He was one of about 10,000 children around New Jersey whose after-school program ended abruptly when the state stopped funding it as it tried to balance the budget with revenues falling short of expectations.
The program, NJ After 3, will not get any money from the state in the budget year that begins July 1, either, under Gov. Chris Christie's proposed budget plan.
After the three-hour enrichment program in Jamere's school was shut down, the boy returned for a time to an imperfect arrangement - staying with a grandmother who struggles to keep up with him.
Finally, Black, a mental health case manager, found another program for him, but it means walking through a rough Camden neighborhood to get to another school.
As governor, Christie must straighten out a budget shortfall magnified by a deep recession. A fiscal conservative, the Republican who campaigned last year promising to make government smaller is determined to do it without raising taxes.
In the real world, that means service cuts and disruptions for many in the Garden State.
Reduced aid to local schools is resulting in teacher layoffs in hundreds of districts across the state. Reduced municipal aid is being partly blamed for a budget crunch in Camden County's Winslow Township, where 12 of the 88 police officers will be laid off in June.
Anti-hunger activists are worried that Christie's pulling back on school meal programs will mean more kids will go hungry.
Senior citizens were fretting about a plan to impose a $310 annual deductible on their prescription benefits program. But Christie announced in May that enough savings had been found to scrap that idea.
Christie's line about many of the programs is constant: It's not that they're necessarily unworthy, it's that the state cannot afford to pay for them.
The NJ After 3 saga is a microcosm of how those budget cuts work. In this case, the program faces losing every penny of its state money. There's no doubt it's a major blow, but the group is trying to figure out how to adapt to keep spreading its mission.
Elizabeth Black, too, is adapting.
"I loved the program," Black said. "I think that he (Jamere) got something out of it."
It offered snacks, homework help and chances for the boy to do things he loves: play sports and do art. There were statewide tournaments in chess and stomp-dancing. A program staffer working full-time in each school it served. In some cases, that employee attended faculty meetings to keep up on issues at the school and make sure the academic lessons after school complemented what was going on in the classrooms.
For Black, it was also important that son was safe, staying in R.C. Molina Elementary, the same school he attends during the day.
She's not sure the replacement she found at Pyne Poynt Middle School a half-dozen blocks away has the same kind of enrichment.
At its peak just a few months ago, NJ After 3 was serving more than 12,000 students in about 115 schools - the majority of them in the inner city.
It's not hard to see why the program might be susceptible to a cut. There's little disagreement that good after-school programs have real benefits. But NJ After 3 was serving less than 1 percent of the state's public school students.
Its organizers also say it's the only statewide program of its kind in the nation - a factor that can make it seem like a luxury in tight times.
Nevertheless, it appears to be a program that can survive. While the state is its top source of money, it's a nonprofit that also raises money on its own.
The organization functions by awarding grants to providers such as Boys and Girls Club branches that actually run the after-school programs under guidelines set up by NJ After 3.
Even though only a small portion of the state's kids are in its programs, the reach is wider, NJ After 3 officials say, because other groups that run after school programs have adopted the NJ After 3 structure.
Both NJ After 3 and its partner agencies raise money. For the current school year, they raised a total of $9 million to go with the $10.4 million promised by the state.
When the state funding disappeared, some programs, like the one in Camden, folded. Others cut back their hours, activities and staff size but remain open. The citywide Trenton operation, funded partly by the local school board, has been able to continue unabated.
Mark Valli, president and CEO of the six-year-old organization, said having money from the state makes it easier for the group to get money from foundations. And NJ After 3 has been lobbying to be included when the state applies next week for a major federal education grant.
State Education Department spokesman Alan Guenther said the state doesn't plan to set aside any money specifically for the organization if it does get the grant. But he said school districts, which would get half the grant money, could use some of it to pay for after-school programming.
NJ After 3, meanwhile, is applying for a federal grant of its own.
