The PLUG 4 Connection seeks out students who need help, guidance, and encouragement to pursue a college education or, in some cases, assistance in finding the career options that best suit their skills and interests. In short, “The PLUG” is about looking at each student in order to help them realize their full potential after they graduate from high school. Naturally, that includes tutoring in school subjects, and ACT and SAT preparation.

The PLUG goes above and beyond all these services, even to inspiring them to consider a career in medicine. But it’s all about the individual student in the end. It is that approach, and the robust programs of this our latest small grant recipient, that made us sit up and take note. We put some questions to The PLUG 4 Connection Executive Director Renee Green to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your community and the students you serve? What is your demographic?

Renee Green: The PLUG serves high school students and their families that have a desire to receive support with attaining their post-secondary goals. While The PLUG does not make any requirements for participation in our programs, we focus our efforts on supporting Title I schools in the Orange County School District. We are particularly interested in walking alongside minority students and families, families that identify as having low socioeconomic status or students of immigrant parents who might be first-generation college students.

Kars4Kids: The PLUG 4 Connection is an “education service.” But some of what you do involves career guidance. Does that mean that not all the students are college-bound?

Renee Green: The vast majority of our students are college-bound, however, there is a small number of students who are looking for guidance as they make decisions to enter the military, trade school, or other post-secondary options. Understanding that college is not the post-secondary path for all students, we encourage students to pursue options that align with their career goals, values, skills, and interests. With career guidance from the PLUG, students receive resources to guide them in identifying their career fit and the steps needed to reach that specific career goal.

Kars4Kids: You offer a “student-focused learning environment.” Tell us about that. Is this different than the learning environment typically found in the classroom?

Renee Green: One of the unique things about our program is that students are offered one-on-one guidance by visiting with me. These one-on-one sessions help us to know what each student needs. Some students need extra help with their personal statements; others need more test prep; while others need to focus on scholarship opportunities. Whatever the need is, we strive to meet it. For The PLUG, “student-focused” means that the student comes before anything else. We seek to provide students with authentic interactions and exposure that allow them to realize their potential and resources available to them.

Kars4Kids: ACT and SAT prep is big part of what you do, correct? How does this work—is it virtual or in person? Is there one-on-one tutoring? How often do the students meet for this purpose, and how long are the sessions?

Renee Green: Yes! SAT and ACT prep is the largest program that we have. We typically hold test sessions virtually and plan them around an SAT and ACT in the fall and spring semesters. Each session lasts 4 weeks and is held for 2 hours each week. Students meet virtually with a skilled tutor who uses practice exams to mimic testing situations and talk them through skills and strategies to be successful. A majority of our students have experienced a significant increase in their test scores, making them eligible for Bright Futures and more competitive for college admissions.

Kars4Kids: The PLUG 4 Connection, Inc. offers tutoring in reading and math for elementary school students. How many students are you working with at present? How does it work? It’s free, right? Are your tutors volunteering their time?

Renee Green: Yes. We are currently working with 20 students in grades 3 to 5. This is a completely free service. Nothing that The PLUG provides costs money to our students or families. For this program we have hired a certified teacher who was just awarded teacher of the year in her district. She spends 30 minutes a session, twice a week, with students, and helps them to master the grade standards in math and reading. These are virtual sessions and students have seen great success because of them, especially in the aftermath of the loss of learning from COVID.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your College Conversations program?

Renee Green: College Conversations is a program we started a few years ago. We typically conduct it during the second half of the summer. This series is exactly what the name suggests, conversations about topics important to students starting their college journey. Each conversation focuses on one aspect of that process. We cover such topics as making your college list, completing the Common App, writing your personal statement, and applying for financial aid and scholarships. These are focused conversations where parents and students can engage, learn, and ask questions.

Kars4Kids: You have a program called “P.L.U.G.” What does P.L.U.G. stand for? What is this program about?

Renee Green: “P.L.U.G.” stands for Preparing Leaders for Unparalleled Growth. This is a cohort of select 11^th and 12^th grade students. These students have demonstrated a need for assistance as well as a commitment to working hard to achieve their goals. The students are automatically enrolled in all our programs and receive personal counseling through their final 2 years of high school.

Kars4Kids: The PLUG offers “future physicians mentoring.” We’d love to hear about that. Is it about awakening a desire to study medicine? Who are the mentors?

Renee Green: This is a new program this year. In partnership with the University of Central Florida (UCF) School of Medicine, we have paired high school students interested in medicine with pre-med undergraduate students and medical students, in mentoring relationships. These groups meet monthly and discuss predetermined topics as well as address the questions and concerns of our high school students. We are currently working on setting up a tour of the UCF College of Medicine.

Kars4Kids: Your newsletters describe events with guest presenters from with local universities. How does this work?

Renee Green: When possible we love to invite guest speakers to talk to our students. We are so appreciative when we can make this happen. In the fall of 2023, we were able to hold an in-person ACT prep session, but before the session, we did one hour of college application support with an admissions officer from Florida State University (FSU). This was a valuable opportunity to hear directly from someone who works in admissions at a very desirable school what schools are looking for. She was a great resource and volunteered her time to talk to our students and answer their questions. We even had the students work on their Common App during that time so that they could have real-time assistance in completing their applications.

Kars4Kids: You offer information about various scholarships. Is it difficult for students to navigate the process of getting scholarships? Do you help guide them through the process?

Renee Green: Yes! Scholarships and financial aid can be overwhelming. We find that students don’t know where to begin on their own. The PLUG does the research for them. We post scholarships on our websites, add them to our newsletters, and send them directly to our P.L.U.G. cohort students. When we work individually with a student we can also guide them directly to scholarships that would be best for them. The PLUG also awards our own scholarships each year to a small number of participants.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The PLUG 4 Connection?

Renee Green: The PLUG is going to keep doing the work of seeking to find those students who need us. We are going to keep believing in our students and forging partnerships that benefit our participants. We don’t want any student to forego post-secondary experiences because they are overwhelmed with the process. We have had participants who didn’t know that they were competitive for top universities; thought they could not afford college; or did not have the test scores to get into their dream schools. Our programs have helped these same students attain the scores needed to be competitive; guided them through applying to top universities; helped them attain full ride financial opportunities; and bolstered their belief that their dreams were possible. We know that giving our students varied experiences to learn about opportunities for education and career paths is the key to exposing their minds to what is possible for them.

Code Read provides new books to young people who may not have access to books at home. The organization was born out of a love of books, founded by one amazing teenager, then 15-year-old Mackenzie Krestul. The story of Code Read, in fact, is as inspiring as the work it carries out on behalf of children.

Promoting the literacy has been a focus of our small grants program from its very inception. Like a baby who must crawl before he can walk, so too, children must acquire fluency in reading, before they can learn, for example, history, geography, and STEM subjects. That makes getting books to young children, crucial. Research tells us that kids having their own books at home, is first foremost, the most effective way to get them reading, and that is exactly what Code Read is all about.

We put some questions to Code Read VP Amanda Krestul, mother of Mackenzie, to find out more about the important work of Code Read:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic. Who benefits from the work of Code Read?

Amanda Krestul: Code Read serves students in need through partnerships with Title I schools, the Department of Child and Family Services, LA-Family Housing, and the YMCA, along with many local organizations.

Kars4Kids: What’s the story behind Code Read? Who founded this initiative and why?

Amanda Krestul: Code Read was founded eight years ago by Mackenzie Krestul, a student and avid bookworm with as much passion for serving their community as they have for reading. With the support of their family, they launched Code Read with the goal of bridging the literacy gap by providing new books to students with limited access. Studies show that having books at home correlates directly with reading scores, but for many families, books are a luxury, with nearly 61% of low income families having no books at all at home. We believe that books should be a right, not a privilege. All students deserve access to grade-level books at home that reflect their interests and experiences, books which will create lifelong learners with a love for reading.

Kars4Kids: Why is it important for kids to own books? Isn’t a membership in a public library enough?

Amanda Krestul: Many of the communities we serve lack easy access to libraries, and those libraries tend to be severely underfunded. But beyond that, we believe the experience of choosing a book to keep forever is meaningful, and has a lasting impact for our students. For many, it’s the first book of their own they’ve ever owned, and there’s always a chorus of excited gasps and when the students hear that the books are theirs, to keep forever.

Kars4Kids: How does Code Read work, exactly?

Amanda Krestul: The program starts with a kickoff video, where the students are chosen to be a part of Code Read’s “Super-Secret-Top-Secret Mission” to give homes to every book. Teachers assign all the new secret agents their own missions, often reading logs or other student-specific goals, through which students earn “Book Bucks” to use at our free book fair (however, “Book Bucks” are only symbolic, and the challenges, a way to engage students in the program and get them excited to read). All students, regardless of how their missions go, receive two or more new books, a book bag, and a bookmark.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about your impact? How many books have you distributed until now?

Amanda Krestul: Since 2016 we’ve distributed over 60,000 new books to students in need, with teachers reporting that nearly 100% of their students showing improved test scores, engagement in class, and excitement for reading.

Kars4Kids: In addition to distributing books, you give the kids book bags and bookmarks, too. Can you talk about that? Why did you decide to add these book-related items to your offerings?

Amanda Krestul: Book bags and bookmarks help create excitement and interest around books, and also give the students tools they can use beyond our program.

Kars4Kids: We understand you’re trying to raise money for a bookmobile. Can you tell us about that? What kind of vehicle are you hoping to purchase? How far are you from reaching your goal? How will the bookmobile further the work of Code Read?

Amanda Krestul: We’re hoping to purchase an electric van, and rolling bookshelves that can be attached inside and pulled out for events. Having a bookmobile would increase Code Read’s accessibility, allowing us to hold free distributions anywhere for anyone, expanding our reach to more children in need.

Kars4Kids: Code Read is clearly a family project. Tell us about that, if you would. Why is the issue of youth literacy close to the heart of the Krestul family?

Amanda Krestul: We’ve always been a family of avid readers, Mackenzie in particular has always been very passionate about books and writing. We’ve also always stressed the importance of community engagement, and when reading brought the issue of youth literacy to our attention we were immediately pulled to action. Thus, Code Read was born, with the goal of bridging the literacy gap by ensuring all students have books at home.

Kars4Kids: The Code Read motto is “Changing the world one book at a time.” Can you expand on that for us? How does one book change the world, from your perspective?

Amanda Krestul: It only takes one book with the right story to inspire creativity, curiosity, and compassion for the world around you. If even one student has walked away from our book fair set on the path of a lifelong learner, then our efforts are all worthwhile.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Code Read?

Amanda Krestul: In addition to working towards our bookmobile, Code Read plans to donate over 7,000 books by the end of 2024.

Taproots at Camp Walden is addressing what it sees as an “opportunity gap.” That is to say, some kids are missing out on the wonderful, life-changing experience that is summer camp. Children of color from low-income homes, from example. Taproots wants to give them the formative experience of being carefree campers at an overnight camp.

Some people may see summer camp as an extravagance that not everyone can afford. But Taproots sees things differently—seeing summer camp as a critical experience from which every child can benefit and grow. We put some questions to Taproots Executive Director Jen Hartzog to learn more about the work of this, our latest small grant recipient:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic—whom do you serve?

Jen Hartzog: We serve kids ages 7-17 who come from low-income households, with a focus on children of color.

Kars4Kids: When was Taproots at Camp Walden founded, and why?

Jen Hartzog: Taproots at Camp Walden – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization – was founded in 2019 to help bring children from low-income households to Camp Walden, focusing on children of color. Knowing that sending a child to overnight camp is neither financially viable nor culturally normative for lower-income families and families of color, Taproots at Camp Walden was founded to bridge the opportunity gap and actively recruit kids to camp.

At Taproots, we believe the powerful experience of summer camp is something every child deserves – regardless of race, ethnicity, or socio-economic status. But in the U.S., summer camp is an opportunity largely reserved for children from well-off families. Nationwide, 80% of children attending summer camp are from middle- or upper-income families. Children of color and children from low-income families are greatly underrepresented at summer camps. We’re working to change that.

Kars4Kids: What is the significance of the name “Taproots?”

Jen Hartzog: Inspired by the prolific trees at Camp Walden, the name “Taproots” was chosen to represent strong roots, a connection to the natural world, and experiences that build resilience.

Kars4Kids: Describe for us, if you would, your core program, Taproots Mini-Week.

Jen Hartzog: The Taproots Mini-Week is a tuition-free mini-week of camp that takes place every August at Camp Walden in Cheboygan, MI. Working in partnership with other organizations in Michigan, Taproots brings children from low-income households to Camp Walden for a four-day, three-night sleep-away camp experience. Mini Week offers kids a taste of the independence and activities of overnight camp – campfires & s’mores, mess hall meals, swimming in the lake, arts & crafts, sports & games, cabin life, and much more.

Kars4Kids: You offer camp scholarships, correct? Are these full scholarships? How long do the camp sessions run?

Jen Hartzog: Yes! We offer camp scholarships – we call them “camperships.” Our camperships fully cover the tuition for one session of camp that lasts for two weeks. Campers who receive our camperships can attend for any two-week session of Camp Walden. Due to popular requests from our campers who love camp and want to spend more time there, a new goal at Taproots is to grow the campership program so the camperships can cover tuition for three- or four-week sessions of camp.

Kars4Kids: Where is Camp Walden, and what’s it like?

Jen Hartzog: Camp Walden is a co-ed overnight camp located in Northern Michigan. The camp was founded in 1959 and has been family-owned and -operated ever since. The 100-acre main property encompasses woods, meadows, and shoreline along a spring-fed lake. Activities offered at Walden include athletics, water sports, performing arts, visual arts, nature/outdoor life, and horseback riding.

At Walden, exploration is encouraged and supported by caring counselors and veteran administrators whose primary job is to create an environment where children feel accepted and safe.  When campers understand that their efforts will be supported—whether they succeed or fail—they are more willing to step outside their comfort zones, and this is where the real growth occurs!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Taproots at Camp Walden? Although Taproots was founded in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic delayed our ability to start bringing kids to camp through programming and camperships. So, the summer of 2024 will only be our third summer in operation. What’s next for us is continuing to grow our core program and campership offerings so we can serve more kids.

Breakthrough Manchester offers an intensive educational framework for students at risk for not being able to fill their potential. The typical Breakthrough Manchester participant is underserved, with no path to appropriate educational opportunities that expand their chances of not only getting ahead academically, but in life in general. The programs of Breakthrough Manchester, and its students-teaching-students model is one-of-a-kind, teaching students to become teachers, and student teachers to become mentors to those starting off on their educational journeys.

The point of Breakthrough Manchester is to facilitate entry to college and subsequent college graduation. But Breakthrough Manchester is also about developing leadership skills and giving back to other students on their way up the educational ladder. This latest small grant recipient has a novel approach and program worthy of emulation. To that end, we put some questions to Breakthrough Manchester Director of Philanthropy & Communications Alice J. Handwerk, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic. Who does Breakthrough Manchester serve?

Alice Handwerk: Breakthrough Manchester’s six-year, tuition-free, college-access program serves students traditionally underrepresented on college campuses. Our student population includes:

• 68% will be first-generation college graduates
• 85% identify as BIPOC
• 55% qualify for free or reduced lunch
• 34% live with an alternative head of household (single parent, relative, foster)
• 70% speak a language other than English at home

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your dual mission of “students-teaching-students?” What are the benefits of having students teach students?

Alice Handwerk: Breakthrough Manchester’s unique “students-teaching-students” dual mission provides six years of intensive, tuition-free academic programming to support Manchester students from traditionally underserved communities on their path to college while inspiring emerging leaders in high school and college to be the next generation of educators and advocates for educational equity.

Breakthrough’s foundation is an academically rigorous 6-week program with a balance of summer camp fun. Promising Manchester middle school students with limited opportunities partner with high school and college-aged teaching fellows to partake in both sides of Breakthrough’s proven dual mission. Middle school students respond positively to near-peer college students’ teaching and mentoring. Teaching fellows:

• share their knowledge and love of learning
• create safe spaces for conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion
• speak about their experiences applying to and selecting colleges
• share what it is like to live and learn on a university campus or spend a year abroad

They make learning fun and the summer truly memorable!

Teaching fellows are in turn mentored and supported by instructional coaches – highly skilled, veteran teachers from regional schools.

Kars4Kids: Breakthrough Manchester offers a tuition-free three-year program for promising Manchester middle school students. What constitutes a “promising student?”

Alice Handwerk: Breakthrough partners with the Manchester School District for student recruitment. Guidance counselors at each middle school identify academically motivated sixth-grade students who would benefit from Breakthrough and meet two or more recruitment criteria:

• will be first-generation college graduates
• identify as BIPOC
• qualify for free or reduced lunch
• live with an alternative head of household (single parent, relative, foster)
• speak a language other than English at home

After a Breakthrough summer, middle school teachers note a boost in confidence, competence, and leadership skills once Breakthrough scholars return to their respective schools.

Breakthrough Manchester has been providing college access and teacher training for 33 years. Since Breakthrough’s College-Bound program for high school students launched in 2016, 100% of Breakthrough alumni have pursued higher education with 98% attending 4-year colleges. Last year we had one student enter the Navy and another enroll in trade school to be an electrician.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your Middle School Summer Program. How does it work? What do the kids in this program learn?

Alice Handwerk: A Breakthrough summer focuses on rigorous academic enrichment with a balance of summer camp fun. Summer focuses on filling in gaps, mastering skills from the previous school year, and learning concepts to set students up for success in the year ahead. College-aged teaching fellows passionate about teaching through a lens of social justice mentor middle school students while adding creative twists to math, science, literature, and writing. After core courses every morning, there are extracurriculars like astronomy, quidditch, music, knitting, German, and lacrosse, followed by community-building activities. Students visit at least two colleges each summer in New Hampshire and Boston. These college visits allow our students to envision themselves in college and beyond!

With an “Under the Sea” theme, 93 students and 24 teaching fellows dove into teaching and learning, embracing new experiences together last summer. Under the Sea Summer 2023 highlights include:

• Learning about body systems and dissecting animal hearts in biology, learning about the elements and performing labs testing various solutions in chemistry, and applying Newton’s Laws to create functional paper roller coasters for marbles in physics
• Inspiring literature discussions around reading The Other Wes Moore, Raisin in the Sun, The Arrival, and Farewell to Manzanar – making connections with history and students’ worlds
• Writing classes empower students to express themselves and their beliefs, through persuasive, argumentative, and personal narrative essays
• Math – algebra and geometry, word problems, and graphs – with creative twists like chalking number lines on the macadam and jumping along the line to solve problems

And that’s only what happened in the mornings! Afternoons were filled with:

• College fairs to learn about the colleges attended by our 24 creative, engaging teaching fellows
• Career fairs start students thinking about future dreams and the paths to get them there
• Service and gratitude: Our students made over 171 cards and bracelets to brighten the days of children in local hospitals!
• Students climbed mountains, took a ferry to visit an island off the coast of New Hampshire, explored local colleges and museums in New Hampshire and Boston – and so much more!

Over breakfast on the final day of summer, each 7th grader, even those who were nervous and a little shy on the first day, stood up and spoke in a loud voice to all 120 of us to answer the question of the day “What was your favorite summer activity at Breakthrough?”

The Boston field trip – visiting colleges, riding trains, and exploring art museums was a top choice, as well as Olympics Day -competing in Jeopardy on their college teams, building paper boats to float, or passing soapy watermelons! BTM packs a full school year of activities into our 6-week summer program!

BTM packs a full school year of activities into our 6-week summer program!

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your School Year Program? Who teaches this program?

Alice Handwerk: During the school year, 7th and 8th graders participate in 5 Super Saturdays, each with its own theme. Teaching interns for the school year program are high school juniors and seniors. One of our most popular Super Saturdays last year had a STEM focus and included:

• Making blubber in Blubbering It Up
• pGlo Lab exploring biotechnology and making bacteria glow green!
• Using geometry to create artistic designs in The Geometry of Art
• An Intro to Engineering class
• Making matchbox size race cars and competing to go the farthest in DIY Race
• Egg Drop contest!

Kars4Kids: You have a College-Bound Program at Southern New Hampshire University. What can you tell us about this program?

Alice Handwerk: Breakthrough’s College-Bound program is hosted on the campus of Southern New Hampshire University and is focused on our high school students. Each school year is comprised of ten College-Bound Saturdays focused on all aspects of the college process:

• 9th grade focuses on essential transferable skills
• 10th grade is college exploration and career readiness
• 11th grade focuses on goal setting, college search, and the application process
• 12th grade is college preparations, applications, and adjusting to college life

The mentors in our College-Bound program are college students, several of whom serve as summer teaching fellows or were Breakthrough students themselves.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your Teaching Fellow Program?

Alice Handwerk: The second part of Breakthrough’s dual-mission addresses workforce development by training future educators and leaders to help fuel the pipeline addressing the critical national teacher shortage. Breakthrough is a highly-regarded teacher training and development program for high school and college students from across the state and around the country. Breakthrough is an incubator of excellence in mentored learning and teaching in a “students teaching students” model. These older students, who are considering or pursuing careers in education, are recruited nationally and trained to teach and mentor the Breakthrough students in small, upbeat, rigorous academic classes during the summer and on monthly Saturdays during the school year. Student teachers are in turn mentored and supported by instructional coaches – highly-skilled, professional teachers.

From colleges and universities throughout the United States, our teaching fellows arrive ready to engage in a fast-paced and energetic summer of teaching and learning. They solo teach two sections of academics every day, as well as co-teach an extracurricular activity. Instructional coaches, master teachers with at least five years of experience, observe and coach, providing weekly praises and prompts to help develop teaching fellows’ instructional skills. They participate in daily department meetings and weekly professional development workshops. Teaching fellows are also advisors to a small group of students, providing academic and social-emotional mentoring and support. Teaching fellows serve on at least one committee with significant responsibility for summer programming. Through this Breakthrough internship, our teaching fellows’ learning reaches beyond teaching to develop confidence and leadership skills that will enhance their college experiences and life choices.

Kars4Kids: You also have a School Year Teaching Internship. Can you describe this internship for us?

Alice Handwerk: Breakthrough’s School Year Teaching Internship is focused on juniors and seniors in high school who serve as mentors to Breakthrough’s 7th and 8th-grade students. There are five Super Saturdays over the school year, each with its own theme. The teaching interns mentor 3 or 4 students over the year and co-teach 2 classes each Saturday or plan a community block activity as a team. They work with an Instructional Coach to develop their lesson plan and put together their class, with the coach providing praises and prompts at the end of the day.

Kars4Kids: Can you share some success stories from Breakthrough Manchester participants?

Alice Handwerk: Chau, a first-generation Vietnamese American, Breakthrough student, and teacher alumna, shares her most impactful moment as a Breakthrough student working with her advisor, Phuong. Before Breakthrough, Chau had never had a teacher who looked like her. (According to the EdTrust Report, If You Listen, We Will Stay, “Students should be able to see not just windows, but also mirror images of themselves leading classrooms. But if they’re students of color, they just get windows and are constantly seeing other people.”) Phuong was the first teacher to connect with Chau’s parents, brushing up on Vietnamese in preparation. Having an Asian American teacher inspired Chau to enter the field of education. She holds an MEd in Education Policy and Analysis from Harvard which she received on a full Urban Fellow Scholarship, and serves on our Breakthrough Advisory Committee. She is one of many Breakthrough success stories!

Asseb Niazi shares, “One of the best decisions I ever made was joining Breakthrough. When I was a 6-year-old working in a shoe factory in Pakistan, waiting for our refugee case, I never could have imagined I would become a Foreign Service Officer (American Diplomat). But as a boisterous fifth grader, with a less-than-ideal command of the English Language, I started a journey with Breakthrough that transformed my life. My many years at Breakthrough, both as a student and teacher, helped me grow personally, academically, and professionally. My story seems impossible, but that is the magic of Breakthrough: it allows students to achieve things they never could have dreamed.”

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Breakthrough Manchester?

Alice Handwerk: This summer will be Breakthrough Manchester’s 33rd and we can’t wait!

Breakthrough Manchester’s Strategic Plan initiative to build organizational capacity strives to serve more students and share its success by establishing a second campus in Nashua, NH. Nashua is New Hampshire’s 2nd largest city and has similar demographics to Manchester and a demonstrated need for a program like Breakthrough. We have support from the superintendent of schools and many educational and community partners and are looking for a program host in hopes of launching a program in the fall of 2024.

Cool Science is about making science less daunting and more intriguing (read “cool”) for kids. Why? Here are three important facts: STEM expertise is critical for acquiring a decent job in this high-tech world. You’ve got to have a good handle on STEM to get ahead. The other fact? Our public schools aren’t able to devote enough time to STEM subjects, leaving kids woefully ignorant of what they need to know to get into a good school after high school graduation, and later, to have any hope of acquiring gainful employment.

The third point? Kids tend to think of science and math as boring subjects enjoyed only by nerds. Piquing their interest in STEM subjects by making science cool, means more kids will be motivated to pursue STEM studies and a STEM-related career. That’s important, because STEM is the future, and we need more workers and researchers in the field.

Finally, science really can be fun and exciting. That’s something Cool Science is amply demonstrating for children and their families through hands-on STEM enrichment. We put some questions to Cool Science Board Member Patti Weber for this (hopefully) cool small grant interview, to learn more about the work of getting kids revved up about STEM:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic. Where do you serve? Who benefits from what you offer?

Patti Weber: We serve any K-8th school or library that requests a program, mostly eastern Colorado, and never turn away any because they can’t pay for a program.

Kars4Kids: When was Cool Science founded and why? Who founded the organization?

Patti Weber: Cool Science was founded in 2002 by Jennifer Rivers to provide hands-on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math) enrichment for local schools, particularly K-5th grades which often receive little to no hands-on science in class.

Kars4Kids: It sounds like Cool Science is a kind of traveling show. In fact, you have many different types of “shows.” Can you give us an overview of your demonstration shows? How do they work?

Patti Weber: Our science shows are designed to demonstrate important concepts in (mostly) chemistry and physics in a fun and entertaining way, engaging the students interactively while supplementing what they are learning in class. We often set fire and blow stuff up to get kids excited about science and inspire them to learn more.

Kars4Kids: You often put on activity nights with hands-on science activity tables. Can you describe some of the tables you’ve put together? Who attends these evenings?

Patti Weber: Schools often host fun Science and STEM/STEAM (adding “A” for Art) Nights for their parents and families, where we can provide hands-on activities like making slime or color changing “potions,” building catapults, hovercrafts or stomp rockets, levitating objects with electrostatic forces, creating fog bubbles and vibrations with dry ice, using liquid nitrogen to make ice cream or Dippin’ Dots, experimenting with light and color, electricity and magnetism, forces and motion, and much more.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about Cool Science “directed activities?” What are some examples of these activities and what makes them “directed?”

Patti Weber: We offer a variety of hands-on laboratory experiments that complement the concepts demonstrated in our shows for middle school as well as upper elementary grades. These often require measurements and analysis as well as skills that may not be suitable for younger students. “Directed Activities” are typically simpler versions of many of these lab activities that focus on just one or two more qualitative aspects, with volunteers helping younger students. Examples include making slime catapults or straw stomp rockets (the same activities we often present for Science and STEM Nights).

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about “Science Busking.” That sounds like so much fun!

Patti Weber: Science Busking refers to informal pop-up events where we set up a tent in a park, shopping mall or downtown pedestrian area and present free science demonstrations and hands-on science activities for kids as families stroll by.

Kars4Kids: What is a mini fruitcake toss?

Patti Weber: The Kid’s Mini Fruitcake Toss accompanies Manitou Springs Great Fruitcake Toss, a different take on Punkin’ Chunkin’ competitions. Kids build their own mini wooden catapult to fling marshmallows and mini fruitcake pieces.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about Carnival Day?

Patti Weber: Cool Science Carnival Day features 100+ free science shows, performances, lab tours and hands-on STEAM activities for kids presented by Cool Science along with dozens of participating companies, nonprofits, clubs, professional societies, schools, museums, and other organizations. It’s the kick-off event for the 16-day Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival, featuring over 70 STEAM-related events for all ages. The 2023 Carnival Day was attended by over 7,000 kids and family members. You can find much more info on our website, https://www.coolscience.org/cool-science-festival-schedule.html .

Kars4Kids: You have a collaboration going with the National Space Science & Technology Institute’s Mobile Earth & Space Observatory. We’d love to hear about that. What kind of science travels well, anyway?

Patti Weber: The Mobile Earth & Space Observatory (MESO) is a large custom modified RV that opens to expose several telescopes and many other hands-on science activities focused on space and Earth science. We often travel with MESO, bringing our own activities to schools, libraries, and special events. We’ll be in Texas with MESO for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse. You can find more info at http://gomeso.org .

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Cool Science?

Patti Weber: Keep getting better at what we’re doing now, adding more fun STEAM shows and activities to our repertoire. We would like to hire another full or part time staff member to allow us to do more school and library programs.

Treasures 4 Teachers (T4T) allows teachers to provide their students with the school supplies they lack. One might think this nonprofit should therefore be named “Treasures 4 Students,” but in actuality, it hurts teachers to see their students without the materials they need to succeed in the classroom. T4T understands that for educators, a ready supply of pencils and other school supplies for their students is like finding buried treasure. After all, a teacher’s purpose in life is to educate, and in large measure Treasures 4 Teachers helps to make that happen.

Kids who lack school supplies come from homes where parents struggle to pay rent and utilities and put food on the table. There’s little left, if anything, to buy school supplies. At the same time, the only way under-resourced children can have a fighting chance at breaking free from poverty and getting ahead, is to get a decent education. Treasures 4 Teachers offers these students a chance at a brighter future, and we are pleased to lend modest assistance to the T4T mission by way of our small grants program.

We put some questions to Treasures 4 Teachers Director of Development Christopher Cordes to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the story behind Treasures 4 Teachers? Who founded Treasures 4 Teachers and why?

Christopher Cordes: In 2004, Barbara Blalock worked for the Valley of the Sun YMCA as their senior regional preschool director. The challenge she faced was the fact that the preschools did not have the funds to purchase some of the needed items to meet the requirements of the NAEYC accreditation standards; items such as binders, desk trays, markers, staplers, tape dispensers, and other expensive office supplies.

Barbara contacted Intel Corporation and asked if they had surplus office supplies that they would consider donating to the YMCA preschool programs. Intel generously began donating used office supplies. Barbara would gather these supplies, store them in her garage, and go to each preschool to disperse the supplies.

It wasn’t long before other companies started donating. Motorola, IKEA, Wells Fargo, SRP, APS, The NFL, and Goodrich jumped on board to donate their surplus supplies as they went paperless, downsized, or closed offices.

Barbara’s garage was bursting at the seams, so she decided it was time to make her dream of providing a “Reusable Resource Center” for teachers in Arizona called Treasures 4 Teachers come true.

 

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us more about the expansion and growth of your operation since its humble beginnings in Barbara Blalock’s two-car garage?

Christopher Cordes: In 2010, Treasures 4 Teachers had grown from the size of a 2-car garage to a 10,000-square-foot warehouse full of resources for teachers. In a short period of time, the organization quickly outgrew the 5,000 square foot space and is now located in an ample 20,000 square foot space filled with resources for teachers generously donated by individuals and businesses across the Valley. Through its Teacher Resource Creative Reuse Centers in Tempe, west Phoenix, and Tucson, T4T serves nearly 8,000 member educators who shop for free and low-cost classroom supplies with their annual membership. Our mobile program, T4T on Wheels, takes free school supplies to another 3,750 Title 1 teachers throughout Maricopa County, reaching more than 100,000 students. A component of the mobile program, T4T for Kids, provides basic needs supplies in the form of essential care hygiene kits for students in greatest need.

Kars4Kids: Is a lack of basic supplies a common problem among Arizona students? What percent of students are showing up to class without school supplies?

Christopher Cordes: There are 1,300 Title 1 schools in Arizona where most students qualify for free and reduced lunch programs. These students often come from families that are struggling financially, sometimes even being homeless or unable to provide for their children’s basic needs. Research shows that children in unstable living situations are much more likely to miss school, fall behind, and even drop out. T4T on Wheels combats this issue by ensuring that all students have the supplies they need to learn successfully in the classroom. 64% of the students from the Title 1 Schools we service have zero access to supplies.

 

Kars4Kids: Beyond paper, pencils, and other basic school supplies, what kinds of materials are on offer for members of Treasures 4 Teachers? What would you say are the most popular items beyond the basics?

Christopher Cordes: STEAM-related supplies are needed and desired the most. Items like art supplies (new and used), lab equipment (beakers, flasks, test tubes, PVC pipe, wire, raw materials (fabric pieces), and wood pieces.

Kars4Kids: In addition to the supplies you offer, you offer other resources, for example your “What can it be” worksheet for teachers. Can you tell us about this worksheet and about your other educator resources?

Christopher Cordes: What can it be is centered in creative reuse. We ask teachers and students to think about what alternate and inspired items can be made with scraps or other materials. For example, see the rocket car created out of old CDs, a balloon, foam board, and straws.

Kars4Kids: How many educators do you currently serve?

Christopher Cordes: 8,042

Kars4Kids: How much does it cost to take advantage of the classroom materials you offer?

Christopher Cordes: $35 annually.

Kars4Kids: Are all the items you offer, donated? Who donates these supplies?

Christopher Cordes: All of the used items are donated by individuals or organizations. Our new supplies are donated by individuals or organizations and we also purchase some new core items with the monetary donations we receive.

Kars4Kids: What about educators who don’t live in close proximity to your warehouses? Is there a way for them to access T4T supplies?

Christopher Cordes: T4T on Wheels has been delivering school supplies to teachers and students throughout the valley for 11 years. With the addition of a dedicated vehicle, delivery of the program is much more streamlined, increasing capacity to assist teachers and students beyond school supplies. Through this program we deliver resources to 25 schools and 1,250 teachers.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Treasures 4 Teachers?

Christopher Cordes: We are looking to expand our reach by increasing our warehouse space so we can receive and distribute a higher quantity of supplies. We are also creating more awareness within the educator community by partnering on a more significant level with schools, districts, and teacher associations. We hope to serve all educators and classrooms in need in Maricopa County, as we are currently only serving 20% of the education ecosystem in our service area.

Roaring Cubs Collective (RCC) is the brainchild of two scientific researchers and research mentors who believed that more young people would choose to delve into scientific research were the right mechanisms in place. High school students with a bent toward the sciences need encouragement, mentorship, and experience in order to contemplate a career in research. The idea of RCC is to give students the confidence and the tools to identify and explore an area of interest with the help of knowledgeable mentors. Once this is accomplished, students can find the confidence to explore how they might begin to apply their newfound skills in practice, for instance by obtaining an internship in an academic laboratory.

Research, one might say is by nature, an uncertain business. That can make it a daunting prospect to choose research as a field of study and career, not to mention that adolescence is, altogether, a time of uncertainty that comes with feelings of insecurity. A budding scientist may wonder if they’ve really got what it takes to pursue a life of research, and may not have a clue where to begin. Bolstering the self-confidence of would-be researchers then, is an acute need in our technological world.

We believe that more students would choose the sciences were they to receive encouragement and supports such as those provided by the Roaring Cubs Collective. It is our hope then, that the modest assist from our small grants program to the RCC will encourage others to build on this work with similar initiatives. We put some questions to RCC Cofounders Pranay Talla and Karina Leung to learn more about this important endeavor:

Kars4Kids: Your flagship program is STEM Research Scholars Program (SRSP). Would you give us an overview of this program?

Pranay and Karina: Absolutely! SRSP provides 1-on-1 virtual mentorship for high school students and advanced middle school students (grades 6-12) on a personalized literature review research project on any scientific topic of choice. After being paired with a mentor, students spend 10 weeks meeting with their mentors and engaging with a rich curriculum consisting of seminars, workshops, guest lecturers, networking sessions, individual meetings, symposia, and more! Students engage with research questions of their choice, and are paired specifically with mentors who can develop their specific passions and grow their domain knowledge. SRSP teaches students how to read, write, analyze, synthesize, and present complex scientific topics; these skills form the bedrock of any successful career in the sciences and can be easily transferred to other academic and professional domains. To that end, we help students create concrete deliverables such as literature review papers that we publish on a semesterly basis and flash talks that are presented at our end-of-semester symposia. Following SRSP, students will be equipped to venture further into the world of scientific research with confidence. Several SRSP alumni have been able to use our program as a springboard into research internships at academic labs.

Kars4Kids: Roaring Cubs Collective says it is a “Free STEM research mentorship program by academic researchers.” Can you define “research mentorship” for us?

Pranay and Karina: We pair students with mentors who have conducted research in their particular fields of interest, so that students can receive personalized advice on their progress. We define successful “research mentorship” to consist of the following four key elements. First, a mentor must be able to provide high-level guidance on selecting and refining scientific questions; once a student is able to find a question that is both interesting and tractable to them, they will find the research process much more fulfilling. Second, mentors must be able to tap into their versatile understanding of any relevant basic scientific and/or mathematical concepts so that they can not only teach students specific subject material, but also how to develop learning strategies and identify key resources so that students can begin to grow independently. The key to independent learning is confidence; mentors have a third responsibility to strive to instill a sense of confidence and positivity in their students to combat imposter syndrome and feelings of being overwhelmed, which are unfortunately common initial responses to the open-ended nature and high barrier to entry of academic research. Finally, the fourth responsibility of a mentor is the facilitation of networking and a willingness to help students navigate the landscape of universities, labs, and other institutions that comprise the landscape of academia.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe the typical Roaring Cubs mentee? Who comes to you to take advantage of what you offer? What’s your demographic? Where are you located?

Pranay and Karina: We currently have four ongoing programs, each of which have a slightly different “typical mentee”. Our STEM Research Scholars Program (SRSP) attracts applications from 6th to 12th grade students from dozens of countries across the world; the typical SRSP mentee is a motivated high school student who enjoys learning about science but lacks the knowledge, resources, or connections to venture into academic research. Each SRSP cohort typically consists of students from Manhattan, students from elsewhere in the United States, and a few students from outside the United States. We began as a local organization in Manhattan and strive to continue serving students from the area, but were also very excited to expand our reach to the rest of the country and beyond. The typical student in our STEM Research Leadership Program (SRLP) is an SRSP alumni who is eager to both continue exploring research and to spread their experience and passions to their friends and peers in their local community. Our Working Groups Program is open to anyone, and welcomes highly motivated students who already have domain knowledge and computational skills and are ready to tackle original research. Finally, our Academic Advising Program is open to anyone and typically best serves senior high school students who need help with resumes, interviews, applications, and presentations pertaining to research fairs, science competitions, academic publishing, and other opportunities in higher education. Overall, we strive to make our programs as accessible and inviting as possible and highly encourage any student (with or without prior research experience) to apply!

Kars4Kids: Now that we know about the mentees, can you talk about the mentors? What qualifies someone as an “academic researcher” for your purposes?

Pranay and Karina: Academic researchers are students or professionals with a record of internships and/or full-time employment in research laboratories at universities; they typically have or are working towards a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, or medicine. We invite academic researchers with mentorship and teaching experience to join us as mentors. In order to be able to fulfill our above definition of “research mentorship”, mentors must be intimately familiar with the landscape of their student’s field of interest and have a fundamental understanding of historical and contemporary advances in the field, prominent individuals in the field and their specific niches within the field, and the economic and societal factors that influence the trajectory of the field. More importantly, mentors must also be patient, compassionate, and inspiring. Our current group of mentors are all talented at communicating science and have a passion for volunteering their time to serve their communities and the next generation of STEM researchers.

Kars4Kids: You also offer advanced programs, three of them. Do the courses stand independent of each other? Or is it more of a three-pronged or tiered approach to the field of research?

Pranay and Karina: Yes, the STEM Research Leadership Program (SRLP), the Working Groups, and the Academic Advising program are completely independent from one another. Students may choose to pursue any and all of these programs that fit their individual interests and needs. These programs do address three different aspects of research education; SRLP focuses on developing students’ ability to implement their scientific experiences in the realms of community service and mentorship, growing their capacity for leadership and collaboration in the process. The Working Groups allow students to more deeply engage with a specific research question of interest over a long period of time, in order to obtain specialized domain knowledge and potentially uncover new, original findings. The Academic Advising program helps guide students along their journey of college and career readiness, as well as professional development as it relates to academic research and research-adjacent fields.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about you. What led you to start the Roaring Cubs Collective. What can you tell us about the two of you?

Pranay and Karina: Karina grew up in Hong Kong and moved to the U.S. to attend high school and college. She graduated from Columbia University last May with a degree in Biology. In addition to being a teaching assistant for both Organic Chemistry Lab and General Chemistry Lab, which fostered her passion for teaching and mentoring, she also served as a junior ambassador for Columbia Community Service (CCS). As an ambassador for CCS, Karina spoke to several founders and gained insight into the structure and organization of community nonprofits. In fact, we actually collaborated closely with several CCS-sponsored nonprofits when we first developed our RCC program. Currently, Karina is working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a research technician where she investigates the use of engineered antibodies in treating pediatric cancers. Overall, her research interests revolve around the field of translational medicine in oncology.

Pranay grew up in New York, where he attended high school and college. He is currently a senior at Columbia University majoring in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Biochemistry. He currently works at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center to develop and apply genome sequencing technologies to study diseases like brain cancer and leukemia. He has also previously conducted biophysics and computational biology research at Harvard Medical School and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. His interdisciplinary research interests have helped him serve as a versatile and multi-faceted mentor; as an active member of the Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program, Pranay enjoys mentoring younger peers along their research and pre-professional journeys. He has also served as a teaching assistant for Organic Chemistry Lab and a Peer Tutor at the Center for Student Advising, where he has taught several introductory math, computer science, and physics classes. He is currently the Columbia College student representative on the Faculty Committee on Science Instruction, where he meets with deans, professors, and trustees to advocate for the student body’s experience of science education and research across the university.

We initially met while teaching the same organic chemistry lab class in college. When reflecting on our collective experiences conducting research, we realized that the hardest part is often getting started! As such, we wanted to leverage our backgrounds and experiences to give students the fundamental skills needed to break into STEM research. Since our inception, our free SRSP has served 200+ high school and advanced middle school students from across the country. We believe that our passion and experience, as well as that of our mentors, equips us with what it takes to accomplish our mission of empowering the younger generation through STEM and enhancing the overall accessibility of academic research.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Roaring Cubs Collective?

Pranay and Karina: We look forward to continuing to work with our students, as well as expanding our reach to invite motivated high schoolers from around the globe to pursue research with us! Some specific steps we are taking for next semester are to increase the size of our incoming SRSP cohorts and initiate new Working Groups to be able to accommodate more students who express interest in joining us and to support their diverse research interests. Feel free to check out the blog on our website for announcements about future developments at RCC!

Code Girls United is fighting some dire statistics in regard to women and girls; whereas during the 1990s 35 percent of computer science jobs were filled by women. Rather than getting better, things are getting worse. In 2024, only 24 percent of computer science jobs are filled by women. But here’s the worst part—only 1 percent of these jobs are held by Native American women.

There just aren’t opportunities for rural and Native American girls to have their interest in computer science, piqued. Public schools aren’t required to teach coding and computer science, and the girls have no other way to access these disciplines. What this means is that they can’t get good jobs in the field of technology that could help them get ahead. And that’s not fair.

Code Girls United is giving these girls the chance they have been denied with its comprehensive computer science programing geared especially to their needs. The organization is giving these girls a chance at better, and certainly more fulfilling lives. We are proud to support this initiative by way of our small grants program, because we believe in this work.

We put some questions to Code Girls United CEO Marianne Smith to learn all about this remarkable initiative that is empowering girls to reach their fullest potential:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic. Who are the girls that you serve?

Marianne Smith: Code Girls United serves 4^th – 8^th grade rural and tribal girls.

Kars4Kids: When was Code Girls United founded and why?

Marianne Smith: I started a class in 2016 in the basement of a local restaurant, but we officially became a nonprofit in July of 2018. The reason I started the organization was because I taught Computer Science at our local community college and had few if any females in my classes. It was evident that the lack of Computer Science learning opportunities for girls especially younger girls was lacking. With the support of two women, Liz Bernau and Beth Schecher, we created a curriculum and program geared towards the interests of girls in the 4^th-8^th grade with the intent to provide a pipeline to dual credit or elective options in high school.

Kars4Kids: Why coding—and why is it so important for rural and native girls to learn computer science?

Marianne Smith: Computers are a part of everything and the children who learn how to control those computers or understand them will be well equipped for the future. Many states like Montana do not require Computer Science curriculum for k-12 education. Rural and Tribal students are dispersed geographically so learning Computer Science learning opportunities are less available especially with districts struggling to cover the basics. It is important that our Rural and Tribal girls are not left behind educationally. There are so many opportunities in the technology world, and by not receiving that initial introduction to Computer Science, girls are shut out of the option for well-paying and rewarding jobs.

Kars4Kids: Social emotional growth is part of your focus. How does that fit in with the Code Girls United focus on computer science?

Marianne Smith:­­­ Our program not only teaches Computer Science concepts and coding, but also has a business component. The second half of the school year, girls form teams and choose a community problem. They are tasked with creating a business plan, design specifications, coding the app itself, and making presentations to judges. This real-world simulated software company experience gives girls the opportunity to learn how to work as a team, how to divide up tasks, how to set goals, how to meet deadlines, how to make decisions as a team, and that final presentation with a public speaking aspect and more importantly the opportunity to defend your work. These are all Social Emotional learning opportunities that will serve the girls in the future no matter what path they choose.

Kars4Kids: “Problem solving power” is an important component of what you strive to offer your young participants. How are you teaching problem-solving at Code Girls United?

Marianne Smith: Our second half of the year is literally solving a problem. The girls study their community problem with research, they typically will reach out to individuals or organizations that are facing the problem, and as a part of their business plan they write a proper problem statement that guides the team through the rest of the development process. The key for our program is that the girls are learning how to use technology to solve the problems they care about. We do not dictate their problem choices, but guide them to help them determine how technology or an app will solve the problem.

Kars4Kids: In addition to coding/computer science, Code Girls United has a lot of other stuff going on. For example, marketing best practices, business development, and entrepreneurship. What can you tell us about these components of your program?

Marianne Smith: That second half of the year is all about business. They are working on real problems that they see are important and learning how to frame those problems into solutions from a business perspective. It’s extremely powerful and rewarding to see the projects the girls try to tackle, and then listen to them pitch their finished project to judges in order to compete for scholarship prizes.

Kars4Kids: Your website mentions 38 programs. That’s a lot to tackle. How are you managing it all? How many staff members do you have?

Marianne Smith: We have had substantial growth over the last few years. Covid forced us to put all of our content online quickly, but it also led us to fully online programs so we can serve more girls in remote areas. We have run our nonprofit as a business in the “startup.” We are reaching the end of that “startup” phase and creating more structure so that we can scale while remaining sustainable. We have 10 employees across the state. Most are fulltime, some are parttime. We had over 560 girls sign up for school year long program this year, and we haven’t started registering girls for our summers camps which is looking now close to 20+ locations. Additionally, we are serving Tribal high school girls with shorter half-day programs.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about MIT’s AppInventor. What is it and how are you using this in your work with the girls?

Marianne Smith: AppInventor is a great tool for our girls to learn Computer Science concepts, learn to code with block code, get creative with design, and have immediate feedback testing the apps they create. There’s no need for the girls to write complex lines of code which is great because some of our 4^th graders don’t have the greatest typing skills. Also, Appinventor has been around for many years now, and has a supportive community of developers who continue to provide tips.

Kars4Kids: We’d love to hear about App Challenge. Can you describe some of the prize-winning apps that have been created by the participants?

Marianne Smith: We have girls tackle many different issues over the years from apps for lost pets, water bottle filling stations, math and spelling apps for younger kids, mental health, physical fitness, blood disorders, saving Montana’s native cutthroat trout, recycling, how to read analog clocks, how to make friends, human trafficking, abuse, babysitter connections, contaminated water, how to find local food, veterans care, healthy eating, teen money management, learn the Nakoda language. We have given out 55 scholarships over the years and are gearing up for our 2024 App Challenge on April 27^th. We expect to give out up to 24 scholarships this year as our program continues to expand.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Code Girls United?

Marianne Smith: We will continue to expand throughout Montana partnering with organizations like the United Way, the DoD Starbase program, Boys and Girls Clubs, schools, libraries, and other youth organizations. Additionally, we expect to expand to Wisconsin in the 2024-2025 school year, and to South Dakota in the 2025-2026 school year partnering with the DoD Starbase program in the Ellsworth Air Force base area.

MIT Spokes is a student-led organization that brings STEM festivals to underserved communities in rural areas. While giving rural students an exciting taste of STEM is already something remarkable in and of itself, it’s also the way these students travel to these communities that catches the imagination: they are traveling by bicycle! It’s a long hard haul each summer, at a time most college students would be kicking up their heels and having a fun break from their studies. But MIT Spokes participants have a passion for STEM, and want others—especially those who would otherwise have no interest in STEM, to catch their enthusiasm.

