Today we’d like to introduce you to Terika Floyd.
Hi Terika, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Born in 1983, raised in a single parent household, in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, NJ for the first 12 years of life. These first 12 years shaped me into the woman I am today. As a young child, I got to witness the quick pivotal shift in the city’s climate from a “safe neighborhood community” to being stricken with disparity , poverty and gang violence, creativity doing stuff with my hands and getting deep with academics became my only escape.
Being a natural visionary and problem solver, I love creating and dabbling in the Arts. I also like to learn and share what I’ve learned with others,. Over the past 21 years, I have been an educator from pre-k, to elementary, to middle school, and after school in both Math and the Arts in and surrounding the City of Camden.
I have been passionate about applying my education skill sets outside of the four walls of the classroom, and using what I know to fully serve individuals and families in the City of Camden, the very city which made me , me ! As an educator in an urban environment, I was able to witness numerous students and their families impacted by the struggle for equitable access to resources, especially during the lockdown of the Pandemic. Many of my students’ basic needs weren’t being met, due to the shutdown, so showing up for a virtual classroom meet was merely an after thought, the idea that some young minds were home heavily burdened with uncertainty, and fear, carrying the weight that their parents were unemployed for God knows how long, and inaccessibility to some utilities due to loss of income, and lack of transportation, hit me to my core! So my friend, now our Co-founder and Chairman, and our other friend from Church, I decided to fill our cars with foods from local pantries and personal care essentials, and do a weekly drop off to those students. And then, “ Spread Love” mission was born, we served these 7 families countless times throughout 2020-2021 one meal drop off turned, into what seemed like sharing love with extended family members on a routine basis.
And Community Brings Learning was birthed, we learned from the families , they learned from us, we were Community within a Community. Currently, I serve as the founder and Director of Community Brings Learning Servant Leadership Ministry, with an intergenerational civic engagement mentorship approach .
My personal mission, since my very own teen years, is to be an advocate and stand in the gap for the marginalized, by committing to give my time and effort to those in my native city, by being a role model for young individuals, inspiring them through resilience, to be the next generation of empowering leaders, focusing on looking at all possibilities of opportunities, when it comes to living out their dreams!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth Road, there has been many unforeseen challenges along the way, Especially Over the past year and a half, From the start of. Jan 2024 to then end of Dec 2024, while formerly Designing a strategic business plan and vision mapping for our community brings learning mission, I was faced with Grief, while completing each stage and section of our charity’s final strategic plan, which took about 9 months To complete, was produced while channeling the wounds of inner grief, from losing my father, To losing Mr Tony an influential 94 yr old man, whom inspired our team to co- labor alongside the Community Camden Garden in North Camden, to ending that year a few days before the Christmas of December 2024 , of losing my life, as I knew, via a freak accident in my kitchen, causing a traumatic brain injury. The past 12 months felt like being a prisoner in my own body, while trying to manage life, re learning things like balance, and coordination, using technology assistance for dictation and speech accommodations, while leading and overseeing others with excellence, despite my motor skills being impacted. These struggles were unlike anything else I’ve ever had to endure in my entire life, there was no other way to or person that could speak for me, communicate my ideas or even see my ideas when they were difficult to draft on paper. This past year was a total year marked with rehabilitation, and leaning on trusting God, while still showing up for the call of purpose driven ministry to the marginalized.; this meant showing up in a different slow paced capacity, which that in itself was a huge learning curve and adjustment. I initially struggled in the slow pace adjustment, but with the help of many answered prayers, my team and the community, it quickly became more like second nature, a truly intentional approach to authentic leadership and stewardship with excellence..
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Our organization is centered around being the heartbeat of compassion for Camden’s Youth and the marginalized community. We specialize in educating young adults in a 10- month Servant Leadership program with a focus on inter-generational mentorship through hands-on civic missions. These civic missions help kick start initiatives for overall community change.
We specialize in implementing sustainable methodological practices for civic engagement and transferable skills, such as job readiness through soft skills training, at our inherited community garden, which we have adopted, on behalf of the long term, now deceased resident, Mr Tony.
We are known for not only advocating community initiatives, but bringing those initiatives from sketch ideas to fruition, like, for example Mr Tony’s Garden. Over the past few years, we at Community Brings Learning, were able to sit down with Mr Tony, share in his vision, and legacy for feeding the people in his neighborhood. This took time, many meetings, and learning how to navigate the road map to land adoption, in an urban area.
This was a huge milestone, from the very start, looking back on the early days of it being just an abandoned city lot to creating a flourishing urban agricultural garden, while incorporating a fully functional public green gathering space with the local community engagement.
At our organization, we are best defined as serving with a “boots on the ground” approach, while leading with a heartbeat of compassion for our fellow community neighborhood residents.
Our brand motto consists of two simple words, yet a full sentence: “Spread Love”…, and God is LOVE ! Let’s keep the heartbeat of compassion growing from Camden City to beyond; We are always accepting new Spread Love Ambassadors and Civic Missions Volunteers, we’ve had volunteers spend the day with us at the garden, all the way from Cheverus College in Maine!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Over the years, I’ve come to define Success as the beauty found in the Journey, not the destination,
Let me explain… while in the journey towards a destination, we get to witness the beauty of the little things, the connections, the smiles,the trials, the lessons, and the valleys. Success, is the ignition of resilience that gets built within the soul way before reaching the destination, making reaching the destination a little easier, because now you can take what you learned; the knowledge, the wisdom, and understanding to help others, by reaching out your hand to who’s coming up behind You..
Passing the torch ( the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding) you gained in your journey, to light up the way for others along their own individual journey.
“For many are called , but few are chosen” Matt 22;14
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.communitybringslearning.org
- Instagram: @communitybringslearning
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Community-Brings-Learning-100057338174680/
- Youtube: @communitybringslearningeve783
- Other: cbringslearning@gmail.com
