When I first started hitting the dance floor at family reunions, weddings and other gatherings, Kool & The Gang was usually part of the soundtrack. The legendary R&B and funk band have one Grammy award and three Grammy nominations, and are known for such hits as “Ladies Night,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Summer Madness” and my personal favorite, “Get Down on It.” Many of these tracks have been sampled by a new generation of hip hop and R&B acts. Headlining the Jersey City band are brothers Robert “Kool” Bell, 73, and the late Ronald Bell, who passed away in 2020.
In recent months, we’ve been focusing on the growing number of musicians who use their platforms to fuel their philanthropy. Some of them have established foundations and years-long track records of giving, powered by highly lucrative careers in the entertainment industry for the country’s biggest stars. Drawing on their platforms and fanbases is a unique superpower of celebrity givers, who have not just their personal money but the ability to galvanize others to give and to draw hearts and minds to causes.
Kool & The Gang’s Kool Kids Foundation is a good example of this kind of giving. Kool Kids was started five years ago and focuses on using music to empower the next generation of children. Though Kool himself was on tour, I recently connected with his son Hakim “DJ Prince” Bell, president of Kool Kids, to find out more about why the family started the foundation, the work they’ve done to support music programs for kids in schools, and where they see their giving heading from here.
Jersey City roots
Kool & The Gang trace their roots to Jersey City in the early 1960s on the heels of the Harlem Riots across the river in the summer of 1964. Jersey City dealt with its own ’64 riot, as well. Hakim Bell recalls growing up in a strong Black Islamic community, which was infused with a philanthropic spirit and the idea of giving back.
He says his father credits the local Boys and Girls Club for keeping him off the streets and finding his musical purpose. Bell also spoke highly of his uncle Ronald Bell, a cowriter of many of the band’s hits, who encouraged Kool to choose music instead of another path. “The Boys and Girls Club would open a door for the guys to come in and practice in Jersey City. So [they had] lots of lessons and discipline developed there, as well,” Bell said.
Bell learned firsthand about the music business coming up with his father and uncle, and recalls going on tour with them every summer, hanging out on the side of the stage during performances, as well as going backstage and meeting the likes of Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones and New Edition. “[These experiences] skyrocketed me to the moon,” said Bell, who works as a producer and a DJ and was actually en route to perform at the Freedom Tower during our call.
Well before the Kool Kids Foundation came to be, the band was already looking to give back to youth. In the ’80s and ’90s, Kool & The Gang ran an effort across the United States called the “It’s Cool to Stay In School” campaign, emphasizing to youth the value of completing their education. Some of these youth even went on to become professional musicians.
Standing up a foundation
Bell says that Kool Kids Foundation was actually the brainchild of his mother, Sakinah Deborah Bell, who passed away in 2018. She was a Parsons School of Design graduate who designed the performance wardrobe for Kool & the Gang before opening up her own boutique. But she had known Kool since they were teenagers and saw his rise from playing on street corners for money on up through the Jersey music circuit. She wanted to make sure that youth from similar backgrounds would also have the chance to fulfill their musical dreams. Later, Bell, his brother Muhammad and father Kool took over the foundation.
Kool Kids Foundation’s goal is to keep music alive in schools in the face of widespread cuts to music programs in public school systems. A 2021 article from the Save the Music Foundation notes that of the 7,000 schools without music programs, the majority of them are in school districts that serve Black, immigrant and low-income student populations. The goal of Kool Kids is to provide resources in these schools, offering scholarships, free instruments, music boot camps and other support.
Kool Kids stays afloat primarily through outside funding, and has raised around $300,000 to $400,000 so far, Bell said. Every summer, the foundation runs an annual celebrity golf fundraiser, as well as a day party fundraiser called Kool Soiree. Past celebrities at the golf event have included actor Chris Tucker, rapper Ja Rule, and ’90s New York Knicks legend John Starks. Kool Kids also has a handful of big-name partners, including RWJ Barnabas Health, the New York Giants and the Jersey Mortgage Company.
The foundation primarily operates in the New York metro area, and especially in the family’s native New Jersey. Some of the foundation’s recent work includes a five-figure gift to the Glenfield Middle School PTA in Montclair, as well as a similar gift to support Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark. Kool Kids also supports Boys and Girls Clubs. More recently, Kool Kids is making inroads abroad, supporting Projeto Leao, an academic and cultural enrichment program for underprivileged youth in Salvador, Brazil.
Kool Kids is a multigenerational family project, one that involves Robert Bell and his middle-aged sons. “We bump heads a little, my brother and I. But it’s pretty smooth. We all have the same goal… and that’s why you have a board and team to make decisions collectively,” Bell said.
Bell has the ambitious goal of raising millions for the foundation. He said they get many more calls for support than they can currently bankroll, but constantly hear from youth and their families about how Kool Kids Foundation has helped. He hopes that this continues and that students they’ve helped go on to make waves. “No one became Jimmy Hendrix yet. But in due time,” Bell added with a laugh.