What do the MIT Spokes team members get from this experience? A sense of accomplishment. And that’s about it. At most, participation in the program might yield a brief mention on a resume.

It seems to us that MIT Spokes is a beautiful example of selflessness on behalf of students who aren’t getting nearly enough STEM to pique their interest in further study of STEM subjects, or a career in STEM. We hope our small grant helps further the mission of MIT Spokes, and maybe even help inspire others to follow the good example of these remarkable college students.

We put some questions to Lucy Nester, team member of MIT Spokes 2023, to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: When was MIT Spokes founded, and whose idea was it to begin with?

Lucy Nester: MIT Spokes was founded in 2013, so due to missing 2020 and 2021, the 2024 team will be the 10^th team! One thing that makes Spokes so unique is that each year the team consists of entirely new members. We don’t know who exactly started the team, but we do know our mission has remained essentially unchanged even 9 teams later.

Kars4Kids: MIT Spokes serves students in rural areas. Don’t students in rural areas get the same public school education as any other students? What do you offer them that they currently lack?

Lucy Nester: While there are still public schools in rural areas, the funding and resources of those schools vary significantly across the country and across different demographics. MIT Spokes offers a hands-on curriculum involving labs, experiments, and building projects which help students learn new concepts in an unconventional way. We only teach for a day or two in these communities, so we obviously don’t seek to replace conventional education; instead, we hope to supplement that traditional education with activities that regular classrooms might not do and to spark curiosity about how knowledge gained through school is applied to cool things in the real world. We also think it’s important for these students to get to meet and work with students from a prestigious university like MIT to show that they can do this too. Coming from a somewhat rural background myself and having never met anyone related to MIT before, I literally arrived on campus as a freshman. I think it’s so important for young students to see that MIT students are people too and that some of them are like you.

Kars4Kids: The Spokes team travels cross-country by bike in order to deliver its free STEM workshops to kids across America. Why travel by bike? Wouldn’t a bus be faster and easier?

Lucy Nester: One of the core themes of Spokes is challenging convention and empowering students to try new things. Stereotypical nerds, scientists, and engineers are not seen as athletic or adventurous, and we want to challenge this idea by showing through our biking that nerds can be athletic, determined, and outgoing. Some of our workshops also involve asking students to get out of their comfort zone, be challenged, and try new things, and how can we ask that of our students if we don’t do it ourselves!

Kars4Kids: Your team offers some 10 learning “festivals” each summer. Can you tell us about these events? Does this mean you travel to a total of ten cities or towns?

Lucy Nester: A “learning festival” is our term for the educational workshops we run in communities we pass through. A learning festival is a one- or two-day event (lasting around 6 hours) where students rotate between different stations that are run by Spokes team members. Each of these stations has a different experiment or activity and teaches something new. We pass through many more than 10 communities during our trip, but learning festivals take a lot of planning and collaboration with local schools, libraries, and community centers, so the logistics of holding more than about 10 would be too taxing for our little team to manage (plus we need time to bike between the locations!).

Kars4Kids: It’s important to you that lessons are hands-on. Can you give us some examples of hands-on workshops? Why hands-on? 

Lucy Nester: The 2023 team taught workshops that included making small electric generators, making polymers, cabbage juice chromatography, building spaghetti bridges, and learning 3D design and modeling. Every year the team chooses new workshops based on their own interests. Some highlights from past years include DIY circuits, fruit juice solar cells, DNA extraction, and coding. First and foremost, we want our students to have fun, so giving them new experiences and the chance to play with and explore science through these activities is always a central goal of workshop selection. We also want students to see these topics in a different context than the conventional classroom, so, rather than lecture, explain with pictures, or solve problems on paper, we let them explore and interact with the concepts themselves to understand how the theory of a classroom goes on to impact the reality all around us.

Kars4Kids: Do you always work the same communities? Is there good cooperation between Spokes and local educators and officials?

Lucy Nester: We have several communities that we’ve been collaborating with for a couple years, but the total line-up of learning festivals is a little different every year depending on changes to our route or timing. We couldn’t fulfill our mission without spaces to host us and people to inform their community about us, so our local hosts are essential. Each learning festival is a little different and the kinds of hosts vary too. We’ve been hosted by schools, libraries, community centers, home schooling groups, and even correctional facilities. Because we bring almost all of our own supplies and our festivals are free to all in the host community, the barrier to hosting Spokes is intentionally small, letting us reach a wide range of people.

Kars4Kids: MIT Spokes is a student-led initiative. Who is the typical student that joins the Spokes team? Do they receive some kind of academic credit for this work?

Lucy Nester: We’re a pretty diverse group of MIT students with team members ranging from freshman to fresh graduates, and everyone has their own unique reason for joining. I do think generally that we have a love of adventure and a passion for getting people excited about learning. Spokes members don’t receive any official academic credit or payment (other than keeping their own bike/equipment at the end), but we do get an amazing story and a summer full of fantastic memories!

Kars4Kids: Do you think that kids have certain preconceptions about what it means to be involved in STEM studies? How do you make STEM attractive to the students who participate in your workshops?

Lucy Nester: Yes, there are still some stereotypes about studying stem and Spokes definitely exists to challenge stereotypes about what a “STEM student” looks like. The stereotype that STEM students are reclusive, wimpy super geniuses is simply untrue, and the idea that studying STEM means you must give up on other passions is also false. Spokes members come from many different backgrounds and identities, and have diverse passions and interests outside of science. We’re not super athletes or super geniuses; we’re just people who love science and sharing it with others! Rather than focus on lots of math or theory, we focus on the applied side of stem and making these concepts as accessible and fun as possible.

Kars4Kids: Aside from bringing STEM to the students you encounter, what do you hope to achieve? Are there other skills you hope to impart in these young students?

Lucy Nester: For me the biggest things I hope I imparted to my students were a sense of curiosity and the belief that they can do difficult things.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for MIT Spokes?

Lucy Nester: You’ll have to ask the 2024 team!

Rebecca Lizarde for MIT Spokes 2024: Spokes is run by a different group of students every summer, so Spokes 2024 is busy fundraising, route planning, and planning their learning festivals so they can continue Spokes’ history of success!

H.E.R.O. for Children exists for the purpose of offering supports to children who either live with HIV/AIDS or have a relative affected by the chronic disease, whether living or deceased. It’s not an easy disease to live with, in part because HIV/AIDS still carries a stigma. Aside from the stigma, kids affected—even secondhand—by the disease, tend to have learning disabilities and other issues that, without intervention, can lead to high-risk behaviors and other problems that may keep children from succeeding in the classroom and in life.

Stepping in to help these children cope is H.E.R.O. for Children, with the H.E.R.O. part standing for “Hearts Everywhere Reaching Out.” Too little attention is given to children affected in one way or another by HIV/AIDS, and that is why we chose to help H.E.R.O. by way of our small grants program. We put some questions to H.E.R.O. for Children Match and Development Coordinator Nadia Eliacin to learn more about this work:

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us something about the children you serve? What demographic do you work with? How many children do you serve on an annual basis?

Nadia Eliacin: H.E.R.O. for Children currently impacts approximately 375 affected children with more than 250 volunteers annually. The majority of our target population served resides in the metropolitan Atlanta area; over 65% between Fulton and DeKalb counties alone. Approximately 33% of HERO children are living with HIV and the other 67% are affected (i.e. someone who has a parent, sibling, or residential relative living with HIV, or has lost a relative to HIV/AIDS-related complications). Approximately 25% of HERO children have lost a parent as a result of HIV/AIDS-related complications, and 90% come from low-income families (household incomes are $20,000/year or less). All programs are offered free of charge.

Varda Epstein: How and when did your organization get started?

Nadia Eliacin: Hearts Everywhere Reaching Out (H.E.R.O.) for Children, Inc. was founded in 2003 by two idealistic, young entrepreneurs who wanted to take their international experiences in Kenya and Brazil, working alongside children with HIV/AIDS, and create an organization for similar children in their home state of Georgia. Though there were 500 organizations in Georgia that supported people with HIV/AIDS at the time, none specifically focused on children. Even more alarming was the large void in quality of life care after food, housing, and medical needs were addressed. H.E.R.O. became the answer to fill that gap and provide programs focused on the “heads and hearts” of these special children.

Varda Epstein: What are some of the issues encountered by children with HIV/AIDS?

Nadia Eliacin: HIV/AIDS is a chronic disease that has a multidimensional impact on individuals and families, especially on children and youth. It has:

• Emotional and behavioral consequences: The illness or loss of a parent interferes with the consistent love, care, discipline, and attention a child needs to have a healthy psychosocial development. The death of a parent has a particularly significant impact on the emotions of a child. They experience feelings of grief and loss. They also experience fear and anxiety because they do not know what is going to happen to them, and anger because their parent can no longer be with them. Some children even develop feelings of guilt, thinking they were responsible for what happened to their parent(s) or that they should have done something. All these feelings tend to affect the children’s behavior. They can become extremely aggressive or passive, affecting their social and academic performance. These emotional and behavioral problems also place the children and youth at greater risk of engaging in high-risk behaviors (sex, drugs, delinquency, etc.). It is important to note that several other behavioral and psychosocial problems have also been noted in children and youth who are themselves living with HIV/AIDS. These problems include hyperactivity, attention deficits, social withdrawal, and depression. In addition, cognitive deficits, learning disabilities, and developmental delays have been related to central nervous symptom dysfunction related to HIV/AIDS.
• Social consequences: The stigma related to HIV infection may lead to social isolation. Often, families do not disclose their HIV status to family members, including the children, and their community for fear that they and their children will be mistreated. This isolation prevents families from obtaining valuable social support during difficult times. On the other hand, when they do disclose, they often confront open or subtle forms of discrimination and maltreatment. Children are especially vulnerable to rejection and cruelty by friends, teachers, and relatives, all of which intensify their emotional distress.
• Financial consequences: The increased medical expenses linked to treatment of frequent illnesses, the inability of a parent to maintain a job due to the illness, or the death of a parent, all contribute to a decrease in family income. The reduction in family income directly affects the quality of life of children in terms of proper access to food, clothing, housing, and basic services like education and health.

All of these issues make these children and youth vulnerable and as mentioned previously, place them at greater risk of engaging in risky behaviors (sex/unprotected sex, delinquency, drugs), and dropping out of school, thus continuing their parent’s cycle of poverty and illness.

Varda Epstein: Tell us about your Super HEROes Mentoring Program. What issues do your mentors address that are specific to kids with HIV/AIDS?

Nadia Eliacin: Since 2004, the Super HEROes Mentoring program has provided one-on-one mentoring to children and youth affected by HIV/AIDS in the Atlanta area. This program endeavors to help improve the children’s cognitive skills, self-esteem, academic performance, social and communication skills, as well as their ability to set, pursue and accomplish goals by providing them with positive role models (mentors). Mentors commit to being positive additions to our children’s lives for a minimum of two years, and meeting with their mentees at least twice a month, two hours each time. Prior to acceptance into the program, it is critical that applicants are properly screened. Once their background reports clear, applicants attend a training session which provides a general overview of mentoring, as well as more specific guidance on how to address the specific needs of children affected by HIV/AIDS (i.e., how to help their mentees deal with grief and death, the anxiety associated with parents going in and out of the hospital, the importance of confidentiality, etc.). It also offers insight and recommendations in regards to practices that contribute to strong and effective mentoring relationships.

The program sponsors at least six recreational activities per year in order to strengthen the mentor-mentee relationship, as well as provide opportunities for children with similar backgrounds and circumstances to interact with one another and develop supportive friendships. With the support of their mentors and the organization, several of these children have successfully graduated from high school, and several have become the first in their families to matriculate to college. The Super HEROes Mentoring Program makes a great difference in the lives of these children. They need positive role models, nurturing friendships, good advice, and support in developing the life skills necessary to become happy, healthy, successful adults.

Varda Epstein: Your summer camp isn’t exclusively for children with HIV/AIDS. Who else benefits from attending Camp High Five? How does your summer camp differ from other summer camp programs?

Nadia Eliacin: Camp High Five is a week-long, residential, summer camp program that provides recreational and educational activities to children living with and affected by (i.e. someone who has a parent, sibling, or residential relative living with HIV, or has lost a relative to HIV/AIDS-related complications) HIV/AIDS. It is the only program of its kind in Georgia and serves youths between the ages of 6 and 16, the majority of whom come from low socioeconomic status. This program offers a wide range of recreational activities to these children- most of which they may not otherwise be able to afford and/or experience- including horseback riding, archery, fishing, boating, swimming, nature walks, and much, much more! While at camp, our children receive interventions that specifically address their HIV/AIDS-related needs. They participate in HIV Education sessions (which help improve medication adherence and safety practices), as well as an HIV Ceremony that acknowledges loved ones who have passed away as a result of HIV/AIDS-related complications. In addition, we collaborate with child psychologists from Grady Hospital’s Infectious Disease Program, who are on site most of the week, provide individual counseling sessions to the children, and address any psycho-social issues that emerge during camp. The Child Psychologists are able to continue services after camp, or offer appropriate referrals, as needed.

Adolescents are afforded opportunities to attain leadership training at Camp High Five. Our Counselor-in-Training component furnishes former campers with marketable skills, and supplies this organization with a pool of potential employees. Our current assistant camp director was once a camper, and our previous Camp Director is also a former program participant. In addition, we have hired part-time drivers/chaperones who ‘came up through the ranks’ of Camp High Five.

Improved medication adherence, enhanced knowledge regarding various aspects of managing life with HIV/AIDS, the development of supportive friendships with similarly affected children, leadership training and potential employment opportunities are among the many benefits a child experiences while attending Camp High Five.

Varda Epstein: Can you give us an overview of Transition to Adulthood? What are the challenges confronted by adolescents affected directly or indirectly by HIV/AIDS?

Nadia Eliacin: After speaking with our children and their parents, and consulting with a child psychologist who works with children affected by HIV/AIDS and partner service providers, it became clear that our children lacked basic knowledge and skills regarding continued education/training and career planning. As a direct response to the identified needs of our clientele and data regarding effective remedies, the Transition to Adulthood program was designed in 2015.

The Transition to Adulthood (TTA) program endeavors to empower adolescents to matriculate to college or trade/technical school, secure rewarding employment and become productive members of society. Through a combination of diverse, year-round interventions, TTA participants will gain: 1) increased knowledge of college, financial aid, and career options; 2) enhanced awareness of college and/or trade school registration processes; 3) improved completion of key college and/or trade school enrollment tasks; 4) refined résumé writing abilities, and 5) augmented job interviewing and retention skills. Equipped with these tools, our clientele will be prepared to become independent, accomplished individuals who can then serve as role models for others with similar backgrounds, as well as future generations. Annual events consist of college tours, personal development workshops, professional site visits, a career fair, and a retreat. During the retreat, classes address topics including the college application process, academic scholarships, resume writing, interviewing skills, workplace etiquette, social media, financial literacy, trade certification, internships, and more.

Adolescents affected by HIV/AIDS are often subjected to the burden of 1) social stigmas – making socializing with co-workers (without risk of disclosure) problematic; 2) educational disadvantages, including lack of school enrollment and attendance, school completion, and educational attainment due to illness and/or family support; 3) reduction in family income, which directly influences their quality of education, and makes it difficult for them to afford a post-secondary education; and/or 4) lack of family support, as few have parents with educations beyond high school. Many of these adolescents lack basic knowledge and skills regarding continued education/training and career planning. The Transition to Adulthood Program helps our young adults address these specific issues and bridge such gaps.

Varda Epstein:   H.E.R.O. for Children has a scholarship program. What can you tell us about that?

Nadia Eliacin: Bright HEROs is our educational enrichment intervention that provides higher education and professional training scholarships, academic and professional development support (i.e. private tutoring, SAT preparation courses, art classes, school supplies, etc.), and volunteer employment stipends to our clientele.

Varda Epstein: Talk to us about Holiday of HEROS. What is this program and how does it work?

Nadia Eliacin: Holiday of HEROs is our annual outreach to provide children impacted by HIV/AIDS with at least one gift they need and one gift they want during the holiday season. Year after year, families tell us that if not for this program, they would not have any gifts to provide to their children for the holiday season.

Beginning in September, community partners and parents/guardians are asked to submit a Child Information Form by a set deadline; these forms are used to match children with presents. H.E.R.O. receives financial donations, in-kind gifts, and child sponsors to support this initiative. Sponsors agree to ‘adopt’ a set amount of children, shop for their gifts, and deliver them to the H.E.R.O. office or have them picked up. We then facilitate gift-wrapping parties where staff and volunteers prepare hundreds of gifts to distribute to the families. Gifts for children in partner cities are shipped, delivered, or collected from our headquarters. For our local Atlanta children, we host a holiday party where we distribute gifts to all of the families. At the party, H.E.R.O. children and their families have the opportunity to come out and enjoy fun, games, food, and live entertainment.

Varda Epstein: You have a Back-to-School “Bash.” Is this more than a school supply distribution? What’s it like?

Nadia Eliacin: As previously mentioned, many of our children come from low-income households. The inability of a parent to maintain a job due to illness, or the loss of a parent, contribute to a decrease in household income. Parents/guardians often lack the financial ability to pay for all of the necessary educational resources their children need to have a successful school year. In response, H.E.R.O. created our annual Back-to-School Bash, which supports and promotes the optimal academic performance of our children, under the umbrella of the Super HEROes Mentor Program. Just as with our holiday program, H.E.R.O. receives financial donations and in-kind gifts to support this initiative. This event helps motivate program participants for the new school year through an afternoon of food, fun, games, and prizes. At the end of the event, children receive backpacks filled with school supplies and clothing gift cards.

Varda Epstein: What’s next for   H.E.R.O. for Children?

Nadia Eliacin: Overall, H.E.R.O. for Children’s goal is to serve more kids and young adults and expand our services. Specifically, we would like to invite children from other southeast states (states with the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the US) to Camp High Five. We will also endeavor to expand Transition to Adulthood programming to include regular financial literacy education and develop internships for our clients. In addition, H.E.R.O. would like to create more opportunities for employment within our organization for program graduates. We strive to continue filling the needs of our community as it grows. H.E.R.O. has broken the Holiday of HEROs records each year, with 2023 numbers being our highest ever – 398 children served.

Freehold Borough Educational Foundation (FBEF) gives area students and their teachers much of what they lack to get a well-rounded, and most of all, educational equity. Thanks to FBEF, the children of Freehold Borough have books to read, cultural activities to attend, and they’ve learned all about how to ride their bikes safely. The teachers of Freehold Borough meanwhile, have a way to add enriching activities to their students, by way of the FBEF grant program.

It is always a wonderful thing to see a community strive to give its children the best possible education. Where there is community involvement, there is hope for the future for kids who might otherwise not have the opportunities they need to succeed in the classroom, and later in the workplace, as adults. When we give a small grant to a community effort such as this, we just know it’s going to a worthwhile project.

We put some questions to Freehold Borough Educational Foundation Chairperson Jean Holtz, to learn more about this work.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your community and the demographic you serve?

Jean Holtz: Freehold Borough is a small town in Monmouth County, NJ. It is the site of one of the most historic battles during the Revolutionary War: The Battle of Monmouth. It is also the hometown of Bruce Springsteen. Freehold has always been a “working class town.” At under two square miles, with a population of 12,000, Freehold now has nearly a 50% Latinx population. Our school district, a Pre-K to 8^th grade, has approximately 1,600 students, 80% of whom are Latinx, and 78% qualifying for free/reduced lunch – a marker of their families’ lower economic status.

Kars4Kids: When and why did you launch your foundation?

Jean Holtz: The foundation launched in 1999, as a result of a recommendation from the school district’s strategic planning efforts that year. The intention, as with all education foundations, is to bring additional financial and other resources to the school district, things that property taxes (from which school funding in NJ derives) cannot finance being insufficient for this purpose. Initially, the foundation raised money to underwrite innovative educational grants proposed by teachers and staffs. Now we also offer several programs like Book Bucks, 4^th Grade Bicycle Safety Program, Grant Writing, and cultural performances.

Kars4Kids: How many schools benefit from what the foundation has to offer and how many educators and students does your work impact?

Jean Holtz: We have three elementary schools in the district and serve all the students in one way or another!

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your teacher grants? How many grants do you offer in a typical year and what are some of the more interesting proposals you’ve funded?

Jean Holtz: We typically fund 12 to 18 grants per year. We recently funded a request from the special ed pre-K teachers for a live baby duckling hatching project. The duck eggs were delivered to Ms. Flannery’s classroom in early February, where her students were able to care for the eggs by keeping them warm in a brooder box; turn them three times per day for four days; predict what would happen to the eggs; observe a live hatching; and eventually care for the baby ducklings by providing food, water and heat as well as delicate handling. Last Monday, soon after a few of the ducklings hatched, we received a message from Ms. Flannery. Here it is unedited: “OMG!!! One of our non-verbal autistic students just SPONTANEOUSLY waved and said ‘Hi Ducky!’ for the VERY FIRST TIME EVER!!!!!!!! I’m literally crying!!!!!!”

Yes, the little girl had never spoken before. This wonderful science activity literally helped her out of her shell too!

Some other interesting grants included specialized robotic and scientific projects, lunchtime book clubs, and math programming.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Book Bucks. How does it work?

Jean Holtz: Around 80% of our students are eligible for free/reduced lunch, an indication of their families’ limited income status. Each year, FBEF provides every 2nd and 3rd grade student in the district a $15 voucher (Book Buck) to purchase up to two books per student at the annual PTO/Scholastic Book Fair held in the elementary schools. As Scholastic’s tag line notes, “Something special happens when a child finds the right book.” For too long, many of the children in the Freehold Borough school district were not able to access any books of their own at all, let alone “the right book.” In 2013, FBEF established the Books Buck program to counter this inequity. We learned that most of our young students did not participate in the book fair because their parents did not have the financial resources to allow them to. Thus, children whose parents were able to send in money for book purchases attended the book fair, while the children without could not and stayed back in their classroom. FBEF underwrites this program to encourage reading, improve literacy, and to level the playing field. Additionally, more than 70% of our students are Latinx with immigrant parents – making it even more important for them to have books to develop competency in English language skills.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the 4th Grade Bicycle Education Program?

Jean Holtz:  The bicycle education program is one of our signature projects.  Few children are made aware of cycling safety, road rules and what is needed to effectively share the road with motor vehicles after they learn to ride. Fewer still are taught effective bike handling techniques, or how to identify when basic bicycle maintenance is needed. And, they often are unaware of proper helmet adjustment and use. As the school district is a walking district, many children in Freehold use bicycles to commute to school. It is therefore critical that they understand basic bicycle safety and how they can ride safely in traffic. Through this program, students are instructed on becoming competent, confident cyclists. In partnership with the NJ Bike Walk Coalition, we provide a half-day (outdoor) instruction program and activities for all 4th grade students (approx. 165) at Park Avenue Elementary School in the basics of effective and safe bicycle riding. The program teaches:

• Basic riding skills to students who currently do not know how to ride
• Minimum awareness of bicycle maintenance
• Effective starting/stopping/scanning for traffic
• Basic “rules of the road” for safe travel on Borough roads

Kars4Kids: FBEF is run by volunteers, correct? How many volunteers are currently active in FBEF? Do you have any permanent staff members?

Jean Holtz: We are a completely volunteer organization and have no staff. We have a board of 12 very dedicated and hardworking trustees and other volunteers from some of our donor companies who assist with some of our programming, especially the bike program.

Kars4Kids: Why do schools need grant money and extra help? Are our public schools not providing for our children’s education?

Jean Holtz: Depends on the school, and the district as to whether schools are providing enough. We found that the basics, and then some, were being provided in Freehold Borough, but teachers and staff were still utilizing their own funds for extra educational opportunities for their students. Our grants to teachers and staff afford them the chance to be truly creative and innovative in developing new ways to bring resources into their classrooms to inspire their students.

Kars4Kids: Is there a pattern to educator grant requests? What do our educators appear to need most in order to properly educate our children?

Jean Holtz: Yes! There does seem to be a pattern as the years go by. Ten, 15 years ago it was technology-based grants. Now the requests are for educational items to enliven the learning experience. And, of course, books are always a big request – of course backed by themes, curriculum needs, etc.

Kars4Kids: Where do you go from here? What’s next for the Freehold Borough Educational Foundation?

Jean Holtz: I think we’ll just keep jogging along. We do a lot, with a little, for our students – who appreciate everything we do for them – as attested to by the mounds of wonderful thank you letters we receive from them – and their teachers!

Beating the Odds Foundation inspires children to dream and achieve those dreams, in spite of any obstacles that stand in their way. The foundation landed on the game of football as a way to illustrate just what it means to take charge, score points, and win. But Beating the Odds is more than a philosophy. Beating the Odds Foundation Founder and President Rocco Scalzi, has himself faced challenges and moved beyond them to live a full, meaningful life, giving back to hundreds and thousands of youth. Scalzi works in tandem with former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rocky Bleier, who also faced and overcame challenges, and is now using those experiences to inspire youth.

Growing up is hard, and sometimes outside factors make it even harder. Instead of allowing life to beat them down, Scalzi’s brainchild shows students how to take charge and well, beat the odds. The former police officer brings in many others, some famous, who have faced difficulties and overcome them to lead full and meaningful lives, to speak to the students and give them hope and a way forward.

Inspiring children to make the most of what life throws at them is critical and we hope that our modest small grant award will help the Beating the Odds Foundation to continue to carry out its important work and mission. We put some questions to Rocco Scalzi to learn more about this initiative for youth:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the youth you hope to inspire through your “Quarterbacks of Life” approach? How many youths have taken part in what you have to offer?

Rocco Scalzi: We work with students, teachers, and counselors in middle and high school. These students come from all socioeconomic backgrounds. Some students want to reach for the stars, while others have no dreams or goals. Over the past 34 years, the Beating the Odds message has reached 500,000 students through different settings.

Kars4Kids: Why “Quarterbacks?” What is it about football that resonates with kids? Is it something particularly strong for youth identifying as members of the Steeler Nation?

Rocco Scalzi: Having worked with former NFL quarterbacks, we use a football analogy that quarterbacks on the football field are in charge of leading their team down the field against the opposing team, with the goal of scoring points and winning games. While most individuals will never be a quarterback on the football field, every one of us can become the quarterback of our life. The playing field is life, and the opposition is the obstacles and challenges we face. We had students team up with former Steelers in a Quarterbacks of Life^® Research Challenge.

Kars4Kids: What drove you to found the Beating the Odds Foundation? Would you tell us a bit about your story?

Rocco Scalzi: My background is in law enforcement. As a former Altoona Police Officer, I was working on a national law enforcement initiative to develop emotional support programs for police officers using deadly force or shot in the line of duty. In the early 1980s, more police officers were taking their own lives than were killed in the line of duty. Alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, and suicide ranked highest in law enforcement than in any other profession. Following an appearance on the Geraldo Rivera television show to address this problem, I was invited to a high school to share my story of a split-second decision during a hostage incident. From this school assembly, I received hundreds of letters from students sharing their stories of hurt in their lives. Seeing the need for students not to give up from their challenges, I continued visiting schools. In 1990, along with Pittsburgh Steeler Rocky Bleier, I brought 15,000 students to Three Rivers Stadium to kickoff the Beating the Odds Foundation. Rocky and I have been working with schools for the past 34 years.

Kars4Kids: Why Rocky Bleier? What makes him the perfect person to inspire youth?

Rocco Scalzi: Growing up around Pittsburgh Steeler football, I knew Rocky’s story. When I met him around 1988, I knew how special he was. We have been working together ever since. Rocky and I have a special bond that will last a lifetime. Rocky is one of the most well-respected and celebrated professional football players of all time, and he is a true American hero.

Kars4Kids: Would you give us an overview of your Five Stepping Stones to Success curriculum?

Rocco Scalzi: Our dear friend, who has also been with the Foundation since 1990, Dr. John Worzbyt recently passed away. Dr. Worzbyt created our Blueprint for Success around his Five Stepping Stones to Success. Dr. Worzbyt authored several books centered around building caring human beings and builders of caring communities. Dr. Worzbyt served many years as the Department Chair for school counselors at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Worzbyt spent many years studying the lives of individuals who had beaten the odds, including my story. Dr. Worzbyt created the Five Stepping Stones to Success, which he found to be the common link between all the stories. The Fives Stepping Stones to Success are: Dream & Goals, Self-Awareness: Resource Review & Development, Team Support, Decide & Plan, and Positive Mental Attitude.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your Student Success and Leadership program?

Rocco Scalzi: The Quarterbacks of Life Student Success & Leadership Program provides a structural framework for schools. The Program teaches students how to apply what they learn in school to create and sustain a caring school community and to achieve success in life, school, & a career. When schools and students work together in support of a common vision and mission, they build caring and supportive school communities, bring relevancy to teaching and learning, and foster caring citizens who, through their careers and volunteer activities, make the world a better place in which to live.

Kars4Kids: Beating the Odds has another program, with a NASA connection, correct? Would you tell us a bit about that? How does the program work? Does it involve STEM learning?

Rocco Scalzi: Our Quarterbacks of Life^®/ NASA Research Challenge is in its ninth year. Year one brought together two team members, Charlie Bolden and John Grunsfeld, who flew on Hubble missions. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and his team were so touched by our student research teams’ stories, that they have continued this program into its ninth year. Yes, this initiative is an experiential STEM learning opportunity for middle and high school students. While the challenge is based on aerospace missions, it shows students the broad spectrum of careers available at NASA and in other STEM industries.

Kars4Kids: Beating the Odds has some pretty famous “Quarterbacks” on its roster. Can you name drop for our readers? Who are some of the most famous people who have shared with QBOL students about the obstacles they have overcome in life?

Rocco Scalzi: It has been an honor over the years to work with individuals from all walks of life who have beaten the odds. The life lessons from these inspirational individuals (or as we call them, Quarterbacks of Life®) bring learning to life for students. Threaded through all our programs are our Quarterbacks of Life^®, partners and role models who inspire students to dream about what they can become and set ambitious goals. Whether they’re reading QBOLs’ stories or meeting them IRL, students can see what it looks like to beat the odds. Some of our QBOLs are Soul Surfer Bethany Hamilton, four-time Super Bowl Champion Rocky Bleier, Miracle in the Making Adam Taliaferro, former NASA astronaut Scott Altman, The Blind Side actor Quinton Aaron, actor James Earl Jones, President George H.W. Bush, Congressional Medal of Honor recipients, and many others. Through these stories, students can visualize that ANYTHING is possible, and they can “beat the odds.”

Kars4Kids: Have you had any feedback from parents or kids about the impact of your programs? What about the “Quarterbacks of Life” who have participated in your work? Do they tell you how they feel about working with QBOL?

Rocco Scalzi: We receive a lot of positive feedback from students and teachers. The programs and experiential learning opportunities really excite, inspire, and motivate. As one student participant put it, “Quarterbacks of Life led me to my dream. When asked about why I wanted to pursue this career path, it will not be because, “I always knew.” I will think back to an auditorium in Washington, D.C., where I heard the stories that set my future, revealed my passion, and changed my life. The QBOLs really enjoy sharing their stories and when they get the chance to speak to students directly, it motivates them as well and they want to do more.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Beating the Odds?

Rocco Scalzi: We want to continue with our mission and inspire as many students as possible. We need to continually seek donors and funds to continue offering our programs. The positive impact makes our mission so worthwhile. So, we continue on.

Richland-Wilkin Kinship started out as a small outreach program, then blossomed into something much larger as the wider community recognized that their youth needed greater guidance and help. Since that time, this matchmaking mentorship program has grown and succeeded beyond all expectations, and the demand continues to grow. Kinship, we believe, has the heart and the will to help many more children, and in fact, there is a waiting list for children in need of mentors.

Kinship has done a remarkable job, improving academic performance, and noticeably increasing self-confidence in the children it serves. We believe that every child can benefit from a mentor, and the truth is that the mentors themselves benefit from the mentor-mentee relationship, which adds value to their lives, as they make a difference in their mentees’ lives. We’d like to see that waiting list of children shrink, and hope that our modest assistance through our Kars4Kids small grant program will help to do just that. We put some questions to Richland-Wilkin Kinship Assistant Director Marie Miller, to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: When was Kinship founded and why? Who was the founder and what can you tell us about the early days?

Marie Miller: Kinship originated in 1952 with a group of Luther Seminary students in St. Paul, MN. It was later formalized in 1954 at the Plymouth Youth Center, MN as a “Kinsmen Outreach” to inner city male youth. In 1963 “Kinswomen” was added, serving young females. During the 1970s a national director and advisory council was formed, and Kinship affiliates established with the majority located in the Upper Midwest.

In 1982, the Richland-Wilkin Kinship program began in Wahpeton, ND and is now a national affiliate. Local professionals serving in a volunteer capacity managed Kinship after identifying the need for a youth mentoring program in our community. Kinship operated under the Wahpeton Parks and Recreation umbrella for approximately 20 years until 2 local grants allowed for a part-time employee and the capacity to become its own 501(c)3 nonprofit. Our board consists of representatives from local schools, child welfare agencies, and community members who share our passion and mission for serving youth in our community through the power of mentoring. Rebekah Christensen began as the director of Kinship in 2006 and she operated the program out of her home while raising her 4 boys. In 2009, we began renting office space in downtown Wahpeton. The program has grown and expanded to meet the needs of community youth.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your community? Who does Kinship serve? How many children take part in your programs?

Marie Miller: Richland-Wilkin Kinship’s office is located in Wahpeton, ND in Richland County; just across the river is our “Twin Town” of Breckenridge, MN in Wilkin County. Wahpeton and Breckenridge are the largest cities in these two counties. We are primarily a farming community made up of smaller towns, surrounded by farmland. We are home to many manufacturing plants including farm and big machine equipment and factories that process sugar beets, sunflowers, and corn.

Families voluntarily seek out mentoring services for their child when they identify a need for extra support. The majority of our youth are not connected with other support systems or involved with extracurricular activities or faith organizations. Many are raised by one parent, grandparents, or are in out-of-home placement. We currently have 46 one-to-one community mentoring matches, with over 60 3^rd through 5^th graders in our Lunch Buddies program, and 22 teens enrolled in Kinship4Teens.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about “Lunch Buddies.” What’s the purpose of this program? Are the “buddies” volunteers? How often do they meet with students?

Marie Miller: Lunch Buddies is a school-based mentoring program designed to match an adult volunteer with an elementary-aged student to spend about 50 minutes together during their lunch period to eat, play a board game, or enjoy a craft/art activity. Lunch Buddies get together twice a month during the school year and students are always looking forward to it! This offers our community members the chance to make a difference for youth in a “mini-mentoring opportunity”. Many Lunch Buddy mentors are either professionals taking a lunch break, or retired individuals wanting to mentor children in a structured environment. A Kinship employee or the school’s Lunch Buddy liaison (both are active board members of Richland-Wilkin Kinship) are there to supervise and offer match support if needed.

The goal of this school-based mentoring program is to improve social skills and self-esteem to foster a better attitude for learning, with the ultimate goal of improving the students’ chances for school success. Every year, this program grows, based on the needs and demands of the students. Teachers and school counselors or administrators refer the students to the program. Some students self-refer as well upon learning about Lunch Buddies. Families are informed and educated on the program and must provide permission before youth can participate.

Students take pride in meeting their mentor at the school entrance, escorting them to the lunchroom, walking proudly together to the cafeteria and up to the designated Lunch Buddies gathering area. While they eat, they have time to catch up on the past 2 weeks, build rapport, and offer support when needed or celebrate their mentees’ recent successes. After eating, we provide a cart of games, markers, art books, and crafting kits for the students to share an activity or game.

Teachers report seeing improved attitudes, social skills, healthier friendships, and academic performance in students regularly participating in Lunch Buddies. We have reached 60 mentor matches within Lunch Buddies, serving two school districts. We are continuously recruiting more Lunch Buddies to expand the program based on need.

Kars4Kids: What is “Kinship4Teens?

Marie Miller: Kinship4Teens is our group mentoring program for youth ages 13 through 18 years old. We meet monthly and focus on independent living and intrapersonal communication skills with the goal of giving teens a support network, establishing and helping to achieve academic, social, or financial goals, while building the tools the children will need as they grow to adulthood.

Our curriculum is developed based on the participants’ needs. At the beginning of our group, we utilized the Casey’s Life Skills Assessment. Based on those areas of need, we are developing a curriculum to help the youth achieve their academic and personal goals, while offering independent living and intrapersonal skills education. We partner with community members, organizations, and businesses to provide opportunities, experiences, and education to our teens.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of Festival of the Trees? What role does Kinship play in the festival?

Marie Miller: Festival of the Trees highlights new, artificial Christmas Trees sponsored and decorated by community businesses, organizations, and families. The trees are displayed in Heritage Square, our town’s small downtown shopping center’s gathering space, and are up for the early shopping season. Kinship advertises and promotes the program for the purpose of collecting applications. Kinship reviews the applications, assigns a tree, and coordinates gifting the trees to the families or individuals who apply and who would not otherwise have a tree for the holiday season. This year we also held a winter hat, glove, and scarf collection for Kinship kids and a food donation for our local food pantry. We were able to give out hats, gloves and scarves to our kids at our Sledding & Ice Skating Activity in January to ensure everyone was warm.

Kars4Kids: Kinship states that “mentoring is prevention.” What does mentoring prevent?

Marie Miller: Today’s youth need a helpful hand, guidance, and support at every stage. Data shows that 1 in 3 of our nation’s kids are growing up without a mentor. Mentoring is proven prevention! Youth who meet regularly with their mentors are:

-46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs

-27% less likely to start drinking

-55% less likely than their peers to skip school

-78% more likely to volunteer regularly

-130% more likely to hold leadership positions

-81% more likely to participate regularly in sports or extracurricular activities

At Kinship, we’ve seen that youth who are matched younger and exposed to more activities, opportunities, and community events through their mentoring relationships, are more likely to begin and actively participate in community extracurricular activities. A great example of this is the story we highlighted this year of Rylan and his mentor Jim. Rylan’s mom, Candace, felt that it would be great for Rylan to have some support and a positive role model, stating “We just don’t have a lot of people” outside the family. She said Rylan loves everything about Jim and they have lots of fun together. Candace appreciates Jim for getting Rylan into church again, “That is something we have not done since Rylan was little, and Rylan has gotten back to it with Jim.” Candace proudly said that Rylan was asked by the pastor to light the candles every Sunday and “Rylan loves it so much. It gives him a sense of belonging.”

Rylan radiated pride when speaking about this and the role he plays.

We have countless other examples of these success stories as mentors take youth to swimming lessons, musicals and theater productions, and sports camps, and youth have formed connections and have had ongoing involvement in these extracurricular activities.

Kars4Kids: You also serve the community at large through your Kinship Kloset (we’re loving all the Ks). Can you tell us something about this community service?

Marie Miller: Kinship Kloset was created when our local Walmart had a surplus of old clothing they were going to have to ship out, as it didn’t sell on clearance. A Walmart employee reached out to community volunteer groups and nonprofits on how keep this surplus local, as we have many low-income individuals that can use the items. A local church and Kinship partnered together to serve individuals and families, offering free new clothing to those in need. We served 727 individuals, supplying them with clothing and shoes for the summertime.

Kars4Kids: How many mentors do you have at present? What do you look for in a prospective mentor and what’s your “matchmaking” process?

Marie Miller: Our mission is to improve lives by establishing quality relationships between youth and caring mentors for the purpose of promoting stability, support, friendship, and community. Within our one-to-one community-based mentoring program we are serving 44 matches and 3 mentors in training. Our vision and goal is to help children thrive in their environment by encouraging a healthy lifestyle, developing coping skills, and building self-esteem. Mentors are individuals, couples, or families that are matched with youth ages 5 to 14. Our team of mentors are here to help a child achieve their potential and grow into a successful adult. Families who recognize the need and the benefits of a mentor for their child(ren/), fill out an application and survey of the child’s interests.

Kinship recruits, screens, trains, and supports volunteer mentors for one-to-one mentoring through friendship with a youth. A mentor must commit to a minimum of 4 hours a month, for one year, to mentor a child. During training, we interview the applicants to learn about their life, hobbies, interests, why they want to mentor, and what goals they have for themselves.

When a child is referred to the program, their parents are asked to fill out an interest and hobby form. This, in combination with getting to know the youth through school visits or our group activities (all waiting kids are invited to participate), we match children with mentors, based on similar interests, hobbies, stories, or experiences.

When mentors are processed, trained, and ready to move on to the match meeting, we invite the mentor, a carefully selected youth and their parent, and Kinship staff to sit down, get to know each other, learn more about Kinship, and the policies for parents, youth, and mentors. We offer all of them time to think about the match or ask if they are ready to move officially move forward with the match. We want all to feel heard and be comfortable with the mentoring match. At the match meeting, we also talk about any goals we have for the child, mentor, and family, and how we can work together to achieve these goals.

Mentors are asked to submit monthly reports on how things are going. Kinship provides support to matches, and monthly group activities for matched and waiting youth.

Kars4Kids: We understand you have a very small number of staff members at Kinship. How do you manage such an endeavor of this size with so few people on board to make it happen? Do you have what you need—staff, funding—to fulfil your mission? How is Kinship supported?

Marie Miller: Kinship is funded by grants, businesses, individuals, service clubs, school contributions, and our fundraisers. We have two paid part-time staff who wear all the hats from recruitment; assessment; training; case management; monthly event planning; the Kinship4Teens curriculum; board preparations; accounting/finances; fundraising efforts; promotions; facilities management; social media; website; and other marketing management.

We are grateful to live in a community that supports and amplifies mentoring and our important mission to affect positive change for our youth. Without them, we couldn’t do it! Our board members and mentors all serve on a volunteer basis. Our lunch buddies pay for their own lunches, or their employers sponsor their lunch. Our mentors are the heart of our program and in the trenches every week with the kids. We could not do what we do without them!

Kinship has a Business Partners Program that runs on a three-year commitment of a set financial donation. This saves our employees’ time that otherwise would have to be spent making repeated requests each year, funds our monthly activities, and provides financial grounding.

“Kinship’s Amazing Race” is our biggest annual fundraiser; 2024 will be the 18^th year. The community support for this fundraiser is huge! Teams are made up of students, families, businesses, youth groups, athletic teams, and Kinship kids. The participants help to raise funds to cover the minimum race entry fee, and the proceeds support Kinship. The challenges, prizes, and expenses of this fundraiser are covered by event sponsors, all of which receive recognition on t-shirts, on our social media, website, and local newspaper.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Kinship?

Marie Miller: Kinship is always focused on recruiting mentors. It would be wonderful to see mentors waiting for kids to be referred to the program and no longer have “waiting kids” and instead have “waiting mentors.” We work toward maintaining a stable-giving foundation and ongoing financial support.

We are excited that our community is full of passionate, family-focused and economic development leaders, who have included Kinship in plans for a recreation and children’s play museum and a STEM center in development, that would offer access to Kinship and our matches. It would be great to have a year-round facility for matches to go to!

If we could wave a magic wand and have all the finances we need, we would love to be able to offer employees paid benefits and leave; cover the cost of our lunch buddy mentors’ lunch expenses; and offer more opportunities and scholarships for our youth to participate in extracurricular activities and summer camps. Another dream would be to have a ground level office and storage area within our community for mentors, youth, and community members to visit us; spend time together; and connect.

Florham Park Education Foundation (FPEF) was formed to give the students of the Florham Park school district to have the best possible education. Some organizations would focus on, and throw money at the students alone. But in many ways, that misses the point. The FPEF takes a top-down approach, providing resources to educators, so that these administrators and teachers can provide the best possible education to the students they serve.

This approach makes eminent sense. Our schools do the best they can, but are sometimes limited by school district budget constraints. The FPEF fills in the gaps by fulfilling educator grant requests. They know that it is the educators themselves, who have the best handle on what they need to better provide for a better education for their students.

It’s a novel approach that deserves a closer look. Educator grants may well be the answer to improving education in other towns and cities, far and wide. We put some questions to FPEF Business & Community Fund Development Chair Lisa Lynott, to learn more about the work of this our latest small grant recipient, the Florham Park Education Foundation:

Kars4Kids: Who founded the Florham Park Education Foundation, when was it founded, and why?

Lisa Lynott: Though the FPEF operates independently of the Board of Education and the school district, the creation of an Education Foundation in Florham Park was part of a strategic initiative of the school district in 2017. A small volunteer steering committee was formed in 2017 to research and plan, and the Foundation received its 501c3 in 2019. The purpose of the FPEF is to help bridge the gap between resources that can be provided within the school budget and the desire to bring additional innovative resources and educational programming into the classrooms. We achieve these goals through 1) our teacher grants program and 2) our curriculum/administrative grants program. The FPEF wants all students to have an exceptional educational experience facilitated by well-resourced educators. During COVID, we expanded our initiatives to include Community Care and support families with children in the district that are facing hardship. Community Care continues to play an important role as part of the FPEF.

Kars4Kids: The Florham Park Education Foundation offers support to “families with children who have fallen on difficult times.” What percentage of Florham Park families fall into this category? What type of support do you offer?

Lisa Lynott: At present we provide support to 1.3% of the school community. Many other families would likely benefit from the program. This is a totally confidential offering to assist with school supplies, food, tutoring, holiday gifts, assistance with finding temporary housing and more. To qualify, families must have students attending our public schools and they must reach out to us. Based on low-income housing statistics and financial downsides as a result of COVID more than 15% of our families could derive support in one capacity or another from these services. Pride and fear of being “outed” as a family in need is hard to break through. We are continually thinking of viable ways of encouraging families in need to reach out for help.

Kars4Kids: Teachers can apply to your foundation for classroom grants. Why are these grants necessary? Do public schools not provide an adequate education to our children?

Lisa Lynott: The teachers and district are doing a great job and the FPEF strives to support and elevate educational opportunities within the district. The foundation serves as a link between programs funded by tax dollars and the necessity for additional initiatives that inspire students. Our goal is to foster innovation by providing funding for teacher grants that improve teaching methods and enhance overall educational quality.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about some of your 2023 classroom grants?

Lisa Lynott: We awarded 16 grants in the fall of 2023. Below are some of them:

• Mini math competition – This funding opportunity enables students to engage in a friendly and enjoyable math competition, tackling challenging problems that enhance their learning and problem-solving skills. Through collaboration and teamwork, students will collectively work towards solutions.
• Digital Cameras and SD Cards – In order to learn how to create a composition using digital photography students must first explore the history of photography throughout the world. With the materials provided through this grant students will explore the basic mechanics of cameras, use the principles of design to take photos and create original artwork using digital photography and computer software.
• Digital Thermometers – This grant aims to enhance the precision of laboratory experiments. Traditional, non-digital thermometers pose challenges for students, being hard to read and cumbersome. The funding will broaden measuring skills for all students, offering particular support to those facing educational difficulties, including learning and physical disabilities.
• Indoor Sensory Path: Designed to benefit the entire student body, this grant introduces an indoor sensory path, providing opportunities for “brain breaks,” motor skill development, methods for cultivating calmness, and strategies for working through anxiety.

Kars4Kids: What would you say is your favorite grant of all time since the foundation has been in operation?

Lisa Lynott: There are a ton of great ones, but one of my favorites has been 3-D pens which allow students to create sculptures and art in 3D. It helps to build upon the students’ knowledge of the principles of design while also expanding their understanding of new technologies. It’s also really exciting to watch these in action!

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the outdoor classroom slated to debut in the spring at Ridgedale Middle School? Why do kids need an outdoor classroom? Wouldn’t being outside tend to distract children from their lessons?

Lisa Lynott: We are thrilled about the Outdoor Classroom project! This initiative aims to merge the conventional classroom with an interactive natural space, fostering a hands-on learning experience. Students will have the opportunity to actively engage with their environment, enhancing their environmental awareness. An additional benefit is that exposure to outdoor settings can alleviate stress levels, promoting a more relaxed and conducive learning environment. Students will also play a continuous role in contributing to the classroom, participating in activities like annual table painting and collaborating on the design and acquisition of landscape items and décor.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the Briarwood Makerspace? Why did the foundation choose to fund this initiative?

Lisa Lynott: The Briarwood Makerspace had been on the school “wish list” for a while, but with competing priorities and other constraints, had not had its day in the sun. So, the school administration approached the FPEF. The idea was to take a section of the library used for storage of outdated and unused items and to create a space that a) had a Lego center, b) a STEAM challenge center and c) that would be used by every single student that walks through the doors of the school for many years. The FPEF was on board immediately.

The Makerspace benefits all students.

