In 1995, President/CEO of Rohi Alternative Community Outreach, Jeff Heard, had a burden on his heart to help the young people of the community stay away from drugs, gangs, violence, alcohol, and other ills that plague today’s youth. In February of that year, Jeff along with volunteers from the community as well as rap artists E-40, JT the BiggaFigga and KMEL disc jockey Davey D, put together a youth town hall meeting to discuss issues that concern today’s youth. From that meeting, Jeff learned that the youth of San Jose needed a program to prevent them from falling into the traps of the society. As a result, Jeff along with other volunteers inaugurated the city’s first Midnight Basketball League in April of 1995. And the rest is history.

The San Jose Midnight Basketball League started with 8 men’s teams in 1995 however, a year later it expanded to a women’s chapter in order to meet the needs of the community. Sheyna Ludgood oversees the women’s chapter, which is the first of its kind in the nation. Many success stories have emerged from MBL. Our proudest accomplishment came when we were able to get two of the largest drug dealers off the streets of San Jose and into major universities out of state.

Shortly after, Jeff Heard and Sheyna Ludgood implemented other programs such as the mentoring programs, Young Ladies Diversion and Boys to Men. Other programs including, a Homework Center and Juvenile Hall Outreach, in order to meet the needs of the youth of this community. In addition, Rohi Temple of Reconciliation, a community based, non-traditional, multi- cultural church was established in 1998. RACO’s latest program includes the Technology Education and Career Training Program (TECT), which train participants to obtain Cisco network certificates in order to become competitive in the computer industry.

Therefore with the 7 of these programs, there was a necessity to have a central organization to watch over these divisions. As a result, Rohi Alternative Community Outreach, RACO became the nucleus organization that oversees these seven programs. Just as a shepherd watches over his sheep, RACO oversees these programs. And thus the meaning of the organization’s name as well as its logo has tremendous significance.

What Does “Rohi” Stand For?

Rohi (pronounced row-hee) stands for Jehovah Rohi, Psalms 23 “The Lord is my shepherd.” Therefore as RACO goes out into the community to serve God’s people, the Lord has been like a shepherd watching over the program. The sheep in RACO’s logo symbolizes that we are under God’s care just as sheep are under the shepherd’s care.

Achievements

• 13,965 Over 25,000 young men and women between the ages of 14 and 24 served!
• 197 have checked into drug rehab
• 424 enrolled in JC or 4-yr univ.
• 153 re-enrolled in high school
• 93 are enrolled in GED programs
• 1,298 permanent jobs
• 15,000+ hours of community service
• Awarded over $25,000 in scholarship
• 2 of San Jose's largest drug dealers cleaned up their lives through the mentoring provided via Midnight Basketball. Today both are playing professional basketball, and making a difference in their communities.