Now it has grown into something even bigger than that. ☺️
2 more days ! 💙💛
⏱Countdown until #GivingTuesday! 💛
🙏#High5Friday The Power of the High-5 is extremely underrated.
⚡️ The best teams, players, leaders and energy givers find a way to implement “the power of touch” into their everyday life.
You should too ! 🤩
⚡Truly be Empowered and #ShopNow for a leader’s wardrobe! 🛒
Perfect gift for the holidays ❄️!
Link in bio to shop 🛍️.
🎊 Celebrate #GivingTuesday with us on Nov 30th, by spreading love and positivity to your favorite Non-Profit’s! ☺️
⚡️Link in bio to celebrate early! 💙
🗣- @bennettsteifman
#GivingTuesday is here! 💙💛
⚡ As one of the largest donation days of the year, please consider making a donation to Empower Me Academy today. 😊
🔗 Link in bio to learn more
1 day until #GivingTuesday ! 💛💙
👏#GivingTuesday began as a day for everyone, everywhere🌐 to give.
Now it has grown into something even bigger than that. ☺️
2 more days ! 💙💛
⏱Countdown until #GivingTuesday! 💛
🙏#High5Friday The Power of the High-5 is extremely underrated.
⚡️ The best teams, players, leaders and energy givers find a way to implement “the power of touch” into their everyday life.
You should too ! 🤩
⚡Truly be Empowered and #ShopNow for a leader’s wardrobe! 🛒
Perfect gift for the holidays ❄️!
Link in bio to shop 🛍️.
🎊 Celebrate #GivingTuesday with us on Nov 30th, by spreading love and positivity to your favorite Non-Profit’s! ☺️
⚡️Link in bio to celebrate early! 💙
🗣- @bennettsteifman
Check out our Basketball-thon recap video beautifully encapsulated by @kmorgie09 and @eliwestall
Make sure to #SaveTheDate and attend next year's Inaugural Basketball-thon on August 27 & 28 (all day).
Please, like, comment (if you attended), and share with someone who needs to experience what SF locals called the best youth sports event ever. 🏀⚡🤩💫 (Link in Bio)
🗓 6 #DaysUntill our ThanksGiving Clinics!
Are you signed up? 🤔
Check website for more info! ⚡️
🧘♀️#FridayFlow Mobility is one of the essential components of explosiveness in basketball.
👇How many times a day do you stretch? 🙆♂️