• In the Lego center, all students ages Pre-K – 2nd grade have the opportunity to interact with the Lego center. It benefits all of them. There are Legos of varying sizes and shapes, and projects of varying complexity, so even the students in the multiple disabilities class or those who learn differently can come here and use the Legos! Legos help with fine motor skills, creativity, and problem solving, and students can build a project with partners or work independently.
• The Steam Challenge center provides the opportunity to take an idea or challenge, use materials provided in the center, and build. For example, the challenge card might talk about the roots of a tree and how it supports the trunk and branches. The challenge to the student will be using the materials provided, to build something strong. It allows for looking at a problem using all of the senses – it involves reading, planning, trial and error, failing, succeeding, resilience, frustration, joy, teamwork, asking questions, experimentation and more.

The seeds are planted for numerous foundational education and life skills. We were very happy to be a part of this initiative.

Kars4Kids: What percent of grant applications are accepted on an annual basis? What do you look for in a grant application?

Lisa Lynott: We accept and review 100% of all grant applications received. The number of grants awarded is dependent upon the amount of funds we have available in each of the two grant cycles and the number and value of the total grant applications submitted. In terms of percentage, we fund greater than 85% of the grant applications received each cycle.

In our review of applications, we appreciate all teachers providing responses to all questions in the application which informs us on how their grant will benefit the students in their class and/or their entire school community. We love to see grants that provide innovative programming, connection to community organizations, attend to student interests, expand opportunities beyond the classroom, and have a lasting impact over time, so many students can benefit.

Kars4Kids: The foundation offers periodic events for the community. Can you tell us about some of them? What are some of your upcoming events?

Lisa Lynott: We recently hosted our first annual Arts, Crafts and Music Festival which was a town-wide celebration with live musical performances, and arts and craft vendors. As part of the festival we had the band from the local high school perform, as well as the cheerleaders, and also hosted a K-12 art contest with the theme of Volunteerism. Many of the art submissions are now on display at the town public library! We also had a number of children’s activities throughout the day. It was a great day of the community coming together for shopping and fun.

We also host Community Conversations in partnership with the Florham Park Library. This is a book club which is centered on ways we can work together to make Florham Park a better place. Last year we focused on strengthening and maintaining connections between community organizations in Florham Park, which resulted in stronger partnerships between organizations. This year our theme is civic participation and volunteerism. Is it a great discussion that follows a dialog-to-action structure to encourage participants to work together toward a common cause.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Florham Park Education Foundation?

Lisa Lynott: In 2024 we’re celebrating our 5th anniversary! We’re so excited about what we’ve accomplished and what we have in store for the future. This year we’ll be launching a 7th grade grant, in which 7th graders can submit a proposal for a project that will make meaningful change or impact in the community. Funding for the project is up to $1000 and the winning student also receives a $500 scholarship. We’re excited to see the ideas that the students submit and get them excited about implementing the change they would like to see in their community.

We’ll also be hosting our second annual Arts, Crafts and Music festival in October of 2024, and we’re looking forward to growing that festival and continuing to garner community involvement.

The Million Dollar Teacher Project (MDTP) gets at the root cause of the failures in our education system: making sure that teachers have what they need to do their job. Part of what those teachers need is recognition. If the teaching profession is truly noble, we must treat teachers as the noble beings they are.

But teachers need more than that. They need support inside the classroom to help deliver lessons, and they need to be compensated fairly—to have the wherewithal to support themselves and their families, and to further their own education. Unfortunately, too many nonprofits focus on the children alone, and fail to look at our teachers. MDTP is different because the focus is on strengthening teachers and the teaching profession as the wellspring of our children’s education.

Our small grant program exists for the purpose of encouraging and lending support to nonprofits doing original work on behalf of America’s children. The Million Dollar Teacher Project, certainly qualifies with its novel approach to improving our children’s education. We put some questions to MDTP Executive Director Lloyd Hopkins, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: The Million Dollar Teacher Project was founded in 2016 with the aim of improving Arizona schools by directing resources and support to the teaching profession. Can you tell us a bit about the Arizona schools you serve and why they are in need of improvement?

Lloyd Hopkins: MDTP serves Title I Schools in marginalized communities across the valley. A key factor of a school being designated as Title I is the number of students on the campus qualifying for free and reduced lunch. This means that the majority of the students on the campus are living at or below the poverty level which is a part of being eligible to receive free or reduced lunch at school. These campuses are also hit the hardest by teacher turnover for several reasons.

Our goal is to address that issue head on, because the work of ensuring all kids receive a quality education starts with great teachers in the classroom. We want to see the schools we partner with become the destination for top teaching talent.

Kars4Kids: Rather than direct resources and support to teachers, Million Dollar Teacher Project directs resources and support to the “teaching profession”. Presumably this is a broader category that includes teachers, but other things, as well. Can you explain the distinction?

Lloyd Hopkins: We do a combination of both. We bring programming that directly impacts teachers and have initiatives targeted towards elevating the profession. This approach is important because we have to have strategies that help address the immediate needs of teachers, so they stay in the classroom. We also need strategies that elevate the profession so it becomes aspirational to become a teacher, so more kids are interested in the profession, strengthening the future teacher pipeline.

Kars4Kids: Million Dollar Teacher Project started its Focus School Program in 2021. What is a “focus school” and why did the MDTP decide to launch this program?

Lloyd Hopkins: Focus Schools are campuses where we create immersive, multi-year partnerships, and where the school is saturated with the full menu of our program for 3 to 5 years. The first three years our organization is leading the program delivery, and years 4 and 5 are targeted towards helping the school deliver our programs on their own. We then move on to another campus to start the program again.

We launched this approach so we can build deeper relationships with our partner schools and the communities they serve; track data that illustrates how our program model impacts student outcomes; and create a network of schools that operate under the MDTP model.

Kars4Kids: Your program has a three-pillar approach. What are the three pillars and how and why did you choose them?

Lloyd Hopkins: Our 3 pillars are Recognition, Compensation and Support. We chose these pillars after surveying teachers across the state and allowing them to inform us of the challenges that are most adversely affecting teacher retention and recruitment. The responses came back, resoundingly so, with lack of recognition and professional respect, low compensation and lack of support as the top challenges. So, when I decided to create our program model I wanted to create something to address those key areas of support, recognition and compensation.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the ways you are recognizing teachers?

Lloyd Hopkins: We recognize teachers through our Take a Teacher to Lunch initiative where we partner with restaurants and businesses to bring full catered lunch celebrations to campuses to celebrate their teachers over lunch. We highlight teachers monthly through our One in a Million series where we select a different, exceptional teacher each month through a nomination process and they receive a gift package from us and our partners, in addition to recognition through our website, social media and radio. We also have a podcast named the Teacher’s Lounge where we have in depth conversations with teachers about the profession.

Kars4Kids: In regard to your compensation pillar, MDTP has an endowment program and a Teacher Appreciation Package. Can you give us an overview of these programs and some examples of how these two programs lent assistance to teachers?

Lloyd Hopkins: We established the In Teachers We Trust Fund in 2022 to create a mechanism to offer financial assistance in a variety of ways to teachers who are experiencing financial hardships, looking to continue their education, or demonstrating excellence in the profession. The fund will also be used to offer grants to schools to operate our programming and other nonprofits looking to serve teachers. We established the fund and are now engaged in a campaign to grow the fund to 9 million dollars to grow our grant giving.

Through the Teacher Appreciation Package (T.A.P. for short), we work with businesses to offer meaningful discounts on goods and services to teachers, twice a year—in November for ‘Thank a Teacher’ month—and in May during Teacher Appreciation week), in an effort to help their current salaries go further by enabling them to retain more of their hard-earned money during those key points in the year.

Kars4Kids: The third pillar, support, includes classroom support teams. Can you describe these teams and their work?

Lloyd Hopkins: We work with universities, community colleges, and volunteer organizations to recruit interns and volunteers to work on a school campus as a team to support a grade level of teachers from September – March. Each CST intern commits to 10 hours a week and assists teachers with lesson planning; classroom management; working directly with students; and assisting in as many ways as possible. On average, we give teachers about 3,000 percent of their time back through this program.

Kars4Kids: Is there a personal story behind the founding of MDTP?

Lloyd Hopkins: I was a “slipped through the cracks” kid growing up and never had a teacher that took me under their wing or made me feel special. I created MDTP to ensure that every student has that, and to ensure that the exceptional teachers who do provide these things to their students, are able to impact even more students.

Kars4Kids: In 2018, MDTP started a blog, highlighting and interviewing individual teachers. How do you choose which teachers to highlight? What are the most common support issues cited by these educators?

Lloyd Hopkins: Teachers are nominated through our One in a Million series and those are the ones interviewed and highlighted on our website. Classroom volunteers and supplies are often the most popular support requests we receive.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Million Dollar Teacher Project?

Lloyd Hopkins: We are working on growing our endowment so we can expand our efforts around giving out grants to teachers and the education community. We are working with the city of Tempe to establish a Teacher Resource Center, which will be a first-of-its-kind facility in this state, once up and running. Also, we are beginning to conduct research on the economic impact of quality teachers, in hopes of being able to impact policy in the future.

Edgefield County Youth Empowerment Center (ECYEC), as its name suggests, not only helps children stay out of trouble and in school, but empowers kids to move forward in spite of difficulties. An important part of this work is making sure that parents are actively involved and engaged in their children’s lives. It’s more than that, of course. ECYEC offers children opportunities in STEM they might not otherwise have had. The center also offers kids a chance to explore different careers, and offers job skills training, too.

Among our small grant recipients are many organizations that serve at-risk children, but ECYEC is, in many ways, a cut above the rest. Perhaps that’s because of the sense we have that Edgefield is a community that cares about future of its local youth. We put some questions to Edgefield County Youth Empowerment Center CEO Marcella Edwards to learn more about the work of this impressive youth development nonprofit.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic—who are the children and families that you serve? How would you describe Edgefield?

Marcella Edwards: We serve children and youth in rural communities. 95% of the population is from single-parent homes. Edgefield is a small town with a shared purpose and interest in its communities. Edgefield works together for the greater good of children, youth, and families.

Kars4Kids: Who founded the Edgefield County Youth Empowerment Center, and why?

Marcella Edwards: I founded ECYEC along with my co-founder, former Sheriff Adell Dobey. The program was established to reduce the rising rate of juvenile delinquency and decrease high school dropout among youth in the community.

Kars4Kids: The name of your organization includes the word “empowerment.” What does “empowerment” mean to you, and what role does empowerment play in the work that you do at the center?

Marcella Edwards: Possessing the authority to decide how my life turns out. Our team provides children/youth with the skills, resources, and opportunities to become confident and self-sufficient.

Kars4Kids: We noticed that of the three programs you list on your website, the Triple P Parenting Program comes first. Does this speak to the philosophy behind the work of the center? Can you talk about family coming first?

Marcella Edwards: Yes. Families are one of the most essential pieces of our organization’s success in the community. Of all the factors that determine our students’ outcomes, family engagement is at the top of our list. Partnerships between our team and families have improved students’ grades, attendance, persistence, and motivation. Healthy families are the building blocks of a healthy community.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe the Triple P Parenting Program? What are the three Ps?

Marcella Edwards: P.P.P. is a parenting and family support system that serves families with children from birth through age 16. The system includes multiple interventions that increase in intensity across five service levels.

Kars4Kids: You have the Girls Circle and L.E.A.D. ME Boys Mentoring. Is the focus different for these two groups? How so?

Marcella Edwards: The focus is the same; both help kids grow into confident, capable, and productive adults.

Kars4Kids: Tell us a bit about YES, if you would. How does it work?

Marcella Edwards: It’s a partnership between the Department of Juvenile Justice and our organization. The program provides employability training for 60 at-risk high school students ages 16-19. Y.E.S.s are designed to improve the overall functioning of at-risk high school students at home, in school, and in the community. The program provides job skills training, career exposure, and community internship/work experience for participants.

Kars4Kids: Your STEM camp is hosting the NASA Astro Camp. That sounds exciting! What can you tell us about that?

Marcella Edwards: There are 315 NASA Community Partners (A.C.C.P.) programs active, with nearly 30 partner sites operating internationally. We were the first and only site until last year in S.C. to host NASA Astro Camp! It’s an educational program focused on NASA and S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). It engages students and provides opportunities to explore these fields. ASTRO CAMP activities offer real-world opportunities for every student to join in and contribute to NASA science missions and enhance scientific understanding while inspiring lifelong learners and explorers. The A.C.C.P. Program highlights current and past NASA missions while using hands-on activities to expand S.T.E.M. interest through focused activities in astrophysics, Earth science, heliophysics, and biological and planetary science missions. The approach seeks to teach camp participants to work collaboratively to complete missions, using methodology developed during 30 years of ASTRO CAMP sessions held at Stennis Space Center.

Our Executive Director is a trained NASA ASTRO Camp Educator and implements the camp yearly.

Kars4Kids: Talk about your After School Matters programs, please. A 98% grade promotion rate for the past 5 years is very impressive. What’s your secret?

Marcella Edwards: The secrets are a positive relationship with our students, parental involvement, and an atmosphere charged with hope and possibility.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Edgefield County Youth Empowerment Center?

Marcella Edwards: We are in the process of building a child development center for our community. Childcare demands outpace supply in the town of Johnston—there are currently no childcare centers in Johnston to meet the needs of parents’ work schedule (6:30 am-6 pm), forcing parents to travel outside of the town for childcare.

Family First Foundation, as its name suggests, understands that a child’s first classroom is in the home. That makes family engagement part and parcel of the work of this youth development organization. The rest is about dissolving barriers to education equity for disadvantaged children.

How does Family First, our latest small grant recipient, achieve these lofty goals? By restoring trust in public officials; offering inspiration and mentorship from successful adults; and providing advanced learning experiences for gifted youth. By all accounts, this three-pronged youth program is a brilliant success. We spoke with the CFO of Family First, Josef Palik, to learn more:

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your demographic? Who are the children that you serve?

Josef Palik: We serve a varied demographic through each of the 3 programs we offer, with an overlapping focus on less advantaged youths and families in the Greater Los Angeles cities. Our program City of Angels targets at-risk youths and low-income families to improve the strained relationship between our public safety officials and the communities they serve. LA Future targets K-12 students who get energized from experiencing successful and influential professional athletes or entertainers up close. Our Tech Hub is deliberately designed to provide advanced educational experiences for bright middle schoolers (grades 6-9) who are interested in STEAM at a young age, but maybe can’t get this exposure in the classroom or at home due to circumstances outside of their control.

Kars4Kids: Family First is “dedicated to bridging the gap between at-risk youth and their families.” Can you talk about the gap? How would you define or describe the nature of that gap for us?

Josef Palik: Absolutely, it’s critical to define the parameters in which we see ourselves operating.

1. Educational Disparities: Access to quality education and enrichment opportunities is something we see as a fundamental right for personal and professional development, yet at-risk youth have the hardest time finding these oftentimes inadequate resources.
2. Economic Barriers: A family’s broader financial constraints for can severely limit access to these essential resources and opportunities. This exacerbates the challenges faced by at-risk youth and their families.
3. Lack of Supportive Relationships: The absence of supportive relationships, mentorship, and positive community engagement can further alienate our demographic, hindering the personal growth we believe so fiercely to be fundamental to our story as humans.

Kars4Kids: City of Angels was your first program, and has had a significant impact on at-risk youths and their families. What is the purpose of this program? Can you give us an overview of how it works?

Josef Palik: The overarching objective is to cultivate safe spaces for interaction and for promoting understanding, trust, and cooperation. The program has worked to build a safer and more inclusive community. We have done this by organizing events where at-risk youth and their families can interact with emergency services personnel, and law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles, creating a more positive, more comfortable environment.

Kars4Kids: Family First places an emphasis on STEAM, an acronym usually defined as standing for Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. At Family First, that definition includes “sports.” Can you explain? Why are sports an important factor in the education of the children you serve?

Josef Palik: At our nonprofit everything we strive to do is purposely designed to be fun; this is an integral for enhancing engagement, learning, and retention. The incorporation of sports, role models, and professional athletes make for an effective strategy for enhancing the prospects of these children. Showcasing prominent figures in the elevated atmosphere that sports ultimately provides creates the wow factor, or the “Aha” moments that can transform and stick with youths as they evolve into adults. This aspect so critical to us!

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your Tech Hub?

Josef Palik: TH is our baby, our newest offering, our powerhouse packer, and like our other programs, offered at zero cost to our participants. It’s an ambitious initiative aimed at equitably building STEAM literacy amongst advanced but less advantaged youths through diverse partnerships and inclusive programs, making sure there is no financial barrier in accessing top-tier education. How do we do this?

1. Early Identification and Support – TH spotlights students in Grades 6-9 who have exceptional aptitude in STEAM subjects, in partnership with local school districts.
2. Practical Application and Real-World Exposure – Participants are set free to explore STEAM concepts through engaging field trips and complimentary workshops.
3. Industry Alignment and Partnership – Our board is proud to have partnered with some of the biggest brands in some of the most impactful sectors of our economy, including consumer tech, media, professional sports, and space exploration.
4. Innovative Learning Environment – TH transforms STEAM education into an unforgettable and intellectually engaging experience that will inspire the next generation of Leaders and Innovators.

Kars4Kids: What is “LA Future?”

Josef Palik: This program leverages the influence of professional athletes, popular brands, and entertainers to provide mentorship and guidance to the students. Through LA Future, we organize various events and programs to help prepare students for success beyond the classroom. LA Future offers access to college and professional sports events, and features influential role models who share their personal stories about how crucial education has been to their lives. This program has reached over 12,000 youths and families since our founding in 2001.

Kars4Kids: Family engagement plays a role in your programming. How so, and why is this important to your work with children?

Josef Palik: “Family First” is part of our name for a reason. It is my belief that the majority of parents are doing the absolute best they can with the knowledge and resources they have at that moment. Given that, the home environment has an immense impact on how children begin to form their world view and outlook. Whether or not the families are aware of this impact, this is where we step in to encourage a shared responsibility towards educational and personal growth in the children we work with. It really is a privilege and honor.

Kars4Kids: How do you measure your success? Can you share a success story?

Josef Palik: The beautiful thing about the Tech Hub program and a big reason why these larger-than-life companies have bought into our mission is that we are setting the stage for a scalable pipeline of bright thinkers. We identify the students in middle school, and evolve with them into high school, providing aid as they think about higher education and beyond. That is the long-term goal of the program, at any rate. The way we measure success for this initiative is by how many, or by what percent of our participants actively choose STEAM electives, classes, and pathways as they progress into high school.

Generally, we might know someone, or have first-hand experience with a child in elementary or middle school who is labeled as a troublemaker—someone who disrupts lessons—that because he/she is slightly different from the rest of the class, something might be wrong with them. In reality, many are extremely gifted, get what the teacher is saying within 5-10 minutes, and then become bored. So, the success story we hear over and over from parents is that “Hey, my child is actually engaged and inspired by these fieldtrips—in fact, he/she doesn’t want it to end, when can we do another?”

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Family First Foundation?

Josef Palik: As you might be able to tell, our attention and energy are focused towards expanding the Advanced Tech and Innovation Hub (TH). We are currently strategizing the best way to introduce external fundraising to our organization. Throughout the years, we have been mostly funded by board contributions, and non-cash donations from our community. Tech Hub is currently deployed in 1 school district, and we aim to expand it to as many districts as feasible. The feedback on this program has been incredibly positive, and educators want this for their students.

Marietta Police Athletic League (PAL) exists for the purpose of providing disadvantaged children with mentoring and quality out-of-school programing. That, in and of itself, is incredible, however, the fact that police officers are among those leading PAL programs, is next level. Children look up to the adults in their lives. When the adult is a police officer, the children are offered a fine example to emulate. What a great way to help kids stay in school and get ahead in life!

We put some questions to Marietta PAL Executive Director Daneea Badio-McCray to learn more about the work of this, our latest small grant recipient:

Kars4Kids: What’s Marietta like? What can you tell us about your demographic—the kids you serve?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Marietta PAL serves Cobb County youth, ages 5-17. Nearly 70% of PAL families are very low-income, with an average family of 3 earning less than $30,000 annually. Three out of every 5 kids come from single parent homes.

Kars4Kids: When did you start the Marietta PAL and who, or what, was the inspiration behind the founding of your chapter?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Since 2007, Marietta PAL has served nearly 7,000 school-aged youth and their families. PAL’s Founder is Major Michael Goins of the Marietta Police Department. Marietta PAL’s purpose is to provide exceptional youth development programming that builds   strong character while focusing on the positive mental and physical health and wellbeing of disadvantaged youth who might not otherwise have access to such quality youth programming. PAL provides up to 500 Cobb County youth, ages 5-17, with affordable access to daily afterschool, summer camp, sports, recreation, art & academic programming.

Kars4Kids: For those not in the know, how does PAL work? What is the extent of the involvement of local police officers in your programs and their administration?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Marietta PAL utilizes exceptional staff, officers, facilitators, program partners, and proven curricula to consistently deliver proven success. Major Goins and other law enforcement serve on PAL’s Board of Directors. Officers have also assisted with leading programs like basketball or assisted with programs like boxing and    martial arts. Officers also participate regularly in PAL-sponsored events like the annual Back to School Bash and Holidays Around the World gift-giving events.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your afterschool program? It seems very comprehensive. We like your focus on education.

Daneea Badio-McCray: PAL Afterschool operates during the school-year from 3-6pm. The program includes homework help and tutoring; daily health and fitness; and rotates bi-weekly through a variety of sports.

Kars4Kids: How big a part does mentoring play in your programming and how does it play out in practice?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Weekly mentoring sessions are held utilizing the BrainWise curriculum which teaches youth to make smart decisions. PAL kids are paired with mentors to participate in mentoring sessions followed by observation sessions, where mentors further monitor mentees’ implementation of smart thinking skills learned during activities like martial arts, dance, boxing, and more.

Kars4Kids: Martial arts seem to be a specific focus of what you offer at Marietta PAL. Why are martial arts important, and what types of martial arts do you offer?

Daneea Badio-McCray: PAL offers American-style Karate, taught by Sensei Don Bourgeois. This form teaches discipline, respect, self-esteem, teamwork, perseverance and so much more.

Kars4Kids: You have a summer camp for grades 1-12. Is this a day camp? What kind of activities do you offer?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Our summer camp is a day camp that takes place in June and July with full-day programming from 7:30am to 6pm.   PAL summer camp offers breakfast, lunch, and afternoon snacks along with the following activities (and more!):

• Daily academics with a focus on reading, math, and combatting summer learning loss
• Art
• Health & fitness
• Sports
• Life skills
• STEM workshops & activities
• Communications classes
• Field trips
• Career development sessions

Kars4Kids: Can you share a success story about one of the youngsters in your program?

Daneea Badio-McCray: Success is best told by our parents. Here is a note we received from one such parent:

Good afternoon. This letter is well overdue. Just wanted to thank you and all the staff at Pal. Special thanks to Mrs. Ebonette and the karate instructor. This program has really worked with me as a single mother financially and provided an exceptional summer program for my children as well as karate classes at a price I can afford. The summer program kept my oldest two children busy and current with academies during summer break along with learning different sport’s. Daija was overjoyed being able to go and read to a younger crowd, while DJ enjoyed playing sports and meeting kids he could relate to. Isaiah was all for karate at first until he realized it was hard work. This program really cares about the future of our children. Teaching self-respect, respecting others and taking responsibility for your own actions. Just had to let you all know that we’re very grateful and thankful to have met all of you. You have truly made a difference in our lives. Thanks.

Dana Whitehurst

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Marietta Police Athletic League?

Daneea Badio-McCray: PAL is excited about continuing to grow our programs to serve more youth. As PAL continues to grow our Marietta Shamrock Shuffle 5K event held each March on the Marietta Square, raising more funding will position PAL to serve more youth. PAL also looks forward to adding a baseball program and theater program in the near few years.

Danbury Student and Business Connection (DSABC) understands that youth success makes a community a better, more prosperous place to live. The best way to ensure that children succeed in school and in the workplace then, is community involvement. DSABC has created programs that enlist local businesses and the community to step in to provide mentoring and assistance to the children of Danbury.

This successful collaboration created by our latest small grant recipient is having measurably impressive results. It makes sense then, to learn more about DSABC programs and how they work, so that other communities can adopt similar methods to help youth everywhere. We put some questions to Danbury Student and Business Connection Executive Director Susan Queenan, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic and community? Who are the young people who benefit from your programs?

Susan Queenan: DSABC serves the Danbury Public School District, which has over 12,000 students. Students from grades kindergarten through seniors are eligible to be a part of the mentoring program. Every student involved benefits from having the support of their own mentor.

Kars4Kids: Your one-on-one mentoring program is school-based. What is the ultimate goal of this program? What is the advantage to working with kids in their schools?

Susan Queenan: The goal of this program is to provide students with another level of adult support. They meet with their mentors weekly, throughout the school year, most for many years. The statistics show that mentoring has a positive impact on students thus improving their school and community experience.

Kars4Kids: How many young people do you typically serve in the one-on-one mentoring program annually? How old are the children in this program?

Susan Queenan: The numbers fluctuate but at the start of the 2023-2024 school year we have over 100 students in the program, ages kindergarten to seniors in high school.

Kars4Kids: How long do these mentoring relationships generally last? Is there a minimum commitment expected of DSABC mentors?

Susan Queenan: DSABC asks mentors to commit for at least one school year. However, we usually have a 95% return rate, with the 5% not returning due to a work or location change. Our mentors are incredible volunteers who are committed to the program. We have mentors who have been with students from elementary school through high school graduation and maintain their relationship into adulthood.

Kars4Kids: How many mentors are currently working with DSABC students? Are they volunteers?

Susan Queenan: Over 100.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your WorkPlace Learning e-Mentoring Program? How does this program differ from your school-based one-on-one mentoring program?

Susan Queenan: The WorkPlace learning program allows mentors, usually not in the one-on-one program, to guide students with a focus on career support.

Kars4Kids: According to your website, since its inception in 1997, DSABC has awarded 217 students with $374,000 in scholarship. Can you give us an overview of this scholarship program? How does it work?

Susan Queenan: The scholarship program is available for mentees who have been in the program for at least two years, including junior and senior year of high school. They are eligible to receive a $1,000/year scholarship up to 4 years ($4,000) for students pursuing a college education. Our mentees who are going into trade, career or military receive $1,000 to be used for tools, equipment, computer, luggage, or uniforms.

Kars4Kids: DSABC also has an internship program. What can you tell about these internships?

Susan Queenan: Our internship program, DECO, is in partnership with the Business Department at Danbury High School. We work with our local corporations to help students find a relevant internship, based on their career interests. The internship is 40 hours and is usually done after school or during Spring break week so it does not interfere with the students’ school schedule. To support the students, DSABC meets with the class prior to the internship and reviews office etiquette and conducts mock interviews. When the internship is complete, DSABC meets with the students to provide assistance with updating their resumes. In addition, DSABC is part of the DECO Book Club with the students. The books focus on business and the club meets weekly to review and discuss different chapters of the book.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for DSABC?

Susan Queenan: DSABC is thriving! With multiple grant programs that impact students K-12 and some new programs that will be unveiled in 2023-2024, our future continues to shine very bright. Of course, our biggest beacons of light are our wonderful students and volunteers and companies who help support our endeavors, like Kars4Kids. Thank you very much for your generosity. It is much appreciated by the Danbury community.

Pivotal steps in with services for foster youth that are critical for helping them succeed in the classroom and in life. Foster youth too often fall through the cracks. They often lack the family support that most children have growing up. Without that support, what is there to motivate these young people and give them the hope that they can rise above their less-than-ideal circumstances?

The biggest issue for foster children, however, is aging out of the system. That’s when all the services drop off, and they are left on their own to carve out an independent life for themselves. Who is there to guide them? Who is there to spur them on to get a college education and ensure they can cover costs? If they’re lucky enough to live in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties (and soon in Alameda County), Pivotal is there to help these children establish goals and make them happen.

We put some questions to Pivotal CEO Matt Bell, to find out more about the work of this, our latest small grant recipient:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the children you serve? What kind of backgrounds do they come from and how do they end up in your program?

Matt Bell: Pivotal serves young people in and from foster care, starting as early as the 8^th grade, all the way through to college completion. These young people come from various backgrounds, but almost all of them have experienced trauma and upheaval that no child should have to endure. Roughly 88% of our students are young people of color and 80% of our post-secondary scholarship recipients are first-generation college students. Many of our students are referred to us by social workers at the Department of Family & Children’s Services, or from the foster youth liaisons at the local community colleges we work with. Pivotal provides individualized, trauma-responsive academic and employment coaching with the goal of helping these students get on the path to academic success and build the lives they want for themselves.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the challenges of young people in foster care?

Matt Bell: Due to the trauma these children experience – from being separated from their parents and/or siblings, being placed in foster homes, changing foster homes and schools as many as eight times, and aging out of the system with little or no family support — the education and employment outcomes for foster youth remain among the lowest in the country.

By age 19, only 58% of foster youth nationally complete a high school diploma or GED. It’s not that foster youth don’t care. In fact, 96% of foster youth report that they would like to earn a bachelor’s degree. But graduating high school and pursuing a college education can be an uphill battle – only about 10% earn a post-secondary degree.

Without consistent access to academic and career guidance, these young people can fall through the cracks. Pivotal changes that. While most support services offered to foster youth are terminated after the courts close a dependency case, our solution is to stick by our kids – even if their cases close or they move out of the area. There is no upper age limit for our services. Our long-term commitment is unique in this space.

Kars4Kids: What is “motivational interviewing” and how are your coaches using this approach with the kids?

Matt Bell: Motivational interviewing is a technique that is often used to help overcome reluctance and make behavioral changes. Coaches have youth assess themselves on their perceived fluency in four critical Success Skills that we have identified as being essential to long-term academic and employment success: Self-Awareness, Communication and Self-Advocacy Skills, Organization and Time Management Skills, and Accessing and Utilizing Resources. It is a collaborative process where the coach and the scholar work together to understand the young person’s vision and goals for themselves, come up with a plan to achieve those goals, and talk through any potential challenges or barriers.

Kars4Kids: How many coaches are working with you, and how many young people do they serve? What kind of training do you offer your coaches?

Matt Bell: We have nine high school and 11 post-secondary coaches, and we serve approximately 500 scholars annually – approximately 350 post-secondary and 150 high school scholars. Our coaches are supported by coach supervisors who provide training, guidance, best practices, and resources.

In addition, at the end of 2021, all our staff went through RISE (Recognize, Intervene, Support, Empower) training focused on supporting LGBTQ+ young people and in 2022, we went through Mental Health First Aid training to help us respond appropriately when a scholar is in a mental health crisis.

Kars4Kids: Pivotal has two coaching tracks, for high school, and for after high school. How are they different?

Matt Bell: Our high school coaches are really focused on helping students get their high school diploma and matriculate into a college program. Most of our high school students are still in the foster care system, so depending on their situation, they might be navigating a lot outside of their academics – working with their social workers, mandated therapeutic sessions, family reunification sessions, and so on. In addition, these students are often moving around – youth can change placements an average of 1.5 times per year before the age of 18 – so their schooling can be disrupted very easily. Pivotal high school coaches try to provide some stability, keep these kids focused on their goals, and help eliminate barriers and provide resources, so they can focus on academics. They also help them research colleges and universities, apply for scholarships and financial aid, and dig into what majors they are interested in.

Beyond high school, our scholars deal with a new set of challenges. Since many of these students are first-generation college students, they don’t always know what to expect from the first year in college. In addition, when they age out of care, they then face financial and housing issues. Our post-secondary coaches are focused on helping them succeed, keep their grades up, and investigate potential careers. They also help them find professional development opportunities and internships.

We do a warm hand off where the scholar meets with their high school coach and their new post-secondary coach to help maintain some consistency when a student is moving from our high school program into post-secondary.

Kars4Kids: What is the “Pivotal Path?”

Matt Bell: The Pivotal Path describes the way we perceive the student’s journey. We don’t tell our scholars what they should do. From day one, coaches ask them what they want for themselves and work with them to find a way to get there. After over 20 years of working with foster youth, we have learned that no student’s path is the same and trying to force a standardized structure on how a student should approach his academic career simply doesn’t work. We take an individualized approach and really try to understand what the student wants and what is going to work for them.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your internship program.

Matt Bell: We partner with local companies to provide internship opportunities to our scholars. We provide guidance throughout the internship, both to the student and to the internship host. If a student is struggling or unsure how to manage a professional situation, they can always reach out to their coach or to their internship supervisor to get guidance.

We’re really proud of our internship program – many of our scholars end up getting full-time jobs from these internships. We are currently working to expand our internship program to work with even more corporate partners so we can provide an internship opportunity to any student who wants one in the field they are interested in.

Kars4Kids: How do you measure the impact of your programs?

Matt Bell: We have a dedicated Learning & Evaluation department at Pivotal, and its sole job is to track our progress and provide data-driven recommendations as to how to improve. At the highest level, we track graduation rates, both at high school and college, but we also track several program-specific metrics such as community college transfer rates, college retention rates, and scholar satisfaction with our program.

At the end of the day, our students’ success is the most important way that we measure success. We try to incorporate their voices into all our decision-making. We have alumni on staff and on our board as well as a Youth Advisory Board that we consult to get their input and feedback when making large program decisions.

Kars4Kids: Can you share a success story?

Matt Bell: My favorite recent story is about one of our post-secondary graduates, Elizabeth. Elizabeth went into foster care at 13 and experienced six housing changes in the five years she spent in the system. As soon as she aged out of the system, she faced housing issues and when she was 19, she became pregnant. Realizing she needed to find some stability for herself and her child, she decided to return to school. She had come to a Pivotal workshop some years back and remembering us, she reached out for a scholarship and joined our program. Our coaches helped her in many ways, as she became a mother, tried to find work-life balance, struggled with her mental health, and faced unexpected expenses and challenges during the pandemic.

With our help, she stayed on her path to a college degree and even though she had moved to Portland to go to university, we tried to keep her connected to our Pivotal family. She was interested in working to help other young people in the foster care system and wanted to learn more about working with nonprofits and grant writing. So, this past summer, we brought her on as a summer intern in our fundraising department. She helped with grant research and writing and did so well that we decided to bring her on part-time after she graduated, and her internship was over. She’s been a huge asset to our team and brings that youth voice and perspective to our work.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Pivotal?

Matt Bell: This year, we are starting to serve middle-school students in 8^th grade. We’re really excited about this because we know that if we can get to these students earlier, they are more likely to have an on-time graduation. Our goal is to move into serving 6^th and 7^th graders in the next few years.

We are also expanding the counties we work with. Historically, we have worked only with Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, even though we work with students even if they move out of their county of care. This year, we have expanded some of our services into Alameda County and are looking at other counties that might make sense for us to expand into.

Finally, we have joined together with 7 other California agencies to form the Foster Youth Pre-College Collective (tFYPC). We are working together to share resources and data, understand how best to refer students to each other, and to advocate for legislation that will help all of California’s foster youth.

Thrive takes a holistic approach to strengthening families, and that approach begins with the community stepping up to help. In order for kids to grow up healthy and whole, and to succeed in the classroom and life, they need their basic needs met. Their parents need the resources to provide for those needs; learn best parenting practices; and ensure their children are getting the best education possible.

Why does Thrive believe that the community has to step up and help these families and children? It’s simple: the families and children in need are part of the community. When families fail to thrive, so too the community, which then becomes vulnerable to spiraling crime rates and unemployment.

The Thrive approach then, is as much preventive as it is holistic. How do you keep kids off the streets and out of trouble? Our latest small grant recipient’s recipe is to give children and families what they need, steer them in the right direction, and the community will be a better, more prosperous place to live.

We put some questions to recently-retired (after 24 years!) Executive Director Carrie Gilbertson to learn more about the Thrive approach to strengthening families:

Kars4Kids: Thrive serves children and families in Montana’s Gallatin Valley communities. Can you tell us something about your demographic? Who are the children and families that benefit from your work? How many children and families do you typically serve each year?

Carrie Gilbertson: Thrive services are available to any family with any need. Our focus is on prevention services like parent education, resource connection, and mentoring. We have a mentoring program in the Bozeman and Big Sky public schools that served 450 kids last school year.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us why and how Thrive came into being? Who was the founder of Thrive and when did you begin operations?

Carrie Gilbertson: Thrive was founded in 1987 by a group of community members who felt like we were missing the preventative approach to raising healthy kids and families. One of the founding members was a family law judge who saw kids and families in his courtroom in situations that could have been prevented. Deborah Neuman was the first hired employee and she ran the organization for 28 years.

Kars4Kids: Can you expand on your model for success (strong families + successful children = thriving community)? How do you define a thriving community, and why does it begin with strengthening families? What makes a child a “success” and how do successful children contribute to a thriving community?

Carrie Gilbertson: A thriving community is one where people have access to basic needs; mental health services; a quality education; jobs; affordable housing; and community connection. Our children are our most vulnerable members and a thriving community is one that steps up to mentor and support our kids.

Kars4Kids: You have four signature programs. Let’s talk about the first of the four as listed on your website. What is the Child Advancement Project?

Carrie Gilbertson: CAP is a mentoring program for kids K-12 in both Big Sky and Bozeman. We match kids with community members 18+ who meet with them for one hour a week during the school year and during the school day. Kids are referred for a variety of reasons but the top reasons are: academic, social, absenteeism, and enrichment.

Kars4Kids: CAP is run on volunteer steam, correct? How many mentors do you have and how do you train them? Do some mentors mentor more than one child? What is the duration of the mentor/mentee relationship?

Carrie Gilbertson: This past school year we had 450 mentors. This is down from the 650 we had pre pandemic. We are working to build that number back up! The average relationship lasts two years, but it is our hope to make long-term matches. We have several cases where kids are matched with the same adult K-12. Oftentimes kids move, adults move, or circumstances change, and the mentoring relationship discontinues. All mentors are trained and background-checked. Mentors have access to a variety of resources to help support the match

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the Partnership Project? Can you give us an overview of this program and its significance? What is the cost for participation?

Carrie Gilbertson: Partnership Project is a home visiting program for young parents. There is no cost for participants.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about the Parent Place. What are the specifics of this program and how does it benefit parents?

Carrie Gilbertson: The Parent Place is a family resource center. We offer parent education; developmental and social emotional screenings; coaching; and family fun events. All for free.

Kars4Kids: How does the Parent Liaison program work and why is it important to what you do? The liaisons are professionals, is that right? Are they social workers? Educators?

Carrie Gilbertson: The PL’s are school-based resources for parents K-8. They work with parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators to best support the student. They are all degreed professionals. Some have degrees in social work and some in education. They teach parent education, connect to resources, support attendance and provide one on one support to parents and teachers.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Thrive?

Carrie Gilbertson: Thrive is focused on building up the mentoring program to better meet the needs of our growing community. We are also dedicated to meeting the needs of our rapidly growing Spanish-speaking population.

Volunteers In Public Schools (VIPS) serves a student population with an overwhelming poverty rate. That means fewer resources are available for education. The aim of VIPS is to step in with trained volunteers to work with kids on their reading and math.

The community-minded approach of this small grant recipient in addressing critical deficiencies in the education of local youth was what spoke to us most. That and the fact that they are getting results. We wanted to know about the work and methods of VIPS, so we put some questions to Executive Director Judy K. Bethly to learn more:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographics. What is your community like? Who are the children that you serve?

Judy Bethly: The state of Louisiana is divided into 64 parishes. Volunteers In Public Schools (VIPS) serves students enrolled in public schools located in East Baton Rouge Parish. Baton Rouge is named the state’s capital city with a population of 450,500 citizens. It accommodates the second largest school district in the state consisting of 40,000 students. Our city is recognized for its unique cuisine such as hot, boiled, and spicy crawfish. We also love our football; being the home of Louisiana State University and one of the country’s largest HBCU’s, Southern University, and of course The New Orleans Saints. The school district student population is composed of 70% African Americans, 11.8% Hispanic/Latino, 11.4 White. The poverty rate of the student body is listed as 75%. Although improving, the students’ reading proficiency is recorded at 34% and math proficiency at 22% along with a graduation rate of 74%.

Kars4Kids: When and why was Volunteers In Public Schools founded? How many children do you serve each year?

Judy Bethly: VIPS was established as an independent nonprofit in 1981 following court-ordered busing, a mandate and plan handed down from the federal courts to desegregate the school district. Many white families opted out of the busing plan and chose other options for their children. This left the school district with a decreased student population, declining public support, and deplete of resources. VIPS believes the entire community is responsible for the educational development of every child. Our mission is to foster student success and build support for public education. We facilitate and encourage community involvement in public schools by recruiting, screening, and training school volunteers, and enlisting the involvement of community partners. Each school year, VIPS serves approximately 800 students through our EveryBody Reads, EveryOne Counts, and Partners In Education programs.

Kars4Kids: How many volunteers do you have on staff? What kind of commitment do they make? How are they matched with students?

Judy Bethly: VIPS employs four staff members; Executive Director, Volunteer and Community Partners Director, Program Manager, and Operations Manager. Our board involves 24 unpaid directors from diverse professional backgrounds who commit to serve one three-year term.

Kars4Kids: Volunteers In Public Schools appears to offer two main programs. Can you give us an overview of your reading program?

Judy Bethly: EveryBody Reads pairs recommended pre-k through second-grade students with volunteer tutors called Reading Friends. Reading Friends commit to one year of service and are required to meet with their student each week for 30-45 minutes. Prior to the start of their service, Reading Friends attend a mandatory training and must pass a background check. During the tutoring sessions, Reading Friends engage students through shared reading and cover the fundamentals of reading; fluency, sight words, phonics, and comprehension. Volunteers have access to our Reading Bins housed at the schools that facilitate the program. The Bins contain books on various reading levels that feature diverse characters to allow students to see themselves in the books that they read as well as flash cards, white boards, activity sheets, crayons, and textile manipulatives such as playdoh and foam letters. Each week, our Reading Friends are emailed reading guides with helpful reading strategies and book recommendations. Reading Friends are also encouraged to attend our follow-up trainings called Connect meetings. At the Connect meetings, which are often led by directors from the school district’s literacy department, volunteers learn new approaches to help their students that align with classroom instruction.

Kars4Kids: What about your math program? How does that work?

Judy Bethly: EveryOne Counts works the same as EveryBody Reads; however, we accept recommendations from kindergarten through third-grade teachers and we work on basic numeracy skills such as number placement, addition, subtraction, and measurement. Again, Math Friends take advantage of our Math Bins, along with guidance offered by the school district’s math coaches, and weekly lessons that correlate with classroom instruction.

Kars4Kids: The volunteers work with the children inside their schools, right? How many schools participate in your programs? What kind of feedback do you get from the teachers?

Judy Bethly: This year, we have 25 schools participating in EveryBody Reads and EveryOne Counts. Reading and Math Friend volunteers visit their paired students at the schools during the times suggested by their teachers. Our seasoned teachers recognize the benefits provided by our one-on-one tutoring; in fact, our recommendations of 1,000 students far exceed the number of available volunteers of 500. Following are direct quotes submitted by our teachers from our end-of-the-year survey.

• In previous years, my students not only improved on their reading or math scores, but they also really enjoyed the one on one time with a caring adult who was there to help them.
• Reading Levels increased at least 5 to 8 levels.
• My students gained confidence in reading. Many of my students that I recommended for a reading friend are ELL. Their ability to hold conversations in English improved so much!
• Students who have reading and math friends are more socially successful and are academically confident.
• My students who worked with a reading or math friend have all grown socially and academically due to their buddies.
• Confidence in reading, self-esteem improvements, and increase in vocabulary because of more one on one time with an adult.
• My students who worked with a Reading Friend have become very excited about their reading. They are enjoying reading and always excited to see their Reading Friend at school.
• My students worked in a small reading group with a VIPS volunteer. This helped my students tremendously with their sight word and letter fluency, print concepts, and communication skills.

Kars4Kids: How do you know if you’re on the right track—are there metrics that show your impact on the children?

Judy Bethly: Yes, we use the beginning and end-of-year DIBELS assessment to review the progress made by those students paired with Reading and Math Friends. We compare those results with those recommended but not paired. The students who receive between 15-20 visits by a VIPS volunteer, improve on the test by 14%.

Kars4Kids: You offer a lot of useful resources to your volunteers for use in their learning sessions with the children. Were the resources developed by an educator? How often are they updated?

Judy Bethly: Along with advisement from the Math and Literacy Departments of the school district, our board’s program committee is comprised mostly of educators and professors from LSU and Southern University. Each year, the committee members examine the resources we offer to our Reading and Math Friends in order to make revisions. Currently, we are updating our website and removing the volunteer resources. We are transiting to Give Pulse, a new volunteer platform which allows us to more easily update our materials.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about one or two of your volunteers and their successes?

Judy Bethly: Anna Grace Hansen is a pre-med major at LSU, who despite her hectic school schedule felt a void in her life. She knew she wanted to participate in a meaningful project that allowed her to serve her community. One day while walking to class, she met a friend who mentioned she was on her way to read to a student at a nearby public school. This was Anna Grace’s “aha” moment. She felt this was the perfect opportunity she had been seeking. After her first year volunteering as a Reading Friend, she knew she wanted to return the following school year. She said, “Reading to my student is something I look forward to each week. I feel as if my schedule is always very busy but being with my student is a great way for me to slow down and reflect on the joys of life! My student truly brightens my week after each visit.”

This is the scenario for so many of our volunteers. Initially, they are somewhat skeptical about individually tutoring young students. However, once they begin their sessions, a bond develops and they complete the year and return for subsequent years. VIPS is proud of the academic progress our students make after being paired with a Reading/Math Friend but we are also proud of the friendships that occur over the course of a school year. We realize this connection of trust plays an important role in the success of our students. It is through consistent and committed service from concerned community partners that allow our students to fulfill their true purposes in life.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Volunteers In Public Schools?

Judy Bethly: Volunteers In Public Schools is looking toward the future with the following:

• Updated website
• New volunteer /platform that allows for better communication with volunteers and for them to easily report their visits
• Take The Lead –A VIPS program that offers leadership training for high school students

Camp Cranium is a summer camp for children with brain injuries. In many cases, the injuries occur after the child is already in their school years. Brain injuries rob these children of not just the life they once had, but their very faculties. For children with brain injuries then, summer camp can be an invaluable experience, for challenging their own perceptions of what they can do, and for giving them a sense of community.

We always want to know more about and share the good work of our small grant recipients. This time was no exception; but this interview with Camp Cranium Executive Director and Founder Alexis (Lexi) Campbell, we found particularly moving. We hope you will, too. Because we believe this important initiative for children with brain injuries deserves wide recognition:

Kars4Kids: When was Camp Cranium founded and why? How did it get its name? Why is the camp located in Millvale?

Lexi Campbell: Camp Cranium was founded in 2008. I had been volunteering at other medical camps at Camp Victory, a medical camp facility in Millville, PA, since high school and saw the immense impact it had on kids with special needs. At the time, I was working at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia on the Rehab unit and was hoping to refer my brain-injured patients to a similar medical camp. As I researched, I found that none existed in the US for brain injury. After encouragement from some of my camp friends, I began the process of starting Camp Cranium. We named it Camp Cranium because each of the camps at Victory had a name related to their cause, and we loved the ring that Camp Cranium had. Camp Victory was the obvious choice for our location for camp to be held. It’s a fantastic facility that is equipped for children and adults with medical needs. They even have a 35-foot adaptive climbing wall!

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic of the kids you serve? What are their ages? Are all the campers from the Philadelphia area? You have transportation from there, but Pittsburgh is closer.

Lexi Campbell: Our campers come from across the country. The last two years we even hosted campers from California! When we initially started camp, our whole group was from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and we recruited campers from there primarily. But over the past 16 years, camp has grown to serve kids from all over. Our campers range in age from 6-21 years old. Campers who are receiving special education services in school can stay until they graduate (21 years old).

Camp Victory is only about 2.5hrs from Philadelphia, so we have been blessed with the opportunity to provide transportation from CHOP. Since moving to Pittsburgh in 2010, I’ve been working to spread the word to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) and other related facilities in hopes to build our Pittsburgh camper group and eventually provide a bus from CHP as well.

Kars4Kids: Would you define for us the terms “acquired brain injury/traumatic brain injury?” What percentage of the children are verbal?

Lexi Campbell: Acquired brain injury encompasses all types of brain injuries (stroke; brain tumors that result in a brain injury; anoxia; epilepsy that causes a brain injury after repeated seizures; and traumatic brain injury). Traumatic brain injury is when there is an impact to the head that causes brain damage. Many times, this occurs from car accidents, being struck by a vehicle, sports impacts, and falls. So, we use the term acquired brain injury to cover all injuries that have occurred after birth.

