HARAMBEE was founded by Elaine Spicer in 2005. Mrs. Spicer worked as a School Social Worker for nearly 10 years until her retirement in June 2008.  During her tenure in the public school system she noticed a trend in the number of students with documented special education needs were not passing their classes and eventually dropping out of high school. The futures of these students were very bleak due to their special needs and poor skills.

 

          Elaine initially proposed HARAMBEE as an after school program for older high school special education students then later decided forming a charter school specifically for this population would best meet their needs of gaining enough credits and education to complete high school and obtaining adequate employment.

 

          Mrs. Spicer took a personal leave from her work as a school social worker to develop this program. HARAMBEE CORPORATION: STUDENT AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP was incorporated as a Not-for-Profit organization in the state of Indiana on September 9, 2005 and received recognition as an official 501(c)3.

 

          The founding members were Elaine Spicer, James Hatchett, Angela Baker-Brown,  Arnetta Morris, Gail Coleman, and Ruth Best. They also served as the first board members. There are no known official board minutes or meetings prior to March 13, 2010.

 

          After Incorporation HARAMBEE had its first MSW student intern Christina McDade who worked to develop a manual and handbook to promote HARAMBEE as a charter school.  Elaine Spicer and Ce`ean  Cohill met in 2007 as HARAMBEE’s second MSW student intern. During this time HARAMBEE was housed as a special program at Lew Wallace High School in Gary, Indiana. Ms. Cohill worked to promote Harambee in the community and link student program participants with businesses to develop internship and employment opportunities for the students. Due to the brief nature of the internship the job links did not proceed as planned however Mrs. Spicer and Ms. Cohill stayed in touch with one another in hopes to one day develop Harambee into a viable program and organization in the community.

 

          In 2009 Mrs. Spicer released HARAMBEE to Ce`ean Cohill to take over as executive director and to merge Ms. Cohill’s program idea and Mrs. Spicer’s actual program into one non-profit organization with program goals to support emancipated youth, high school students with special needs, and young adults transitioning into adulthood with their educational goals, employment goals, and developing their daily living skills.

 

          The first official board meeting under Ms. Cohill’s tutelage was March 13, 2010 at Indiana University Northwest Library.