ABOUT uS

Elisia Harkins-James — Founder & CEO.

Our History

The Dr. Barbara Seniors Harkins Foundation was established in 2005 by Elisia Harkins-James to help underprivileged children in the South Dade County area of Florida. This is the cause Dr. Harkins had devoted her life to before she passed in May 2005 and Elisia was determined to continue her good work. At present, Elisia is traveling between Homestead, Florida, where her home is, and Los Angeles, California, where she teaches film to High School children. Elisia has also produced a number of films, one of which aired on national television in July, 2008. Her goal is to return to Homestead to work for the Foundation full time. In 2015, the Foundation is proud to announce the establishment of a new scholarship being offered in the Los Angeles County area of California. This area has become special in the heart of Elisia as she has worked closer with the high school youth teaching film.

Meet Our Board Of Directors

Elisia Harkins-James

Elisia set up the Barbara Seniors Harkins Foundation in 2005 to help underprivileged children in the South Dade area. This is the cause her mother had devoted her life to before she passed in May, 2005, and Elisia was determined to continue her good work. At present Elisia is traveling between Homestead, where her home is, and Los Angeles, where she teaches film to High School children. She has also produced a number of films, one of which aired on national television in July, 2008. Her goal is to return to Homestead and work for the Foundation full time.

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Joshua James

Joshua James is a freelance photographer and business entrepreneur, still pursuing education to further his knowledge and skill as a photographer at Los Angeles Community College in Los Angeles, CA. Joshua’s passion for photography through education has led him to share his passion with kids by working with the Barbara Seniors Harkins Foundation as Director Of Photography/Video. Joshua has been extremely supportive in running the media portion of the BSHF as well as documenting the movement through his lens. Joshua’s background of growing up in one the roughest parts of Los Angeles county, Compton, California, has solidified his urge to help bring change in the inner-cities.

His background in customer service has given him the expertise to work diligently with kids in preparing them for a bright future. The BSHF is proud to have such a unique candidate supporting the movement of education. Joshua has pledged his allegiance in helping all underprivileged kids succeed by honest encouragement and sincere attention given.

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Our mission

Our mission is to educate, inspire, and motivate children

We’re a non-profit foundation that strives to motivate children to pursue education beyond high school. We believe the way to achieve this is by combining studying with inspirational out-of-school activities. We want to define the next generation of scholars, not only by what they learn in the classroom, but also through their experiences beyond the text books and outside of the traditional learning environments.

The Dr. Barbara Seniors Harkins Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in Miami, Florida and Los Angeles, California. The late Dr. Harkins believed that all children, regardless of race, gender or class, deserved to enjoy the best possible future. She devoted her life to providing underprivileged children with the support and encouragement they needed. Through the Foundation, Dr. Harkins’ legacy of compassion will live on.

OUR TEAM

Elisia Harkins-James

Co-founder/CEO

Elisia set up the Barbara Seniors Harkins Foundation in 2005 to help underprivileged children in the South Dade area. This is the cause her mother had devoted her life to before she passed in May, 2005, and Elisia was determined to continue her good work. At present Elisia is traveling between Homestead, where her home is, and Los Angeles, where she teaches film to High School children. She has also produced a number of films, one of which aired on national television in July, 2008. Her goal is to return to Homestead and work for the Foundation full time.

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Teddy Gizachew

Volunteer

Teddy Gizachew, is a Volunteer with the foundation who is responsible for our Job Blog. He is from Alexandria, Virginia, and is currently attending Virginia Tech. Teddy is a junior majoring in Electrical Engineering. He decided to major in this field because he wanted to study about how Electricity works and how it is generated. Teddy had been volunteering with Foundation for the past four years. According to Teddy, It has been a great learning experience managing the content on the Blog.

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