Most of our campers are verbal and able to communicate well when you take the time to listen. Others use communication devices to communicate their needs and express themselves. Allowing space for them to process what you have asked and time for them to respond is a skill that you quickly learn as a person interacting with a brain-injured individual that has had their speech and processing time impacted from their brain injury. Many of our campers have written beautiful poetry, songs, and given speeches that bring us all to tears.

Kars4Kids: Presumably, your campers function on different levels? How does this affect your planning and programming? What does it take to accommodate them all at Camp Cranium?

Lexi Campbell: We always like to say that no two brain injuries are alike. But this is what makes brain injury so incredible and so personal. It takes time to get to know the individual. We allow for many variations of an activity to occur simultaneously and know that our number one skill set at camp is flexibility. We work creatively to meet the specific needs of each of our campers. And, we have an incredible team of professionals that understand brain injury and strive to empower each camper in their own unique way.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe for us your summer program? What kind of activities do you offer?

Lexi Campbell: Camp Cranium’s weeklong summer camp is the best week of the year! We provide our campers with a regular camping experience, adapted to meet our campers where they are, physically, mentally, and emotionally. We offer, art, music, fishing, cooking, photography, climbing, zip-lining, paddleboats, and dancing as daily rotations. We provide all-camp activities such as game night, campfires with s’mores, relay races, talent show, and a dance on the final night. Our campers get to go swimming each day and hang out at the cabins as they laugh and form deep bonding friendships with each other and their counselors.

Kars4Kids: You added a ski retreat in 2018. Would you tell us a bit about it?

Lexi Campbell: Our Teen Adaptive Ski Trip is held one weekend in February each year. For two days, we host our teen campers at Jack Frost. The Adaptive Ski Team at Jack Frost is amazing! They give individual lessons to our campers using adaptive ski equipment for a wide range of physical abilities. We provide food and fun and the teens get a chance to hang out with their camp friends in the winter. Many campers loved to ski prior to their brain injury, and this program has helped them return to their passion.

Kars4Kids: What is the importance of Camp Cranium to caregivers of children who attend camp?

Lexi Campbell: Caregivers are given the difficult job of being their child’s person day in and day out with no breaks. It’s not easy to hire a babysitter for a night out. These parents are constantly caring for their child’s needs and desire and deserve a break. The week of camp allows them to have that respite and know that their child is well taken care of and loved by the huge volunteer staff of camp.

Kars4Kids: What are the benefits of camp for children with brain injuries?

Lexi Campbell: One of the biggest gains we have witnessed from our experiences at camp is a camper’s progress towards independence and confidence. Since their brain injury, most have been completely dependent on others. This goes against everything we desire as growing human beings. We desire independence and freedom. The week of camp challenges our campers to push those boundaries and overcome fears to show that they can do so much more than they even realized. We empower our campers to understand how truly unique and beautiful they are as they are now, post brain injury, and to know they are not alone in their journey.

Kars4Kids: Are most of your staff, volunteers? How do you find them? What is the ratio of counselors to campers?

Lexi Campbell: All of our staff and counselors are volunteers. We rely on word of mouth from previous volunteers and staff. We also reach out to college programs to recruit counselors. Many counselors are medical students, PT, OT, SLP, and nursing students. We are also so lucky to have incredible professionals take a week of their vacation time to come and volunteer. We could not have camp without the immense support of these individuals who selflessly volunteer their time.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Camp Cranium?

Lexi Campbell: Well, we have big dreams, and I am working hard with our team to accomplish them. Our goal is to further support individuals and families impacted by brain injury. We are expanding our online presence to provide resources and education on brain injury topics related to school and transitioning to adulthood. We would love to expand to have a young adult retreat that focuses on that transition, which can be so difficult for so many of our campers when they age out of the school system. But even with all those big dreams, we remain focused on our original mission, empowering children with brain injuries.

Bisbee Science Exploration & Research Center is bringing hands-on, bilingual science education to children on either side of the U.S. border with Mexico. This is important because these students are probably not getting enough science in the classroom. Budget constraints plus the necessity to cover the standard curriculum, leave little time and money left for science in school. When students are bilingual, the issue of not enough science in the classroom is compounded by language difficulties.

Aside from giving children a broader understanding of science through experiential learning, BSERC also supports professional development for teachers. This support no doubt facilitates science education in the classroom. Add to these BSERC offerings STEAM research for the purpose of strengthening economic and educational prospects for the Bisbee community and you begin to get a taste of impact of this nonprofit, our latest small grant recipient.

We put some questions to Bisbee Science Exploration & Research Center COO Thea Van Gorp to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: BSERC operates in rural borderland communities. How large a territory is this? What can you tell us something about the demographic you serve?

Thea Van Gorp: We serve a HUGE area of southeastern Arizona. Our Bisbee Science Lab programs take place in Bisbee, about 3 miles away from the US/Mexico Border with a population of about 5,000. Our Sky Island STEAM Express travels all around Cochise County, which is larger than Rhode Island, Delaware, and Connecticut combined. We visit larger schools, like in Sierra Vista, and small towns like Bowie where their entire K-12 school has about 60 students. The demographic we serve is diverse. Many students in Bisbee and other nearby communities cross the border from Mexico daily to attend school, families live on both sides, and our communities and economies are incredibly intertwined and interdependent. As a nonprofit organization, we are able to provide programs bilingually which is particularly important in a state that prohibits teachers from using Spanish in the classroom. We strive to recognize our binational connections and find ways to creatively honor this. We are so grateful for the communities that we are able to serve and rely on their input regularly to ensure that our programs are filling gaps in STEM education in rural areas.

Kars4Kids: How did BSERC get started?

Thea Van Gorp: In 2017, the City of Bisbee, Freeport McMoRan (FMI), M. Greene Planning & Resource Development, Rural Activation and Innovation Network (RAIN), and University of Arizona South’s Education Department collaborated to explore the potential of establishing a nonprofit science exploration and research center. This center would serve multiple purposes, including boosting tourism, offering hands-on science education for students, supporting teacher professional development, and advancing STEAM research to enhance Bisbee’s economic and educational prospects. With USDA funding, financial support from FMI, APS, RAIN, and volunteer assistance from various partners, a feasibility study was conducted, affirming the project’s viability. Subsequently, in October 2018, a storefront pop-up science center called the Bisbee Science Lab opened, operating as part of the design phase for a permanent Science Center that would later be located in two classrooms of a decommissioned middle school. Since then, we have grown significantly and have three main departments of the organization; the Bisbee Science Lab, the Sky Island STEAM Express Mobile Lab, and the Backyard Project.

Kars4Kids: BSERC calls itself “an experiment in progress.” Can you explain what this means?

Thea Van Gorp: BSERC’s characterization as an “experiment in progress” embodies our organizational philosophy of embracing change and innovation in order to best serve our community. It signifies our commitment to adaptability, where we willingly evolve our strategies and approaches to match the varying needs of the communities we serve. We view each endeavor as an opportunity for learning and improvement, emphasizing transparency in our results, successes, and challenges. By positioning ourselves as an experiment, we have the institutional flexibility to try new things, learn from both failures and successes and continue adapting in order to grow. We all identify with this sentiment individually, but also as an organization that was truly born of a grand experiment.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Bisbee Science Lab. The programs at the lab are said to be “for all ages.” Are all of the programs there for all ages—which leads to the question: when should a parent begin teaching children about science, and what can very young children learn about and explore in this context?

Thea Van Gorp: The Bisbee Science Lab is designed to be inclusive and accessible to individuals of all ages. While not all our programs are suitable for very young children, we firmly believe that it’s never too early to start exposing children to the wonders of science. We don’t prescribe when parents should begin teaching science, as it varies for each family, but we see science in everything we do, and there are always opportunities for age-appropriate STEAM learning. Even very young children can engage in basic scientific exploration through hands-on activities that stimulate their curiosity, such as simple experiments with water and colors, observing nature, or exploring basic physics concepts through play. Our lab is here to provide resources and guidance to parents and caregivers interested in fostering a lifelong love for science in their children, tailoring experiences to their developmental stages and interests.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your mobile lab. How many schools does it serve and what does it offer students? Why is it needed if you have a physical center—the aforementioned Bisbee Science Lab?

Thea Van Gorp: Our Sky Island STEAM Express mobile lab is a critical extension of our educational outreach efforts. It serves over 25 schools throughout Cochise County, engaging with more than 5000 students annually. This mobile lab fills a crucial need by offering hands-on learning experiences for students in schools that often face financial constraints and find it challenging to afford field trip fees. Furthermore, it serves as a platform for high school volunteers to take on leadership roles, enhancing their own STEM skills while inspiring younger learners. One of its unique strengths is the ability to provide locally relevant STEM content in engaging ways, and importantly, it offers bilingual content, catering to schools with many English Language Learners and teachers’ constraints on using Spanish in the classroom. This mobility is vital as it allows us to meet students where they are, ensuring quality STEM experiences regardless of their ability to travel to the Bisbee Science Lab.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Backyard Project?

Thea Van Gorp: Absolutely, at the heart of the Backyard Project is our unwavering commitment to community co-creation. This initiative is a result of a deeply collaborative effort between the Bisbee Science Lab, the Bisbee Unified School District, Copper Queen Library, and the vibrant local community to renovate 8 acres at a decommissioned middle school in the San Jose area of Bisbee. Our primary aim is to ensure that the project reflects the diverse ideas, needs, and aspirations of the community. We’ve engaged the community extensively through surveys, community events, and school visits, which have provided valuable insights. We’ve distilled this input into four core themes: Environment, Education, Engagement, and Exercise (the 4 Es). These themes guide every aspect of the project. Furthermore, the establishment of five STEAM field stations, focusing on crucial topics like Agrivoltaics, Water, Food, Shelter, and Renewable Energy, is a testament to our commitment to community involvement in solving local environmental challenges. These stations will serve as hubs for ongoing research projects, offering community members the opportunity to actively participate in shaping the project’s direction. In essence, the Backyard Project is not just about creating a learning ecosystem; it’s about creating a learning ecosystem that truly belongs to and reflects the aspirations of the Bisbee community.

Kars4Kids: Beginning in 1993, some began inserting an “A” into STEM to include art. BSERC, for example, includes the “A.” Why is art a necessary addition to the science, technology, engineering, and math components of STEM?

Thea Van Gorp: The addition of “A” to STEM, creating the acronym STEAM recognizes the essential role of art in fostering a holistic approach to education and innovation. While Art and STEM are intertwined in many ways, including Art explicitly brings a vital creative and imaginative dimension to STEM disciplines. It encourages students to think critically, solve problems innovatively, and communicate their ideas effectively. The integration of art into STEM not only promotes a well-rounded education but also reflects the real-world interdisciplinary nature of many modern careers. In fields like design, landscape architecture, and even scientific visualization, art plays a pivotal role. By incorporating art, we empower students to approach STEM subjects with creativity and enthusiasm, helping them to develop into well-rounded, adaptable, and innovative thinkers capable of addressing complex challenges in today’s world.

Kars4Kids: Many of your programs rely on volunteers. How many volunteers do you have working with you, and in what capacity?

Thea Van Gorp: At BSERC, we are fortunate to have a dedicated team of volunteers who contribute their time and expertise in various capacities. Our volunteers play a crucial role in supporting our initiatives. They assist us with a wide range of tasks, from technology support and program development to the actual implementation of our programs. Specifically, for our Mobile Lab, we collaborate with high school volunteers from each school we serve, and they help facilitate the different hands-on activities and learning experiences. We are immensely grateful for the commitment and passion our volunteers bring to our organization, as their contributions are instrumental in helping us achieve our mission of promoting STEM education and exploration.

Kars4Kids: The pandemic hit fairly soon after BSERC was up and running. How did COVID-19 affect your operations? Did COVID reduce the number of children you were able to serve? How many children do you typically serve during the course of the year?

Thea Van Gorp: The COVID-19 pandemic indeed posed significant challenges for BSERC’s operations shortly after our launch. It had a substantial impact on our ability to serve children in the traditional manner. Initially, it nearly shut down our in-person programs, but we swiftly adapted by transitioning to virtual platforms to provide engaging online content for students. We also opened our outdoor pavilion to support students who required access to Wi-Fi or computers for remote learning. While the pandemic did disrupt our usual in-person programs, we used this time constructively to renovate and enhance the Bisbee Science Lab. These renovations have transformed it into a vibrant and exciting space for scientific exploration and education. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we remained committed to our mission of providing quality STEM education and continued to find innovative ways to engage with and inspire young learners during these challenging times. Our number of students served during the pandemic was low, but it continues to grow and we serve close to 6,000 students each year now.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Bisbee Science Exploration & Research Center?

Thea Van Gorp: The future holds exciting developments for the Bisbee Science Exploration & Research Center. We are committed to strengthening our existing programs, ensuring they remain dynamic and impactful for our community. Building internal sustainability is a priority, allowing us to better serve our mission over the long term. One of our key initiatives is the Backyard Project, which will bring innovative STEM experiences even closer to our local community. We will maintain our status as an “experiment in progress,” driven by data and evidence-based practices, to continuously improve and adapt to the evolving needs of our community. The journey ahead is one of growth, innovation, and a steadfast dedication to fostering a love for science and exploration in our community.

Her Idea believes in the power of young women to do important work before they ever step foot on a college campus. Young women, like all young people, often have brilliant, out-of-the-box ideas, but never do anything to realize them. What they need, according to Her Idea, is the kind of mentorship that can help them bring those creative ideas to fruition.

Bukareva calls her brand of mentorship, as embodied by Her Idea, “transformative.” The descriptor is absolutely apt. Since achieving nonprofit state in 2021, Her Idea has awakened the entrepreneurial spirits of hundreds of young women, guiding and spurring them on to realize their most passionate ideas. The tangible, even remarkable results of this Kars4Kids small grant recipient, suggest that more such mentoring is needed to build a can-do attitude in the young women of today for a brighter tomorrow.

We put some questions to Her Idea Executive Director Anna Bukareva, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the young women you serve. What’s your demographic?

Anna Bukareva: Her Idea’s signature program, the Dare to Dream Fellowship, is dedicated to serving and empowering young women ages 14 to 19 within the San Francisco Bay Area. Our program is designed to support a diverse demographic that reflects the vibrant socio-economic landscape of SFUSD public school youth.

Kars4Kids: When was Her Idea founded and why?

Anna Bukareva: Her Idea was inspired when I began mentoring students on a small scale for their senior capstone projects at School of the Arts in San Francisco in 2018. I discovered right away the need for mentoring. This echoed my own experience a little over 10 years earlier, as a graduating senior, how helpful mentoring would have been to validate my ideas and show me how to “start now” even as I was beginning college. Following many conversations with friends and colleagues, I realized how widespread the need was and how impactful it could be. Even just a few conversations with a young woman can help her see a direction forward and make her feel engaged and powerful around her idea or dream. We achieved our nonprofit status in April 2021 and launched our pilot fellowship program in the fall of the same year. We landed our first high school partnership in our second year and continue to expand our partnerships and our reach, with the goal of inspiring young women to navigate their paths confidently, nurturing their interests and entrepreneurial spirit. Our mission is to provide transformative mentorship, guiding them to become impactful next-generation leaders.

Kars4Kids: How many young women have participated in your programs?

Anna Bukareva: We accept up to 10 young women in our Dare to Dream Fellowship each year and hope to increase that capacity in the upcoming years. In our high school partnerships, we have mentored over 600 students thus far.

Kars4Kids: Her Idea is a mentorship program. Are the mentors, volunteers? How many mentors do you have and what is the ratio of mentors to mentees?

Anna Bukareva: Our mentors work 1:1 with students in our fellowship program and they are all volunteers. We have a pool of mentors available depending on program needs each year in various careers and professions. At this time, we have over 100 volunteer mentors in our network.

Her Idea’s mentors provide expertise, encouragement, and accountability. The program nurtures the participants’ project management, communication, and leadership skills, empowering them to not only pursue their passions but also execute them effectively. By combining mentorship, funding support, and community engagement, Her Idea offers young women the tools and guidance to turn their ideas into impactful real-world projects.

Kars4Kids: The Her Idea mentoring program allows young women to “pursue an idea or passion as a real world project.” How does this work?

Anna Bukareva: The process begins by submitting an application describing an idea for a real world project. Once accepted, they’re paired with a mentor and begin developing a project proposal. The program kicks off with a Pitch Event, where they present their concepts to the public. From there, the fellows collaborate with their mentors to craft project timelines, secure funding, and bring their ideas to life. The journey culminates in a grand gala attended by business and education community leaders, where the young women showcase their final products, and share their journey, learnings, and achievements.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the projects that Her Idea participants have carried out?

Anna Bukareva: Here are descriptions and web links to a bunch of great projects from past students which all began while they were still in high school:

Big Leap Collective by Ellie
Ellie created her Bay Area-based 501c3 nonprofit offering opportunities for greater diversity, and accessibility in live events and music education through community-focused shows, immersive events, encouraging collaboration in the Bay Area and beyond! Ellie also plays in the cabaret psych-punk band, Grooblen. Since Big Leap Collective’s inception in fall 2019, it has grown to support artists from across the world and reach thousands of people through in-person and online events.

Youth Bike America by Dasha
Senior year of high school during the pandemic, Dasha helped organize a youth bike trip across America promoting the use of alternative transportation. After garnering national attention from this trip, she started a youth led bike organization that helps promote climate justice by bike riding. Her organization encourages anyone to come ride with them once a month to rethink how we all use transportation!

Medical First Aid For Youth by Karen
Karen started a nonprofit teaching first aid skills to middle school and high school students of Excelsior SF. Since starting the program 2 years ago, her program has been awarded over $17,000 in grants by the YMCA’s Youth Empowerment Fund (YEF) to support this program. She expanded her program to provide certifications to graduates and continues to hold 3 program sessions per year.

Youth Led Recording Studio by Lex
Lex imagined a space where youth could come and safely express themselves, a space where every voice is heard, a space where she belonged. Lex was awarded a $10,000 grant by YEF to build a music production studio at her arts-focused high school, to provide interested students the opportunity to learn audio engineering and to record original music. She spent the spring semester of her senior year designing the curriculum of an audio engineering program, building a music production studio from scratch, and teaching her peers how to master, mix, and record in the newly designed studio.

Danceable by Lily
Lily created a program called Danceable, a dance program for neurodivergent & physically disabled youth. As someone who feels passionate about dance and art education, her goal is to make dance programs more accessible for disabled middle school and high school students in San Francisco. She was awarded a $5,000 grant by YEF to build her dream program. Since then, she’s designed and organized a successful and accessible dance program which held their first showcase at School of the Arts in SF. She currently attends UC Berkeley studying Chemistry.

Project Smile SF by Meagan
As a junior in high school, Meagan founded Project Smile SF, a 501c3 non-profit organization with a mission to enhance oral health, particularly among underprivileged communities. Project Smile SF collaborates with dental clinics and community centers to extend its reach to individuals in these underserved communities. They recently received a $3,500 grant from YFYI, $2,500 grant from YEF and $5,000 grant from BLING to support their mission and provide both oral care products and education to the community. With a focus on creating engaging educational resources and integrated community events, Project Smile SF aims to increase awareness around the significance of maintaining proper oral hygiene. Ultimately, the organization aspires to expand beyond San Francisco and into other countries, with a shared community effort to enhance and preserve oral health for all.

Peertraits by Maile
Maile launched Peertraits her senior year of high school – a free service providing senior portraits for low income students who cannot otherwise afford their portraits. In February 2023, she was awarded a $1,000 grant from FOSOTA and a $2,500 grant from YEF to build her program, and since then has successfully completed the first year of the program at her high school and has plans to expand across more high schools in San Francisco each year. Maile will be attending Harvard University studying Business Administration.

Musiconnect by Mayu
Mayu established a nonprofit organization called Musiconnect. Through this program, SFUSD students are offered access to affordable private music lessons taught by experienced music students. Currently, Musiconnect already has over 35 mentors and has enrolled over 100 students in the program. They recently were awarded their 501c3 nonprofit status! She currently attends UC Davis studying Managerial Economics.

Artistic Aspirations by Claire and Ginny
Claire and Ginny founded a community program called Artistic Aspirations. Their mission is to provide elementary and middle school children with opportunities to explore their creativity through artistic workshops. The program offers resources for low-income youth who wish to pursue a specific art form, including mentoring to guide them through the creative process. They launched their program at a public middle school in SF with over 100 students and 10 artist mentors. The program was awarded a $5,000 grant by the YMCA’s Youth Empowerment Fund in February and plans to partner with more San Francisco schools in need of art programs. In the Fall, Claire will attend Northeastern University majoring in Criminal Justice and Sociology while Ginny will enter her junior year of high school.

Care Kits for Kids by Mana
Mana created Care Kits for Kids, a program that partners with hospitals to provide care packages to pediatric patients and the families of patients. Through this service, Mana aims to improve the hospital experience for young patients and lift the spirits of their loved ones. Her efforts have already earned her a grant, a successful fundraising campaign, a partnership with Stanford’s Children Hospital, and the donation of hundreds of care kits to families in need. She will be attending Pitzer College studying Molecular Biology.

Kars4Kids: You also have a college and career readiness program. Can you give us an overview of this program?

Anna Bukareva: Absolutely, our college and career support is an integral part of our overall mentoring approach within the Fellowship program. This program is designed to equip young women with the essential skills and knowledge they need to confidently navigate both their academic journeys and future career paths.

We offer a series of interactive workshops that include: Resume Building; Networking and Job Hunting; LinkedIn review; Interview Preparation; Financial Literacy and Budgeting; Exploration of Careers.

Kars4Kids: Her Idea has an internship program for high school and university students. How does it work?

Anna Bukareva: Her Idea offers an impactful internship program tailored to high school and university students. Our internship program not only provides a valuable foot in the door of professional experiences but also creates an opportunity for them to contribute as project mentors themselves. Interns are offered the chance to immerse themselves in various aspects of our organization’s operations. First, they are assigned to different teams within the organization, aligning with their interests, skills, and career aspirations. For example, interns on our grants team delve into the world of grant research and proposal writing. They learn how to identify funding opportunities; conduct thorough research; and articulate our organization’s mission and impact effectively. While interns on our marketing team contribute to our organization’s visibility and outreach efforts, they engage in tasks such as social media management, content creation, and campaign development. The commitment is year round 4 hours/week. Since most of our teams operate remotely at this time (except for our events team), our interns are located all over the world.

Kars4Kids: Her Idea has so far held two pitch events. What happens at a pitch event and what do participants get out of the experience?

Anna Bukareva: In the past 2 years since we’ve started, Her Idea has successfully hosted two pitch events and two galas, which are integral components of our program. Our pitch event is a pivotal moment in the program where each fellow has the opportunity to present their unique idea to a diverse audience that includes the community, parents, educators, and peers. During the pitch event, they take the stage to showcase their project idea for the first time. They outline their concept, goals, the impact they aim to achieve, and any funding or mentoring needs. This presentation is not only a chance for them to communicate their passion and dedication to their projects, but also serve as networking opportunities to connect with community members and generate support needed to get their project idea off the ground.

The pinnacle of the program year is the gala event. This event marks the culmination of the journey each young woman undertook throughout the program. At the gala, fellows take the stage once again, this time to present their final accomplishments. They showcase what they have achieved over the course of the year, demonstrating not only growth of their project but growth in themselves as well.

Both the pitch event and the gala empower these young women with a sense of confidence and encourage them to continue pursuing their passions. It truly is a transformative experience where they not only learn to present their ideas but also gain the skills and support they need to thrive as confident, empowered, and accomplished individuals.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Her Idea?

Anna Bukareva: We have our biggest year yet with an anticipated 200 students in our high school partnership programs. Applications for our Fellowship program will open in October. Because of this growth, we are currently focused on expanding our program team. We are a completely volunteer run organization with a vision to be fully funded by 2025.

One of our key objectives is to extend our program to additional high schools across the Bay Area. We are also actively seeking corporate partnerships and sponsorships. This includes building connections with businesses, organizations, and industry leaders who share our vision of empowering young women and promoting the philosophy of “starting now” and not waiting until later to pursue your dreams. We invite guest speakers to share their story; field trip hosts to show us their workplace; concept advisors to expand our curriculum; and workshop hosts to host a special event for our fellows and community.

Happy Hollow Children’s Camp hosts children from low-income homes, and also those with medical challenges, including asthma. The camp is also a haven of outdoor learning for those lucky enough to visit with their school or organization. Unlike other summer camps, Happy Hollow Children’s Camp offers activities that are educational.

Summer camp is important for kids, but then, so is learning, especially in light of the phenomenon known as “summer slide.” The long summer vacation is a necessary break for children, but they forget what they’ve learned in the classroom that year. Staying in the learning headspace helps prevent learning loss. Happy Hollow Children’s Camp manages to keep kids in the learning zone and have fun, and this is what earned this amazing summer camp our small grant award.

We put some questions to Happy Hollow Children’s Camp Development Director Steffany Stoeffler, to learn more about the work of this special summer camp:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the history and founding of Happy Hollow Children’s Camp? How long has it been in operation?

Steffany Stoeffler: Happy Hollow Children’s Camp, for almost 73 years, has provided overnight camping activities at our 855-acre Brown County camp, with a major emphasis on children who are economically underprivileged or have a special medical need, including mild to severe asthma. Happy Hollow also provides outdoor education to groups from schools and other organizations.

Happy Hollow Children’s Camp is truly a transformative summer camp experience that invites children to embark on a journey of self-discovery, learning from nature, their peers, and compassionate adults. At camp, youth build lifelong skills, foster self-respect, manage emotions and trauma, and create cherished memories with new friends.

Kars4Kids: How many children have you served through the years?

Steffany Stoeffler: Since Happy Hollow’s founding in 1951, more than 40,000 children (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) from Indianapolis and the surrounding counties have attended one of our camp weeklong programs.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic of the children who attend Happy Hollow?

Steffany Stoeffler: Happy Hollow offers several weekly summer camp programs for children from Indianapolis and the surrounding counties. Our summer camp programs, which run from June to August, are available for children from low-income homes in Marion, Hendricks, Johnson, Hancock, Shelby, Boone, Hamilton, and Morgan counties in Indiana.

Our 2023 summer program served 305 children at camp, ages 6-15 years old. Of the 500 children attending camp, 72% of the children are minorities and 95% of our campers come from low-income households.

Kars4Kids: Your mission statement speaks of outdoor learning experiences. That’s a little unusual for a summer camp. What made Happy Hollow decide to make summer camp about learning, rather than simple recreation?

Steffany Stoeffler: With so many factors—both internal and external—affecting a child’s well-being, growing up can sometimes be a confusing, tumultuous time. With that in mind, we have created outdoor educational programs specifically to help teach youth how to make responsible choices and adopt healthy behaviors.

Our structured programs allow for safe environments and camp takes children out of the difficult situations they often face in their daily lives. This positive camp environment allows children to experience the outdoors and fosters an intentional space for them to learn and to grow. Campers are encouraged to adopt a healthy and fit lifestyle through the many activities and sports introduced to them at camp. Through their successful participation in new activities, campers gain self-confidence and knowledge that they can use to make positive decisions, overcome obstacles, and accomplish personal goals. These are skills they can take with them when they return to their communities and apply to their daily lives, long after summer camp is over.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your Nature Center? What kind of activities take place there?

Steffany Stoeffler: The Nature Center is the gateway to introducing our campers to the natural world around them. It is a small building with several taxidermized animals, skulls, bones and books to learn from while at camp. It is a great starting point to learn about the natural world.  We are hoping that with the help of generous supporters like Kars4Kids we can continue to expand and make improvements to the Nature Center. Below are some examples of our Nature Center activities but these are not all of the activities:

Animal Adaptations – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 3 hours) Form a hypothesis as to how different wildlife species survive by observing their habitats, tracks and signs. Determine how limiting factors affect wildlife populations. Observe and identify different wildlife adaptations and the functions of those adaptations.

Animal Night Experience – 1st – 12th grade

(1.5 hours) Students explore the natural world at night by participating in activities on a night hike. Familiarize students with different nocturnal animals and identify adaptations they have to help them survive. By learning the biology of some nocturnal animals, students will have a better understanding of those animals, relieving fear and conquering some myths. Students will discuss population curves/cycles to see how limiting factors affect an ecosystem.

Aquatic Life – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 3 hours) Explore the aquatic areas of camp and learn about the niches they occupy. Examine characteristics and adaptations of aquatic life specimens. Utilize research and resources to obtain information about aquatic life specimens and habitat (i.e. identification, common habitat, life cycle, water quality, etc.).

Astronomy – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 2 hours) Learn about the nature of stars and become familiar with the constellations and the different phases of the moon.

Dirt on Dirt – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 2 hours) Explore and examine a soil habitat. Identify the various factors that affect soil health and erosion.

Forest Ecosystem – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 2 hours) Define the terms herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore. Define the terms producer, consumer, and decomposer. Identify how energy flows through an ecosystem from the sun to plants to animals and back into the soil. Name at least two strategies animals use to survive.

Geology – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 3 hours) Name and show examples of the three main classifications of rock: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary. Explore various ways that the surface of the Earth changes due to water, wind, glaciers, sedimentation, and tectonic plate theory (earthquakes and fault lines). Demonstrate and/or explain the “rock cycle”.

Invasive Species – 1st – 12th grade

(1 hour) Students will learn what invasive species are, why they are problematic, and how to prevent their spread.

Nature Journaling – 1st – 12th grade

(1 hour) Experience how journaling outdoors can improve observational skills and allow students to practice creative and technical writing several times throughout their stay.

Sensory Night Experience – 1st – 12th grade

(1.5 hours) Encourage students to use all of their senses more fully. Since our eyesight is rendered less effective, the other senses almost naturally attempt to compensate for this loss. Students experience the natural world at night. Relieve a child’s fear of the outdoors at night and create a comfortable atmosphere for the student.

Trees – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 3 hours) Students will explore the parts and functions of trees. Observe trees in their natural habitat and define characteristics that distinguish tree species. Use creative writing to describe trees.

Wings of the Woods – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 3 hours) Identify different species by observing their field markings, feeding and other behaviors, and their habitat using binoculars and a field guide. Differentiate between woodland- and aquatic-oriented bird species by observing the adaptations of birds living in wooded and wetland environments. Form a hypothesis regarding a particular bird’s food preferences by observing the shape of its beak and foot.

Orienteering – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 2 hours) Learn the parts of a compass and how to navigate using direction and distance. Follow basic orienteering courses.

Outdoor Living Skills – 1st – 12th grade

(1 – 2 hours) Learn basic issues surrounding survival in a wilderness situation · Learn basics of food, water, shelter, and warmth.

Skulls, Scat, and Tracks Hike – 1st – 12th grade

(1 hour) Explore the woods at camp and discover signs left by the animals who live in the forest ecosystem.

Kars4Kids: How much planning is required to accommodate the children’s medical needs in sporting activities? Are there certain sports that are more likely to be suited to a wider range of Happy Hollow campers? What are some popular sports at camp?

Steffany Stoeffler: The goal for asthma management is that all kids can do every activity we offer. With the improvement of medicines and tools to control asthma, our staff have little planning required to accommodate the children. However, we prioritize the safety of our campers, and medical staff must be at each activity area when children use it. Sports are an extremely popular activity at camp and there is a slew of them offered; basketball, kickball, Gaga ball, volleyball, soccer, Frisbee, tennis, and the list goes on.

Kars4Kids: What sort of special staff do you require for campers with asthma? Is it kind of a vacation for the staff, getting away from the city and all?

Steffany Stoeffler: For asthma camp, we add respiratory therapists who accompany the kids to all activities, administer their asthma medications (inhalers) and assess them using peak flow meters.  We have extra nurses to help with all the other medications and typical childhood stomach aches, bumps, and scrapped knees. We bring a pharmacist along to help organize all the medications.  We also have our medical director at camp for the weeklong program.

This is also an experience for both student respiratory therapists and pharmacists who volunteer to come to camp to gain experience with asthma.  The seasoned medical staff have all been coming for more than 10 years, some up to 38 years.  Many of them will take time off from their work to come to camp.  Many of their hospitals support this activity, which is great. The staff feel like they can give back to these kids, while being in a camp and enjoying the outdoors and utilizing their training in a unique way than their usual job.

We do plan an asthma education activity for the week of camp. The medical staff feel like it is now their camp family and look forward to coming every year.  A lot of them were college students when they first came to camp.  Many medical staff will also volunteer their time supporting Happy Hollow Camp in other ways than just asthma camp week, helping with check-in for other weeks of camp, participating in fundraising activities and camp clean-up programs. We are so grateful for these folks who volunteer their time to make our asthma program successful!

Kars4Kids: Can you describe for us your campground? How large an area does it occupy? What local flora and fauna might the campers encounter there? Is there a lake?

Steffany Stoeffler: We have 855 acres of land in Brown County to explore with a 16-acre lake where kids can fish, swim, kayak, and canoe. Much of our camp is sprawling with traditional native Indiana free growth forest with native Indiana plants. We have many native species of trees, flowers, plants, and animals. Campers can see many woodland animals including squirrels, chipmunks, foxes, deer, beavers, turkeys, many varieties of snake, skinks, skunks, possums, ground hogs, moles, owls, vultures, woodpecker, blue birds, bass, catfish, bluegill, spiders, mice, and a nest of Bald eagles along many others. A fun fact about our lake is that it is so clean that we have a family (we believe the only one in Indiana) of freshwater jellyfish living there!

Kars4Kids: Aside from the Nature Center activities, what other learning experiences does Happy Hollow Children’s Camp offer its campers?

Steffany Stoeffler: We have many other opportunities including archery, team building in our adventure challenge courses, hiking, arts and crafts, zip and zap line, horseback riding, basketball, 9-square, etc. Because we can host a 1:4 staff to kid ratio there is a lot of time for group interactions and activities in the small cabin groups. While living in a cabin group for the week, the campers work on peer-to-peer interaction, community building, negotiation, rule development, patience, and listening skills.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Happy Hollow Children’s Camp?

Steffany Stoeffler: Happy Hollow is so excited for the future! We recently have undergone leadership changes and a bit of restructuring to support those improvements. In 73 years, Happy Hollow has had 4 Executive Directors, and Sara Noyed is our first female leader in that time. We are proud to still be in operation and grateful for the work this camp has been able to do in that time. However, we are in a prime space for new strategies that will allow us to refine processes and learn to operate in this new landscape. We know youth are experiencing unprecedented things and need to meet the challenges that face them today, giving them the tools to deal with adversity, trauma, and mental health struggles.

In 2023, Happy Hollow was granted an opportunity by MAPT Solutions to redefine that vision, mission, and overall operational strategy. We have spent the better part of this year determining exactly where we are headed next and cannot wait to share this with our partners, but we are not there just yet. So, stay tuned!

The Sydney Paige Foundation was founded by a mom who abandoned her corporate career when she saw school children who lacked the basic supplies they needed to do their schoolwork. As a mother herself, Courtney Brockmeyer’s heart ached to see kids who stood no chance of benefiting from their education. Instead of simply feeling sad about this state of affairs, Brockmeyer did something about it, and found a way to get backpacks and school supplies to the children who need them most.

We often hear educators and experts speak of the need for equity in education. The Sydney Paige Foundation goes beyond the words to actually do something to ensure that all children have what they need to succeed in school. Our small grant award means that many more kids will have a great start at getting ahead not only in the classroom, but in life itself.

We put some questions to Sydney Paige Foundation Business Development Director Sharon Girdlestone to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Who are the students that benefit from the work of your foundation? What’s the demographic of the students you serve?

Sharon Girdlestone: We donate high-quality backpacks and school supplies to underserved kids nationwide. The demographic ranges depend on the city. For example, in Oakland, the demographics would be 40% black, 30% Hispanic, 25% Asian and 5% white.

Kars4Kids: Sydney Paige Foundation distributes “high-quality, kid-approved” backpacks. What do you include in these backpacks?

Sharon Girdlestone: Our backpacks include everything a child would need. Books, pens, markers, pencils, rulers, and etc.

Kars4Kids: How many backpacks have you distributed and how many students have benefited from your program since its founding in 2013?

Sharon Girdlestone: We have donated well over 1 million backpacks.

Kars4Kids: Why backpacks in particular? Can you describe the significance and impact of your backpack distribution program on the children? Who applies for backpacks on behalf of the students?

Sharon Girdlestone: Why backpacks? Our founder worked in the corporate world and got to see firsthand how some of the kids she met were suffering. Some were carrying plastic bags to school or trash bags, which broke her heart. Our company provides schools with events where children in need pick out their own backpack and toys. The kids are so happy and grateful to have a backpack—something that everyone else has. It makes their day.

The schools apply to us on behalf of the kids. We cannot always fund them, so your grant is extremely helpful. We also have corporate offices that come to us to try to help and through them we do corporate events and the backpacks go to their school or charity of choice.

Kars4Kids: How about teachers? Are there benefits for them, too? Can you talk about that, please?

Sharon Girdlestone: Yes there are benefits to the teachers. Teachers are often paying for supplies for kids in need, especially in low income areas. Devastating actually.

Kars4Kids: What about parents? How do they feel about your work, and why?

Sharon Girdlestone: Parents love Sydney Paige because we offer volunteer options for them and kids are permitted to join in.

Kars4Kids: How did your foundation come into being? How did it get its name?

Sharon Girdlestone: Sydney Paige is named after our founder’s children. Courtney Brockmeyer started Sydney Paige after her heart was broken seeing underserved kids not getting the resources needed to thrive in school.

Kars4Kids: It looks like you have more than one style of backpack you distribute and that each style has its own name. Can you talk about that, please?

Sharon Girdlestone: Some of our backpacks are named after Courtney’s favorite teachers. She also designs them.

Kars4Kids: Who fills and readies the backpacks for distribution? Do you have a paid staff for this purpose?

Sharon Girdlestone: We have hundreds of volunteers that come in to pack out the backpacks as well as the corporate pack-outs that we hold outside of our warehouse.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Sydney Paige Foundation?

Sharon Girdlestone: Sydney Paige is growing and we are excited for the coming year. We have so much support we did not have a couple of years ago. We are excited to help as many kids as we can, moving forward.

Next Generation Scholars (NGS) operates in a community where students are not receiving the education they should. NGS addresses this inequity by offering rigorous academic programs and firing up the kids about college. This is a serious response to a serious issue, and we are impressed with the results—enough so that we gave NGS a bit of a boost by way of our small grant program. We’re persuaded it will be put to good use.

We put some questions to Next Generation Scholars Executive Director Nghiem Bui, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic? What are the ages of the children you work with and what are their backgrounds and qualifications for your program?

Nghiem Bui: Our students start as early as 6 years old, first graders, who join us for the summer for our “Little Scholars” program, and are capped at 5th grade. Once they become middle school students, they are eligible for our year-round program, which essentially serves as an additional school classroom – after their traditional school hours and on the weekends. The year-round academy program extends through senior year of high school, and converts into the College Scholars program, where we see them to and through college graduation and into their first jobs. Our students are 97% first-generation college-bound; that means at least one and primarily both parents have not completed college in the United States and they or their parents immigrated to the U.S. Given our community, the majority of our students identify as Latino/a or Hispanic, 85%, 9% identify as Black/African American, and 6% identify as Asian/Asian-American. We have a selective admissions process that requires students to provide a writing sample, they visit a class and we observe their interactions with their peers. Annually, we ask the families to submit tax returns and 100% of our students are considered “low-income” according to county guidelines.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the obstacles a first generation college student encounters?

Nghiem Bui: Marin residents share world-class geographic benefits while coexisting in one of California’s most economically and educationally disparate regions. Marin is home to six of the Bay Area’s ten most racially segregated municipalities. 97% of NGS’ 1000 students and family members are BIPOC, immigrants, and under-resourced. Forty-two schools and organizations partner with us to serve the unique needs of the county’s educational ecosystem.

The most pressing needs are capacity-building resources to meet growth demands, to ensure more equitable access to direct services and wellness, and more personalized pathways out of poverty. Being first-generation means navigating a community, a process that no one in their family has done before them. It means, in many cases, becoming their family’s most educated person by the time they finish middle school. Being first takes courage to navigate the unknown and the uncertainty alongside their peers who are born into highly-resourced circumstances – with educated parents and native English speakers at home. These are hidden advantages that reveal themselves in a variety of systemic ways, including but not limited to the public, private, and higher education systems.

Kars4Kids: Next Generation Scholars aims to “empower and equip first generation, under-resourced Marin County middle and high school students to succeed in college and beyond.” This suggests that it is a foregone conclusion that students as young as middle school age will be going to college. It’s understood that a student has to have a college mindset in order to actually get there. But how much does mindset matter to the ultimate goal?

Nghiem Bui: The mindset that college is indeed within our students’ reach is critical to our Scholars’ success. NGS works to counter the societal indicators that make them feel that higher education is solely reserved for the elites. By beginning at a young age, engaging the entire family, and having first gen college graduates as mentors and teachers helps them see that a college degree is not just possible, but probable, which elevates their mindset on what and who they can become.

Kars4Kids: What percentage of your student participants actually do go on to college? To what do you attribute these numbers?

Nghiem Bui: NGS surpasses all nationwide statistics. 100% of high school seniors are admitted to four-year universities and colleges, with the resources and financial aid required to attend; and, 95% of them graduate college within 5 years. This last statistic is noteworthy, given the national average for students of similar socio-economic backgrounds to NGS Scholars is 40%. We attribute this long and successful track record to our unique approach, which includes: longitudinal services, from 6th grade to beyond their college graduation day; wrap-around family support, including social services, parent leadership and education opportunities; a customized curriculum designed for our Scholars’ lived experiences; and a leadership program that instills a strong sense of community, while strengthening the likelihood of college acceptances and financial aid awards.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Academy academic year program curriculum? It looks as though not every student needs 1:1 tutoring. Do the others work in groups and if so, how many students per group? What indicates a need for special tutoring sessions?

Nghiem Bui: A deliberate and customized curriculum offers an interdisciplinary approach that addresses social justice issues and self-discovery, in addition to Scholars’ respective school curriculums. This added academic layer offers relatable material not available in their traditional school curriculum, helping them to find their voice, and their purpose in the world. It also requires more of their time, and adds more weekly homework, a testament to our Scholars’ desire and diligence.

NGS students are organized by cohorts aligned with their grade-levels, representing 27 local public and independent schools. Due to our longitudinal approach, they stay together from 6th grade through high school graduation, forging close bonds that last throughout their college years and beyond.

In general, Scholars are taught in their cohorts of 16 peers, with ongoing tailored and targeted academic and wellness assessments provided. When a Scholar requires extra support in a subject, due to falling grades or difficulty in mastering academic milestones, NGS provides individual tutoring services. When a Scholar exhibits signs of social/emotional stress, NGS provides assessments, and wellness services. Small group activities and study groups, full cohort classroom teaching, and individual support can all be found on any given day at the Scholar House.

Kars4Kids: What about your summer session? How does that work? Are the students generally okay about more learning even though school is over for the year? How do you make the summer program attractive to the participants?

Nghiem Bui: -Summer Academy provides a 5-week, full day experience that our Scholars look forward to every summer. A multidisciplinary curriculum, ranging from academic, enrichment, and physical activities, ensures learning, self-discovery, and fun. This Middle and High School program takes place at a local independent high school campus. Participation is voluntary, and we have a 65% rate of return each summer. Scholars surveyed report 88% “satisfied or highly satisfied” with the programs.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your Community Uplift program. What is it, and what are the ages of the participants? How does this program benefit the students and the community?

Nghiem Bui: “CUP,” as we call it, is an individualized rites of passage at NGS, a project that helps Scholars solve a problem in their community, while gaining leadership skills. Every Scholar is required to create and implement a project that has meaning to them, and helps to solve challenges in their community. Unlike a typical high school community service assignment, Scholars invest 5 semesters and 220 hours in the project of their choice. Examples of recent projects include “OutKast” – a student-led affinity space for young men in the Bay Area; and “Communication for Greatness” – one-page lesson plans supporting healthy parent-teen relationships.

Kars4Kids: Participants in Next Generation Scholars are called “Scholars” with a capital “s.” Why? Is there a pedagogical basis for this terminology and how it is written?

Nghiem Bui: This might take us back to your 3rd question, about instilling a college-bound mindset in our Scholars.

NGS is not a typical student-support program; it is not a homework drop-in club, or an after-school tutoring program. It is a successive, long term commitment on behalf of all Scholars and their family members. Referring to them as Scholars reinforces in them their need to reach beyond their comfort zone, while supporting the college-bound culture so critical to success on their pathway to and through college. Being a Scholar also reflects one of the organization’s values of curiosity and a “beginner’s mindset,” the lifelong process of learning and approaching life by asking questions.

Kars4Kids: Can you share a success story of a Scholar who has participated in your programs?

Nghiem Bui: The Alvarado family is a prime example of NGS’ generational contribution to the community. After the father’s deportation, the mother of three and small business owner looked to us for help. The community rallied the network to bring customers and resources to renew her salon license. The oldest daughter, Alba, earned her family’s first-ever college acceptance to Wesleyan and statewide recognition for her community uplift project. The second sibling, Adriana, just graduated and is interning with us to teach and build our educational learning platform. The youngest sibling, Junior, completed his second year in college and received interview preparation and summer employment from our College Scholars career support. Just this month, the entire family returned to Guatemala to see the father for the first time in almost ten years, where they celebrated Alba’s acceptance to Harvard’s School of Public Health. Equipping individuals and families to navigate and overcome their challenges is precisely our purpose.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Next Generation Scholars?

Nghiem Bui: Enrollment expansion plans and continued emphasis on social, physical, and emotional wellness, are our areas of focus at this time. Our 3-year strategic plan includes an initiative to expand overall enrollment by 25%, and with that comes the need for 25% more resources, more staffing, and more capacity to serve new enrollees and their families. Our summer program, at 160 students, is the biggest it has ever been, extending across two sites; our middle school is the biggest it has ever been, with 18 students per cohort. For comparison, only three years ago, our 8th grade class had just 9 students. This growth, in turn, places new demands on our fundraising efforts, and this grant from Kars4Kids will help with these efforts. We look forward to engaging in this new partnership, and we appreciate your support and your interest in learning more about our work and our mission at Next Generation Scholars.

W.E. Move! Tutoring Group, Inc. differs from other organizations offering tutoring to children. For one thing, W.E. Move! offers high-level tutoring from students with a background in education. While it’s nice to have local volunteers tutor children, it makes good sense to pair kids with tutors on the road to a professional career in education. Such tutors have more invested in the process, and it shows.

Beyond the caliber and focus of the tutors it chooses, W.E. Move! shows insight in concluding that children learn best when learning is geared to them as individuals. It’s more work that way, but the tutors, still learning their field, learn to really see the kids and be flexible enough to adapt lessons to each child for maximum impact.

Developing a new method that works is no small thing. It’s what we look for in our small grant applicants. Creative ideas in education that didn’t remain ideas, but became a reality.

We put some questions to W.E. Move! CEO/Director Marie Williams to learn more about this unique and uniquely interesting educational program:

Kars4Kids: What is the backstory of W.E. Move!—why was it founded?

Marie Williams: Our backstory begins with one frustrated mom trying to replace the best tutor ever for her eight-year-old son. That mom was me. I’m still not sure how I couldn’t find one perfect tutor, but, in my frustration, I began Statesboro’s first summer tutoring camp with fourteen tutors serving fifteen students—weekly field trips included. It happened with unexpected support from Dr. Archie Simpson, Dr. Beth Joyner, Attorney Minkah Merritt, Georgia Power, Bulloch Pediatrics, Adel Car Company and other individuals and local businesses.

The goal was to create a space for elementary school students to enjoy their summer, have new experiences, and, ultimately, get the boost they needed to be prepared for the upcoming school year. I wanted to combat “summer loss,” give those who were “on track” a boost and help those who were “behind” catch up as much as possible in the few weeks of summer vacation.

And you know what? We did. My son, who was in danger of being retained in the third grade, made enough noticeable progress for both principals and teachers to agree that retention was no longer the best option for him. Parents and grandparents were pleased to the point of urging us to continue the service throughout the school year, and that was how W.E. MOVE! Tutoring Camp & Summer Fun became W.E. MOVE! Tutoring Group.

Kars4Kids: How old is your son today, and how is he doing with his studies or career? What are his aspirations?

Marie Williams: He is 14 years old and will be entering 9^th grade. He still needs that one-on-one tutoring in the area of math, and we are grateful W.E. MOVE! Is still viable and able to assist him in that area. He loves reading and writes stories with his friends during the school year. He has so many aspirations right now! He is currently focused on creating art pieces on canvas, honing his cooking skills – he’s always wanted to become a chef – and turning his stories into virtual books online.

Kars4Kids: How did you come up with the idea of using Georgia Southern students as tutors? How does it work? Do the students get credit for working with W.E. Move students?

