Calendar of Events

The collaborative vision board workshop was a huge success! Working with the NSU Deltas, we hosted a great evening of crafting and envisioning success with local alternative school students, BDJ Center alumni, and community members. 

We're always looking for more ways to engage the community and provide different, unique activities, lessons, and workshops. If you or an organization you work with wants to partner and host a workshop with the BDJ, be like the Delta's, and contact us today! 

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center hosted BDJ Bonanza to help recruit participants for upcoming classes.

We want to give a special thanks to all of our volunteers who came out and assisted with making calls and talking to potential participants at tables set up around town. Because of this, we started our IRT class with a record breaking total of 16 students!! Interested in helping us gain even more students?! Stay tuned for our next student recruitment event.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center Hosted a Crawfish Boil on March 24th.

The Crawfish Boil was a huge success that helped us raise $2,087.97! The air was filled with smiles, crawfish season, and good times. We are so thankful for everyone who came out and experienced that time with us. We had a blast!

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center was able to host a record expungement initiative event on March 7th in partnership with Southern University Law Center.

The event was a huge success! Sixty four individuals were able to get the record expungement process initiated with SULC’s law fellows assistance.

Expungements can be truly transformative for not only the individual, but the community and local economy at large. The BDJ is incredibly thankful to everyone who made this event such a success.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center hosted a Parenting Class on February 16th, 2023.

Parenting is not easy, but during this class Renee Lewis gave out advice, strategies, and tools on how to raise children. This class gave parents an opportunity to ask questions, share concerns, and discuss amongst each other.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center hosted a Housing Workshop on February 8th, 2023.

We had the help and guidance of City Housing and Parish Housing for this workshop. Those in attendance learned about affordable housing options in Natchitoches and even learned how to apply. This workshop was a success and answered the questions of those who needed answers.

Thank you to those who helped this workshop come together.

The Ben D. Johnson partnered with the Boys and Girls Club to host a Christmas Event for the kids.

The event was an opportunity to get kids in a Christmas spirit and spread joy of the season. And this event did just that. The air was filled with laughter, the aroma of Hot Cocoa, and candy. The event turned out to be a huge success, stay tuned for future events!

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center’s End of the Year campaign was hosted from December to January. Let's just say we went out with a bang! We almost doubled our goal amount of $20,000.00, collecting a whopping $39,225.00 and we could not have done it without those who donated.

The BDJ staff wants to give a special thanks to all of those who supported us, whether through spreading the word, donating, becoming a BDJ G.E.M., or sharing a post. These donations will be used to further the expansion of our program activities and services so we may continue to help those that enter our doors.

On November 4th 2023, the AKAs came together and planted a fig tree to celebrate Earth Day.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center is always happy to have helping hands. We would like to send a special thanks to the AKAs for their help.

If you would like to collaborate or do a service project similar to the AKAs, please reach out.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center held an excellent "I Tried" Awards Banquet!

This event was an opportunity to commemorate the life of Mr. Ben D. Johnson, recognize some exceptional members of the Natchitoches community for their achievements, and to unveil the newly restructured Legacy Workforce Development Program (LWDP).

This banquet was just the beginning of a lot of new, exciting things happening at the BDJ Center. We open our doors to a brand-new cohort of LWDP participants on September 27th, offering a HiSET program and construction, forklift operation, and food handling certifications. We’ve hired new staff, refitted our program curriculum, and worked closely with local businesses and organizations to develop a network of Referral and Employer Partners for our participants. We thank everyone who came out and shared this special moment with us. If you were unable to attend, no worries stay tuned for next years “I Tried” Banquet.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center participated in CENLA Giving Day through May 3rd. There was a match for $2,500 that was met by our generous donors. It was a great Giving Day.

If you missed the opportunity to send some love to the BDJ Center get added to our email newsletter list and follow us on social media to learn about the next fundraising event.

Thank you to all those who supported the BDJ Center CENLA Giving Day in 2022.

The Ben D. Johnson Educational Center and the Legacy Youth Workforce Development Program Presents the 3X3 Basketball Tournament on Tuesday April 26th at 12 pm.

Free Food & Drinks & Music! Join the fun!

Sign up to be part of a team today and join us at the Ben Johnson Basketball Court. You can sign up at the BDJ Center, Natchitoches Thomas Leasing Office, by calling (318) 460-7460, or emailing dnixon@bdjcenter.org.

The “Planting Seeds of Hope” Mural was a long labor of love for the BDJ Center. It now graces the back wall of the Legacy Garden and gives a nod to history while encouraging us all to keep planting and keep spreading hope for all.

It all begins with an idea. An idea to bring healthy choices and convenient location together. The purpose of the Legacy Corner Store is to provide a source for nutritious food within the community. September 13th we had free loaves of Whole Grain bread and free panini samples made with the same bread. A chance to all to discover that healthy can also mean tasty.

September came along and so did sweet potatoes from the Legacy Garden.. Sweet potatoes were popping up everywhere. The harvest yielded 85lbs of sweet potatoes. The Some were used in the Legacy Café for the chef to create flavorful treats like sweet potato muffins, cakes and fries. Others were sold in the Legacy Corner Store.

Lil’ Library is located in the courtyard outside of Legacy Cafe. The library was built by BDJ Center staff and volunteers. Books were donated by friends of the BDJ Center, bother near and far. The intent of the Lil Library is encourage reading. The library is filled with books for all ages and resident are free to stop by and take a book or leave a book. For more information on how you can become a part of the Lil Library,

To celebrate the beginning of the Summer Feeding Program, we held a summer block party outside the Legacy Café. We had giveaways, a face-painting table, four square, food, and much more. Such a fun way to start the Summer Feeding Program!

This summer we piloted our first Youth Summer Feeding Program with the help of four Summer VISTA’s. We served several hundred children breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday with extra backpacks full of food to take home on the weekends.

Our latest cooking demonstration held at the Legacy Café. We showed guests five new exciting ways to prepare sweet potatoes, from fries to cake! We also sent home attendees with recipe cards and samples of our delicious creations.