Nader Jayosi is the Founder of ElBarrio Gym an open space and boxing gym which is thriving to become a hangout spot that provides kids of underserved communities a healthy environment of self-expression and creativity. The revenues made by ElBarrio help fund school programs and community activism. Nader uses a dynamic and innovative approach to physical exercise that he views as a window into an enormous creative potential and a path to actualization and empowerment. His approach has helped transform In-Risk youth into becoming boxing champions and eventually turned their life around.
ElBarrio was built using reused materials from the immediate surrounding community. The rubber tires they got from junkyards cranes, the wood from a carpenter whose warehouse is their neighbor and the roof covering is 500 meter long camouflaged netting that the Israeli army had left behind. ElBarrio built relationships with the Ministry of Education to sponsor forty kids per year from eight public schools (five from each). The sponsorship is comprised of three parts, each part satisfying an aspect of the holistic approach that ElBarrio aims to deliver. First is the boxing training, second is academic help and the third aspect of ElBarrio’s sponsorship is the ’ElBarrio Squad.’ The Squad is ElBarrio’s mechanism of giving back to the community: the forty students will form a team to volunteer wherever needed, and will always show up with an attitude of professionalism and a go getter spirit.