About Us
Integrity Children's Fund (Integrity), a 501 (c) 3 organization founded in 2002 and headquartered in Georgia, is a direct response to the problem of relatively high illiteracy rate among children. Initially developed to address the needs of children in Jamaica, the efforts have now been extended to address the challenges of literacy among immigrant children who have settled in the metro Atlanta area. Illiteracy limits the ability of youth to reason rationally and is the primary factor in many youth making bad "life choices"
Our Mission
To reduce the illiteracy rate among at-risk students, through programs focused on mathematics and reading comprehension.
Our Accomplishments
Since inception, Integrity has provided more than US $1,200,000 to educate nearly 600 students annually from inner-city communities in Jamaica and the Clarkston Community of Atlanta, Georgia.
Our Story
In the fall of 1999 Major (retired) Richard Cooke and Mr. Richard Delisser made presentations to a group of Jamaicans living in Atlanta. This presentation featured the work being done by Operation Restoration and Covenant Community Church to provide a Christian based education to children in the Trenchtown (Joy Town) community in Jamaica. Operation Restoration, started by Lorna Stanley, operated a school for remedial learning, and Covenant Community Church operated a basic school. Evidence of the remarkable changes in the lives of children brought about by a Christian education, was clearly visible in the work of these two schools.
In December 2000, Major Cooke re-visited Atlanta and made another presentation, focusing on the needs, particularly financial, to support the school operated by Covenant Community Church in Joy Town.
Arising from these presentations, a core group of Jamaicans living in Atlanta, namely Marcia Sutherland, Wayde and Arlene Marr, Dr. Chris and Jewel Parker, and Karl and Marcia Chambers, committed themselves to provide financial support for the Joy Town schools. This commitment gave birth to the idea and vision of Integrity Children’s Fund, which was incorporated in the State of Georgia, in October 2001.
Having completed the administrative and organizational work to establish ICF, the organization was launched at a church service and luncheon on June 9, 2002 in Atlanta, Ga. Richard Delisser, chairman of the board of Operation Restoration, brought greetings from the school and related the needs of the school. He expressed gratitude on behalf of the children and staff of the school for the initiative taken by Integrity Children’s Fund and prayed for its success. "ICF’s work", he stated, "was not only about feeding and educating children, but was one that would save a generation of young people from a situation of hopelessness while producing productive and morally conscious human beings for the future welfare of Jamaica and the world."