2 hrs ago
On a quiet street in north Baton Rouge, a community mentor is converting houses to help families in need and giving back to his childhood neighborhood.
Tremaine Sterling co-founded 29:11 Academy 12 years ago to mentor children and reach out to families, offering counseling, summer programs and hands-on life training. The name comes from the bible verse Jeremiah 29:11, scripture that Sterling has taken to heart, mentoring and growing potential in the community
“It says, ‘’“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to give you hope in the future,’” Sterling said. “That’s what I mean by everybody has potential, but can you meet your purpose? ‘I know the plans I have for you,’ there’s a purpose attached to that.”
Using holistic practices that focus on the mind, body and spirit through counseling and outreach, the academy looks to build students and families up for success, and the newest program in their initiative is providing housing opportunities.
“The purpose of us in the housing world is to go from building people to building homes for the people we’re building,” Sterling said
The organization began the process of working to buy property around five or six years and preparing to build two years ago after realizing with all the support the academy offers, all they were missing was housing, Sterling said. Starting with one lot, they now have expanded to purchasing several more pieces of land on the block.
Now, the Academy has a duplex and a smaller house that are home to people in need of getting back on their feet. Whether it be single-parent families, veterans, or those looking for safety from domestic abuse situations.
Sterling selected his childhood home on North Fifteenth Street as the starting point for the project, with the objective to continue the program on the street he grew up on. The home had fallen into disrepair since he lived there, but he knew that it was where he wanted to start.
“My mom was an alcoholic, I had brothers on drugs, this house came with a lot of pain, now it’s coming with a lot of purpose,” Sterling said. “This is a community that gave me so much hope, so I want to be able to start where I believe they need it.”
Once buying the property, Sterling secured a grant from Home Depot that supplied everything the Academy needed to bring the house back to life. Over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend in 2025, 200 volunteers came together to redo the house and now it is unrecognizable.
Completely redone and a functioning home again, the spot has since become the hub for activities within the organization, hosting counseling sessions, planning meetings, snacks for people coming in, and even a washer and dryer for those unhoused in need of clean clothes
Since completing the build, the academy has bought around 10 properties in the same neighborhood, and along with the duplex, smaller home, and community hub, they have plans to build more, taking the process slow to make it debt-free
“Our goal is to do it one property at a time with one partner at a time to make an impact for one family at a time,” Sterling said
Sterling highlights that this project is not for profit, but to help the community. Residents of the homes go through an application process and pay rent at a reduced rate
“I think many times when we think about people coming into neighborhoods, it’s about them building something for themselves,” Sterling said. “I don’t need to do this; this is not how I pay my bills. This is a calling from God for me to serve a community.”
With the housing program, the academy is continuing its other programs, living by the acronym “HOPE, helping others push every day”, reaching out to mentor students and families for success
“We build, coming all the way up to take them high and elevate them into a family that really flows and functions in the way that they were called individually and created to be, so they collectively as a family stay together and keep building beautiful, lasting legacies,” said DeShannon Quiett-Burrell, director of family engagement and family services
In the 12 years the 29:11 Academy has been in operation, it has served 34,000 people through its mentorship and assistance programs. Many students in the program go on to college and work; others will come back to mentor another generation of students. Director of Student Leadership Erion Davison was among the mentees who came back to mentor another generation of students
“You have to really have a heart for it to still be able to drive for the mission and the vision of the organization,” Davison said. “It’s tough, but you still have to love the work that comes with it… You don’t mind how tough and hard it is to get (the mission) because you understand the benefit behind it.”
This story was reported and written by a student with the support of the nonprofit Louisiana Collegiate News Collaborative, an LSU-led coalition of eight universities funded by the Henry Luce and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundations
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