Marie Williams: I’ve worked for the university since I was a student myself over 17 years ago. In the beginning I realized that our city was sitting on a gold mind of volunteerism. I thought, what better way for the university to connect with the community than to have our Georgia Southern Eagles cultivate “baby eagles.” I sent ads and posters into every college and the response was phenomenal. Now we not only have volunteers but have opened the door to work study opportunities and internships.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your After School Support Spring Session? What is the rational for using two tutors per student? How long are the tutoring sessions?

Marie Williams: When our students arrive, they are immediately given an afterschool snack. No one learns best when they’re hungry, so we remedy that from the start. The student’s tutor is waiting to meet with them and go over any homework or study material they may have. If the student does not have homework, they usually have a class newsletter. The tutor will go over the information the student is currently learning for the week in class. The next period is where the fun begins. Tutors provide 3-4 activities per session that target the student’s area of academic challenge while engaging them with activities that are fun and lean towards things they are interested in. It is the tutor’s job to find out how their student learns best and apply that learning style to each session. Two tutors are assigned to each student for the duration of the semester to ensure the student receives consistent attention with variety in the teaching style. We’ve found that having 2 tutors to a student helps us to connect with that student and their interests on multiple levels. Tutoring sessions for elementary students are from 2:30 – 5:30 and 3:30 – 5:30 for middle school students.

Kars4Kids: You have a “Tutoring Camp and Summer Fun” program. What can you tell us about this program and its purpose? Is it difficult to get the balance right between tutoring and fun?

Marie Williams: The Tutoring Campus was our original program. Our main goal was learning acceleration and to combat summer learning loss. We work to ensure students can handle grade level concepts and to make sure those students who are on grade level retain the information learned during the previous school year. Balancing fun is easy for us! We partner with student organizations, professors, community partners to provide STEM, Art, and fitness activities onsite and offsite. We visit the local library for the amazing events and opportunities offered there, and we take weekly academic field trips to museums, aquariums, and historic places of awe and learning.

Kars4Kids: What ages are your young participants and how did you decide what ages and grades to focus on? How do you determine a student’s eligibility for W.E. Move?

Marie Williams: We began with elementary school students in the beginning as this was the level our son was in at the time. We began to expand one grade at a time until we now cover middle school students and PreK. We believe the earlier we can start supporting students the more apt they are to be successful in school. At this point all students are eligible to participate.

Kars4Kids: How do you judge the impact of your tutoring sessions?

Marie Williams: We keep a close watch on our student’s weekly grades, progress reports and confidence, and we survey their parents.

Kars4Kids: The tutoring sessions you offer are tailored to the individual students. What does this mean, exactly? How would the approach differ from student to student, other than gearing the tutoring sessions according to the appropriate level of difficulty for each student?

Marie Williams: Here are two examples that I love. A few years back we had a young student who loved to paint. He needed assistance in the areas of reading, specifically phonics, and in math. His tutors made an effort to incorporate painting into his work daily. From dot paint pens to finger paint and paint brushes they took the work “off the worksheet” and put it into a medium he could enjoy. During the fall of 2022 I had a young man who struggled to focus and to learn sight words. Just making word cards was not nearly enough. We took the cards, attached them to bowling pins and let him bowl! Every word he knocked over he had to say. When he came to a challenging word, we would have him write that word on a handheld white board and repeat it 5 times. This helped him retain the words and he enjoyed doing it which greatly increased his willingness to practice. The tailoring goes on and on. If a child likes hot wheels, we incorporate hot wheels. If it’s playdough, then we make sure we have playdough on standby!

Kars4Kids: Is parental involvement a part of what you do?

Marie Williams: Most parents are at some level of frustration with their young scholar by the time they find out about our service. We are here for parental support and partnership. We want to alleviate the frustration and explain during the parent interview that we will work with them to map out a plan that works for their student.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for W.E. Move!?

Marie Williams: A full time staff and a 15-passenger van are the 2 major pieces missing in our puzzle! W.E. MOVE! Has been blessed to do amazing work with a staff that volunteers hours around and after their regular day jobs. The program could grow immensely with a staff that is able to dedicate their daily schedule to this cause. With the acquisition of a 15-passenger van W.E. MOVE! will be able to register students who do not have transportation from their schools to our site.

One Summit has a unique program to help pediatric cancer patients fight back against the disease. The program involves having Navy SEALs mentor children with cancer. It’s a novel idea and yet it makes sense: Who better than a Navy SEAL to illustrate how to battle adversity, push past obstacles, and win?  The One Summit method inspires children suffering this devastating disease to never give up.

Children affected by cancer need extra support to cope with the disease. One Summit offers them just that. We can see that the novel approach of our latest small grant recipient is having a significant and positive impact on kids with cancer. One Summit staff members Ali Lamson (Manager, Development & Communications) and Max Svec (Manager, Strategic Programs & Events) gave us an exclusive inside view of this much-needed initiative for youngsters battling childhood cancer:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the kids you serve at One Summit? What are their ages; how many of them are there; and what do they have in common?

Ali Lamson: One Summit works with about 400 kids per year, ranging from ages 5-18. Our mission is to build resilience and facilitate growth in pediatric cancer patients and their siblings through mentorship, experiential learning, storytelling, and community engagement with U.S. Navy SEALs. Experiential learning takes place in the form of indoor rock climbing at Climb for Courage (CFC) and Climb Higher (CH). Through this adventure, we introduce challenges that empower children to achieve growth through conquering adversity. The long-lasting relationship they form with their Navy SEAL mentor inspires the hope and resilience each little warrior needs to continue in their fight.

Kars4Kids: Why Navy SEALs?

Ali Lamson: SEAL training pushes candidates to the limit and beyond to ensure they have the core values necessary to succeed in the most demanding conditions and against all odds. Approximately 80% will quit during training. The few candidates who can overcome these challenges and become Navy SEALs understand how to persevere and keep fighting, even after their bodies and minds tell them to stop. The characteristics and values the Navy SEALs embody make them the ideal mentors to help guide children through their fight against cancer. Through this safe and controlled indoor rock-climbing environment, we can induce individual challenges that allow children to grow by overcoming adversity and forming life-long relationships. The children are encouraged and led to reflect on the challenges they have overcome on the rock wall and apply them to the everyday challenges of fighting cancer.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Climb for Courage, if you will.

Ali Lamson: Through Climb for Courage, patients and their siblings are matched individually with a U.S. Navy SEAL and are guided through a series of rock-climbing challenges derived from a curriculum based on the theory of Posttraumatic Growth, defined as positive psychological changes experienced due to the struggle with traumatic or highly challenging life circumstances. Currently, One Summit is the only organization in our community aiding healing and trauma through this approach.

Kars4Kids: How did One Summit come to be? We’d love to hear your founder’s story.

Ali Lamson: One Summit was founded by Adam La Reau in 2013. Adam’s inspiration stemmed from his Navy SEAL experience and his mother’s fight against breast cancer. Adam began volunteering with various cancer-related organizations after losing his mother to cancer in 2004. During this time, he met many women just like his mother that were incredibly tough, mentally and physically. Their strength inspired others.

However, he also saw a lot of young kids battling cancer that didn’t necessarily have the skills to conquer this disease on their own. He thought it was an unfair fight and wanted to even the odds. His experience in the military led him to believe there was an opportunity for Navy SEALs to help. Adam recalls: “I served with a lot of amazing men who were incredibly heroic, courageous and resilient.” He recognized that the skills embedded in the SEALs were the skills kids battling cancer needed the most. He decided to bring these two worlds together and create One Summit.

Kars4Kids: What are the impacts of pediatric cancer on the children, in the short and long term?

Ali Lamson: According to The National Cancer Institute, it was estimated that 15,590 children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 were diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Approximately 1,780 died of the disease in the United States that same year. After accidents, cancer is the second leading cause of death in children ages 1 to 14. Childhood cancer rates have been rising slightly for the past few decades. Because of significant treatment advances in recent decades, 84% of children with cancer now survive five years or more. Of the survivors, 60% will suffer drastic long-term side effects, including amputation and secondary cancer that reignites the child’s fight once again. The psychological stress of having cancer can affect a person’s overall health and ability to cope with the disease.

One Summit is designed to provide these children with the skills necessary to face the emotional distress of this disease, inspire hope, and empower a persevering mindset. Resilience, a person’s ability to bounce back when stricken with hardship, is fundamental during a life-altering challenge such as cancer. According to the American Physiological Association, resilience is a trait that can be learned and developed through behaviors, thoughts, and actions. Significant components of building resilience include connections, moving toward your goals, nurturing a positive view of yourself, maintaining a hopeful outlook, and the ability to avoid seeing a crisis as an insurmountable problem.

Kars4Kids: How are you using storytelling to help the children at One Summit?

Max Svec: To reinforce learnings from our experiential learning programs and build connections, we provide our community of like-minded warriors with the opportunity to share their own stories of resilience. We document these stories as part of our Profiles in Resilience initiative, helping to inspire pediatric cancer patients, caregivers, Navy SEALs—and their families— to continue in their fight one hand and foothold at a time.

Storytelling is an essential tool at One Summit because it helps children understand they are not alone in their cancer journey or in the experience of facing complex challenges and unimaginable hardships. Storytelling is also critical to posttraumatic growth (PTG), the theory on which One Summit’s programs are built. For a person to benefit from PTG, sharing and acknowledging their story of trauma is critical. Our storytelling initiatives serve to reduce feelings of isolation and help build a supportive community for the children (and adults) who participate in our programs.

Life, striving for the highs while navigating the lows – Joe Andruzzi

Kars4Kids: What part does community engagement play in the work you do with the kids?

Max Svec: One Summit strives to create a supportive, welcoming community for all participating in its experiential learning programs—but those programs are not one-offs. Our community engagement events exist to allow relationships to grow outside of the Climb for Courage events by creating fun and engaging touchpoints for One Summit community members. Our community engagement opportunities enable our participants to connect, enjoy a bit of normalcy out in the community, and build stronger relationships with like-minded people.

At these events, connections look like:

• Mentors spending time with their little warriors
• Parents and caregivers on similar cancer journeys being able to talk with each other and offer support and understanding (COVID protocols took away a lot of the connections that would happen in clinics, waiting rooms, and inpatient units)
• Sometimes, it’s simply kids getting to socialize with other kids going through a similar cancer experience and getting to do it while doing a normal activity

Kars4Kids: You have a speaker series, “Stories from the Summit.” How does this work?

Max Svec: Stories from the Summit (SFTS) is a virtual, live-speaker series that allows One Summit community members from our four markets and beyond to come together in one place to share in our storytelling initiative. Each hour-long community enrichment program is led by One Summit staff and features a special guest speaker who shares their unique experiences and perspectives on many topics with the audience. The program is designed to inspire, educate, and entertain through the blending of personal stories, practical insights, and application of resilience in our daily lives.

Beginning with a brief introduction, each SFTS guest shares their story in their own words, describing key life experiences, challenges, and accomplishments. This is followed by guided questions presented and moderated by One Summit staff. The final portion of the program is an open Q&A that empowers the audience of OS community members to ask the guest their own questions. We also now include a short rapid-fire question segment with the guest led by either OS staff or one of the kids on the call. We ask the guest a short series of light, entertaining questions (e.g., if you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?) to add a little extra fun to the program. Finally, we wrap up by asking the guest to impart a final piece of advice or closing sentiment.

We ensure the recording of the program is made widely available to give those unable to attend to give them the opportunity to watch and experience the program after the fact.

Stories from the Summit – Dr.Jonny Kim

Kars4Kids: What’s next for One Summit?

Ali Lamson: One Summit is prioritizing reinforcing CFC through critical year-round community events and storytelling initiatives that give each little warrior the additional strength and encouragement they need in their fight. During the pandemic, One Summit self-published a book, An Unexpected Warrior, which reinforces the idea that teamwork and community can inspire resilience. An Unexpected Warrior is about Sue, a middle school girl who faces a life-threatening disease who quickly learns that she can accomplish anything with the help of her new friends; a feisty 4-year-old roommate, a quirky new best friend and her own US Navy SEAL. We hope to distribute this book to a wider audience in order to inspire hope and resilience in our community.

Additionally, we are looking to host more community events and fundraisers to create a greater local support system. We are also looking to expand our private online platform The Anchor, which grants secure communication between our little warriors and caregivers with their Navy SEAL mentors, strengthening relationships through communication, education, health, entertainment, and connection.

Communities In Schools of Wayne County (CISWayneco) is on hand to help at-risk children, onsite, in school, on every single school day. This continuity of support is one of the main reasons our latest small grant recipient is having a real impact. But Communities In Schools was also founded in large measure to teach children how to form healthy relationships. This is accomplished by providing a consistent adult mentor to each child, to lend support to those children most in need of mentoring.

We put some questions to Communities In Schools of Wayne County Site Coordinator Supervisor/Data Specialist Katie Stephen to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic? Who are the young people you serve?

Katie Stephen: Communities In Schools is located in Rural Eastern Indiana. We focus on serving students in five different school districts. Every student in each district has the opportunity to receive services.

Kars4Kids: What are the aims of CIS as a national organization?

Katie Stephen: Our mission at CIS is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. CIS was founded not on a program to transform youth but on a foundation to build healthy relationships between adults and children.

Kars4Kids: CIS describes its model as “unique.” How so?

Katie Stephen: We are unique because we have a site coordinator that is in the school building every day. We have constant communication with our school administration teams, teachers, and counselors to identify any students that may be at risk for dropping out. Our site coordinators also receive intensive training on how to identify at-risk students and provide the services that are needed to help them stay in school and achieve in life.

Kars4Kids: What is Ready, Set, Grow?

Katie Stephen: CIS’ Ready, Set, Grow, program was created to help tackle barriers that our case-managed students face on a daily basis. Through the Ready, Set, Grow program our site coordinators help students tackle barriers such as lack of hygiene products; lack of shoes or clothing; food insecurity; social/emotional stress; and many more. We use our Ready, Set Grow funds to directly purchase and distribute items the child need including all basic-need items: shoes, clothes, food, school supplies, and etc.

Kars4Kids: In your capacity as a site coordinator, what exactly do you do?

Katie Stephen: Our site coordinators fill many roles in our students’ lives. They work closely with their case-managed students and set goals to work on for the year. The goals are chosen from one of the following areas, academics, attendance, or behavior. Along with these goals, site coordinators provide necessary supports to help them overcome barriers they have in their life to help them succeed. These areas of supports include but are not limited to:

• Academic Assistance
• Basic Needs
• Behavioral Interventions/Modifications
• Case Management
• College and Career Preparation
• Community Service/Service Learning
• Enrichment/ Motivation
• Family Engagement
• Life/Social Skills
• Physical Health
• Professional Mental Health

Kars4Kids: Do you have quality assurance protocols in place to ensure you’re meeting state and operational standards?

Katie Stephen: We have monthly meetings with our state affiliate to collaborate on best practices and work together to keep our organization on the right track with our national standards. We have reaccreditation yearly that I complete with our national office.

Kars4Kids: Mentoring is a key part of your program. Why is mentoring important?

Katie Stephen: Along with the site coordinator, our mentors can be another caring and constant adult in that child’s life. Mentoring is an added support to help our students achieve. Our mentors meet with the student once a week for thirty minutes. I am a mentor for a student here in Wayne County and from experience, I know that they look so forward to meeting with their grown-up!

Kars4Kids: How many students participate in your program? Do you offer the same supports to each individual student? Is there some process of evaluation, and is it ever necessary to change course in the academic assistance offered to the students?

Katie Stephen: During the 2022-2023 school year we had 963 case managed students enrolled in our program. However, every student in each school district is eligible to receive services. CIS site coordinators provided 1,436 different types of support to students in the same time period. School wide 237,371 students were served; this included students who may have been served once and students served multiple times. 8,025 basic needs/resource items were given to students in need.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the impact of CIS of Wayne County? What are some of the benchmarks that suggest you’re on the right track with the students?

Katie Stephen: For the 2022-2023 school year, CIS enjoyed the following results among the 982 case-managed students:

− 97% of Wayne County Pre-K-11 students were promoted to the next grade.

− 99% of Wayne County seniors graduated from high school.

− 100% of students showed progress towards or met academic goals.

− 90% of students showed progress towards or met attendance goals.

− 84% of students showed progress towards or met behavior goals.

In the 2021-2022 school year, CIS case managed 978 students. These students set goals in three areas of school success: attendance, behavior, and academics. Of the students who set goals in these categories:

• 68% met or made progress towards their attendance goals
• 89% met or made progress towards their behavior goals
• 87% met or made progress towards their academic goals
• 99% of K-11 students were promoted to the next grade
• 94% of seniors (46 of 49) graduated from high school

In the 2020-2021 school year, CIS case managed 797 students. Of the students in this school year who set goals in at least one of the three categories-

• 78% met or made progress towards their attendance goals
• 93% met or made progress towards their behaviors goals
• 89% met or made progress towards academic goals
• 98% of K-11 students were promoted to the next grade
• 95% of seniors (35 of 37) graduated from high school

In the 2018-2019 school year, four Wayne County school districts received funding that increased the number of schools and school districts served by CIS, as well as an increase in hours worked by site coordinators per week. As a result of this increase in services, CIS has seen a positive impact on the percentage of students who meet or make progress towards their goals in all three categories tracked by the Site Coordination program.

When schools were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the end of the 2019-2020 school year, CIS immediately took steps to make sure that our students did not fall behind. CIS was able to distribute food, clothing, and educational tools to families directly on their doorsteps until students were back in school, and CIS worked with our community partners to provide a direct connection to local resources for any needs that could be met by our programs. In total, CIS provided 3,600 food bags to families during this time. This equates to roughly 400 students served per month.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Communities In Schools of Wayne County?

Katie Stephen: We are thrilled to have our first annual pickleball tournament coming up on July 16^th 2023. We are working diligently to prepare for the back-to-school season coming up in August. Our aim is to help more kids succeed in school and life and public support is crucial to these efforts. Please take a look at our donation page for various ways to contribute. Your generosity makes all the difference for the students of Wayne County!

EduTutorVA: A Response to Pandemic Learning Loss

EduTutorVA was founded out of need, the urgent need to address pandemic learning loss. There are some few efforts to ameliorate this tragic situation that affects all our futures. But not nearly enough of them, nor are they rigorous enough to be effective. Our latest small grant recipient stood out for us because of the excellence of its sound pedagogical approach to learning loss.

We sent some questions to EduTutorVA Executive Director Meredith Fortner to learn more about this important response to learning loss:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the children you work with? What’s your demographic? How old are the children in your programs?

Meredith Fortner: We currently serve students from third through eighth grade in twelve Title 1 schools across Virginia. Schools select students who are performing about 12-18 months below grade level. EduTutorVA students are linguistically and culturally diverse, with about 65% of our students being Hispanic or Latino and 75% of all EduTutorVA students are multilingual.

Kars4Kids: EduTutorVA is somewhat new, having been founded as a way to combat learning loss from COVID-19. What are you seeing? What are the specific impacts of COVID on young students?

Meredith Fortner: EduTutorVA began as a response to the educational gaps the pandemic school closures (further) exposed for students placed most at risk. Students are making great progress in our program, but recent national data (data & data) shows that it will take years to recover from pandemic-related learning loss.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the gaps between white students and students of color in regard to COVID learning loss. Why the disparity?

Meredith Fortner: Students of color; multilingual language learners; and students from low-income households have historically been performing lower on standardized tests than their white peers. Causes of this are likely generational poverty; lack of resources; language barriers; and systems of inequality that still exist in society.

Kars4Kids: How is EduTutorVA combatting learning loss in students struggling to catch up in the wake of COVID? What methods are you using?

Meredith Fortner: We implement a best practice model for an engaging virtual tutoring environment. Students are in groups of two with the same tutor for a full school year. This relationship and mentoring are at the core of the tutoring experience.

We currently design our own language arts and math curriculum using resources from the VA Department of Education, which are aligned to the VA Standards of Learning. For each school, we begin with the school division’s pacing calendars so tutors know the answer to the common question, “What are they learning in class right now?”

We focus on grade-level “power standards”: standards that educators have determined to be of the highest priority and most important for students to learn. We expect that students will need a high dosage of support and scaffolds to reach these power standards. In addition to the VA Department of Education resources, we supplement the lessons with suggested resources from free high-quality online sites, such as Khan Academy videos and virtual math manipulatives.

Kars4Kids: EduTutorVA draws tutors from George Mason University education programs. What are the benefits of this collaboration both for the children and for the university students?

Meredith Fortner: We actively recruit a diverse pool of college tutors who are reflective of the students they teach. We now have tutors from eight colleges and universities across Virginia. Our tutors speak over 20 languages in addition to English. We have started recruiting from our first HBCU in Virginia for the school year of 2023-2024. It is our hope that we are nurturing the future teaching workforce with a diverse pool of talent. Some of our non-education majors have changed majors to education because of this experience; we are so proud of this! Our longer-term objective is both to support students with learning gaps and to encourage a more diverse population to consider teaching as a profession.

Kars4Kids: What is “high dosage tutoring?” How much time do the tutors spend with the children? How many children are benefitting from this program?

Meredith Fortner: High-dosage tutoring takes baseline data on the students, develops instruction tailored to what the student needs, and provides the tutors with thorough training through professional development. EduTutorVA provides virtual tutoring three days per week, in groups of 2-3 students (most are 1:2), for 60 minutes per session, currently. Our fall semester is 8 weeks (24 session hours) and spring semester is 12 weeks (36 sessions), providing students in Title 1 schools with 60 hours of targeted tutoring for the school year. We served almost 200 students in the 2022-2023 school year.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk to us about the pre- and post-testing conducted by EduTutorVA? How is this testing conducted, and what are the benefits?

Meredith Fortner: We measure student progress regularly. Through a partnership with NWEA, we administer the MAP Growth assessment as a diagnostic tool. In addition to the MAP Growth assessment, we also utilize the fall Virginia Growth Assessment and spring Standards of Learning (SOL). Other progress monitoring data points are available to us per our DSAs, but we use NWEA MAP as our common measure. 91% of students who attended at least 50 hours of tutoring with EduTutorVA made growth from the fall Virginia Growth Assessment (VGA) to the spring Standards of Learning (SOL). 75% of students who attended at least 50 hours made two levels of growth.

Kars4Kids: How are you working to identify the students who most need the help of EduTutorVA?

Meredith Fortner: We primarily serve students in Title 1 (low income designation) schools. Schools identify a cohort of students who are about 12 months below grade level benchmarks in math or reading: “Tier 2”, WIDA levels above 1 and 2 for speaking listening, and students not in intensive “Tier 3” interventions throughout the week in school.

Kars4Kids: EduTutorVA operates in Northern Virginia, do you see your program spreading to other parts of the state? Are other higher learning institutions interested in a collaboration between their students and children in need of learning help?

Meredith Fortner: We recruit primarily through George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College, although as the program has grown, we have hired tutors from eight colleges and universities across Virginia. We now have tutors from Virginia State University, our first HBCU partnership. Because of our model’s potential for scalability, we expect our program to grow across Virginia in the coming years.

Kars4Kids: What are the goals of EduTutorVA, beyond COVID learning loss? Do you see EduTutorVA winning the battle and closing its doors, or is there a need for what you offer beyond addressing the direct impacts of COVID-19 on children’s education?

Meredith Fortner: EduTutorVA’s mission is to advance educational equity and to diversify the next generation of educators. Our goal of recruiting as many diverse tutors as possible is also designed with the long-term goal of creating a more diverse teaching force. We both support students with learning gaps and encourage a more diverse population to consider teaching as a profession. The demographics in our public schools are not always reflected in the teaching workforce; for example, 70% of teachers in Virginia are white. We hope to build a pipeline of educators who have diverse educational, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

Moore Buddies Mentoring is an invaluable community resource for at-risk youth offered by The CARE Group. The CARE Group was formed to connect the people of Moore County, in Southern Pines, North Carolina, to important educational resources. The specific focus of Moore Buddies Mentoring is to help at-risk youth succeed by offering them support and encouragement through mentorship.

Run on volunteer steam, our latest small grant recipient is always looking for more such volunteers, so that more disenfranchised youth can succeed in the classroom and go on to live fuller, more productive lives. Mentoring, in short, offers hope to children who might not otherwise finish school let alone go to college. Moore Buddies Mentoring was born out of an understanding that the future lies in ensuring that today’s youth thrive for a better tomorrow.

We put some questions to executive director of The CARE Group, Inc. and Moore Buddies Mentoring Joyce Clevenger, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: What is the demographic of the students you work with? What are their backgrounds? What are their ages?

Joyce Clevenger: We work with kids ages 6-18. They live in poverty and are dealing with trauma and its effects and are largely failing school and will drop out if we do not intervene. Many of them do not have a parent in the home and live with other relatives. They act out their trauma through their behavior in school, getting into fights, bullying others, and being aggressive. They are often sad and depressed and do not readily trust adults, so it takes time to earn their respect and trust.

Kars4Kids: How many students do you serve in a typical year? Are mentors assigned to a single student or are they working with groups of students? Do your mentors undergo some sort training?

Joyce Clevenger: We have about 100 kids in the various programs. We have about half of those with a one-on-one mentor, who must have 6 hours of training prior to beginning the mentoring program. After that are monthly trainings for them. We also have group mentoring in many of our schools and tutors that go to various schools as well. We have after school programming for our kids to have a safe place to go after school; have something to eat; get help with their homework; have a music or art lesson; or perhaps just play a game of checkers or shoot some hoops with their mentor.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your Community Mentoring program?

Joyce Clevenger: Our community mentoring program pairs a positive, caring, well-trained mentor with a child at risk of failing or dropping out of school. They spend time together each week, and each mentor must commit to a minimum of one-year with their mentee. They work to set goals, work on school performance, and build self-confidence in each student. It’s all about the relationship.

Kars4Kids: What about In-School Mentoring? How does that work?

Joyce Clevenger: The mentors in this program go to schools to meet with their mentee each week. They can help them with their schoolwork, or just spend quality time with their mentee. We focus on the mentoring relationship and encourage and guide each student we work with to do better in school and to make good choices in life.

Kars4Kids: Are your mentoring programs purely for the sake of helping the child with schoolwork, or is there a broader purpose to these programs?

Joyce Clevenger: Our focus is on helping a child heal from trauma and build resilience, confidence, and self-esteem. That is why we offer enrichment opportunities for our kids that they would not otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy, like music, art, journaling, and more. And that is why it is all about one mentor working with one mentee. When a child feels loved and supported, their self-esteem and the desire to do better, rises. Doing better in school is often the byproduct of having a mentor—and though we do offer homework help and tutoring, it’s not the focus of our program—doing better in school is often a byproduct of having a mentor, even without academic assistance.

Kars4Kids: What are the tangible results of your program? Can you speak to the impact Moore Buddies Mentoring is having on the students you work with?

Joyce Clevenger: I just got an email from a young lady who is finishing her master’s degree and getting married. She came through our program years ago and is doing incredibly well. One young man who was failing and not attending school (9th grade) just brought his grades up enough to play on the football team and he is over the moon about that. He has two tutors and a mentor and has turned his life around. He just needed a little love and support. He also just got a job at McDonalds and has a girlfriend! We don’t have instant success with these kids. It takes time, but over time, it makes a huge difference. Being loved and encouraged by a caring adult is sometimes all a child needs to do better.

Kars4Kids: Moore Buddies Mentoring also has a program for suspended or expelled children. What can you tell us about this program?

Joyce Clevenger: Instead of being sent home for suspension, a child can be referred to us and we spend the day with them working on their schoolwork, feeding them and helping them with skill-building and working on prosocial skills. It beats sleeping until noon and getting further behind in their schoolwork!

Kars4Kids: The Moore Buddies Mentoring website says you champion successful youth through mentoring and empowering families. How are you empowering families? 

Joyce Clevenger: Our focus is the children, but our parents are involved in the process and we keep a close relationship with them. We often help them with physical needs they have, transportation, and just educating them on the needs of their child. Once they see that we are there to help, they trust us and work with us to help their child. We just had a mother who went back to school to get her degree after seeing the improvement and great changes that her son made. He was failing and is now graduating from high school.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a success story about one of the student participants in your program?

Joyce Clevenger: I just had a mentor stop by my office this morning to tell me, through tears, how their (she and her husband mentor together) mentee is going to be a senior in high school next year and already asked them to come on senior night for the basketball team as his grandparents. He is African American and they are white and have been his mentors since he was 11.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Moore Buddies Mentoring?

Joyce Clevenger: Unfortunately there are always more kids than there are available mentors. More trauma, poverty, and need result in more at-risk children. Our commitment is to stay true to our calling and that is to care for those kids who might otherwise fall through the cracks and drop out of school and end up going to prison. 76% of all adults incarcerated are high-school dropouts and we are committed to working with one child at a time to help them change their life. I tell our mentors—don’t go into this with the idea that you are going to change the kid. Go into it with the idea that you are going to love this kid. A caring adult who loves a child can change the entire trajectory of that child’s life.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore (BBBSES) has a mentoring formula that works. An older person (known as a “Big” in the lingo of this organization) is matched with a young person (a “Little”) to provide mentoring and guidance. That’s quite a feat considering we’re talking about providing matches to a territory wherein some 85,350 children reside.

Of course, not all of those children will become Littles, but enough of them do to make this an impressive operation run in large measure on volunteer steam. We feel sure they will put our small grant award to good use. We sent off some questions to BBBSES Partnership & Development Associate Li-Ann Piposzar to find out more about more about Big Brothers Big Sisters as both a national and local phenomenon:

Kars4Kids: The Eastern Shore covers quite a large area. What can you tell us about your demographic—the kids you serve?

Li-Ann Piposzar: Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore (BBBSES) offers free programs to local youth facing adversity between the ages of 6-16 years old in all nine counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Programs include traditional one-to-one community-based mentoring, site-based mentoring, group mentoring, and youth enrichment. Most of the children in the program come from single parent homes, live with a grandparent(s), have a parent that is incarcerated or impacted by opioids.

Kars4Kids: Can you explain for us the concept of “Bigs” and “Littles?” What ages are we speaking of? Do Littles sometimes become Bigs when they age out?

Li-Ann Piposzar: “Bigs” are regular people like you and me, that are 18+ years old and from diverse backgrounds. They are adults that mentor youth to make a positive impact, share life experiences, and provide guidance during times of need. “Littles” are children facing adversity that want/need an additional trustworthy adult in their life. Some Littles (mentees) grow up to become mentors, volunteers, or employees of nonprofits when they become older. According to Mentor, “78% of young adults with a mentor are more likely to volunteer regularly and 90% are interested in becoming a mentor.”

Kars4Kids: The mentors are volunteers, right? How many mentors do you currently have and how many children are they mentoring? Do some “Bigs” have more than one “Little?”

Li-Ann Piposzar: Mentors in the BBBSES program are all volunteers. The organization started nearly 120 years ago with a one-to-one mentoring model to give children individualized attention. Since that time additional programs including group mentoring and enrichment workshops have been developed to meet the needs of families and the community. Last year the agency served over 500 children through over 4,000 volunteer hours. The agency has a few Bigs that mentor more than one youth, but the Big still meets with each Little individually.

Kars4Kids: How does the mentoring program work? How often do Bigs and Littles meet? How do they spend their time together?

Li-Ann Piposzar: Mentoring matches are made based on location, preferences, shared interests, and personality. A case manager facilitates an introductory meeting where a Big meets their Little and their family. Bigs and Littles meet around twice a month for about 1-2 hours. Mentoring matches do activities they both enjoy that are free and low cost. A case manager collaborates with the match to develop goals and assist with planning activities. For the duration of the mentoring relationship the Case Manager collaborates with the match to help ensure their success. The agency also hosts activities for mentoring matches and provides resources to them and the family.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe for us the process of matching Bigs to their Littles?

Li-Ann Piposzar: After Guardians and Bigs go through the enrollment and safety screening, a case manager shares profiles based on common interests and preferences. An introduction meeting between the Big, Little, and Guardian is scheduled. During this meeting, the case manager will help the pair schedule their first outing and assist with setting goals for the Match. Case managers work with the child, mentor, and family to help navigate the relationship and evaluate progress.

Kars4Kids: You have both community-based mentoring and site and school-based mentoring. Can you give us an overview of these two mentoring tracks?

Li-Ann Piposzar: Community-based mentoring allows Bigs and Littles to spend time in the community doing fun and interactive activities while working toward personal achievement and positive character development. Site-based (including school) mentoring focuses on personal success and academic achievement through weekly mentoring sessions at the child’s school. The difference between the two types of mentoring is about location: the setting in which mentoring sessions take place. Often a mentoring relationship that begins as a site-based match transfers to the community program to further develop their relationship.

Kars4Kids: How does your High School and College Bigs program work? How does it differ from your regular Bigs and Littles mentoring program?

Li-Ann Piposzar: High School Bigs engages high school students as peer mentors for elementary school youth. High school students will gain a special friend and have fun with their Little by playing games; going to the playground; completing staff-directed activities to build soft skills such as confidence, character, conflict resolution; and hanging out as a way to increase the Little’s self-esteem. We have many College Bigs participating in the community and site-based programs, as well.

Kars4Kids: What is “Bigs in Blue?” How does it work?

Li-Ann Piposzar: Bigs in Blue connects youth with first responders to help create strong communities. This program is a partnership between the first responder organization and BBBSES. Bigs in this program can do either site-based or community-based mentoring depending on the Big’s preference.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us one or two success stories? We’d love to hear about the kids.

Li-Ann Piposzar: One of our successful mentoring matches is a hybrid mentoring relationship. For half of the year, the Big Sister spends her time out of state, but the match maintains the relationship via video calls over Facetime or Zoom. This match really enjoys planting flowers and vegetables during the summer and work on improving reading and academics during the school year. Recently, they spent the entire day choosing seeds to make a garden for the Little Sister to enjoy at home.

Our longest-known local match has lasted 29 years. Big Brother and Little Brother met when Little Brother was 9 years old. Little Brother was the Best Man at Big Brother’s wedding. When Little Brother got married, he returned the favor and Big Brother was his Best Man. They still talk to each other almost every day. They are both big supporters of BBBSES.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore?

Li-Ann Piposzar: BBBSES has three things that we have started and/or are working on. First is “Big Moments.” This is a summer campaign for participants in our program. Participants are challenged to complete exciting summer activities together to compete for fun prizes. Second is the “Be a SHEro” Campaign which will raise awareness of the need for female mentors and encourage all girls and women to become SHEros (Strong, Helpful, Encouraging, Reassuring, and One-of-a-kind.) Finally, we are hosting our 14^th Annual Eastern Shore Golf Classic on August 7^th at the River Marsh Golf Club at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, MD to raise funds for our charity. We are looking for sponsors and golfers. If you are interested call us at 410-543-2447.

Challenger Center arose in the wake of a terrible tragedy, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in which all 7 crew members lost their lives. The families left behind wanted to honor their mission and memory by inspiring youth to pursue STEM education and careers. The result was Challenger Center, which offers space and STEM programs for young people, not only in classrooms across the United States but on a global scale with an entire network of Challenger Learning Centers.

It is critical in our high tech world to make STEM studies attractive to students, so that one day, they might choose to enter STEM-related professions. That can only happen by offering them fun yet challenging opportunities in STEM: something kids would otherwise not have in the classroom. Challenger Center, our latest small grant recipient is doing just that.

We put some questions to Challenger Center Vice President of Development, Partnerships, and Strategy Valerie Fitton-Kane, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: In the Challenger Center blog post, “Inspiring Students Who are Often Forgotten,” you talk about nontraditional learners and kids who sometimes fall through the cracks within the juvenile justice system. Can you share more about why inspiring these students is important?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Challenger Center’s mission is to engage every student in STEM, inspiring them to envision new possibilities for their future. Students usually participate in our unique, simulation-based programs as part of a school group, including students from many backgrounds: urban, suburban, or rural communities; high-income or low-income families; different races; different genders; different abilities; and/or different life experiences. We collaborate with Challenger Learning Center informal educators and other experts to design our programs for the broadest set of students. We work hard to eliminate barriers to participation.

One of the things we pride ourselves on is the fact that most Challenger Learning Centers are located in underserved communities with many underrepresented students. After 37 years of operating in such communities, we regularly encounter alumni who tell us that their Challenger Learning Center experience shaped their life. We are thrilled by these stories and want to keep reaching more students who otherwise wouldn’t get these types of STEM opportunities.

Kars4Kids: What is the connection between the Challenger shuttle and the work you do at Challenger Center?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: The Challenger STS 51-L mission was unique. NASA held a national competition to appoint the very first Teacher in Space: Christa McAuliffe was selected; Barbara Morgan was her backup. In addition to a teacher, the crew was highly diverse – two female astronauts (Christa McAuliffe, Dr. Judith Resnick), one Jewish astronaut (Dr. Judith Resnick), one African American astronaut (Dr. Ronald McNair), and the first Asian American astronaut (Ellison Onizuka). The plan was for the crew to film Christa as she conducted science experiments in space to inspire student interest in math, science, and space exploration. The videos would be shared with students around the world. Dr. June Scobee Rodgers, who was the wife of 51-L Commander Dick Scobee, was a science educator. She helped Christa prepare for the mission.

In the aftermath of the Challenger shuttle accident in 1986, the crew’s families came together, firmly committed to the belief that they must carry on the spirit of their loved ones by continuing the crew’s educational mission. The White House and NASA were very supportive of the effort, and within a couple of years, the first Challenger Learning Center was built. The team, led by Dr. Scobee Rodgers, thought there would only be one Challenger Learning Center; today there are 35. All Centers are committed to serving the broadest set of students, helping to promote diversity in STEM, just like the 51-L crew.

Thirty-seven years later, we are still carrying forth the legacy of the Challenger crew. We have used our unique space mission simulations, and in-classroom STEM programs, to inspire and engage over 6 million students. The Challenger families are still involved with Challenger Center—some are members of our Board of Directors, and others sit on our Advisory Council. In 2018, we were especially honored to collaborate with Educator Astronauts Ricky Arnold and Joe Acaba to film Christa’s Lost Lessons in space and share lesson plans with teachers as the 51-L crew had intended to do.

Kars4Kids: How many students and teachers do you serve? Where do you operate?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Challenger Center serves over 250,000 students annually. We have 35 Challenger Learning Centers, most of which are in the United States. We continue to grow our reach through the establishment of new Challenger Learning Centers across the country and our digital programs which can be used to engage students anywhere in the world.

Kars4Kids: What are “Center Missions?” Can you walk us through one of them?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Center Missions are the most immersive version of our simulation-based programs. Center Missions can only be experienced at one of our 35 Challenger Learning Centers because they occur inside custom, fabricated environments that emulate the interior of a real spacecraft and a real mission control. These environments enable students to fully suspend reality and get into the character of a STEM professional. They conduct experiments, analyze data, and solve problems that space industry professionals encounter in space missions. The whole experience is driven by Challenger Center’s proprietary simulation software that provides information and instructions to students, and enables them to communicate with each other across teams.

We have three core missions – Expedition Mars, Lunar Quest, and Operation Comet – and we are currently developing a fourth, Earth Odyssey. The missions are targeted to students in 5^th-8^th grade.

To begin, a student group of about 20-30 students is briefed on their specific mission and its goals. Half of the group then goes into Mission Control and half is “transported” to Spacecraft. The group in Mission Control provides instructions to and requests information from Spacecraft. Students in Spacecraft conduct experiments, navigate to space locations, build a probe to collect samples (e.g., moon rocks), conduct experiments, and monitor crew health. There is usually a mid-mission emergency that requires the students in space to return to Earth and problem-solve with their peers in Mission Control. Then, the groups swap places and carry on with their work.

While these are space missions, the experience is more than just a vehicle for teaching space science. Space exploration is a naturally exciting topic for children, and it involves many different STEM skills. Space is so big and complex that no one person can get there and explore alone. So, through a space mission, we can do more than just impart STEM knowledge: We inspire and engage students, introduce them to STEM careers; and help them to develop their STEM identity, sense of self-efficacy, and important 21^st-Century skills like communication, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving.

Kars4Kids: We see that Challenger Center provides distance learning activities, including interactive lessons to youth in nontraditional learning environments where there’s sometimes an issue of access to materials for science lab experiments. How do you get around this obstacle? Why is interactive learning important for these students?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Access to science lab and other STEM equipment is an issue. The equipment is often very expensive and not every educator feels comfortable using STEM equipment, let alone teaching students to use it. This is the advantage of having Challenger Learning Center in underserved communities: All schools can visit a Center and use the equipment in our missions. Our staff are trained to use and maintain the equipment.

For students who cannot get to a Challenger Learning Center, we provide programs that can be delivered via the web or on-site wherever students are gathered. Our strategies for these programs vary. Sometimes Centers have portable equipment, including portable, inflatable planetariums or robotics kits, that can be transported to schools or wherever students are co-located. Or, in many cases, we write programs with extremely flexible materials lists, suggesting supplies that are often freely available or very inexpensive.

Kars4Kids: “Classroom Adventures” sounds so exciting, and it also sounds like an incredible opportunity for the young participants. Can you give us an overview of the program, and describe some of the Adventures for us?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Classroom Adventures are simulation-based experiences designed to be run in school classrooms, by teachers, for 3^rd-5^th grade students. They do not require a special, immersive environment; they can be run in any classroom or multi-purpose room. The only requirement is a set of laptops – one for every student and teacher – that can access the internet.

Classroom Adventures was designed for scale. We know that simulation-based education is effective, but prior to Classroom Adventures, we did not have a tool for delivering a simulation experience outside of a Challenger Learning Center. We also know that if we want to inspire more students, we need to enable other educators (beyond just Challenger Learning Centers) to deliver simulation-based experiences. So, Classroom Adventures was developed by former classroom teachers for current classroom teachers, simplifying the delivery of simulation-based programs to a point that literally anyone can do it. As a proof point, I am not an educator at all, and yet I’ve successfully delivered two Classroom Adventures to my son’s 5^th grade class this year. If I can do it, anyone can!

One other aspect that differentiates Classroom Adventures is the fact that we leverage other environments as a hook . . . and it works! In Aquatic Investigators, students role-play as marine biologists, ecologists, chemists, and engineers working in an undersea lab to determine why Hawaiian monk seals are missing from their usual home in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. They learn about ocean debris, ocean acidification, coral-bleaching, the food chain, and many other ocean science topics as they collaborate to solve the mystery. Nature Rangers covers plant structures and lifecycles as students work with a forester in the Great Smoky Mountains to identify whether a plant is an invasive species, and if so, what to do about it. Finally, in Dirt Decoders, students learn about fossils, weathering, and erosion as they hunt for the skeleton of a ground sloth in the American Southwest.

When we developed these programs, we weren’t sure students would be able to suspend reality in a regular classroom environment. We’ve now run these programs with thousands of students across the U.S., and it works!

Kars4Kids: Challenger Center also offers “Virtual Missions.” Was this a program born of the pandemic or were you already offering virtual learning opportunities when the pandemic hit? How did the pandemic affect your operations, in general?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: A core aspect of the Challenger Center experience is enabling communication, collaboration, and problem solving among student groups who are working together, in person. But the pandemic made that impossible. All of our Centers closed overnight, and many were at a loss on how to continue engaging students, especially when we knew students were feeling isolated and needed meaningful opportunities to connect with each other.

The first thing we did was consider where Classroom Adventures could be used to engage students while they were schooling from home. Unfortunately, the answer was no. The program was designed for students to work together in person. But, if we had funding and time, we could leverage the internet-based platform upon which Classroom Adventures are developed to make a new version of a Classroom Adventure that was designed specifically for students to collaborate across multiple locations. This idea became Virtual Missions.

To build Virtual Missions, we called upon two of our corporate partners, Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin, and requested resources to help us make this program a reality. They provided funding, subject matter expertise, animations, and other content. We also invested some of our own unrestricted funds in the programs. By early 2021, we released Destination Mars and Destination Moon, two Virtual Missions that have since been delivered to thousands of students worldwide.

Kars4Kids: You have some summer camps coming up, geared toward learning, rather than the usual recreational activities one expects to see at summer camp. We’re sure the parents approve, but what kind of feedback do you get from the campers? Do you have return campers?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Challenger Learning Center employees know how to make STEM topics fun, and students absolutely want to come to our camps! Centers are highly creative and make entire weeks themed around robotics, Mars, or other exciting topics, enabling students to use tools and materials they may not have access to at home or school. Further, most camps leverage the simulator in each Challenger Learning Center. That is one experience no other camp can provide: a trip to space!

Kars4Kids: The summer camps are for K-12 learners. What is your approach in regard to teaching STEM to very young children? How does the focus of the lessons you offer change, as students grow older?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: We strongly believe that engaging STEM education needs to start when students are young and curious. Many kids start to get clear about their interests and identity in late elementary and middle school. By high school, students are actively making choices that will influence their career path. Right now, about 50 percent of students decide they do not want to pursue STEM education or STEM careers after 8^th grade. If the big picture goal is to build a larger, more diverse STEM workforce and STEM literate society, we must ensure more high school students are interested and engaged in STEM. To broaden the pipeline in high school, we must ensure more students stay open and engaged with STEM through elementary and middle school.

Challenger Center’s simulation-based programming is targeted at 3^rd-8^th grade students. Many of our Centers have created programs for Pre-K to 2^nd grade students. These are very simplified, hands-on programs that involve some aspects of simulation, but do not require the higher-level skills needed to really simulate a complete space mission. Third to 8^th grade students are developmentally capable of understanding the bigger picture of a simulated mission with many individuals working together on individual tasks that lead to the achievement of a collective goal.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Challenger Center?

Valerie Fitton-Kane: Challenger Center is very focused on growing its reach and deepening its impact on students. We are building new Challenger Learning Centers and growing the distribution of our Classroom Adventures and Virtual Missions programs. We continue to research the impact of our programs and find new ways to make them accessible to the very diverse students in our society. We continue to drum up new ideas for engaging students of all ages in missions that show them new fields of study (e.g., artificial intelligence) and new challenges (e.g., space debris). We believe what we do is unparalleled, and we hope to inspire millions of students in the years to come.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the MonDak Richland County, like all Boys & Girls Clubs of America, offers a safe and enriching environment for youth. But the BGCRC, our latest small grant recipient, stands out from the crowd for its focus on literacy and social emotional programming, so critical for youth development. In addition, the BGCRC has a virtual reality work experience program combining tech and youth career preparation.

As is the case for all the other Boys & Girls Clubs of America, no youth is ever turned away for lack of money, and we have seen how this saves kids from low income neighborhoods from getting into trouble in the hours after school. It gives them moreover, hope for a brighter future. We put some questions to Boys & Girls Club of Richland County CEO/SafeCare Provider Elaine Stedman to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the kids you serve in Richland County? What’s your demographic?

Elaine Stedman: We serve youth in daily afterschool and summer programming in Grades K-6. We also have middle school members who serve as junior aides and high school members who serve as paid program aides.

Kars4Kids: Let’s jump right in and talk about your programs. You have a literacy program called Write Brain. Can you give us an overview of the program? What are the ages of the kids in this writing program?

Elaine Stedman: We have done facets of WriteBrain with all of our members. Some years the members author and publish their own children’s books; other years they do acting and expression through WriteBrain Improv.

Kars4Kids: We see that you have an SEL program. What can you tell us about that? Why is SEL important for children?

Elaine Stedman: We have found that both youth and adults have struggled with mental health issues post-pandemic. Our club is working to become a trauma-informed center. We provide daily SEL programs to our members to help build resilience and foster character and relationship building. We use a variety of different programs, depending upon staff preference and the age of the particular groups.

Kars4Kids: “Junior Staff” is career guidance, right? How does this program work?

Elaine Stedman: Our middle school members serve as junior aides. This is a first step in career development and exploration. They assist the program leaders and staff and interact with the younger kids. They thoroughly enjoy the additional responsibility and are a great resource for us.

Kars4Kids: PowerHour seems to be about more than homework help. What are the other objectives?

Elaine Stedman: We provide remediation and tutoring services as well when necessary. Staff also spend time listening to new readers read to us, expanding their reading and literacy skills.

Kars4Kids: BGCRC has a financial literacy program, Money Matters. What do kids need to know about finance, and how are you ensuring they are financially literate in this regard?

Elaine Stedman: We use Money Matters as a financial literacy program and pair it with our Empowered program for our older elementary members. These programs emphasize the importance of saving for future goals and give the kids real-life experience with developing and marketing their small business.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Virtual Reality Work Experience Program. That sounds intriguing! Is it very popular with the kids?

Elaine Stedman: We have been working with a company called Transfr which supplies us with VR headsets which give the teens a bird’s eye view of a variety of careers. They are immersed into the career which is very lifelike. This is part of a Montana Boys & Girls Clubs Alliance initiative implemented across our state. We have also been able to partner with local schools to share these resources with a variety of classes in the middle and high schools.

