Kevin Johnson is a twelve-year veteran of the National Basketball Association. He spent nearly his entire career with the Phoenix Suns, a career spanning 735 regular season and 105 playoff games.

Kevin Johnson was born March 4, 1966 in Sacramento, California and attended Sacramento High School where he starred in both basketball and baseball all four years. Johnson was raised in the Oak Park neighborhood of Sacramento. Oak Park is an economically disadvantaged area of Sacramento, which is confronted by many of the social ills affecting inner cities across America such as drugs, gangs, teenage pregnancy and high unemployment. Early on, Johnson made a commitment to Oak Park resolving to assist the community in areas of need.

In the summer of 1989, Johnson founded St. HOPE Academy ("SHA"), an after-school educational program located in the heart of Sacramento's Oak Park neighborhood. SHA's purpose is to tutor young people and provide them with the opportunities for educational, social and spiritual growth to assist them to one day become leaders in their communities. Johnson spearheaded a fundraising drive, which culminated in the design and construction of a 7,000 square foot, $1 million dollar facility, which has served hundreds of local students and their parents over the last ten years.

In 2000, Johnson founded St. HOPE Corporation, an organization designed to revitalize inner city communities through public education, leadership training and economic development. This entity achieves its goals through its various divisions, which include an arts program, a real estate development program and a volunteer program. Most recently, in October 2001, Johnson's St. HOPE Corporation partnered with the Sacramento City Unified School District to start a charter school in Oak Park. Scheduled to open in fall 2003, St. HOPE Public School 7 (PS7) will provide rigorous college-preparatory academic instruction to 200 underserved students in grades K -4.

For more information visit www.sthopeacademy.org