Kars4Kids: Montana is known for extreme temperatures and large snowfalls. How, if at all, does the weather impact your ability to operate?

Elaine Stedman: Montanans are fairly weather resilient. Very rarely do we close for weather-related issues. We, of course, monitor outdoor activities during weather extremes, whether it is low temperatures or blizzards in the winter or extremely hot temperatures and storms during the summer.

Kars4Kids: Aside from being the CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Richland County, you are also a SafeCare Provider. What does this mean from your perspective as it relates to the BGCRC?

Elaine Stedman: Boys & Girls Club is involved in a variety of initiatives affecting families and children in our community. SafeCare is a program that deals with families of children 0-5 who are struggling with parenting skills; working toward reunification with their children; or are in danger of losing custody of their children. We focus on youth of all ages because we are a small community with limited resources for youth and families.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Boys and Girls Club of Richland County?

Elaine Stedman: We are gearing up for our 7-week summer camps which begin June 5.

Florida Prosperity Partnership (FPP) has a tagline: “Elevate Financial Capability for All.” Young people are not neglected in this endeavor. The FPP offers a set of internship programs specifically designed to prepare Central Florida youth for the workforce. In these programs, young people have the opportunity gain the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful career and life path.

At risk youth, in particular, are at risk for dropping out of school, which means they are at risk for unemployment. Programs such as those offered by the FPP, our latest small grant recipient, serve to prevent such outcomes not only through skills and knowledge, but by instilling in them the drive to both enter the workforce and succeed. We put some questions to Florida Prosperity Partnership CEO Bill Mills to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the Florida Prosperity Partnership. When was it founded and why? Whom does it serve?

Bill Mills: Founded in 2008, FPP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit coalition of 4000+ partners and members in and beyond Florida who primarily serve low- and moderate-income individuals and households.

The coalition is comprised of Florida-based, domestic and international organizations and practitioners representing non-profits, financial institutions, academia, government agencies, for-profit enterprises and more, all committed to generating a collective impact.

Through coalition engagement, FPP’s Financial Capability practitioners build knowledge, skill and understanding to elevate people and communities from financial crisis to stability, security, wellbeing and prosperity.

Kars4Kids: What is the FPP Coalition Youth Financial Capability movement? Your website says it falls under the Bright Minds, Fresh Ideas umbrella. Can you give us an overview of this movement and its guiding principles?

Bill Mills: Bright Minds, Fresh Ideas, or BMFI, is the name for FPP’s youth internships. BMFI is comprised of three different internship programs, each designed to teach a specific set of industry skills, while also encompassing the importance of comprehending general professionalism before entering the workforce.

The guiding principles are:

• Leadership
• Professionalism
• Entrepreneurship
• Financial Capability

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the Bright Minds, Fresh Ideas Think Tank Summer Internship?

Bill Mills: All BMFI programs are designed to be think tanks, where students are encouraged to solve social issues or bring awareness to valuable concepts with ideas never before seen introduced. Students create teams with each other and develop the concept, in full, in 4-weeks, at which point they present to an audience of FPP Coalition members their final concepts.

During these 4 weeks, interns meet with guest mentors; view guest speakers; engage in panel discussions; and participate in workshops offered by employers from across Central Florida seeking to assist in the workforce development of the rising generation. FPP offers any support requested by interns.

Following the program, many interns have gone on to continue to pursue, develop, and implement their concepts into real-world communities and businesses, some before they even graduate high school.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the projects and research topics that summer interns have tackled through your Think Tank program?

Bill Mills: Some recent topics:

• What is a better way to teach financial education to youth?
• Is it possible to eat healthy on a low budget? (or other health-related issue)
• How can youth be leaders in economic development?
• Financial Services for Persons with Disabilities
• What alternative products are available for small dollar loans/how can we spread the word?
• Barriers to Micro Enterprise Funding
• Overcoming impact of low wage jobs on a Macro scale
• Housing/Income
• Options for reliable transportation
• Expanding VITA/VITA promotion

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about STEP. We had to look up “spondulics” in the dictionary. Great word. What can interns expect to get out of this program?

Bill Mills: The Spondulics Technical Education Program (STEP) Internship is a paid, four-week learning and professional development experience that debuted in 2022. STEP is designed to help Interns from across Florida develop foundational technology skills required for generating content and operating the internationally-viewed, financial-focused, “Edutainment” streaming broadcast platform, Spondulics.org, powered by the FPP Coalition.

This internship opportunity blends the essentials of film/video/TV production, website design, content creation, and professional development into a singular learning experience. Upon engaging in STEP, interns will be able to create financial-focused, behavior-changing video content to be shared via a live broadcast event, and continuously broadcast as archived content on Spondulics.org.

Kars4Kids: In addition to youth internships, you also offer funding to teachers and youth to further art and financial literacy efforts targeting youth in Florida. Can you tell us a bit about that, please? How does this work? What is the connection between art and financial literacy?

Bill Mills: “Edutainment” was a term used by Walt Disney to describe the documentary series “True-Life Adventures”. Educational entertainment now encompasses so many more outlets since this production that ran from 1948 – 1960. We still have television, movies, theater, and print media. But we also have internet, handheld devices, and even non-handheld devices. Edutainment has been used to affect many across the globe.

Recently, the Russia Trust Fund for Financial Literacy and Education showed how edutainment can be a powerful method for changing attitudes and behaviors of individuals related to financial education. They performed a study to “assess the ability of entertainment education as a social marketing instrument to increase financial capabilities of the consumers in South Africa using a robust impact evaluation framework. The program aims at enhancing knowledge, attitudes and behavior regarding sound financial decision-making with a particular focus on managing debt.” This is just one study. There have been others. In Kenya, a television program entitled Makutano Junction showed promising results when they “integrated financial education into a series of episodes of MJ that were specifically tailored to the demand”.

Edutainment has been proven to change attitudes and behaviors; something that financial education, by itself, cannot do!

Kars4Kids: Youth interns in your programs are paid, correct? Why is this important and do they earn—is it more than they’d make flipping burgers?

Bill Mills: Yes, our interns are all paid and paid well. There is nothing wrong with “flipping burgers.”  All jobs can be good learning experiences (even the bad ones).

The difference is that we are giving them that bridge between school and professionalism. These internship programs teach them to “fit in” the professional world, something that many schools and even jobs will not teach.

In fact, the only question that we ask the students who are applying for the internship is “are you ready to become a more professional version of yourself?” This one question is all we need to ask. We don’t care if Mommy or a school teacher or counselor wants them to do it. They have to be ready to learn and adjust.

Kars4Kids: Talk us through your Hospitality Internship Program, please. What can interns in this program expect to learn?

Bill Mills: The Hospitality Innovation (HI) Program focuses on helping low- to moderate-income high school students who lack equitable access to pre-graduation employment and professional skills development opportunities become a more capable asset to the workforce prior to graduating, specifically in the fields of business and entrepreneurship.

HI will run during the summer and brings interns from all backgrounds together to learn the fundamentals of design-thinking, hospitality acumen, innovation, leadership, financial capability, and professionalism. Interns work in a Think Tank atmosphere to craft an event plan aimed at hosting an event within the hospitality industry across Orange County, all while learning about the many job roles within the industry itself. They will end the program via the interns actually putting on the planned event to an audience of nearly 1000 community representatives.

FPP offers this program with a goal to not only teach interns how to engage readily in a professional environment following graduation, regardless of their path, but also to teach them personal financial capability, leadership acumen, and both transferable and industry-specific skills they can use to further their effectiveness in the workforce for years to come. It will do this using daily facilitation; guest expert sessions; guest mentors for each individual intern; topic-specific workshops, and more.

Kars4Kids: How was the FPP impacted by the pandemic? A lot of our small grant recipients tell us that the pandemic actually made them better organizations and in some cases helped them reach a wider number of youth thanks to online platforms like Zoom. Is that FPP’s experience, too?

Bill Mills: FPP grew significantly during the pandemic, because we were well prepared to go virtual.

This was especially the case with the internship programs. In 2020, the local schools had a very difficult time finding internships for the students. We told them that we would take as many as they could send us. This grew the BMFI program rather quickly (over double in size) and built strong relationships with the school districts that has continued since.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the FPP?

Bill Mills: FPP hopes to grow this internship program statewide and, eventually, across the country. We have a model that can be set-up rather inexpensively, with the correct partners that we can easily duplicate.

It is an absolute blessing to hear from our past interns about the successes that they achieve as the result of the internship program. I wish we could do this for every rising high school senior!

The Russell Education Foundation (REF) came into being because too many children reach the end of third grade without having mastered the skill of reading. Twan Russell, an ex-Miami Dolphin linebacker and his mother, the late Corliss Russell, were well aware of this fact when they founded REF in 1998. Mrs. Russell was a middle school teacher passionate about helping children who struggle with reading. She knew that children who fail to achieve reading proficiency by this time are at high risk for dropping out of school. This in turn limits their earning potential and productivity.

Today, the Russell Education Foundation, a Kars4Kids small grant recipient, is thriving, serving some 1,000 students each year. REF runs a successful afterschool program as well as a summer program to combat “summer slide.” These quality programs are serving to promote literacy among the children of South Florida so they can grow to become successful adults.

We put some questions to Russell Education Foundation Executive Director Mackie Feierstein to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: What is the history of the Russell Education Foundation? When and why was it founded?

Mackie Feierstein: Russell Education Foundation is celebrating our 24^th anniversary this year. The Foundation’s Mission, “Opening Books to Open Doors” with the overall goal of eradicating illiteracy among inner city youth and empowering, inspiring and encouraging at risk youth to become successful citizens.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic? Who are the children you serve?

Mackie Feierstein: We serve low-income students in South Florida through quality afterschool and summer learning services.

Kars4Kids: The Russell Education Foundation offers “two pillars of service,” education and life skills. Can you tell us how the foundation settled on these two “pillars?”

Mackie Feierstein: The foundation’s afterschool program is multifaceted and combines the following three elements to offer a holistic approach to addressing the program of illiteracy among inner-city youth: The Russell Reading Room; The Mentoring Program; and the Helping Hands Outreach Program.

Kars4Kids: Would you give us an overview of your education program? Where do you offer this program? How many children are enrolled?

Mackie Feierstein: Russell Education Foundation currently provides quality afterschool and summer learning services for kindergarten to 5^th grade students through Russell Reading Rooms for over 800 students in 8 locations throughout Broward County. We have four centers in Hollywood and four in Pompano Beach.

Kars4Kids: How does the life skills program work?

Mackie Feierstein: REF provides mentoring sessions that teach students much needed life skills. Community volunteers, such as political leaders, educators, pro athletes, board members, and business leaders visit the centers and share their knowledge of a life skill topic. Volunteers talk about their educational backgrounds and share personal experiences to inspire and showcase different career paths.

Kars4Kids: Does social emotional learning have a role in the foundation’s work with the children?

Mackie Feierstein: Social-emotional learning is utilized daily during the school year and the summer. Components related to social skills building are interwoven through the overall program design and follow the PATHS curriculum. Social skills activities are presented interactively, creatively, and in a way to promote position self-esteem, pro-social peer relationships, and good citizenship.

Kars4Kids: We see there’s also a summer program. What is the purpose of the summer program? How does it work? Is it a camp?

Mackie Feierstein: The summer program is an extension of our successful Russell Reading Rooms. Students learning over the summer tend to be more prepared for the next school year.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Russell Education Foundation?

Mackie Feierstein: The social and emotional difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic are enormous. Students who were already behind will need intensive one-on-one help throughout the 2022-23 school year and beyond. Now more than ever, the Russell Education Foundation can help level the playing field and provide much needed help to our students. We will continue to be good stewards of your generous contributions by working hard to change our future in low-income communities one student and one family at a time.

Jobs for Delaware Graduates exists because too many students drop out of high school and fail, for whatever reason, to find gainful employment. The organization understands that succeeding in school puts one on track for succeeding in life. It is the sense that JDG sees the bigger picture—how school and life are part of a continuum—that got the attention of our small grants committee. We put some questions to Jobs for Delaware Graduates President Nicole Poore, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: According to your website, Jobs for Delaware Graduates is a part of a national movement dedicated to preventing dropouts among young people. Can you tell us a bit about the national movement? How you came to start a chapter in Delaware?

Nicole Poore: Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) was designed in 1978 by five working groups in Delaware, drawn from business, educational, workforce, labor union, and community leadership. The purpose of the organization was to simultaneously address Delaware’s unemployment and dropout rates. Together, the public and private sector leaders of the state developed the model of Jobs for Delaware Graduates. Our mission is to enable students to achieve academic, career, personal and social success. More than 95,000 young people have participated in JDG programs since their inception, and more than 250 employers rely on Jobs for Delaware Graduates for producing enthusiastic, well-prepared, and effective employees. The JDG model has been replicated in 38 states with over 1000 program affiliates. Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) is a state-based national non-profit organization in operation for more than three decades. JAG is dedicated to preventing dropouts among young people who are most at risk.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic? Who are the students that you serve?

Nicole Poore: Jobs for Delaware Graduates demographics consist of students from 23 high schools and 14 middle schools ranging in grades from 6^th – 12^th. Of the approximately 4,000 students each year, 53% are males and 47% are females. The race of our students consists of 44% African American, 22% Caucasian, 17% Hispanic, 16% Multi-race and about 1% Asian. Other demographics include:

• 75% Free/Reduced Lunch
• 63% Basic Skills Deficient
• 49% Low Academic Performance
• 92% Lack of Occupational Work Skills
• 93% Inadequate or No Work Experience
• 66% Economically Disadvantaged (including Free/Reduced Lunch & Public Assistance)
• 57% Excessive Absenteeism & Behavioral Issues
• 21% Disability

Kars4Kids: JDG has job fairs coming up—probably by the time this interview is published, the fairs will already be over. What can you tell us about the job fairs? Is this an annual event? Have you been able to measure their impact?

Nicole Poore: This year’s job fairs have been very successful. This year’s job fairs were held on March 21^st and 23^rd in Kent County and New Castle County respectively. In total, over 60 employers attended the events and 500+ students. Students were not only able to speak with and learn about employment opportunities, many were even able to interview right on the spot. The job fairs are a yearly event and next year, the plan is to include a fair in Sussex County.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your middle school program? Where is this program held? Who are the teachers?

Nicole Poore: For middle school participants, Jobs for Delaware Graduates offers a leadership program designed to help students in grades 6th to 8th successfully transition to high school. Our teachers deliver a competency-driven curriculum that prepares students for high school through leadership, skills development, career association, and project-based learning. Each grade level builds on concepts to prepare students for their transition to high school. Experiential-based learning is used to energize classroom sessions, anchor key learning, engage students in best practices, and demonstrate the power of activity-based and adventure-based learning. Each grade level builds on concepts to prepare students for their transition to high school.

JDG has 14 middle school programs located in the following districts in Delaware: Red Clay, Colonial, Christina Milford, Lake Forest and Seaford. Our new teachers are certified in School to Work Transition.

Kars4Kids: Does your high school program build on the middle school program? Or is it completely independent?

Nicole Poore: Yes, JDG connects our high school and middle school program as much as they can. Our goal is to teach students for all 7 years. We connect through:

1. Curriculum- there is an overlap in some of the units we teach: Goal setting, Life skills, Communication, Leadership and Financial Literacy. In the middle school, the objectives are for students to become familiar with the topics and vocabulary. As students enter high school, they are exposed to more in depth knowledge of the topics. Each level challenges students with content that builds in complexity as they progress through each level.
2. Career Association
   1. Statewide community service project that all schools participate in. This year, it was for students to create and send Caring Cards.
   2. Competitive events- middle school chapters are able to compete in the chapter events while high school chapters also compete in individual and team events.
3. Videos- high school students created short videos on Why setting goals are important and advice on how to be successful in high school. The videos were then shown to the middle school students.
4. Zoom- middle school students zoom with their prospective high school JDG teacher to learn more about the high school program.

Kars4Kids: Experiential learning is an integral part of your programs. Can you give us some examples of how experiential learning works in practice in the programs you offer?

Nicole Poore: In addition to providing classroom instruction, JDG also provides students with job-related experiential learning opportunities. Providing students with better learning environments, tools, and technologies better prepares them for the workforce or for college by leveling the playing field with job/college applicant peers. JDG middle and high school students receive opportunities to complete and/or attend experiential learning events. Students utilize skills they learn in the classroom and have the opportunity to put them to practice in simulation and/or field trips. Examples of these include:

• Classroom guest speakers (colleges and employers)
• Junior Achievement – budget simulation
• Community service projects
• College tours
• Career fairs
• Discover Bank – financial literacy
• Delaware Tech – career exploration

Kars4Kids: What is the CORE Internship program? How does it work?

Nicole Poore: Designed to advance the 12th grade curriculum for JDG participants, CORE (Creating Opportunities for Real Experiences) provides real-world experiences to JDG students through guided internships and provides much-needed education and workforce-preparation services to some of the most at-risk students. With the help of our 45+ partners, students are paired with experienced professionals from a growing list of traditional and nontraditional fields.

Students in CORE learn soft skills and industry-specific skills and gain workplace exposure so they have a better understanding and skill base in their field, become more marketable, and have a higher chance for success in the working world. For CORE to be most effective, JDG procures transportation to the internships, purchases uniforms, and assists with purchasing necessary work-related equipment. Funds may also be used for student wages, student fringes, student payroll processing, supplies and staffing.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about your Work-Based Learning program?

Nicole Poore: The WBL Coordinator works on-site at a high school and provides one-on-one job coaching to students. In addition to coaching students, the coordinator maintains a job board for internship, volunteer, and work-based learning opportunities, brings guest speakers into classrooms, develops school events like resume and interview contests, entrepreneurship days, field trips, etc. The coordinator works in partnership with school admin, counselors, and teachers to develop opportunities and experiences tailored to the needs of students. The coordinator also participates in statewide meetings and working groups to strengthen the work-based learning community throughout Delaware.

Kars4Kids: The JDG also offers job placement services. What can you tell us about this part of your work? What is its impact?

Nicole Poore: JDG uses three Student Outreach Coordinators (SOC’s) to provide one-on-one job placement services to many of our students. The SOC provides case management to designated JDG students that have been identified to have barriers that potentially could limit their success in obtaining an education. Case management includes career counseling, job search assistance, placement verification and records maintenance. The Student Outreach Coordinator works closely with designated classroom teachers and will assist in obtaining all required student contractual data.

The SOC’s continue to provide one-on-one counseling to their students for at least one year after graduation. During this year, the SOC identifies and assists the students find and maintain employment, assists with college enrollment, provides guidance and counseling and assists the student transition from high school to their next chapter in life.

The SOC’s work with our CORE Coordinator to identify employment opportunities for JDG graduates as well as JDG high school students. SOCs continue to provide wrap-around services after students obtain employment to ensure students maintain employment and perform their duties as expected.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Jobs for Delaware Graduates?

Nicole Poore: Jobs for Delaware Graduates will continue to grow their programs in schools that do not have a JDG program. Two new middle school programs were added this school year. Other middle schools have expressed interest about having a JDG program in their school. The yearly job fairs will continue to grow and plans to add a fair in Sussex County is planned for next year. The JDG curriculum is always being updated to meet the needs of the local employers. New employment and other community partners are being developed to assist JDG transition into the next school year and beyond.

The Science Zone is bringing science to children across the state of Wyoming, a very tall order. But somehow this organization is making it work, undaunted by the magnitude of this task, not to mention the weather. Today, STEM learning can open up a variety of career opportunities, so inspiring a love of science means setting the scene for life success.

We know that schools are struggling to find time and resources to give students more science in the classrooms. The Science Zone is filling in the gaps in student STEM education throughout Wyoming, and this is critical work, worthy of support. Kaitlin Ryan, director of education of our latest small grant recipient, The Science Zone, was happy to answer our many questions, and her enthusiasm for science comes through every word:

Kars4Kids: We like your tagline: “The Science Zone exists to inspire curiosity.” Why is it important to inspire curiosity from your point of view?

Kaitlin Ryan: Curiosity is what drives us, motivates us, inspires us, and gives us a reason to continue exploring the world around us. Every great discovery, invention, and advancement started with someone who was merely curious. When you can get children and families to ask questions about what they experience you have started the chain reaction of discovery and, ultimately, world improvement. We hope when people come to our museum or interact with us out in their communities that we can spark a moment of curiosity in them.

Kars4Kids: The Science Zone operates throughout the state of Wyoming. That’s a lot of ground to cover! How do you make it all happen? Does inclement weather sometimes, or even often, affect your ability to provide services statewide?

Kaitlin Ryan: Our goal is to serve every county in Wyoming and we are making headway! One way we are able to build relationships in each community is through grant-funded programs like our “Science in the Summer” program through the Franklin Institute that allows us to bring free, interactive, and themed experiments to students all around the state. Ultimately, we seek to build relationships in these communities and offer whatever they need whether that be helping to clean community areas; volunteering at local community events; or delivering programing. The winter definitely makes this difficult and most of our travel occurs throughout the summer. However, we do have schools from across the state that are able to make it in even after a few reschedules due to snowy roads! It’s all about being flexible.

Kars4Kids: We see that you offer rotating exhibits, both stationary and traveling. How many children and families visit your stationary exhibits during the course of the year? Can you describe a few of these exhibits?

Kaitlin Ryan: We have nearly 30,000 visitors to our museum each year! We have exhibits that are ours such as our Nano World Exhibit that allow visitors a chance to step into a world unseen by the naked eye, and our traveling exhibits that change based on the exhibit type, time allotment, and schedule. Some of our favorite traveling exhibits have included the “Life on the Edge” exhibit that explores organisms living in extreme environments and the “Attack of the bloodsuckers!” exhibit that brought the wonderful life of leeches and mosquitoes into our museum.

Kars4Kids: The Science Zone offers Family STEAM nights. Is there a philosophy behind involving the entire family in STEM activities? How many families typically attend these events? What are some of the activities you’ve offered during these evenings?

Kaitlin Ryan: Our Family STEAM Nights were created in support of the research that suggests family involvement in scientific exploration increases children’s scientific interest and understanding. When caregivers are actively engaged in STEAM, students feel more comfortable asking questions, taking risks, and thinking critically. In fact, one of the largest determinants of success in STEM is if students are receiving STEM learning outside of the classroom. We run the program weekly and see around 15-30 individual families or groups each week. They are usually a mix of weekly regulars and new visitors! Each STEAM night has a theme. Some of our favorites this year have been our Dr. Seuss night where each experiment was related to a Dr. Seuss book. We had turtle races for “Yertle the Turtle,” created Oobleck as in “Bartholomew and the Oobleck,” and made telephones for “Horton Hears a Who!”

Often we will partner with professionals in the community to enhance our offerings. For example, we partnered with the Audubon Society to bring in bird experts for our “Flight Night” that included activities themed around birds and animals that fly!

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your Seasonal Science Camp?

Kaitlin Ryan: When students are out of the traditional classroom, we seek to introduce them to engaging and interactive science they may not receive otherwise. Our seasonal camps run during winter break, spring break, and summer break. Our winter and spring break camps are usually offered by the day and may not run the entire week. This year, our themes for our spring break camp included Mountain Adventure Day (an entire day on Casper Mountain exploring the beauty of the winter outdoors, and learning seasonal science), Look at You Grow (exploring all things that grow including crystals, people, plants, and animals!), and Care of Magical Creatures (an entire day dedicated to caring for; interacting with; and learning from our zoo animals with our Zoom team).

Kars4Kids: You also offer summer camp. Can you give us a general overview of your summer camp program?

Kaitlin Ryan: Our camps are themed to offer a variety of topics to students ages 5-15. Our day camps include topics like Movie Makers, Dino-Mite Diggers, Lego Robotics, and Kitchen Chemistry. We also offer overnight outdoor camping trips where students can explore the beauty of Wyoming while kayaking, swimming, rock climbing, and mountain biking. We hope all students will find something that piques their interests and allows them to enjoy the scientific process.

Kars4Kids: We see you offer support programs for homeschool families. Tell us about that—how do you support homeschool students and families, and are there a lot of homeschool students in Wyoming?

Kaitlin Ryan: Our homeschool program is one of our most successful programs at The Science Zone. Each month on the second Friday of the month we offer two hour-long classes. The first class changes theme. We have done heart dissections; forensic science investigation; kitchen chemistry; and more. The second class is a coding class that allows students to build on coding projects and learn how to use Scratch. These messy, hands-on, and deeper concepts are a way we can serve families that may not be able to facilitate these types of STEM experiences at home. Homeschool families are statistically on the rise and more and more families are constantly looking for ways to supplement and engage with STEM and their students.

Kars4Kids: The Science Zone provides resources to educators. We see some pretty amazing field trips listed on your website, under “Educator Resources.” Can you describe just a few?

Kaitlin Ryan: We have tailored our field trips to hopefully meet the needs of educators, but we also offer personalized field trips if needed. Our most popular field trip by far is our “Particle Party” that has students exploring the states of matter with different experiments. We use dry ice to blow up balloons; use different salts to create rainbow flames; and finish off our party with some liquid nitrogen ice cream! This is a hit for all ages. We also offer a field trip that allows students to meet and interact with some of our favorite zoo animals while also learning the importance of their habitats and wild spaces.

Kars4Kids: You offer professional development to your staff. What can you can tell us about that?

Kaitlin Ryan: We will be offering a variety of classes in the spring to our educators that we teach or partner with the local community college to teach. This year we have lined up coding for teachers; wilderness first aid; strength finders; and servant leadership. We want to be a learning institution that shows our passion for education by encouraging our staff to be lifelong learners themselves.

Kars4Kids: We have the impression from some of our small grant applicants that science is being neglected in public school classrooms. Is that your impression, as well?

Kaitlin Ryan: We survey all students who participate in programming with us. This year, we have seen a significant number of students who believe they do not receive enough science in the classroom. Science requires lots of planning and material prep that many teachers no longer have. Science is also not a standard on standardized testing which often leaves it on the sidelines for many educators. We believe there is a gap that is continuing to grow that we hope to help fill within our community.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Science Zone?

Kaitlin Ryan: We are continuing to expand current programing and create new programming with the help of our community and our AmeriCorps program! We will soon be offering a Women in STEM mentorship program that invites middle school students who identify as female to meet current women in STEM and learn about their careers. We will also be offering a Tech Club for students who wish to learn more about 3D printing; Lego robotics; laser cutting; coding, and more. We are hoping to continue to expand our statewide programing and have applied for grants to fund a mobile STEM van that will help us accomplish this goal. We are excited to continue to grow and I would like to thank you for your help in that!

Clonlara School may not be what comes to mind when you hear the word “school.” This very different kind of school does have a physical location, but offers a variety of other learning options, as well. Clonlara serves as proof that learning can take place anywhere: both in and out of the classroom, and in fact, its Full Circle Learning approach has gone global, serving students in 70 countries.

April Huard, education director of Clonlara School, was a public school teacher who homeschooled her own children before joining Clonlara as an academic advisor. Today, Huard leads Clonlara’s educational programs for students and families around the world. Here’s what she had to say about the vision and mission of this, our latest small grant recipient, Clonlara School:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the students you serve? What’s your demographic?

April Huard: We serve students of all backgrounds and experiences in grades K–12. With over 2,000 students living in more than 70 countries, our school is truly a global learning community. Some of our students want the flexibility to pursue their passion for a specific subject, the performing arts, music, or sports; while others have unique needs, including health-related concerns that prevent them from attending school full time.

Our elementary and middle school students are curious learners, eager to ask questions and explore the world around them through play and projects. Our high school students are both college and non-college bound—they are motivated to design their own educational path and interested in self-paced learning opportunities.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about the founding of your school. Who founded Clonlara School and why?

April Huard: Pat Montgomery and her husband, Jim, founded Clonlara School in 1967 when, after teaching in public and parochial schools and then having their two children, Pat began to feel that schools did not take into account the child’s natural development and growth in learning.

She envisioned a school where children of all ages, ethnicities, and beliefs could learn and grow in an unhurried, relaxed atmosphere; where the students, parents, and staff would all get to know one another; and where families would have an active role in school life and in the education of their children.

Kars4Kids: What is “Full Circle Learning?”

April Huard: Full Circle Learning (FCL) is our research-supported approach to education. Through every FCL project, students ask questions about topics that capture their attention. As interest in a subject deepens, students naturally want to deepen their understanding, so the FCL Model leads them to find a mentor, compile experiences, share their learning with others, and reflect on their entire learning process. It gets students thinking about how they learn, and it empowers them to take charge of their own education.

Kars4Kids: Clonlara has what looks like three physical locations. What are the advantages of learning on-campus? How many of your students learn on-campus? Is it your intention to open further locations for Clonlara schools?

April Huard: Currently, we have students learning on our campus in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we are preparing to open a second campus in Idanha, Portugal. We also extend our services through partnerships with international schools and programs that align with our mission such as the Colégio de São José (CSJ) in Coimbra, Portugal, and Hope International Academy in Okinawa, Japan.

We describe our Campus Program as “a classroom the size of your imagination.” It’s a place where students—each with different learning styles, needs, and goals—work closely with our teachers to design an educational plan around their passions and interests. Our Ann Arbor campus also offers flexible in-person and hybrid learning options, with afternoon enrichment courses for Clonlara students and others from local schools and homeschool groups in the community.

As of 2023, 109 of our 2,327 students learn in person in our Campus Program.

Kars4Kids: Why do some families choose to enroll their children in your Off-Campus Program? How many students participate in this program?

April Huard: We describe our Off-Campus Program as a “school with no walls, overlooking the world,” meaning that families can choose where learning takes place. Students can learn at home, on the beach, or on the highest mountain! Families with students in our Off-Campus Program build personalized learning plans with the support of Clonlara’s program advisors, who partner with them to monitor student progress and provide guidance. The advisors also suggest materials and learning tools along the way.

As of March 2023, we serve 2,218 students in our Off-Campus Program.

Kars4Kids: Clonlara operates in several countries. How many countries are participating from outside the U.S. and what made you decide to offer your programs to children living in other countries? Are your programs offered in languages other than English?

April Huard: Our decision to offer programs to children living in other countries is reflected in our mission to transform education on a global scale through a highly personalized approach to learning. As Clonlara has grown over the past five decades, we have added programs and services to share our educational philosophy and practice with others who believe that students should be at the center of the learning process. We now have students in more than 70 different countries, and we offer services in eight languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Hungarian, Greek, Portuguese, and Turkish.

Kars4Kids: Clonlara has online courses for middle school and high school. How do the offerings differ for these two groups?

April Huard: Our students in grades 6–12 may add up to three credits of online courses to their educational plan. All Clonlara online courses are self-paced and include Clonlara teachers to answer questions, and because we personalize learning, the teachers will work around tricky schedules and customize assignments to accommodate their students’ interests.

In addition, our advisors work with families to make sure online courses are a good fit for their students. They consider each learner’s age, maturity, and interest-level when helping families decide. Students who choose to add Clonlara online courses to their educational plan receive the same personalized care and attention whether they are in middle or high school.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your teacher and advisor support. Is this support also offered to homeschooling parents?

April Huard: Yes! Clonlara teachers and advisors work closely with families to understand their goals and guide them on their learning journey. They get to know each student personally and make customized recommendations for learning activities, educational resources, and more.

Using Full Circle Learning, students and families discover how to create authentic, relevant, and personally challenging learning experiences. Whether they are in person, at home, or anywhere in the world, our students will have a Clonlara team working closely with their families to develop a highly personalized education plan based on their passions and interests.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

April Huard: With the sudden school closures, families were forced to consider other options that maybe they had never considered before, and they had to do it quickly without much time to plan. We did get a lot of families who were brand new to the idea of keeping their kids home for school, so that was a challenge, but we loved it.

Since COVID, people have realized that they might have more flexibility in school than they had before, and now they want that flexibility for their kids. Our Campus Program, which in the past had always adopted the more traditional 9:00 am – 3:00 pm schedule, is hybrid this year because families wanted to have their kids at home on some days each week. People are now wanting more of an a la carte education, and Clonlara can support families who have these desires, ensuring that their learning plans, documentation, and transcripts all reflect their students’ unique learning paths.

 

Junior Auxiliary of Meridian members have a right to be proud. They’re still going strong after 90 years and counting, and their accomplishments are legion. You can also see they really care about those in their community, for example children whose families struggle with covering the basic necessities of day-to-day life, the teachers who teach them in school, and so much more.

There is no doubt that JA of Meridian is a community asset. We feel this small grant recipient must be generating a lot of goodwill for its impressive record of service. Wanting to know how they do it, we put some questions to Junior Auxiliary of Meridian Executive Board Member Marie Roberts (Sponsorship and Giving), to learn more:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the founding and history of JA of Meridian? What was behind the decision to focus on the children of your community?

Marie Roberts: Junior Auxiliary of Meridian began in 1931 with a group of women who called themselves a “spinster club” and shared a common goal of wanting to help underprivileged children in our community. More than 90 years later, we’re still a group of women working toward that same goal as part of the broader National Association of Junior Auxiliaries.

Kars4Kids: What’s your demographic? What can you tell us about the children you serve?

Marie Roberts: Our chapter service projects range from meeting physical needs such as school uniforms, shoes, personal hygiene products, eye exams and prescription eyeglasses for school-aged children; ongoing mentoring relationships for at-risk middle school girls and area children living in foster care; and care bags for expectant young mothers to provide prenatal vitamins, referrals to community resources, and more. We serve children ages 0-17 or those aging out of foster care, and our demographic is directly drawn from community referrals from school counselors and administrators, social workers, other non-profits, and teachers.

Kars4Kids: We like that you include assistance to teachers, via your Teacher Mini-Grants program, as an important part of helping children learn and grow. Can you tell us about this program? We’d love to know about some of the items and projects your mini-grants have funded.

Marie Roberts: Our Teacher Mini-Grants project allows for large scale student impact and involvement without burdening teachers with a full scale research proposal and grant pitch as seen in other education funding options. Our grant application is concise and non-restrictive, and the speed of awarding allows for teachers to come up with amazing ideas they can implement within the current school year. Our community sees such great value in Mini-Grants, too, so we’ve seen great support in donations and sponsorships earmarked for this specific project. In 2022, Mini-Grants funded everything from arts integration through a school play; classroom technology in the form of stylus pens; an outdoor reading space; a STEM-station for elementary; a PA system; and new hand tools in a career and technical education classroom in a high school setting.

Kars4Kids: Helping Hands provides for necessities children from less fortunate circumstances might not otherwise have, for example eye exams, glasses, and shoes. How do families find you to get this assistance? Are they referred by an agency or the child’s school? What are the short and long term impacts of this service to the community? 

Marie Roberts: Helping Hands is a personal favorite service project of mine as I’ve served on that project committee for the longest. When a school counselor, nurse, social worker, or administrator contacts our chapter with an urgent need for a student, we are honored to meet that need and we strive to have items to them within 48 hours. That contact triggers a chain of events that has our members collecting sizes; inquiring about other children in the home who may also be in need; shopping for any situation-specific items; and delivering the items requested to the school official. In the short term, we meet an immediate, tangible need, but the long term impact is invaluable. We never know the child’s name, but we do know that a child with clean clothes, access to personal hygiene products, a warm jacket, a school uniform like that of their peers, etc. is a child who is more likely to be confidently engaged in and out of the classroom.

Kars4Kids: How about an overview of your mentoring program? Why is this program specifically for young women? Why is there a need for this type of mentorship? Do mentees ever return as mentors?

Marie Roberts: Bloom is our newest standing service project and emerged as a community need during COVID-19 with great input from our area school counselors. More and more mental health professionals report that adolescents need a safe space in which to express their thoughts and emotions, and the global pandemic negatively impacted relationships and interpersonal communication. Bloom allows for our membership to connect with young women who may benefit most from a female mentor as recommended by their school counselor. The project is in its third year, and we have doubled the number of mentor pairs with mentees. As it continues to grow, I believe our chapter would love to see these young ladies grow up to be active members of our community who express interest in joining Junior Auxiliary of Meridian to give back, too.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Crown Club. Is it a new innovation, or a program with significant history?

Marie Roberts: Crown Club is new for our chapter but has a rich history with other chapters within the national network. It is mentoring and community service-driven and aimed at high school girls as a reflection of our own experience as a chapter. It’s amazing to see these students who juggle academic, extracurricular activities, part-time jobs, and all of the things that go along with being in high school, serve our community. We are exposing the benefits of volunteerism to a younger population while also providing opportunities for character development – two aspects that many seek out in preparation for college, career, and future-focused success.

Kars4Kids: What is the Hearts for the Arts Trail and where is it located? Is participation in Hearts for the Arts limited to a certain age range? How does this program enrich the community?

Marie Roberts: Hearts for the Arts is an ongoing initiative that promotes arts awareness and involvement in the broadest sense of the word – art, photography, painting, murals, graphic design, photography, and so much more – to promote self-expression and creative outlets. As with all of our service projects, Hearts for the Arts is directly benefiting children, but the benefits are reaped by families, friends, and the greater community through public artwork; interactive murals, art and written essay contests with awards; and a World Art Day celebration that brings together art museums, artisans, musical groups, colleges and universities, and groups from the private and non-profit sectors together in celebration of the arts.

Kars4Kids: The Provisional Class Project is, according to your website, a yearly service project based on community need. Can you tell us about some of the projects that have been carried out through the years?

Marie Roberts: Our 2023 provisional class project “beYOUty shop”builds self-esteem in local 6th grade students by teaching self-care skills through a hair care workshop. In 2022, “Bump Bags” were created for young, expecting mothers to include prenatal vitamins, community resource referrals, and parenting literature. Other provisional projects include the creation of a special needs area on a community playground to include a wheelchair accessible swing, the addition of personal hygiene products as part of Helping Hands, a prom dress closet, a shoe campaign, and more.

Kars4Kids: How has the JA of Meridian moved with the times from its earliest beginnings until now?

Marie Roberts: Our earliest beginnings meant a chapter made up of women who were predominantly stay-at-home mothers. The vast majority of our membership now works outside the home. Our service and service projects have opportunities to give back to our community for both scenarios, which is one of my favorite parts about being involved with the chapter. We can choose to read to second grade classrooms during the school day, help host a cooking class on a Saturday morning for children in foster care, hop on a weekly Zoom call with a middle school girl to talk about life, shop for and deliver school uniforms and bath soap to a school nurse on a weeknight, and so much in between. With more than 3,000 hours served annually, there is a way to positively impact the lives of the underserved children in our community for everyone.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Junior Auxiliary of Meridian?

Marie Roberts: As our chapter gets back to the “new normal” of a post-COVID-19 environment, I think what is next for us is coming back stronger in service than ever before. We’re able to go into classrooms, have in-person mentoring sessions, celebrate teachers receiving mini-grants, and fundraise to support all of our work. Our 2023 theme is “Just One” as we share our stories of service with others in the hope they are inspired to uplift us, support us through sponsorships and charitable gifts at any level, and rally behind us as we aim to help “just one” more child through service.

Future Urban Leaders is in large measure, about a mindset. Children who grow up in wealthier neighborhoods have more opportunities. Their parents can afford to send them to college, and may have business connections to get their kids started on a career. In less wealthy neighborhoods, going to college is not a given. And that’s where our small grant recipient, Future Urban Leaders comes in.

At FUL, college is a given, in part, because of the mindset: there is no reason you can’t go to college, too. Once kids have a chance to consider this idea, they will begin to strive for college as an ideal and in general, follow a trajectory to success. We put some questions to Founder/Development Director Ross Romenesko to learn more about this work.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic?

Ross Romenesko: One hundred percent of our scholars and their families are black families who live in neighborhoods of the Milwaukee community, most specifically those with the 53205 and 53206 ZIP codes. These specific areas are well documented as being two of the most marginalized communities in Milwaukee County.

Kars4Kids: You refer to your participants as “scholars” rather than “students.” Can you talk about that—the distinction between the two and why you chose the former?

Ross Romenesko: Future Urban Leaders is all about empowerment of our scholars and their families. The intentional use of the word scholars gives FUL participants the confidence that they can be successful in school and beyond. It helps our kids to feel like they belong in higher learning atmospheres as much as anyone else.

Kars4Kids: Future Urban Leaders works with children as young as 4 years, all the way through high school, and as your website states, “and sometimes beyond.” How often do you continue to serve students beyond the high school years?

Ross Romenesko: We are still a young foundation and our first groups of scholars are graduating from high school and moving onto their chosen paths after graduation. Our most recent class had two scholars that went to MSOE and MIAD on full scholarships. Our upcoming class has 6 scholars that are all headed out to different colleges next year, some local and some Historically Black College and Institutions that we toured with them.

Kars4Kids: Future Urban Leaders has a program called “Leadership Apprentices.” Can you give us an overview of this program?

Ross Romenesko: Our Leadership Apprentices is our 3rd through 5th grade programming which focuses on exposing students to as many different ideas and opportunities as possible. During the school year, each grade has a different 8 week session that focuses on one of our main pillars: STEM, arts & humanities, health & wellness, leadership or college and career readiness.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the activities specific to your Leadership Fellows program? How does the focus of this program differ from your programs for younger scholars?

Ross Romenesko: All of our Leadership Fellows focus on a career and college readiness path that includes resume building, mock interviews, career soft skills, financial literacy, ACT prep, college applications and scholarships, FAFSA, an HBCU college tour and much more. As our foundation continues to grow, so does our Fellows Leadership program.

Kars4Kids: Are you offering any summer programs to prevent “summer slide?”

Ross Romenesko: Future Urban Leaders partners with a variety of local institutions to help provide summer programming to our scholars. For example, we connect and pay for scholars to go to pre-college courses at UWM, MSOE and MIAD. We also provide our summer enrichment trips like our leadership camping weekend for our high school students or our hiking day trip to Devil’s Lake for our 3rd through 8th graders.

Kars4Kids: Are the scholars referred to you by the schools? What makes a student eligible for your programs? Is there a fee to join?

Ross Romenesko: Currently most of our young scholars come from the school where I used to teach, Milwaukee College Prep-Lloyd Street. We have around 30 high school scholars who filter out into the different Milwaukee public and private high schools. We hope to expand to more schools in the future as we continue to grow as an organization. They are recommended by teachers and then interviewed by staff. Future Urban Leaders is completely free to our scholars and their families.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Future Urban Leaders?

Ross Romenesko: I founded the organization 8 years ago as a first year teacher with 12 scholars and now we have grown into an organization that serves over 150 Milwaukee youth to help them to achieve their dreams and plan for their future. We hope to continue to grow and serve as many Milwaukee families as we can for years to come.

Riveredge Nature Center understands that learning doesn’t always happen as students sit inside the classroom. To the contrary, true learning happens when lessons are interactive and the students, engaged. What better way to educate young people and their families then, than by using the natural resources at hand: local parks, woodlands, wetlands, and prairie, as well as the Milwaukee River?

The Riveredge Nature Center is making science exciting for kids and filling in where their classroom education leaves off. Not to mention that young people learn to care about conserving the natural resources in their area. If we want the next generation to see protecting the environment as a value, we need to grab their interest. It is clear to us that Riveredge Nature Center is doing just that and more which is why we lent some modest support by way of our small grant program.

We put some questions to Riveredge Nature Center Marketing and Communications Specialist Amy E. Casey:

Kars4Kids: What’s your demographic? What can you tell us about the community you serve?

Amy E. Casey: We serve learners of all ages and backgrounds, who come to us from throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. Our community is a vibrant, joyful one! Kids attend educational programs, visit Riveredge on school field trips, learn in local schools with our Scientist in Residence, experience summer camp, and have fun at seasonal events. Adult learners and whole families can get involved in our adventure programs with watersports and tree climbing, attend workshops and lectures, and participate in our conservation research and restoration.

Kars4Kids: There’s no charge to participate in your Family Nature Club. Can you tell us about the club? Are your other programs free? Do you offer scholarships?

Amy E. Casey: Family Nature Club is a series of free weekday evening offerings held at parks throughout Washington, Ozaukee, and Sheboygan Counties. Each session has a seasonal theme and is led by one of our fantastic educators. It’s a great way for local families to get outside, meet each other, and find common ground around their interest in nature. It’s also a great way to encourage families to discover all the amazing parks in our area! In addition to Family Nature Club, we have a wide spectrum of other family programs. Some of these are free, and many are under ten dollars to attend. We do offer summer camp scholarships for families in financial need.

Kars4Kids: Riveredge offers age-specific field trips for school children which your website describes as offering a “hands-on, inquiry-based, outdoor experience.” Can you give us some examples of these field trips and how they fit that description?

Amy E. Casey: There are field trips for every season! We believe children and adults learn best when they can hear, see, and touch as they are learning. In autumn, we have our Fruits of Fall field trip where students learn about apple trees and get to check out an apple cider press. In winter, students can go snowshoeing and learn to identify animal tracks. We host a program called Testing the Waters that engages high school students in testing water quality in the Milwaukee River. During maple sugaring season, schools can come see maple trees being tapped and learn how syrup is made from sap!

Kars4Kids: What are the advantages of your Homeschool Ed-Ventures program for children who are homeschooled?

Amy E. Casey: We offer enrichment to their science curriculum while offering the important opportunity to collaborate with other learners and form friendships. With our 452-acre classroom, we’re able to provide unique and hands-on experiences for students to explore the natural world alongside our talented staff of educators. It’s an amazing program that grows in complexity and challenge to make experiences exciting for every age level, starting with students as young as preschoolers all the way up to high school seniors.

 Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Scientist in Residence program. Why is this program necessary?

Amy E. Casey: The Scientist in Residence (SIR) program places our environmental educators in a local school over a five-year partnership. This educator becomes a key part of the school team and works hand-in-hand with teachers and administrators to reduce barriers to outdoor learning. The program works to increase young people’s access to the outdoors and time in nature, which is a well-researched and often overlooked component of mental and physical health. Our Scientists in Residence teach lessons, build curriculum, and collaborate with schools on groundbreaking projects, like school forests and native plants on campus. We’ve found that children who have access to the outdoors during the school day are more excited to attend school and can better focus on their academics.

Kars4Kids: Your summer camp is said to be beloved by generations of “Riveredge kids.” How long has your summer camp been in operation? How many kids do you serve annually? What activities are offered?

Amy E. Casey: Our Nature Journeys Summer Camp has been offered since 1985—this summer will be our 38^th year! At Riveredge, summer camp serves kids as young as three and as old as eighteen, with adventures that utilize our whole campus of woodlands, wetlands, and prairie, as well as off-site locations where we swim, paddle, backpack, and explore. From wildlife encounters to tubing down the Milwaukee River, from games and songs to harvesting garden vegetables, campers find all kinds of ways to celebrate nature, get muddy, and make lifelong friendships. Our current camp capacity is around 1,100 kids over the course of the summer.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your Tree Climbing program? What do children gain from the experience?

Amy E. Casey: We offer professional tree climbing experiences for kids and adults, ages seven and up. Our tree climbers speak about the way they are able to build confidence through tree climbing—it’s a direct way to set a goal and attempt to reach it. Kids feel proud when they overcome the challenge they set for themselves and realize they can do much more than they thought. Being up in the trees provides a new perspective on the world, a great full-body exercise, and a deep sense of connection with nature.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Riveredge Nature Center?

Amy E. Casey: We continue to build upon our 55-year legacy of supporting conservation through education that awakens curiosity, engages the body, and explores connection with nature. We continue to work hard to find ways to become a destination for environmental learning, and to invite new audiences in, especially those who have not historically had access to joyful experiences in the outdoors.

The Annie C. Courtney Foundation, Inc. tries to keep kids out of foster care. But for those youth already there, the foundation works hard to find them loving families. It could be kinship care or adoption, but whatever form that family takes, the goal is to help and support these vulnerable young people to succeed and grow.

We believe it is our responsibility as a society to step in and provide these children with the very basic needs and opportunities they lack. That responsibility continues, even after the most vulnerable children have aged out and the system has withdrawn its help and assistance. Our small grant program allows us to offer modest support to efforts such as those of the Annie C. Courtney Foundation, which work tirelessly to even the odds for children and youth in difficult circumstances. We put some questions to Annie C. Courtney Foundation Executive Director Deb Kelleher to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: What’s your demographic? Who are you helping?

Deb Kelleher: Founded in 2011, the mission of the Annie C. Courtney Foundation, Inc. is to support and promote positive, empowering, loving and healthy communities for vulnerable children, youth and families with the goal of preventing the need for foster care; also eliminating barriers that prevent young adults with child welfare histories from succeeding. Annie C provides foster care, kinship care, adoption, and foster care alumni support for anyone in or from Connecticut.

Close to three thousand children across the state of Connecticut are in foster care (July 2022). Some are waiting for a foster family; others for an adoptive family, or to be reconnected to kin. Over 60% of children in foster care in CT will eventually be reunified with their parents. Our staff are experts in finding families for children in foster care, with over 20 years of recruiting experience. Staff also aid in retention of licensed families through services including individual supports, support groups and trainings. Our agency leads a community collaborative for foster care, kinship care and adoption focused on finding families available to help families in need active since 2008 with members across the spectrum of foster care, adoption, children’s behavioral health and more.

As part of our continuum of services, AnnieC also provides a safe and supportive environment for young adults who have aged out of care where we help to identify individual services and support their basic needs. It is through this work that our agency has come to recognize the dire need for safe and affordable housing – with support – for young adults who find themselves “aging out” without the backing of the foster care system they were reliant on. In addition, youth whose adoptions and guardianships fail, many times find themselves alone and vulnerable long before they are ready to accept the responsibilities of adulthood and without the maturity and natural supports most of us had when we launched into adulthood.

Housing is a basic need without which our young people cannot achieve their dreams. Our New Beginnings project is a manifestation of our dream to provide housing for these vulnerable young adults. Our first house will be purchased later this year.

Kars4Kids: Who was Annie C. Courtney? What’s her story and how are you connected to her?

Deb Kelleher: Annie C. Courtney is my beloved “Gom,” my maternal grandmother. The Annie C. Courtney Foundation is named after her. Anna Caroline Gudelinis Courtney, Annie, as she was fondly called by family, friends and most especially her devoted husband, Albert, was born on May 15, 1904 and grew up in New York City. Annie was the oldest of 8 siblings. She became a teenage kinship caregiver who single-handedly raised all of her siblings after her parents passed away. She did not marry until each of her siblings were successfully launched into the world.

Despite being considered too old to be “marriageable” in the 1930s, her vibrant personality, love of life, and delightful humor attracted the attention of Albert Courtney, whom she married in 1935. She and Al proudly raised their four daughters in Astoria, Queens, where she lived till she passed away in 1994. Annie strongly believed that after God and faith, raising a healthy, happy family is the most important work anyone can do.

I was her oldest grandchild and I spent many happy hours in her company. She taught me how to dance by allowing me to dance on top of her feet. She taught me all kinds of card games – which she rarely lost!

Beloved and adored by all thirteen of her grandchildren for her incredible sense of humor and fun, kindness, protectiveness and unfailingly positive outlook, “Gom” was every grandchild’s hero.  She became a great grandmother before her death, to six great-grandchildren. Annie was a force to be reckoned with despite her diminutive size. My dad, who was 6’4” lived in fear of her wrath. She rarely lost an argument! She will forever be missed!

Kars4Kids: You co-founded the foundation with Sue Plowman in 2011. What was your motivation for starting the foundation?

Deb Kelleher: Sue and I saw a need and we had a dream. We knew that as adoptive parents who had a lot of experience with the foster care system – between us we were licensed for over 15 years – we saw things from a different perspective than social workers did and we wanted to build an organization reflective of the experiences of families like us who had fostered and adopted.

Kars4Kids: You’re scouting out a place to build an intentional neighboring community. What’s that and why is it important for those you serve?

Deb Kelleher: The Annie C. Courtney Foundation has a vision that every person, no matter their life circumstances, needs and deserves caring relationships. In fact, research confirms that individuals will thrive if they feel a sense of connectedness.  Our innovative vision for youth, both those aging out of foster care and homeless youth aged 18-24, is that they live in an interdependent, purposeful community called an Intentional Neighboring Community (INC.)

At INC, active senior citizens who share a common purpose reside in community with the youth. A common purpose – the well-being and success of the youth residing in the community – connects them. The youth benefit from a community of caring adults providing them with the sense of family absent in their lives and the elders find real purpose and meaning in their everyday lives through giving their time and talents to the youth within the community.  The fabric of our INC is wholly dependent on the residents developing a sense of extended family within the community. Social service supports, also present, become the second line of defense, as problem-solving shifts from professionals to a dense web of natural, community support.

We see our INC as a space where older adults support youth in community and in turn, the youth promote the elders’ wellbeing as they age in community. Aged-out foster youth/homeless youth benefit from a community of caring adults who will provide them with a sense of family absent in their lives and elders find real purpose and meaning in their everyday lives through giving their time and talents within the community.  The fabric of an Intentional Neighboring Community (INC) is wholly dependent on each of these constituents developing a sense of extended family within the community. It is an exciting concept that has been brought to life in other states and we dream of a time where Connecticut will have its own INC.

Kars4Kids: How are you helping kids who have aged out of the system?

Deb Kelleher: Through the New Beginnings project, Annie C. Courtney Foundation plans on purchasing multifamily homes in the Naugatuck River Valley. Apartments will be rented exclusively to young adults with HUD’s Foster Youth to Independence vouchers or other entitlements providing up to three years of housing stability. What makes us unique is our desire to identify and provide robust services and supports necessary for these young adults to experience success. The FYI vouchers require that we provide housing meeting HUD requirements as well as providing brief case management and referral services to residents to assist with stability. Our pledge is to do more than meet the minimum requirements for our youth.

We want young people to thrive. To achieve that goal, we believe that is essential to provide the building blocks and enduring opportunities to develop sustainable, long-lasting relationships. New Beginnings will eventually purchase multiple homes in close proximity, creating a safe, supportive neighborhood for our residents to form a local support network of young adults with similar lived experiences.

One of the homes will include a common area for get-togethers, meetings, and trainings – i.e. cooking lessons, financial literacy training, etc. To be sure we are on the right track, we have deliberately chosen former foster youth as members of our Board of Directors so that they can guide the work from the perspective of folks with lived experience.

Kars4Kids: These days it seems a lot of grandparents are raising their grandchildren. What are some of the challenges involved with grandparents serving as parents?

Deb Kelleher: Wow, where do I begin? I’ll talk about a few of the most common challenges. Every relative who comes forward to raise another relative’s child faces an initial challenge of redefining their relationship to both the children and their parents. Regarding the children, they have typically moved from a fun relationship to a relationship where they bear the same responsibilities as any parent.

Navigating the changes to their relationship with the parents is often really tricky. Parents can be angry, they can feel like the grandparent is trying to take their place and sometimes see them as another impediment to their relationships with their children. Kinship caregivers, as we call them, need a lot of support with this. Finances are also often a big challenge to older grandparents. If they’ve retired, many times they are on a fixed income and providing for the kids can be daunting and sometimes downright overwhelming.

We also need to acknowledge how emotionally fraught this is for grandparents, especially. Their own children are not able to raise their children. Many of them feel guilty and angry and terribly sad. These feelings are compounded every time the children feel bad, also. This is where robust support groups of other folks in similar circumstances is so important. These support groups are places where the kinship caregiver knows there are others in the same boat who will not judge.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe for us the “perfect” foster parent? What do you look for in placing a child with a foster parent?

Deb Kelleher: There is no such thing as the perfect foster parent, we always say. Every child needs something a little different so different people are a good fit for different kids. Universally, though, foster parents should be non-judgmental, patient, kind and loving, and having a good sense of humor is a must! They must have the dedication and the time to fit a young person into their lives and make them feel welcome.

The best foster parents are also willing to be a resource for children’s families and want to fold them into their hearts and their lives. Many of our kids are from families with multiple generations involved with child welfare so their parents may have also experienced less than adequate parenting. Our foster families often don’t just change a child’s life they change entire families’ lives.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Deb Kelleher: Well, of course, most of our contact with folks became virtual. Zoom became my best friend! We had to eliminate all in-person support and training. But, through all of this, we learned a lot.

We found that virtual trainings often worked out better for folks with young children because they could still attend when they had no babysitters. We found that folks exploring foster care and adoption – just wanting to attend an initial meeting to see if this was something they could commit to, preferred virtual meetings and attendance rose dramatically. We do miss our families and plan to increase the number of in-person events this spring and over the summer!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Annie C. Courtney Foundation, Inc.?

Deb Kelleher: What’s next? We want to place a much stronger emphasis on our New Beginnings housing program and we are hoping to open a used book store where we will be able to teach teens and young adults vocational skills while we support our programs.

MakerGirl believes that girls can excel in STEM and use these skills toward a brighter future. But first you have to excite their interest in STEM. To that end, MakerGirl has set up a three-level program that imparts STEM knowledge to girls early on—before they lose interest in STEM, as too many girls, do.

It is nearly impossible today to compete in the workplace without a good grounding in STEM skills. Our small grant award-winner MakerGirl awakens girls to the magic of STEM, setting them on the path to success in high tech and other careers involving STEM. We put some questions to MakerGirl Manager of Programs and Events Madeline (Maddie) Brown to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: We usually begin our small grant interviews asking about the grantee’s demographic. But when it comes to MakerGirl, we found that you serve girls from every sector—so we’re going to work backward, by asking about your summer program, MakerGirl Goes Mobile. What is the idea behind this program? Who benefits?

Maddie Brown: The goal of MakerGirl Goes Mobile is to reach every area of the United States. Whether it’s a small town or urban city, we want every girl to have access to STEM education and resources. This summer 2023 we will be running our 5^th MakerGirl Goes Mobile tour, focusing on the Midwest and Great Plains regions.

Kars4Kids: Who founded MakerGirl, and why?

Maddie Brown: MakerGirl was co-founded by Elizabeth Engele and Julia Haried Flesher when they were undergrad students at the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. In an entrepreneurship course their professor asked the question, “What bothers you?” This question sparked the idea for MakerGirl to inspire young girls to grow up to be strong and confident leaders in whatever career they may choose. The professor of that undergrad class, Noah Isserman, continues to be an incredible advocate at MakerGirl and serves on our co-founders on the MakerGirl board of directors, today.

Kars4Kids: MakerGirl offers three levels of programming. Some of these levels overlap in terms of age range. It makes us curious, what went into the decision to break things up into three levels, and how did you set the age range for each of the three?

Maddie Brown: When MakerGirl started out, Julia and Elizabeth determined the target audience for Level 1 sessions as they found through research that girls start saying “No” to STEM around age 11. We aim to provide a safe, girl-centric environment to be exposed to and excited about STEM at an early age before girls might think “STEM is not for me.” Our philosophy is that when girls have female role models or mentors, they will feel more confident in saying “Yes” to future challenges! Our Level 1 Future Makers curriculum works best in the 7-10 age range, where the skills are an appropriate blend of challenging but basic, with an emphasis on FUN! We wanted to continue to expand the pipeline MakerGirl has established to go beyond the initial age range of 7-10, to create specialized levels of programming for girls from ages 11-14 and 15-22. This means that a girl can enter MakerGirl’s programs at age 7 and grow with MakerGirl all the way to becoming a university volunteer. With the introduction of the newest level of curriculum, the Inventive Minds and Project Engineers we will lead MakerGirl towards its three goals: educating 10,000 girls, establishing 10 MakerGirl Academies, and maintaining girls’ commitment to STEM involvement throughout their entire lives by the end of 2025. We have found that students of all ages (even our staff!) enjoy playing around with our Level 1 Future Makers activities!

Kars4Kids: Let’s talk about the three levels of programming you offer. Level 1 is for younger girls, right? Can you give us an overview of Future Makers? What, for instance, is Tinkercad?

Maddie Brown: Level 1 Future Makers is all about three major parts: 1) introduction to 3D printing 2) learning how to use basic CAD design skills and 3) learning about famous women in STEM and sharing about the students’ designs. TinkerCAD is an online educational and kid-friendly design tool that gives students use their imagination to design without limits!

Kars4Kids: It looks like the virtual sessions are shorter than in-person sessions. Can you explain? Is it a time management thing?

Maddie Brown: When we are running an in-person session we like to have plenty of time to welcome the students into the space at the beginning of class, show them around 3D Printers and interact more closely with the technology, and allow time for parents to join in for the last 15 minutes of show and tell! We try to maintain as much of this as possible in a virtual setting, but it typically takes less time due to the nature of doing demonstrations and show-and-tell via Zoom. In virtual sessions, we give our students up to 24 hours to keep working in the TinkerCAD classroom after the session ends, so students actually have more time to practice and perfect their design.

Kars4Kids: Okay, on to Level 2, Inventive Minds. Can you describe it for us? Does it build on the skills learned in Future Makers?

Maddie Brown: Our level 2 offering, Inventive Minds, is a five-session project-based course that is approximately 90 minutes in duration per session. We teach MakerGirls the importance of articulation and iteration when discussing ideas and concepts while going through the engineering design process. They build upon their CAD skills by designing and creating their very own Game Board, including designing a theme, game rules, and 3D printing game components using TinkerCAD!

Kars4Kids: Reading the description of Level 3 Project Engineers left us impressed that it really is next level, so to speak. It’s like lift-off: they’re ready to be entrepreneurs—even if they are still in school. But what happens after the girls turn 14? How will they stay motivated to continue to use the skills they learned?

Maddie Brown: After students graduate from Level 3 Project Engineers, we strive to foster STEM knowledge and growth as a lifelong pursuit. That’s why we offer high school and college students the opportunity to join MakerGirl as ChangeMakers – our student volunteers! ChangeMakers run all our Level 1 Future Makers sessions. We love seeing our MakerGirls grow up passionate about giving back to younger generations. ChangeMakers are given unique professional development opportunities to work on MakerGirl special projects; learn the ins and outs of running a nonprofit organization; participate in Q&A sessions with sponsors and corporate partners; go on the trip of a lifetime with MakerGirl Goes Mobile; or even join our team as a part-time intern! Many of our ChangeMaker alumni credit their experience with MakerGirl as a key step in their career path.

Kars4Kids: MakerGirl has a great website, and that makes sense, because you teach design. It’s a great way to showcase what girls can do. Was that part of your thinking in creating the website? Did you design it in-house, perhaps?

Maddie Brown: Our ChangeMakers (high school and university students) who teach our sessions are major contributors to our website. We have had many ChangeMakers take on the website as a volunteer project, this allows them to learn website design and help best showcase our programs, mission, and our impact to our supporters. This has allowed us to further our dual purpose of not only impacting the young MakerGirls (7-14 years old) but also the ChangeMakers (15-22 years old).

Kars4Kids: What’s next for MakerGirl?

Maddie Brown: MakerGirl’s big goals for 2023 include successfully running our 5^th MakerGirl Goes Mobile trip, running more in-person sessions with our University of Illinois and Illinois Wesleyan University MakerGirl Academies, and educating 1,000+ girls this year! We are always looking for ways to expand our programs, add new curriculum, and grow our team!

The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer (AHF) was born in the wake of one family’s grief as a meaningful way to remember an infant son lost to cancer. The foundation’s one-of-a-kind pediatric cancer center is laser-focused on the psychosocial and cognitive effects of cancer on child sufferers and their families. Those of us on the outside looking in, may not know that cancer treatments, and cancer itself, can cause deficits that impact learning. Such deficits may affect a child’s academic work even years after cancer is only, hopefully, but a memory.

The Austin Hatcher Foundation can evaluate children and offer them therapies that can improve academic performance. But AHF, our latest small grant recipient, is also holistic, providing far more than testing and help with cognitive issues. AHF offers counseling for the whole family, along with abundant recreational activities. That’s important, because when a child has cancer, the effects are felt by all those connected to them.

We put some questions to Austin Hatcher Foundation Marketing Coordinator Shayna Webb:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us the story behind the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer? Who was Austin Hatcher and what was the impetus for establishing the foundation?

Shayna Webb: The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer was formed in December 2006 by Jim and Amy Jo Osborn. On October 19, 2006, Jim and Amy Jo’s son, Austin Hatcher (“Hatch”) Osborn, at 11 weeks old, took his last breath. Hatch was diagnosed only 11 days earlier with a very rare and aggressive form of brain and spinal tumors. Ironically, even prior to Hatch’s diagnosis, the Osborns had a passion for supporting children’s cancer organizations through the motorsports industry and Jim’s race team. With a clinical understanding, a business mindset, and a desire to keep Hatch’s name alive, Jim and Amy Jo formed the Austin Hatcher Foundation to fill the unmet service needs of children suffering from cancer and their families, from the moment the child is diagnosed and then throughout their lifetime, helping them to thrive while living with pediatric cancer.

The Foundation began with a vision and mission: Jim and Amy Jo fundraised to open the nation’s only psychosocial, evidence-based, “whatever-it-takes-for-families-to-thrive” pediatric cancer center.

Within 15 years, the Foundation has grown over 1600 percent and gradually moved from 2,500 square feet of office space beginning in 2009, to now 33,000 square feet. More than $4.7 million in services are provided annually to children with cancer and their families at no cost to them.

Kars4Kids: Aside from missing school for treatments and needing help to keep up with their studies, what other types of issues get in the way of academic success for pediatric cancer patients and survivors?

Shayna Webb: Academic success for pediatric cancer survivors is often impacted by what is commonly classified as “late effects” of treatment. These late effects are typically correlated with the medication that is required to treat the cancer. Specifically, chemotherapy has not only an impact during treatment (“chemo brain”), but also has an impact that sometimes does not surface until later. The cognitive impact which adversely impacts success in academics includes deficits in attention, working memory, short-term and long term memory, multitasking, flexible thinking, self-control, visual perceptual deficits, as well as anxiety. There is not a textbook example because the impact on pediatric cancer survivors varies, some survivors have little or no remaining deficits and some survivors have all of the symptoms. Often, as a result of the changes that are reported after treatment being so gradual, the individual may not realize that their symptoms are even a result of the cancer treatments. Survivors report that they lose confidence and have increased anxiety, which often results in decreased participation in academic endeavors and ultimately decreased opportunity to learn and excel as they did prior their cancer diagnosis.

Kars4Kids: Why do pediatric cancer patients and survivors experience cognitive dysfunction? What does this dysfunction look like?

Shayna Webb: Due to young age at diagnosis and associated treatments, the National Cancer Institute (NIH) reports that approximately 70% of pediatric cancer survivors suffer serious long-term effects. Similarly, 40% to 100% of all pediatric cancer survivors experience neuropsychological dysfunction due to the toxic nature of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Caregivers are also impacted by the child’s disease through impacts on their work or job life and increased susceptibility to post-traumatic stress disorder, financial burdens, etc. Siblings often report increased feelings of anxiety, frustration, and isolation leading to behavioral and academic issues.

Some late effects from common treatments of pediatric cancer include slowed cognitive processing speed and reduced working memory function.Kars4Kids: How have improved survival rates for pediatric cancer patients changed the way their families direct their energies?

Shayna Webb: Due to improved survival rates, families are now able to move through the treatment journey with more hope than ever. They can be focused on long-term planning for their child. For example, continued school participation (even if it is modified to homebound learning), future career and fertility or family planning is also something families engage in with their children. The Austin Hatcher Foundation helps families transition from being focused on the difficulties of the childhood cancer journey to those things they need to best support their burgeoning young adult, whose needs and resources are naturally evolving.

Kars4Kids: One of the services provided by the Austin Hatcher Foundation is neuropsychological testing. Can you give us an overview? What do these tests measure, exactly?

Shayna Webb: Neuropsychological testing is a comprehensive evaluation of the patient’s brain function or cognitive status by specific neurological domains. This combination of assessments and tests measures cognitive abilities such as IQ, attention, learning & memory, language, academic skills and psychosocial function. The testing provides a comprehensive, detailed assessment of a person’s ability to encode, process, store and express information. Interpreting the various test results allows strengths and weaknesses to be uncovered. From the evaluation done by AHF’s licensed psychologists and clinicians, recommendations are made for optimizing learning and functioning.

Kars4Kids: What types of therapies do you offer to help kids regain or improve function? How do they help?

Shayna Webb: The experience of childhood cancer goes beyond diagnosis and affects every family member differently. Each family needs unique solutions to the individual challenges they face.

The foundation’s Education Advancement Center houses a variety of evidence-based programs to address each child’s and family members’ needs, including:

• Neuropsychological Testing (explained in previous question)
• Behavioral Health: Assessment & Intervention (Individual, Trauma, Grief, Marriage and Family Counseling, CogMed, PCIT- Parent Child Interaction Therapy, Behavioral Modification and Career Counseling)
• Occupational Therapy (Improves Physical Abilities, Sensory Deficits, Visual Perceptual Skills, Independence, Developmental Delays and Cognitive Function)
• Art + Music Therapy (Enhance Emotional and Physical Function)
• Family Programming (Day Camps, Parent Events and Sibling Events)
• Sibling Support (One-On-One Counseling, Enrichment and More)
• Academic Support (IEP/504 Plan, Tutoring and Virtual Learning)
• Industrial Arts (Shop Class – Treat and improve behavioral, memory and learning deficits)

All of these programs are offered to families for free with the goal of helping them cope in the present and thrive in the future after a pediatric cancer diagnosis.

Kars4Kids: We’d love to hear about your STEAM club and pop-up activities. How does this work? Can you give us some examples of the activities you offer?

Shayna Webb: Diversionary therapy, or the use of recreation or play as an addition to treatment, is often used to treat families who are facing a childhood cancer diagnosis. One area of Diversionary Therapy that is explored here at AHF is STEAM activities! STEAM activities are provided for affected patients and their siblings as a part of their visit to AHF. Activities follow a theme and records are kept to ensure that visitors are following a curriculum and achieving mastery of standards. We also do quarterly STEAM Clubs, all with a different theme. For example, our current STEAM Club is all about engineering, with a focus on robotics. Our last STEAM Club was geology focused, and the kids got to do a variety of activities, including planting and maintaining a garden, a dirt lab, learning about the rock cycle, doing a volcano kit and more!

Kars4Kids: In addition to the aforementioned services, you also offer counseling to the families. What are some of the issues that affect the families? What helps them most?

Shayna Webb: At AHF, we have a full time Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Susan Latta, who has over 35 years of counseling experience, with a specialty in grief. She not only leads our grief groups and grief camps, but also does individual, marriage, and family counseling. She shares the following:

“Anytime that a parent (family) receives the news that their child has been diagnosed with a form of pediatric cancer, panic of the unknown typically sets in. For families, there are many unknowns which often create a sense of powerlessness and anxiety. Parents are now having to look at how to manage a child in the hospital in active treatment (sometimes staying months) and having to figure out how to care for their other kids. Other family members or friends may need to step in to help with the care of the siblings and help to run the house while a parent is staying at the hospital navigating all of the treatments and decisions that are needed to be made for their child diagnosed with cancer. Exhaustion and multiple other feelings of the unknown are often the result of such a diagnosis.

“In addition, there is often a strain with the siblings who are left at home as their routine has been disrupted; they are missing the parent at the hospital, as well as the sibling receiving treatment. Siblings often will share how they feel ‘forgotten’ because their brother or sister has cancer and there is a huge focus on their sibling with cancer and not on them. Mom and dad may miss some of their important school, sports or other events that they typically attended prior to the diagnosis. Normalizing and validating the multitude of feelings is so vital when this happens. Being aware of the strain for the parents as well as the kids at home and the child with the cancer diagnosis can be very helpful.

“For friends and family that would like to help, providing a meal (create a meal train for the family), cleaning the house, doing laundry, taking the siblings to their school events, creating some special times for the kids at home with an activity may all be helpful in showing the family that you care. Doing something for the family may help alleviate a small piece of the stress and strain on the parents as well as the kids at home. Another gift that you can give the family is to be available to listen and provide a safe place for them to talk if they desire. Ask the parent what they need. Being present and mindful of the stress and strain on this family is a huge gift to families in this situation.”

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Shayna Webb: Initially, we went home and looked at how we were going to manage (as did the rest of the world), but our patients still needed help—so we started looking at opportunities to connect with patients. We began pursuing opportunities for therapy via telehealth, which offered virtual support to our clients. Family programming was very dynamic and provided resources to families by delivering activity packages to their home. The packages had art projects and engaging learning activities to help engage children during a difficult time. We hosted a virtual camp; we had guests who participated throughout the camp such as history teachers, fitness specialists, dance instructors, art instructors and more, to ensure that the camp was dynamic and provided positive and rewarding opportunities for our clients and their siblings.

We had just acquired the new 33,000 sq. ft. Holtzclaw location prior to the pandemic. Utilizing precautions, a small crew of us (led by Amy Jo) began the move in process. We assembled furniture, moved equipment from our previous location and even brainstormed about interventions all while maintaining social distancing. Once we had moved in, the large space we had acquired afforded us the opportunity to provide intervention while employing social distance and we began seeing patients in person. Of course many individuals were very concerned about bringing their children to a public location so we also continued to complete sessions via telehealth.

Although it was a very difficult season, we did realize that we could help families in more ways than we had ever considered; technology was definitely our friend. We continue to utilize our technology in more advantageous ways secondary to lessons learned during the pandemic. We now are able to maintain connections with families when they are in the hospital or during illness when they need a connection – we now can meet them where they are.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Austin Hatcher Foundation? Is expansion in your future? Are there other services you hope to someday offer?

Shayna Webb: We want to keep growing! The need for the Foundation’s services continues to grow as more and more people are made aware of the invaluable support AHF provides. Thus, the Foundation must continue to grow. One of AHF’s strategic priorities is Grow/Expand which focuses on growing our reach and impact and includes growing annual revenue to ensure short and long-term sustainability. We hope to expand into more cities, and grow our impact to help fulfill our vision: for every child diagnosed with cancer, and their family, to reach their full potential.

Boston Partners in Education  is determined to fill in the gaps in achievement and educational opportunities for Boston Public School students. For younger children, providing mentorship and extra help with their studies is crucial: it has long been known that children who aren’t fluently reading and writing by the end of third grade are less likely to succeed in the classroom. Meanwhile, older children could benefit from added motivation and academic support as they work towards high school graduation and prepare for post-secondary success.

Our latest small grant recipient is dedicated to providing all of these students academic mentorship to increase the amount of individual attention students receive during the school day. It takes a lot of creativity to make that happen. Sometimes BPIE mentorship takes place in the classroom, and sometimes on a 1:1 basis. But no matter where and how its academic mentorship takes place, Boston Partners in Education is as its name describes: a partner in the process of ensuring that all students have the same opportunities, no matter where they live. We put some questions to Boston Partners in Education Executive Director Erin McGrath to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the kids you serve? What’s your demographic?

Erin McGrath: We exclusively work with students in the Boston Public Schools, providing volunteer academic mentors to any BPS student who is nominated by their teacher. The ages range from as young as pre-K all the way up to high school. The majority of students in the Boston schools identify as Latinx or Black – about 75%, and about 70% are low-income. By bringing caring adults into their classrooms to support their schoolwork, we hope to close the opportunity gaps that these children face and to help them succeed in school and beyond.

Kars4Kids: How many mentors and kids are you working with? The mentors work inside classrooms? Are they working with more than one student?

Erin McGrath: At the moment we have 280 volunteer mentors working with nearly 800 students, and we will continue to match mentors and students through March. Over 150 of those matches are happening in classrooms during the school day, and the number of students they work with depends on the match—some are paired 1:1, while others are supporting small groups, or, in the case of Motivate, entire classrooms. We also have just under a hundred Independent Learning Support matches—those folks work one-on-one, virtually. So they’re meeting after school and weekends, online. Our goal for this school year is to serve a total of 1,100 students in 500 matches, with the bulk of those matches being one-on-one or small groups.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your “Motivate” program? This is for the youngest group of participants, correct? How old are they, exactly?

Erin McGrath: The Motivate program is designed to support our pre-K, kindergarten, and first and second grade classrooms, so the students range from about 4-8 years old. Unlike our other programs, the volunteers are working with the entire class, helping to run activities and ease transitions so that teachers can focus on specific students. The idea is that during those developmental stages, the ability to be flexible and support whichever child or children need it the most may have more impact than working with specific children each week. The volunteers work in the class for at least one hour per week, though some may be able to give more time.

Kars4Kids: Your Accelerate program is next up, for Kindergarten through 8^th grade. Are some kids in both the “Motivate” and “Accelerate” programs? What’s the focus here?

Erin McGrath: It’s certainly possible for children to be in a classroom that has a Motivate mentor, while also being nominated for the more specific support that Accelerate provides. In the Accelerate program, students are identified by their teachers as needing very specific extra academic or social-emotional support. We find adults who are able to work with them in the classroom for at least an hour per week, reinforcing the skills they need to be successful in ELA or math. The students may work with a mentor one-on-one, or the teacher might identify a small group of students with similar needs. For example, I myself volunteer in a first grade classroom during their Thursday phonics block. I come in, listen to the lesson for the day, and then work with my two students to both complete their daily assignments and to reinforce concepts they might need a little extra help with, whether that is letter recognition, spelling tricky words, or fluent reading.

Kars4Kids: Aim High is for high school students, correct? Presumably, part of this program is to inspire kids to go on to college and to prepare them for this next stage of their studies? How does it work?

Erin McGrath: Yes, Aim High is designed to support students in grades 9-12, one-on-one or in a small group in humanities or science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects. Since Aim High provides personalized support to students, the goal of each match varies based on what the students want to focus on. Generally, Aim High matches support students working toward reaching graduation—mentors are helping the students close gaps in their skills and knowledge so that they are able to succeed in their studies. However, we also have many examples of Aim High students becoming inspired to consider and attend college thanks to their work with mentors.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about “Big Cheese.” What is this program and how does it work?

Erin McGrath: Big Cheese is a combination program and fundraising initiative for Boston Partners in Education. We bring corporate and community leaders to middle and high school classrooms to engage with students in conversation about their careers, the paths they took to get to them, and how their time in school impacted their lives today. The idea is to open up career possibilities for students, but it’s also about increasing the number of connections and resources they have available. We encourage our speakers to make genuine offers of support to students, which may range from a willingness to engage further 1:1 to an internship. We encourage companies and individuals involved with the initiative to sponsor our work.

Kars4Kids: Why do teachers need help teaching their students? Is it about the ratio of teachers to students? Something else?

Erin McGrath: I would frame it a bit differently. Our academic mentors are there to help students fully access the education their schools and teachers are providing. All people, whether children or adults, learn in different ways. One student may perform really well after listening to a lecture, while another may need to have direct, practical experience of a concept. Teachers are trained to differentiate instruction and provide different modes of learning, of course, but that can be difficult to do in a single lesson. Academic mentors provide additional adults in the classroom to help that differentiation happen in real time. They can show a concept the teacher just spoke about, or walk through a math problem step by step. This helps that student or group of students directly, and also allows the teacher to focus on other students in the classroom.

Kars4Kids: Do you train your volunteers? How does it work?

Erin McGrath: After being screened by staff, our academic mentors complete training for the age group they’ll be working with and in the principles of effective mentoring, along with a CORI/SORI background check, before entering the classroom. The training is offered online and is very interactive. Throughout the year we also offer Mentor Development Sessions. These are more focused training and learning opportunities—for example, we offered one in the fall that focused around the bussing era in Boston and the impacts it has on children today, and in the spring we’ll be hosting a session on youth mental health. These sessions allow us to have frequent touchpoints with our mentors, in addition to providing opportunities for them to continue their learning and growth.

Kars4Kids: How did you weather the pandemic? Was your Independent Learning Support program born of the pandemic? How does it work?

Erin McGrath: In response to the COVID-19 public health crisis, Boston Partners quickly pivoted our academic mentoring programs to support remote learning. In fall 2020, we launched our Virtual In-Class model, which pushed our existing academic mentoring programs into virtual classrooms.

In November 2020, we launched our new Independent Learning Support (ILS) remote academic mentoring model. ILS was rapidly developed to support remote learning in the 2020-2021 school year by matching students with academic mentors outside of their regular online “classroom” instruction time, in an online space managed by Boston Partners.

Unlike our traditional programming, ILS relies on BPS parents to nominate their children for support (and for students to nominate themselves), rather than relying on BPS teachers for nominations. ILS takes place outside of regular instruction time, providing more flexibility to students and families.

In the 2021-2022 school year, ILS broke out from our traditional programming and launched as an independent online program to support students outside of school time.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Boston Partners in Education?

Erin McGrath: We are in the middle of strategic planning, so this is a great question. In the next three years, we are working to deepen our relationships with our school partners, with our academic mentors, and with our generous supporters. We hope to increase our ability to support youth, particularly those of historically marginalized identities, by increasing the number of mentors who work with us and by retaining those caring adults for as long as we can.

A large part of this strategic plan also focuses on our increased commitment to equity. Advancing equity has always been fundamental to Boston Partners in Education’s mission, but we knew that it was important to be more intentional about our approach. The changing needs of Boston’s public school students, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, meant that we needed to refocus and refine our equity efforts. We’re about to complete a comprehensive Transparency Report which details the concrete action steps we’ll focus on addressing in the 2022-23 fiscal year to continue building a more inclusive, representative Boston Partners in Education.

Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) believes that any student who wants to go to college can do so. That belief goes hand in hand with the idea that a college degree, in particular for students living in underserved communities, is the only way to break the cycle of poverty. The conundrum then is how to get these kids into college when the schools they attend are inadequate for this purpose, neither motivating nor educating students toward a higher education. BTGB works hard to overcome these obstacles and deficits by offering a continuum of learning opportunities and extra support to those it serves.

The mission of Breakthrough Greater Boston is one we share. We also believe that giving kids the tools they need to succeed is a communal responsibility. It is our hope that our modest small grant award will help to propel BTBG participants to a more prosperous and productive future. We put some questions to Breakthrough Greater Boston Development Associate Shannon Farrell to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about the kids you serve. What’s your demographic?

Shannon Farrell: Starting in 7^th grade, Breakthrough Greater Boston (BTGB) serves students across Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville who have high potential and are committed to going to college, and who simultaneously face disproportionate barriers on their educational journey. Of our nearly 700 7th-12th grade students, 93% are students of color, 83% are from low-income families, 68% will be the first in their families to graduate college, and 42% speak a language other than English at home. From 7^th-12^th grade at Breakthrough, students dedicate, on average, an additional 1,800 hours towards their education, closing opportunity gaps and propelling them to college.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your Students Teaching Students model?

Shannon Farrell: BTGB is a unique organization with a dual mission. Alongside supporting underserved students on their paths to and through college, BTGB builds careers in education through a Teacher Training Program for college-aged students that features competitive national recruitment, research-based training, and daily coaching from master teachers.

BTGB’s Teacher Training Program recruits, inspires, and trains diverse cohorts of high-achieving college students to teach in our summer and after-school programs, where Teaching Fellows gain over 500 hours of training, mentorship, professional development, and classroom experience that catalyzes future education careers. With intensive training and ongoing guidance from professional educators, our Teaching Fellows build critical career skills as they implement curricula, plan daily lessons, manage student behavior, and commit their time to helping younger students follow in their footsteps on the road to college.

BTGB aims to advance educational equity for generations to come by developing the next generation of teachers. Research from the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that Black students are 13% more likely to complete high school and begin college if they have had one Black teacher in elementary school and 32% more likely if they have had more than one. To this end, BTGB intentionally recruits college students from diverse backgrounds that align with our students’, and this Students Teaching Students model creates collaborative mentorship and near-peer relationships that inspire both students and teachers to succeed.

Kars4Kids: Students who want to apply to BTGB must do so in 6^th grade, begin the program in 7^th grade, and commit to staying in the program for at least 6 years. What makes kids ready for your program in 7^th grade? Why at that point in their studies and/or their development?

Shannon Farrell: At BTGB, we know that young people across the US do not have equal opportunity to attend college: low-income students, students of color, and first-generation college students face unique barriers on the path to and through college. Only 76% of America’s low-income youth can expect to graduate from high school; 61% can expect to enroll in college; and a mere 14% can expect to earn a bachelor’s degree.

Research suggests that students need to be on track for college—achieving academically, demonstrating good study habits, and developing positive relationships—by 8th grade if they are to be successful in college. To provide this necessary early intervention, BTGB first engages students in the summer before 7th grade to start inspiring a love of learning, closing skill gaps, encouraging self-advocacy, and illuminating the path to college.

Kars4Kids: Breakthrough intentionally builds life skills through four key social emotional competencies. Can you flesh that out for us?

Shannon Farrell: BTGB is dedicated to providing “whole child” support and providing social emotional learning (SEL) opportunities. Knowing that life success is not limited to academic mastery, BTGB intentionally builds life skills through the four key social emotional competencies of community membership, effective communication, creative problem solving, and persistence.

We assess student social emotional skills and weave opportunities for SEL into all aspects of programming by fostering a safe and supportive community, as well as deep family engagement, use of daily advisory sessions and restorative justice circles, and tailored supports through group interventions and licensed mental health counselors. To celebrate student successes, during the summer program’s daily community meetings, students receive “shout-outs” and “spirit sticks” for showing exemplary community spirit in the areas of community membership, effective communication, creative problem solving, and persistence.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your school year program for middle schoolers.

Shannon Farrell: During the school year, 7th and 8th grade students attend the Middle School After School Program (MSASP) one day per week, which offers homework advisory time, hands-on STEAM workshops, social emotional learning (SEL) resources, and community building.

Students have dedicated time to complete their homework, which is also a time for us to reinforce good study skills and to provide targeted academic support. Students also get time to build community and social emotional skills with their Breakthrough peers and teachers, including community meetings to celebrate student learning and community values.

Additionally, students receive BTGB’s Full STEAM Ahead curriculum, centering on Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math through fun and engaging hands-on workshops. Current workshops include making butter, density columns, borax bouncy balls, catapults, rockets, and more. For example, in one engineering workshop, students will build a ‘robot’ hand using straws and string to mimic the structure of bones and ligaments/tendons. Then, they refine their designs so that their ‘hands’ will be able to pick up a variety of objects!

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your middle school summer program? Why do kids need a summer program? Don’t kids need time to just kick back and have fun?

Shannon Farrell: According to research from John Hopkins University, unequal access to summer learning accounts for two-thirds of the opportunity gap between students of color, low-income students, and their more-resourced peers. Students who do not engage in summer academic programming typically regress by an average of two months each summer.

Our six-week Middle School Summer Program is the centerpiece of a student’s Breakthrough experience. 7^th-9^th grade students combat summer learning loss by attending core academic classes including English Language Arts, math, science, and social studies, plus benefit from individualized mentoring, community building, social emotional learning, and time to engage with their college-going peers. BTGB boasts an average class size of 8-10 students.

At BTGB, we aim to combine the best parts of school with the best parts of summer camp. Not only do students participate in core academic classes, but students also get to enjoy daily clubs like sports, daily small-group advisory sessions, and daily high-energy community meetings that celebrate students’ academic successes, shout-out students who practice core community values, and build community culture through fun skits and activities. On Fridays, the Breakthrough community comes together for special activities like Math Olympics, Career Day, and more. For example, on Unity Day, the Breakthrough community gathers to discuss what it means to have a community made of diverse identities and perspectives. Every activity during Unity Day is predicated on respecting, supporting, and listening to one another. For instance, students complete “Identity Wheels,” reflecting on their racial, gender, religious, national, and other identities, and what role these identities play in students’ lives.

In their third BTGB Summer Program, rising 9th grade students participate in a special program called Leadership Academy, designed to ensure a successful transition to high school. In addition to core academic courses, the key components of Leadership Academy include opportunities to take on leadership roles within the Summer Program, college and career exploration, and high school preparation.

For all students, BTGB’s curriculum is designed to celebrate diverse perspectives and cultural backgrounds. Literature selections feature authors and characters reflecting the diverse backgrounds of our students, such as this past summer’s 7th grade text: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose. The previous summer’s 7th and 8th grade text was Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America by Ibi Zoboi, a collection of personal essays and variety of stories from some of YA literature’s most notable Black authors who explore identity and intersectionality. BTGB’s Social Studies courses address social justice themes, such as this summer’s “Migration and Global Impact” and “Identity, Values and Activism” courses.

Kars4Kids: How does your high school program differ from your middle school program? Is that when college preparation begins in earnest?

Shannon Farrell: BTGB’s High School Program builds upon the strong foundation laid in middle school and helps students to succeed in college-track classes and gain admittance to college.

During the school year, 9th and 10th grade students attend the weekly High School After School Program, a structured Study Hall with grade-specific workshops where they receive academic support, build valuable skills, and connect with their college-going peer group. Rising 10th and 11th graders also receive guidance on valuable summer internships and experiences.

Starting in 11th grade, students participate in the College Access Program, where they are paired with a volunteer Coach for weekly meetings and individualized guidance for course selection, right-fit colleges, and college essay topics. The College Access Program also includes SAT Prep and College-Aligned Financial Education.

Between 11th and 12th grade, BTGB offers College Prep Institute workshops, dedicated work time, and conferences with staff to help students complete significant portions of their college, FAFSA, and scholarship applications. Students also participate in mock interviews, discuss college with BTGB alumni, and visit colleges.

Kars4Kids: BTGB students stay with the program for as long as ten years, presumably through the college years. What does the typical participant come away with at the end of the ten years?

Shannon Farrell: BTGB has historically provided students with six years of support from 7th-12th grade. BTGB launched our new College Success Program for the 2022-2023 school year, marking the most significant programmatic expansion in the organization’s history.

BTGB now supports students throughout that entire ten-year journey to college graduation: it is the culmination of years of engagement and support that begin in 7^th grade. A typical student receives all the benefits of this 10-year continuum of services:

• 7^th and 8^th grade students receive a rigorous year-round academic program, including a six-week Summer Program and a weekly After School Program.
• Rising 9^th grade students participate in Leadership Academy: a High School readiness course.
• 9^th and 10^th grade students participate in an after-school program with grade-specific workshops, where they receive academic support, connect with college-going peers, explore new careers, build college knowledge, and develop skills to navigate high school.
• 11^th and 12^th grade students participate in the College Access Program, ensuring each student is admitted to college through individualized guidance on course selection, right-fit colleges, college essay topics, college interview prep, SAT prep, and college-aligned financial education.
• Rising 12^th grade students participate in the College Prep Institute, which provides workshops, work time, and staff support to help complete college, FAFSA, and scholarship applications.
• During the summer between high school and college, rising first-year college students participate in the College Transition Program. Students receive support during the high-risk college transition through workshops on resource mapping, navigating the culture of predominantly white institutions, and essential logistical tasks such as registration and bills.
• During their four undergraduate years of college, the College Success Program provides guidance and monthly support that leads to college graduation. Students receive one-on-one coaching on the academic, social emotional, and financial aspects of college, tailored to key topics by year. For example, key topics for freshmen include navigating increased autonomy, creating a study schedule, utilizing office hours, stress management, and financial aid support.

BTGB’s continuity of services along this ten-year pathway culminates in our students’ college graduation and empowers them with tools for their lifelong success.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Breakthrough Greater Boston?

Shannon Farrell: At Breakthrough Greater Boston, we know that our predominantly low-income students of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, and our students, families, and broader communities continue to face unprecedented challenges and their lasting impacts on the education sector. As BTGB has reconvened in-person over the last year, we have continued to encounter: 1) learning loss or delays in learning progress, and 2) trauma aftereffects that can cause students to disengage from learning. In this ongoing context, we aim to help students regain any potentially disrupted momentum on their journey towards college. In this time of challenge and growth, Breakthrough’s goal is to serve as a steady presence for our students and teachers, ensuring a safe, vibrant environment where students can 1) reconnect with their peers 2) access academic and SEL support, and 3) experience the joy of learning.

In 2022, Breakthrough Greater Boston celebrated our 30^th anniversary – a significant organizational milestone! Founded in 1992 by MacArthur Genius Awardee Dr. Angela Duckworth, Breakthrough is celebrating 30 years of evidenced-based practice, early academic intervention for college access and success, and systems change that tackles inequities in education.

Crafting Kind Kids was founded by a mom who wanted to create more opportunities—kid-appropriate opportunities—for her own children. Victoria Hannley believed (still does) that it’s important for kids to start volunteering within the community at a young age, in order to develop empathy and an awareness of those less fortunate than themselves. So she created what she felt her kids needed—what she felt every child needs: a way to be kind to others.

Kids are our future. Teaching them to get involved with local organizations is critical as our children will take over from us as stewards of the community. For these reasons, and because kindness is an important value we want all children to learn, we were happy to give a small grant to this child and family-oriented nonprofit. We put some questions to Crafting Kind Kids Founder Victoria Hannley to learn more:

Kars4Kids: Tell us how you came to found Crafting Kind Kids. What was it that told you such an organization was needed?

Victoria Hannley: Several years ago, we were headed to a family event to benefit a local hospital. In the midst of gathering the family to get into the car and attend this function, I noticed that the focus was not on helping sick children in the hospital but more so on which friends would be there and which t-shirts my kids should wear. When we finally arrived at the event and my kids all scattered to participate in the various event activities, I found myself wondering if any of the other parents there also had kids who did not fully realize why they were there and who they were helping.

It was at that moment that I realized my kids needed to get out into the community and experience its needs first-hand. Even though as a family we would talk about social issues and ways to help people in need, my kids weren’t making the connection.

So I began to seek out nonprofit organizations and opportunities where I could take my young kids (then ages 4, 7, and 9) to participate in hands-on volunteering activities. And I kept being told “no.” Frustrated that organizations told me children were too young to help, I began to develop kid-friendly projects with a handful of nonprofits who were open to the idea of a parent volunteering alongside their child(ren).

Over time, not only did my kids love the various experiences we would have volunteering together, but I began to notice a change in their perspective. They were meeting people they would not typically meet, driving through neighborhoods that are not part of our home-school-activity loop and participating in projects that were new and different, such as sorting through hotel shampoo bottles in order to pack resource kits or bundling diapers for families in need.

As I saw these changes in my own children, friends began to ask to tag along because they too were looking for ways to get their children out into the community to give back. And so the idea for “Crafting Kind Kids” was born because you’re never too young to volunteer.

Kars4Kids: Generally, we ask grant recipients to tell us about their demographics: whom is it they serve? In your case, it seems there are two different groups you serve: the ones who are being kind, and those in great need of that kindness. Can you tell us a bit about both groups, please?

Victoria Hannley: We provide fun, meaningful, and intentional hands-on volunteering opportunities for families with young kids. Most of our projects are geared toward ages 5-13, which is an age often excluded from a nonprofit’s volunteering opportunities. While most projects are targeted to school-aged children, our youngest volunteer was age two!

Our projects attract families from all corners of Tucson, including the neighboring communities of Vail, Sahuarita and Oro Valley. Our Kid Volunteers come from five local area school districts including private, parochial, and Montessori schools. We work with families that span a wide range of socioeconomic status, all of whom believe in the importance of exposing young children to the benefits of giving back and service at a young age. Additionally, our volunteer projects have been used as positive, safe and healthy activities for foster families and social work agencies and the children they work with.

Crafting Kind Kids exposes children to the many needs within our community and empowers families to address systemic issues like food insecurity, homelessness and other societal inequalities. All of our hands-on family volunteer programs are designed to expose young children to the needs in our community, and we focus on these six areas: homelessness/food insecurity, environment/sustainability, community beautification, arts and culture, community health and wellbeing, and awareness and empathy. While we cannot always directly interact with those who will benefit from our volunteering, we work hard to ensure Kid Volunteers know whom they are serving and why. We do this by starting each in-person volunteer project with a kid-friendly presentation by the partnering nonprofit, where we invite their executive director or staff to speak with the Kid Volunteers about the problem they are working to solve and why this particular volunteer project matters. We work hard to humanize the “other” by planting the seeds of kindness, compassion and empathy via fun, hands-on, and age-appropriate give-back projects.

Kars4Kids: Taking a look at your upcoming events calendar, we see three events, and two of them are sold out. How many participants do you accept per event? What does “sold out” mean, exactly? Aren’t your volunteer projects free or at very low cost?

Victoria Hannley: We post new in-person and at-home projects on a monthly basis. Since most of our in-person projects are held at the benefiting nonprofit’s facility and/or at a community space, like a public library, we often have to work within these space limitations as well as the scope of the project. Most in-person projects include 3-5 families with an average attendance of 10-12 people (Kid Volunteers and their parent(s)).

Since our launch in August 2021, our in-person projects “sell out” within a few days of going live, which is a fancy way to say that once we have enough registrants for that particular project, registration closes. This is a good problem to have! Families with young kids are seeking opportunities to expose their kids to the needs within the community while simultaneously having positive, screen-free quality time together.

In order to ensure we have an ongoing supply of in-person family volunteer projects, we actively seek Parent Volunteers to help lead our in-person projects so that we can offer more opportunities to more families at more times. Creating an “army” of behind-the-scenes parent helpers to expand our volunteering offerings is our focus for 2023!

Many of our in-person projects are free whereas some have a low-cost family registration fee of $10. Not only do our collaborating nonprofits need our volunteer help, they also look to Crafting Kind Kids to provide project supplies. Our small family registration fee enables us to purchase supplies and snacks for our in-person projects. The average volunteer project costs approximately $200. As a 501(c)(3), Crafting Kind Kids has no paid staff and relies on the generous contributions of the community to fuel our family volunteer programming.

Kars4Kids: Crafting Kindness for Kids has an upcoming holiday break event. Can you tell us about this event?

Victoria Hannley: We have held many give-back projects over breaks from school. We had a busy summer vacation volunteering schedule from hosting park cleanups; assembling art kits for local Afghan refugees; to helping our local Junior Achievement chapter organize their school curriculum materials. Just because kids are off from school doesn’t mean volunteering should stop! (Plus parents are always looking for a get-out-of-the-house activity for kids.)

This holiday season, Kid Volunteers will be volunteering at our local diaper bank where they break down packages of diapers into smaller bundles for equitable distribution across Southern Arizona. Additionally, we often provide families with at-home projects that can also be done during off-time from school, such as creating birthday cards for sick children or peanut butter sandwich-making for a local soup kitchen.

Kars4Kids: What is Giving Back Gardening?

Victoria Hannley: “Give Back Gardening” is our holiday-themed environment and sustainability project in collaboration with a local nonprofit, Watershed Management Group. Their mission is to teach homes, schools, businesses and communities how to harvest water and live sustainably in the desert.

In this particular project, Kid Volunteers will participate in a variety of gardening give back service activities, including pruning, mulching, litter pickup and harvesting native edible plants. Additionally, families can set intentions for 2023 by discussing how to carry what they learn back to their homes, schools, and communities.

Kars4Kids: It looks as though an effort is made to ensure kids, while they are participating in volunteer work, also have fun. How do you make these events fun? Why is that a crucial element in the work of giving to the community?

Victoria Hannley: Planting the seeds of kindness, empathy and compassion as soon as possible is key to crafting the next generation of leaders, activists, philanthropists and overall kind, caring humans. And if we want to craft a generous generation, we need to both provide them with the opportunities to give back AND make it fun so that volunteering becomes something they want to do again and again. Ideally, we want volunteering to become part of a family’s culture with the kids leading the charge to volunteer.

In order for kids to get up early on a Saturday morning and give up cartoons, the projects need to be fun while at the same time impactful to the benefiting organization/population. We do this by putting forth a lot of time, effort, and consideration into what projects are suitable to the 5-13 age range that can be done within a 60-90 minute timeframe. Projects are often active with a variety of hands-on stations so that kids can move around, or can pick the one activity that speaks to their personality.

Because our in-person projects are done in conjunction with multiple families, kids naturally befriend another child and parents chit-chat making volunteering both functional and friendly.

Another way we work to make volunteering fun is to ensure our Kid Volunteers are prepared and not stepping into a new environment without context. In the days leading up to the volunteer project, families are sent conversation prompts so that they can prepare and discuss with their Kid Volunteers what the project is. Every in-person project starts off with a kid-friendly presentation and/or story so that Kid Volunteers know who they are helping and why their work matters. The effects of hearing from those doing the work, humanizing those who will benefit from the volunteer project and continuing the conversation at home creates a full circle, well-rounded service experience for young children.

And we always wrap up every project with a takeaway snack. (Our monthly park cleanups always include donuts!)

Kars4Kids: How do you find volunteer projects for your volunteers?

Victoria Hannley: There is a lot of behind-the-scenes time spent cultivating relationships with fellow nonprofits in order to create suitable family volunteer programs. We strive to offer families volunteer opportunities that are unique to Crafting Kind Kids, and not ones that anyone can do at any time on their own.

Kars4Kids: Are most events not just for the kids, but for the entire family? Why is that important?

Victoria Hannley: Given the young age of the volunteers, parents/grandparents/guardians are required to participate. Plus volunteering is an activity that a family can do together! It’s one of the best ways to check multiple feel-good boxes at the same time:

• Family togetherness – check
• A break from fighting over screen-time – check
• Helping the kids develop a give-back mindset – check
• Connecting with the kids as you work together on a project – check
• Having something to talk about in the car ride afterwards – check

Additionally, kids learn from our example. If we model giving back, and are excited to do so, then we craft kids who will want to help, volunteer and make service a part of who they are.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Victoria Hannley: We launched during the pandemic! Families wore masks and adhered to an organization’s or facility’s COVID policies. Because we were all searching for ways to help and find purpose, families were thrilled to get back to in-person events, including volunteering with masks, social distancing or being outdoors.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Crafting Kind Kids?

Victoria Hannley: At this time, Crafting Kind Kids is run solely by its founder. We are seeking parents to help lead our in-person projects, become porch drop coordinators for our at-home projects, as well as parents who are interested in becoming ambassadors as we work to build our brand throughout Tucson.

In our first year, we had almost 600 Kid Volunteers participate in an in-person and/or at-home project; collected 25 bags of park trash; bundled over 17,000 diapers for babies in need; and created almost 2000 kindness projects for local organizations. In our first year, families contributed almost $12,000 in volunteer value to our community. Our goal in 2023 is to double that impact and get more Tucson-area kids and families engaged in volunteering so we can truly change the world. ♥

Midtown Community Services is pretty much summed up by its name. Its services are for the community—a community made up of families. The daunting task of providing programming to families means there have to be programs to cover every age and interest.

Parents, for example, aren’t born knowing how to parent. To that end, Midtown Community Services offers parenting workshops to parents who want to know more about how to do their job. At the same time, the community center that’s more than a community center is serving children of all ages, not to mention their grandparents and in some cases great grandparents. Midtown Community Services knows that strengthening the family means strengthening every part of the family.

Our small grant award for this nonprofit, we feel sure, will only bring benefits to the children of Midtown, who after all, are its future. This is exactly the kind of work we like to support. We put some questions to Midtown Community Services Executive Director Barbara Schaefer and Youth Director Brittney Washington to learn more:

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the community you serve? What is your demographic?

Barbara Schaefer: Midtown Community Services serves every member of the family, from newborns to their great-grandparents, through our diverse line of programming. In 2022, we celebrated our 40^th anniversary, and many of the families who started with us in 1982 are still with us today, bringing their own children and grandchildren to our programs!

Our goal is to build stronger families and stronger families in St. Louis. Most of the individuals we serve live in underserved neighborhoods in the city, and many live below the poverty level.

Kars4Kids: Midtown Community Services divides its youth development program into three age groups. Each group appears to have its own focus. Can we talk about that? For instance, for the younger group we see they’re doing some academic work, but even more so engaging in enrichment activities. Is that right?

Brittney Washington: Yes, all of our Youth Development programs are tailored to each age group and build on what they are learning in school. Academics, tutoring, and mentoring set the foundation for all of our afterschool activities, but we add in age-specific enrichment activities, from STEAM programs to arts and crafts, to boost each child’s confidence and social skills.

During our Summer Academy Day Camp, we found it most beneficial to divide our youth into three groups. The youngest group focuses on establishing foundational social skills. The middle group focuses on building relationships, while the oldest group focuses on maintaining those relationships.

Kars4Kids: You have a Juniors Group consisting of middle school students. Aside from academic tutoring, what do you offer the participants and why?

Brittney: Our MDTWN Juniors group is specifically designed for youth in grades 6-8th and focuses on issues middle school youth face. Activities include, but are not limited to: team building, identity exploration, and community building.

Kars4Kids: How about an overview of your Teen Club? Presumably this is a college- or career-directed curriculum?

Brittney: Teen Club operates every Tuesday from 5:30-7:00 pm and is geared toward high school students, allowing them the opportunity to grow as young leaders and prepare for their futures after Midtown and high school.

We focus on: leadership, tutoring, college/career preparation, ACT/SAT preparation, resume writing, college visits, career shadowing, future planning, and teen talks. Almost every senior who completes our Teen Club program goes on to a 4-year college or trade school, which is significant since less than 40% of young Black adults in St. Louis City are currently enrolled in college.

Kars4Kids: You run a day camp. What’s that like? Who is this for?

Brittney: Day camp is for youth enrolled in kindergarten up to the age of 12 years-old. It runs in June and July and operates Monday through Friday from 9 am to 2 pm.

The typical camp day starts with breakfast provided by a program with the Department of Human Services. After breakfast, the groups break up by age and do various activities, play recreational games, visit our community garden, or go on field trips.

In addition to giving children a safe place to grow and learn in the summer, Midtown is focused on offering learning activities that help prevent summer slide and ensure kids are ready for the upcoming school year.

Our biggest event in the summer is our Annual Peace Parade when campers create posters and share their messages of peace and hope during a march throughout the neighborhood. Since some of the kids we serve have been impacted by gun violence, the Parade helps give them a voice and hope for a better future.

Kars4Kids: Your Proud START programming is based on the five Strengthening Families Protective Factors. What are they? What is the main goal of this programming?

Barbara: The five Strengthening Families Protective Factors include parental resilience; social connections; knowledge of parenting and child development; concrete support in times of need; and the social and emotional competence of children.

While these factors are integrated into all of our programs, they’re especially important for our Family PRIDE healthy baby program, which serves new and expectant parents as well as infants and children up to age five. Our goal is to help ensure young children have a healthy, supportive foundation and are school-ready once they hit kindergarten.

In addition to the programs, all infants and toddlers receive free diapers through our partnership with the St. Louis Area Diaper Bank and two free books a month thanks to our relationship with Ready Readers.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the playgroups you offer as part of Proud START?

Barbara: Each playgroup we offer is designed to promote our infants’ and toddlers’ social, emotional, and physical development. From sensory play that strengthens their gross and fine motor skills to field trips that promote socialization, all playgroups have a learning element incorporated into programming.

What’s great about playgroups is that it helps parents as well. Many of the skills they learn through playgroups can be replicated at home.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the outcomes of the Proud START programming you offer?

Barbara: The most important outcome of Proud START and Family PRIDE is to ensure babies are born healthy in a city with a Black infant mortality rate of 13%. From the day a mom finds out she’s pregnant, we’re here to provide her with case management, parenting workshops, free doula care, and free group and individual counseling. In 2022, 100% of the babies in our program were born healthy!

The other outcome we focus on the most is school-readiness, regardless what grade a child is entering. We start with Family PRIDE when a child enters kindergarten, and they can remain in programming to receive free tutoring and mentoring until they graduate high school. They know they always have a support system cheering them on at every step in their educational journey!

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your ability to serve the community?

Barbara: We never stopped serving when the pandemic hit. Immediately, we switched from in-person programming to online to ensure our kids received the services they needed. While it was a huge learning curve for all of us, Midtown still offered afterschool and summer camp programs. Each week, we delivered school supplies, crafts, and ingredients for cooking classes to our families’ homes, and kids could jump into our online sessions.

Today, we continue to address the learning loss many kids experienced during pandemic. This year, we elevated our tutoring program with BookNook, which offers both individualized tutoring based on a child’s academic needs as well as a social-emotional learning component.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Midtown Community Services?

Barbara: Definitely continuing the work we’ve done for the past 40 years and serving even more families and children in St. Louis. I believe our mission and work are just as important as the day we started – being a supportive community, welcoming healthy babies into the world, advocating for expectant mothers, and creating a safe space for kids to learn and grow.

We also want to make more people aware of Midtown and that the work that happens here is an important part of all of our futures. And of course, we’re always continuing to improve or expand our programming to continue to meet the needs of our community.

Mentor For Change is mentoring youth from low income neighborhoods in a novel way. A young person from a disadvantaged household may dream of someday becoming a doctor, but doesn’t have a way to make that dream a reality. Thanks to its unique mentoring program, Mentor For Change is giving kids hope that they can go on to college and join the workforce in whatever capacity they wish. It’s all about harnessing the power of the wider Los Angeles business and professional community.

Many of the orgs we support via our small grant program, enlist members of the community to help direct youth toward successful careers. But MFC is doing this in a novel way, and from what we can see, it’s working. Part of its success, we believe, is that the thought of a fruitful career is the thing that spurs kids to excel in the classroom and to stay in school until they graduate.

We put some questions to Mentor For Change Executive Director Steven Yu, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the kids you work with. What’s your demographic?

Steven Yu: Since our inception in 2013, Mentor For Change has worked with youth seeking to change their lives for the better through mentorship. These are first-generation low-income (FGLI) youths from East and Northeast Los Angeles who come from economically disadvantaged households and attend Title I high schools. We have also begun providing support services to teens experiencing homelessness through our recent partnership with the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles.

Kars4Kids: What is career-based mentoring?

Steven Yu: Our mission is to unlock the potential in every youth through career-based mentoring. Each mentee who joins our program is asked: “What career/profession do you want to pursue in the future?”

The responses are diverse, spanning every kind of profession and industry, including teacher, physician, police officer, architect, athlete, filmmaker, video game designer, and so forth. MFC connects each mentee with a mentor who is a working professional already living out that youth’s career aspirations. For example, if a mentee is interested in pursuing a career in medicine, we will recruit a doctor to mentor the mentee for one year.

The mentors who work with our youth are experienced professionals who have the capacity to provide resources and experiential learning opportunities to FGLI youths who would not have such access otherwise. MFC’s mentees and mentors are grouped in a cohort of their respective peers so that mentees can be empowered and united with others of their own generation and community as well as with an array of adults who can offer the benefits of their rich and varied professional, educational, and personal experiences.

Kars4Kids: From your website: “Mentor For Change was [established] in 2013 to address two pressing concerns: lack of interest in education and stifled career dreams limited by socio-economic burdens.”

Why aren’t kids interested in education?

Steven Yu: I can say so many things about why these youths aren’t interested in higher education, but from the perspective of Mentor For Change, in under-resourced communities, educational and career aspirations are vague possibilities, not priorities, as financial and environmental pressures push career dreams aside.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is an age-old question often asked, but the “how” or the actual path to becoming successfully employed and achieving their career aspirations remains a mystery for youths who come from under-resourced neighborhoods and low-income households.

Often, the actual path to becoming successfully employed and achieving their career aspirations remains ambiguous and far out of reach. Because of the lack of credentials and training, options for meaningful employment are limited in an already competitive job market. Through our program we strive to build the foundation of our mentees’ educational attainment, professional achievement, and overall well-being through community support and mentorship. Ultimately, our objective is to create a space where the mentees’ career dreams become a tangible reality and will consequently inspire them to excel academically.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about yourself as the MFC founder? You’ve had to overcome some challenges.

Steven Yu: I was born and raised in Los Angeles. My addictions during my teenage years led to some dire consequences: I was kicked out of four high schools and incarcerated in LA County’s Juvenile Hall for nearly a year. I finished high school from a county probationary school and at age 18 moved out of Los Angeles and transplanted to Jacksonville, Florida.

During that critical time, I had absolutely no direction and felt completely lost. One evening I saw a documentary about Mariah Carey and learned that her vocal talent—early in her career—was not a natural talent. She’d had to work hard for her “gift.” Carey invested countless hours developing her musical abilities.

Having grown up surrounded by classical music (my mother was a classical singer), I thought to myself, “Maybe if I work hard enough, I can do something with music.”

The next day I enrolled in the local community college as a classical voice major. I had found my passion. And for the next two years, I studied diligently, practiced singing several hours a day, and passionately sought out anyone and everyone who could teach me about music. I surrounded myself with role models and people who were walking the path I was envisioning for myself.

After I completed my AA, I transferred to the University of Southern California and ultimately graduated with a degree in International Relations. My experiences had taught me the value of mentorship, and since then I have always surrounded myself with mature people I can learn from. Thus, the challenges and lessons of my own life journey are what ultimately led me to launch Mentor For Change.

Kars4Kids: What are the challenges involved with being a first-generation college, low-income youth?

Steven Yu: As already referenced above, FGLI youths have limited access and that means limited opportunities and that means external constraints on their life possibilities. There are artists, writers, inventors, innovators, and leaders latent within these youths; however, without models in their own lives to see, hear, and interact with, they do not have the direct examples of educational and professional attainment in their families and neighborhood communities to be inspired by, supported by, and to follow.

For middle-class and upper-class youths, there are well-established pipelines that nurture, equip, and guide them from one opportunity to the next from their childhood through to adulthood. However, FGLI youths don’t receive those same empowering inputs. FGLI youths face personal and collective obstacles to their gaining access to enriching opportunities: being pressured early on to work and earn for the household’s basic needs of food and shelter; being saddled with childcare and elder care responsibilities; being discouraged from participating in afterschool activities because they have work and family care responsibilities; the violence engendered by poverty in their neighborhoods and households, and the list goes on and on. We have had students who became victims of violence merely for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the terror and physical harm they have suffered as a result are powerful impediments to achieving their highest aspirations.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about Community Impact Projects. How does this program work? Can you give us an exclusive inside look, so to speak, of some recent projects?

Steven Yu: The goal of the Community Impact Project is to directly apply everything the mentees learned towards a felt need in their specific neighborhood communities. They do this by utilizing the knowledge and skills they learned from the eight personal development workshops, incorporating the profession of their mentor into their project, and partnering with a local community-based organization. For instance, recently a mentor (a physician’s assistant) and mentee partnered with a local homeless service provider and started a medical supply campaign to donate to the homeless shelter. The mentee not only fundraised to provide supplies, but she also collaborated with her mentor to host multiple health education workshops at the homeless shelter.

After the execution of their service project, the mentees give oral presentations of their CIPs at their MFC graduation before an audience of their peers, mentors, family members, MFC’s stakeholders, and other community partners/supporters. Through this final presentation of their capstone projects to the greater MFC community, the mentees contribute to the collective intelligence – and equipping – of their cohort and supporters.

Kars4Kids: How many volunteers do you have on staff at present? How much time do they spend with their mentees? What is the typical length of the mentoring partnership?

Steven Yu: Our program is built on one-to-one mentoring. In our 2022 cohort we had 16 mentees and 16 mentors (volunteers). The mentoring partnership is a one-year commitment; however, some mentor-mentee pairs choose to continue in their relationships for much longer. During the program year, mentees meet their mentors minimally twice a month (i.e. participating in MFC’s monthly personal development workshops and also meeting one-on-one for jobsite tours and other customized experiential learning opportunities sponsored by the mentor). In the 2022 cohort alone, our mentors collectively served a total of 850 hours of community service. In addition to our 16 mentors, we have a pool of a dozen non-mentor volunteers who have provided hosting support at our monthly personal development workshops, fieldtrips, and graduation event.

Kars4Kids: You’re getting amazing results. Can you describe the impact of your program for our readers?

Steven Yu: The higher education and employment attainments of our program graduates demonstrate the efficacy of MFC’s individualized and cohort-based mentorship. As of fall 2022, 100% have graduated from high school; 91% have pursued higher education immediately after graduation; 29% have earned or are earning their associate’s degrees; 60% have earned or are earning their bachelor’s degrees, and 9% have earned or are earning their master’s degrees. Also, 100% of those who have completed their higher education to date have been employed in their chosen industries, including education, engineering, health/medicine, and social work.

The efficacy of our mentorship program is also evident in our mentees’ community engagement through public service: 100% do volunteer work as high school students and at least 69% continue in college and thereafter. Our vision is “Mentoring for a Better Tomorrow,” and our quantitative and qualitative data both evidence that this vision is being fulfilled by every cohort that graduates from our program. Not only are our mentorship program graduates making life better for themselves and their families, they are also contributing as change makers in the greater Los Angeles community and beyond.

In fact, we have one graduate who after completing her master’s in social work at Columbia University in 2020, is now working as a therapist in NYC schools. Our mentorship program graduates are effecting positive change in every aspect of their lives—family, college, profession, and society—because they have been shown their strengths as critical thinkers, leaders, and restorers through what they’ve learned and applied in the MFC program.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Mentors of Change?

Steven Yu: For the past two years, MFC has been exploring what it would look like to extend our services to teens experiencing homelessness. Thus, over the past few months, our leadership team and board have been establishing a strategic partnership with the Union Rescue Mission and other community partners to launch a new program for mentoring youths experiencing homelessness. In 2023, we will be partnering with two Union Rescue Mission sites to provide direct support services to their youths. The past nine years of experiences have demonstrated the transformative impact of warm, supportive mentoring relationships on a low-income teen’s life. Now, we are taking that evidence-based programming and customizing it for the unique needs of youths experiencing homelessness.

Be THE Voice (BTV) is run by the students themselves, which makes sense. No one can get excited about a cause like a kid. Not to mention, when kids do things for themselves, the lessons they learn are unforgettable. At Be THE Voice, the lessons children learn are to be kind to others, and to accept those with different views. It’s a great way to prepare youth for later success in the workforce, where they are bound to encounter those unlike themselves.

We love to support kid-run initiatives with our small grants program, because we know the lessons they learn are more deeply internalized as a result. Such efforts also teach children leadership skills and how to work with others. Add to this the fact that Be THE Voice is teaching kids to be kind, in a world that is not necessarily so. That is something we can all get behind.

We put some questions to Be THE Voice, Executive Director Debbie Cwalina to learn more about the work of this youth nonprofit:

Kars4Kids: What demographic do you serve—what can you tell us about the kids?

Debbie Cwalina: The 2022-23 initiative is being implemented in 61 schools impacting a diverse student population in K-12 schools statewide. The program is facilitated by a student club, so the “face” of Be THE Voice varies from school to school, creating an immediate buy-in of the student body at each school. BTV empowers every student to be the “voice” of kindness and inclusion through an inspirational 12-week video series and engaging hands-on activities.

Kars4Kids: Your about page begins with quite a mouthful: “Students learn how to reconnect with their peers through our visual and hands-on platform which challenges the reactive instincts that can lead to conflict, and instead promote empathy and inclusion.”

Can we unpack that? Let’s begin with the word “reconnect.” Were they connected in the first place? Why “re” connect?

Debbie Cwalina: Yes! It’s a mouthful. Social and emotional “recovery” post-pandemic has been difficult for many students. Losing months of face to face interaction with their peers affected their ability to “reconnect” when they returned to the classroom. This was evident by the sharp increase in student conflict, anxiety, and depression in school systems nationwide. Interpersonal skills take practice, just like learning how to ride a bike or play an instrument. Our initiative provides a variety of activities designed to help them “reconnect” as they work together to meet a Be THE Voice goal. See schools in action on our News & Events page.

Kars4Kids: Be THE Voice uses a “visual and hands-on platform.” So this is experiential learning? What type of media are you using—can you give us a rundown of the program?

Debbie Cwalina: The BTV platform revolves around a 12-week video series featuring diverse social-influencers sharing personal stories of how they inspired change. This has become the heartbeat of the initiative and something the students look forward to watching each week. We produce 12 videos for each program level (36 annually) to ensure the messaging is delivered in a way that students understand. As for the video content, that is gathered annually via the post-program survey as to the issues in which they are most interested hearing about the following year.

To see this year’s program outline, please scroll down to the 3rd section of this page.

Kars4Kids: “Reactive instincts” sounds like it’s about how xenophobia is expressed. What are some of the most common expressions of xenophobia among the kids in your program?

Debbie Cwalina: Xenophobia is “hostility toward or strong distrust of people from other cultures.” I see less hostility, and more of a disinterest in making the effort to connect with others who are “different” from them. I would label it as stereotyping, which is either born from a child’s upbringing or from being part of a peer group that excludes a certain type of student. Even political views became an issue at the high school level when students proudly wore political gear and were shunned by peers who had opposing views.

A lot of our videos discuss these topics, through the voices of similarly aged students at each program level. The topics range from being bi-racial, bullying, exclusion, peer-pressure, personal hardship, etc. Sixty-five percent of students are visual learners, so our video series is highly effective with students replicating what they viewed the very same day. Here’s a great example of a student inspired to address cyberbullying. It seems that no one is safe from labeling, and this story was surprising to me because it involved a cheerleader – not the usual target of bullying or exclusion.

Kars4Kids: Be THE Voice is peer-led. How does that work? What role(s) if any, do adults play in all this?

Debbie Cwalina: As I mentioned earlier, the program is implemented by a designated school club who set the example of kindness and inclusion by promoting the BTV activities each month. Teachers have told us how BTV affords every student the opportunity to “shine” as being kind is inborn, it’s just not always “popular.”

Other than initial program set-up, adults are encouraged to assist when needed. Each program includes a detailed outline of each month’s activities, including all components needed to participate in each activity. We also provide thought-provoking discussion points that entice students to talk about each week’s video message (and was voted the second most popular activity in the middle school series last year.) Not really a true “activity” in my mind, but it makes so much sense! Our young people lost months of F2F interaction with their classmates over the last few years, so of course they’re looking for ways to reconnect – and our weekly discussion points offers that opportunity.

Kars4Kids: What are some examples of a monthly challenge?

Debbie Cwalina: Oh, we have so many great activities! We normally provide two activities per month; some we create and some we share from other organizations.

Here is an example from this year’s Elementary and Middle School program:

Here is one from the High School program:

And thanks to a huge product donation of Threadship® Bracelet Kits every school enrolled in the BTV initiative is participating in the “Wrist Wishes” activity during the month of November and December!

Kars4Kids: You say that 65 percent of students are visual learners. Briefly, can you define what that means for our readers? Is this a new phenomenon—is it about the age of technology?

Debbie Cwalina: Our brains were built for processing visual information, below are some amazing stats that support our approach:

1. Ninety percent of the informationprocessed by the brain is visual.
2. It takes only 13 millisecondsfor the human brain to process an image.
3. The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.
4. People remember 65%of what they see, compared to just ten percent of what they hear.

Our video series is easily incorporated into the school’s schedule. Remember the Hallmark commercials we grew up with? Short, sweet, and evoked our emotions in under 60 seconds. That is the format of our video series! Many of our stories involve students who created organizations born from a personal passion. This is so inspirational for our viewers when they see kids their age doing big things!

Kars4Kids: BTV is based on science, according to your website, which mentions behavior modification through repeating specific behavior patterns. Does your program stand as a kind of CBT—cognitive behavioral therapy? What kind of behavior patterns would participants ideally repeat for this purpose?

Debbie Cwalina: We all know that any form of repetition will help you reach your goal faster. This is true for losing weight, learning a language, or attaining a new skill set. According to HRI, “[Behavioral] change involves physical changes in the brain. The problem is that [behavioral] change isn’t something that a person just suddenly chooses to adopt. You have to slowly learn a new habit. And this means that you have to ‘overwrite’ the ingrained, existing habit with the new habit. This takes time and repetition.”

Our approach – which revolves around weekly positive messaging – changes HOW a student responds to a difficult social situation. Research has shown that modifying behavior is a slow process, therefore our initiative runs from October through April each year. Once students realize what a difference they can make in someone’s life – or within the community – they seek more opportunities to do so!

A majority of our schools have been in the BTV program since the very beginning (2015), a clear indicator that our platform works. In fact, survey feedback from teachers and counselors from the 2021-22 program revealed both a positive shift in school culture with a “notable decrease in both in-school and out-of-school suspensions.” Amazing results for a voluntary initiative.

A few examples of behavior patterns that are consistently exhibited in BTV schools year after year: sitting with someone new at lunch or on the playground; including a new classmate into a social setting; standing up for someone who is being mistreated – in-person or online; being a friend when someone is in need; being inclusive when your peer group is not; or serving a need within their community. The BTV message is to always do the right thing, especially when it’s not the easy thing.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about “the joy of serving others.”

Debbie Cwalina: When I joined my Rotary club in 2015, little did I know how much it would change the trajectory of my life. I quickly learned – and embraced – the Rotary International motto of “Service above Self,” a message that resonates throughout the BTV initiative. “Serving others” can be something small like sitting with someone new at lunch, or something larger like collecting socks to donate to homeless shelters during the holiday season (a BTV activity in 2020-21 program). My goal is to continue offering our young people opportunities that allow them to experience the “joy of serving others” in some capacity, be it at their school, home, or community.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Be THE Voice?

Debbie Cwalina: To develop a sustainable plan to meet the demand! Due to post-pandemic budget cuts, schools are struggling to fund the program – even though BTV meets many of the SEL & PBIS requirements of the districts we serve.

As a result, we have over 100 schools on our waitlist for the 2022-23 school year. To offer more students a chance to Be THE Voice for positive change within their school and community we seek like-minded corporate partners to help create a matching funds program. Be THE Voice is an excellent way for companies to showcase their commitment to DEI outside the office, and into the classrooms and community. After all, the youth of today will be the workforce of tomorrow. Instilling important communication skills now is an investment that will pay dividends in the future as they enter the corporate environment and can work together without bias. Everyone wins!!

Tutoring Chicago has been working its magic for close to six decades. The organization pours all its resources into ensuring that children from low income neighborhoods get the extra help they need to ensure academic success. One-on-one tutoring is the trick to serving the needs of Chicago children facing economic barriers to a proper education.

Supporting such initiatives is the main purpose of our small grants program. We see getting an education as a means to getting ahead and ending the vicious cycle of poverty some children encounter. Tutoring Chicago is making inroads in that regard by bolstering their studies with the help of specialized tutoring from caring, consistent adults.

We put some questions to Tutoring Chicago Grant & Data Admin Manager Doug Lyons, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic? Who are the children that you serve at Tutoring Chicago?

Doug Lyons: We provide one-to-one tutoring for 1,000 Chicago students facing economic barriers. Our programs serve students in grades 1-9 from over 220 schools and over 50 zip codes.

Kars4Kids: Tutoring Chicago has an impressive history. Can you give us a summary? When were you founded? How have the organization and the need for your services changed? How close are you to your original goal?

Doug Lyons: First founded in 1965 as the Cabrini Green Tutoring Program by a group of Montgomery Ward employees, the organization has helped thousands of students grow both personally and academically through weekly one-to-one tutoring sessions with high-quality adult volunteers. In June 1990, Tutoring Chicago incorporated as a private nonprofit organization serving the youth of Cabrini Green. The organization rebranded in 2012 as Tutoring Chicago to serve the needs of children all across the city.

Through the past 57 years, our goal has remained the same – to deliver the power of education through one-to-one tutoring. Over the past decade, we expanded our reach and services to better meet the needs across the city, including the addition of high quality digital programming. We have added both a middle school tutoring program and a high school tutoring program, complementing our established tutoring programs.

Kars4Kids: You offer 1:1 tutoring with the same adult tutor for the school year. What happens after that? Do some tutors stick with their students beyond one year? Have some students returned to Tutoring Chicago as tutors?

Doug Lyons: We prioritize consistent positive relationships between students and tutors. Currently, over 50% of our student and tutor pairs have been working together for two or more years. We strive to retain student-tutor relationships year-over-year as this creates the best environment for the student’s success.

We have had a number of former students return as tutors and staff. Currently, one of our program coordinators is a former student of Tutoring Chicago.

Kars4Kids: You have a program called Literacy Intensive Tutoring (LIT) for which the participants must be screened with a formal assessment by you. How do you determine eligibility for this program? What exactly is the program, and what are its specific aims?

Doug Lyons: The Literacy Intensive Tutoring (LIT) Program provides individualized literacy interventions for struggling readers as determined by assessments and parent/teacher feedback to help students effectively close the literacy gap and reach their full potential as a student. Students receive three hours of one-to-one, customized reading intervention each week for eight months by attending a tutoring session two nights a week. The goal of the LIT program is to support each student’s growth toward grade-level competencies in reading and writing.

Our LIT Manager meets with prospective students to assess their current reading skills through letter/sound and sight word identification exercises along with a reading assessment that measures their word accuracy and comprehension skills. Students who are not meeting grade level expectations in reading (typically 1-2 years behind their peers) are invited to join the LIT Program. Participants are regularly assessed throughout the program year to identify specific needs and measure growth. If a student reaches grade level expectations, they “graduate” and move on to our SMART Program the following year.

Kars4Kids: You offer individualized programs. Are you working in tandem with the children’s teachers to keep apprised of their progress and needs?

Doug Lyons: We connect the tutors, parents, and teachers to ensure the student receives the best possible support and tutoring intervention for their learning needs. Additionally, we solicit feedback, including academic data, from our students’ teachers multiple times a year and provide this data to the tutors to better inform their weekly sessions.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your SMART program for us?

Doug Lyons: Our SMART Tutoring Program for 1st through 5th graders focuses on five areas of student achievement: social emotional learning, mathematics, accountability, reading, and technology. Within the context of building trusting relationships with our volunteers, students focus on homework review, executive functioning skills, and developmental experiences that combine learning and reflection. Students attend tutoring for 1.5 hours a week for nine months of the school year.

Students have access to a wide variety of high-quality resources and activities designed to meet each student at their academic level, offering both remediation and extension of knowledge and skills that they are working on in the classroom or expected to know at their grade level. Our program team monitors student progress throughout the year to address the child’s individual needs and course correct as needed.

Kars4Kids: Your tutoring programs are divided into middle school and high school. How would you describe each group’s main focus?

Doug Lyons: Our Middle School Tutoring Program serves 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students. The program features a curriculum tailored to common core standards incorporated into Chicago Public Schools’ learning standards designed specifically for student learning needs, with a focus on preparing students for high school transition and continued success in their education. The curriculum emphasizes social emotional learning, executive functioning skills, academic coursework across the four core subjects (English, Math, Social Studies, & Science), and high school readiness including test prep and career exploration.

New in 2022-23, Tutoring Chicago is excited to further expand our programming by developing a high school program beginning with our 9th graders. The High School Tutoring Program provides our students with the continuation of one-to-one tutoring and mentoring in areas essential for success in secondary education. The curriculum covers executive functioning, organizational skills, and preparation for the next four years. This includes support for academic course success, taking advantage of high school resources, reflection surrounding college and/or career readiness, as well as overall self-management and social awareness skills. Students continue one-to-one tutoring support with flexibility in scheduling sessions with their tutors once a week.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the educators who advise and guide your work?

Doug Lyons: Our program staff is comprised of experienced educators and leverage their combined experience as educators to maintain curriculum and delivery models that are consistent with CPS standards and reach families across the city.

Additionally, we have current and former CPS administrators on our Board of Directors who offer expert advice and insight for our programming. Our program team also maintains a network of current teachers who provide insight and feedback.

Kars4Kids: How did Tutoring Chicago weather the pandemic?

Doug Lyons: Early into the pandemic we shifted our tutoring methods to entirely online, with tutors and students continuing to work together through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and into the summer. We continued digital tutoring during the 2020-21 academic year in keeping with CPS’s remote learning model. Beginning last year, we returned to in-person tutoring in addition to continued digital tutoring, providing our students and families with the ability to choose the method that best fits their needs. Currently, roughly 50% of our students meet with their tutor in person and the other 50% meet with their tutor digitally.

In order to facilitate the shift to digital tutoring, we provided students in need with Chromebooks and other student technology. To date, we have supplied over 500 Chromebooks to students, supporting their access to learning with their tutors.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Tutoring Chicago?

Doug Lyons: This year our programs serve 1,000 students across our four tutoring programs (SMART, LIT, Middle School, and High School). We are continuing to update and improve upon our delivery of high quality tutoring programs to ensure all Chicago students achieve brighter futures.

Community Education Partnerships (CEP) exists because every child deserves an education, even, or perhaps especially so, those who are homeless. CEP, our latest small grant recipient, will meet the homeless of the Bay Area, wherever the children are, to tutor and mentor them, and to give them enrichment programming, too. The hope is that getting an education and having a supportive adult to mentor them will help children break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.

From our perspective, we can just imagine the hopelessness of the situation, not having permanent shelter or a place you can call “home.” And we know that the services CEP offers can make a big difference for these kids. At the very least, CEP students know that someone cares about them, which, in and of itself is important, because being homeless is painful and lonely, and affects a child’s self-esteem.

We put some questions to Community Education Partnerships Executive Director Dr. Khánh Nguyễn to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the kids you serve? What is your demographic?

Khanh Nguyen: Community Education Partnerships (CEP) serves pre-K – 12th grade students experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in the San Francisco Bay Area. At any given time, there are 250,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity in California (California Research Bureau, 2022). Across the ten Bay Area counties, there are an estimated 10,000 children and youth experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity (California Research Bureau, 2022).

Kars4Kids: How does homelessness affect academic performance?

Khanh Nguyen: Homelessness affects students in different ways. From a recent study of 105,135 students experiencing homelessness, less than one-third (29%) of students met or exceeded standards in English language arts, and fewer than 1 in 5 (19%) in mathematics (Burns et al., 2021). This research further elaborates that this educational gap exists because students experiencing homelessness are more likely to be chronically absent from school due to their living situation, are more likely to change schools multiple times, and more likely to be suspended from school. Of course, many of our students thrive and succeed in school, but their circumstances, which often include, for example, high levels of transiency, a lack of access to school supplies and books, trauma, limited time for socializing, and hunger, make their success much more challenging to achieve. Hence, CEP does everything we can to support our students learning and their academic and social growth.

Kars4Kids: Your core program centers on one-on-one academic assistance and mentoring. Where do tutors and mentors meet with their students? How much time do they spend with them?

Khanh Nguyen: As a lack of transportation presents one of the most significant challenges our students face in their education, CEP takes its services to the children. Thus, most of the tutoring and mentoring takes place in shelters, transitional homes, libraries, and coffee shops – wherever volunteers can meet their students. Tutoring and mentoring sessions generally last for one hour and take place once per week.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the Children’s Learning Center. How old are the children in this program? What sorts of activities do you do?

Khanh Nguyen: In 2020, CEP opened its first Children’s Learning Center (CLC) inside the Family Matters Shelter in Oakland. The CLC is open five days per week and serves toddlers, children, and youth. At our Learning Center, we provide educational, enriching, and fun programming in a safe, productive, and caring environment designed with our students in mind. CEP staff coordinate and facilitate both indoor and outdoor activities, tutoring and academic support sessions, guest-led programs (e.g., read alouds with librarians, photography classes, music lessons, art projects), and student-driven time within the CLC. The CLC afternoon programs are geared towards pre-K-12th grade students. During school hours, toddlers are invited to participate in programs such as Toddler Time and read aloud to help prepare them socially and academically for school. At all times, parents are welcome within the CLC to build community, trust, and safety.

Kars4Kids: The programs you offer seem to be available in person or online. Do most homeless kids have the wherewithal to have an online tutoring or mentoring session?

Khanh Nguyen: The heart of CEP’s model is to offer relationship-centered programming that meets the students where they are. Sometimes, the best way for a student to meet with their tutor is online. In such situations, and when needed, CEP distributes laptops, hotspots, and headphones to students and provides tech support until they are able to easily and regularly meet with their tutor online.

Kars4Kids: How much did the pandemic affect your ability to reach the kids who need you most?

Khanh Nguyen: While many students in California attended online classes, private tutoring sessions, and “bubble schools” during the pandemic, our students were left with few educational opportunities. During this time, our students became more isolated and harder to find. Thanks to our relationships with shelters, schools, and other service providers across the Bay Area, we were eventually able to connect with our students and their families and provide much-needed academic support to our students.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your weekly programs?

Khanh Nguyen: Seven days per week, CEP volunteers provide one-on-one tutoring and mentoring sessions to our students. In addition, we offer group programming five days per week, including our Children’s Learning Center, which is open 10:00 am – 7:00 pm Monday-Friday.

Kars4Kids: CEP’s quarterly Family Reading Nights are apparently popular. What kind of crowds do you draw, and to what do you attribute the success of these events?

Khanh Nguyen: The success of the Family Reading Nights is due to the partnerships between CEP, local community organizations and businesses, libraries, and shelters, who all participate in making the Family Reading Nights so special. Our families enjoy gathering together for dinner, hearing read alouds, and doing fun literacy-focused activities during these Family Reading Nights. We also share many free resources with our families, and children and adults alike select free books to keep.

Kars4Kids: CEP is run on volunteer steam. How many volunteers do you currently have? How long do they stay with the kids they work with? Can you tell us one story of a successful match?

Khanh Nguyen: Currently, CEP has 200 volunteers supporting our students. The volunteers generally support our students for six months or more. Over half of our volunteers have been supporting CEP students for more than 2.5 years.

In our November newsletter we highlight Jisoon Mun, one of our CEP volunteers.

Jisoon Mun, found CEP’s volunteer opportunity through #CaliforniansForAll. Previously, Jisoon tutored underserved elementary and middle school students in Nashville. Upon moving to California, she wanted to find an opportunity to support Bay Area students. Currently, Jisoon is helping her student raise their school grades to reflect their knowledge, capabilities, and adaptability. Jisoon and her student are working on fractions, decimals, and pre-algebra!

CEP is grateful for Jisoon’s support and dedication to furthering the educational experience of our students. With her passion and volunteerism, her student is receiving the academic support they need and deserve to do their homework and practice new skills learned in class. And, her student knows that a caring adult is rooting for their successes. 

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Community Education Partnerships?

Khanh Nguyen: Given the well documented link between the lack of a high school diploma and young adult homelessness, and given the terrible impact of the pandemic on our students’ learning, CEP has ambitious goals for the organization and our students. In the next five years, CEP aims to reach 3000 students. Our team will work tirelessly to support all of our students in the hopes that they achieve the following goals:

• 100% of our high school students will graduate or receive their GED
• 100% of our students will perform at or above grade level in math and reading
• 100% of our students are socially and emotionally prepared for academic transitions.
• 100% of our students will find the joy and purpose of education
• 100% of our students will be provided with the school supplies they need (e.g., backpacks, hotpots, laptops etc.).

OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center can’t bring parents and other loved ones back to life. What this center can do is support those dealing with loss, for example, children. Children in particular need help with bereavement: losing a parent means losing the center of their lives. They need a place where it’s safe to talk, and where there are others like them, going through this surreal and at times unbearable experience.

OUR HOUSE, our latest small grant recipient, is that place. Here children and families learn that the universe isn’t pointing a finger at them, that there are others like them going through the same thing. Of course, there’s a lot more to helping kids and families learn to live with loss. We put some questions to OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center Executive Director Julia Miele to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the community you serve? What’s your demographic? 

Julia Miele: In a community as widespread and diverse as Los Angeles, OUR HOUSE is creatively making grief support available to all by offering a range of options. We have noted over the last few years that we are serving more children and adults who are experiencing complex familial situations, such as housing and food insecurity, immigration status challenges, and family violence. Additionally, an increasing number of grievers who use our services are grieving stigmatized deaths, particularly COVID-19, homicide, suicide, and overdose. The demographic of our In-House program is 16% Black, 3% Asian, 34% Caucasian, 31% Latinx, and 16% Multiethnic.

Kars4Kids: What exactly does grief support entail? What are the goals of this type of support? 

Julia Miele: Grief support normalizes an isolating experience and provides a toolkit of healthy coping skills. Our educational programs multiply this community impact through expert-led training workshops for families and professionals who work with children, expanding the child’s support network to create a productive and nurturing environment to foster grief expression, healing, and wellness. Our goal is to create a world where grief is embraced, understood, and respected by both children and adults.

Kars4Kids: OUR HOUSE offers grief support to children and adults. How do these populations differ in their response to the loss of someone important to their lives? What do grieving children need that grieving adults do not? Are you offering different supports to the adults than you are to the children you serve? 

Julia Miele: Experiencing the death of someone close can be the single most stressful event in a child’s lifetime. When a child’s grief is unsupported, it can increase physical, emotional, and social risks, including physical illness, depression, anxiety, school disengagement and dropout, and even violence, gang activity, incarceration, and early death.

Most of the children in our programs are parentally bereaved, which is considered among the most difficult Adverse Childhood Experiences (Burns et al. 2020), especially when the death is caused by violence or suicide. The death of a parent also places more stress on the surviving parent/guardian, demanding additional financial and child rearing responsibilities, which can decrease their emotional and physical availability to support their grieving child.

As for the adults who go through our groups, we’ve found that 90% of participants will feel more comfortable expressing feelings about their grief, 85% will increase their ability to ask others for support, 85% will believe they can lead a fulfilling and meaningful life without the person who died, and 90% will feel less alone after speaking with other people who are grieving in their community. 

Kars4Kids: Can you describe a typical in-house group for children and teens? What is the “closing squeeze?”

Julia Miele: In-house grief support groups are age-specific, providing different groups for “Littles” (Elementary School), “Middles” (Middle School), and “Teens” (High School). Groups meet every other week after school for 12-24 months and provide a safe and comfortable environment for children and teens grieving the death of a parent or sibling. In their group, the child can fearlessly ask questions and express difficult thoughts and feelings with peers. Each group is co-led by two extensively screened, trained, and clinically supervised volunteer group leaders. Teen alumni of OUR HOUSE in-house groups serve as teen leaders to help with the younger children and act as role models.

Children’s groups always end with a ritual – a gentle squeeze of friendship and support called the “closing squeeze.” Group members stand in a circle, with hands crossed and held in front of them, and the squeeze travels around the circle one person at a time. The squeeze is in recognition of the thoughts and feelings shared in group and a way of sending each other support.

One example of an activity that children participate in while going through group is learning different coping skills like butterfly breathing, candle/flower blowing and sniffing, and pizza breath, all of which help our grievers regulate their breathing during emotional times. Another activity is visualizing and drawing where their person who has died might be now. One more activity is called the Feelings Pie during which the griever identifies different emotions they are feeling and then they split the emotions up into a pie chart based on how much of each emotion they are feeling. 

Kars4Kids: Our House also offers a school-based support program. Are there that many grieving children in a given school that you have enough of them to form a support group? How many of them have lost someone due to street or home violence? 

Julia Miele: OUR HOUSE’s School Program provides free school-based grief support groups for elementary, middle, and high school students who have experienced the death of a family member or close friend within the past 2-36 months. Groups take place at school during the school day, eliminating barriers to access such as transportation, cost, and scheduling conflicts that reduce opportunities for children to receive grief support. Each group of 8-12 students meets for one class period over ten consecutive weeks. Our programs reach the most vulnerable communities in Los Angeles, where deaths are often caused by homicide, drug overdose, suicide, and street or home violence. More common are illness-related deaths exacerbated by disparities in access to preventative healthcare resources. 

Kars4Kids: You also offer on-site grief support. Can you give us an overview of how this works and why it is a necessary part of what you do? 

Julia Miele: When a school experiences the death of a student, teacher, parent, or other community member, OUR HOUSE provides time-limited grief support on-site, offering quick response services when tragedy strikes. For example, we conducted an on-site grief response at a school after a teenager accidentally shot himself and died. The school asked OUR HOUSE to run a special group for the teachers to express their own grief over the student’s death, helping them process the death and equipping them to support their grieving students. On-site grief responses are free for public schools and are offered on a sliding-scale for all private schools and businesses. In 2020, 16 local organizations received on-site grief responses online, serving 170 grievers, including 48 children. 

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Camp Erin. Who is it named for? What is it like?

Julia Miele: Camp Erin is named in memory of Erin Metcalf who died of cancer at age 17 and who was a friend of the camp’s founders Karen and Jamie Moyer. Erin’s wish was to help other children navigate through their grief. Camp Erin combines traditional camp activities with grief support, education and remembrance projects and ceremonies. Campers swim, navigate a rock wall and rope course, engage in arts and crafts, and enjoy other activities designed to encourage and promote healing. Camp Erin allows children a chance to share their thoughts, feelings, and memories about the person who died with their peers. They participate in memorial ceremonies as well as outdoor activities that allow them to enjoy the freedom of childhood. 

Kars4Kids: This sounds like an interesting event: “From OUR HOUSE to Yours – a Community Week of Wellness.” Can you tell us about it? 

Julia Miele: This was a week-long virtual event we hosted on our website in 2020 as a replacement for our in-person Walk ‘n’ Run for Hope. Each day, we offered daily resources hosted by a different grief expert introducing different activities that encourage wellness, while inspiring hope and healing for grieving teens and adults. Some of the activities we offered were cooking lessons, meditation sessions, arts and crafts, writing workshops, and music videos. 

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your ability to serve those who need you? 

Julia Miele: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, we reduced the 2020 budget by $663,451 or 23%, including a reduction in staff of five people, a hiring freeze on three open positions, and a decrease in individual staff salaries by 8-15%. Our annual large fundraising events, the Walk ‘n’ Run for Hope 5K and the House of Hope Gala, were both cancelled in 2020 and we haven’t been able to host our Walk ‘n’ Run since. We also converted all grief groups to online formats, re-trained all volunteers to lead online groups, and created new ways to engage with our community, from producing online wellness resources to delivering personalized activity supplies to children and teen group members. To date, 115 unique grief support groups for children, teens, and adults, in English and Spanish, have met remotely.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for OUR HOUSE Grief Support Center? 

Julia Miele: Grief support groups are now back in person at our Woodland Hills and new West Los Angeles centers. We are thrilled to welcome home group members and volunteers! A new, online-only grief support program, informed by our pandemic response, will be launched in January 2023. This expansion will help many grievers with transportation, work, or childcare challenges access our services. A revamped In-House Program for children and teens will give young grievers better tools to navigate their grief, and their guardians will have an easier schedule to help balance after-school activities and transportation. Thanks to a new partnership with the Department of Mental Health, more Spanish-speaking grievers across Los Angeles County now have access to free grief education and support. Finally, we continue to advance our Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion goals with expert consultants which will help us improve the experience of our diverse community of grievers, volunteers, and staff. 

The Complete Player Charity serves to keep kids off the street in the hours after school. More importantly, TCP Charity is pouring all its love and caring into its participants, while teaching them to lead. This nonprofit devoted to youth empowerment isn’t trying to take over the world—TCP takes only a small number of participants in order to maximize its efforts.

We appreciate this devotion to doing things right and making sure that kids get the most they can get from their time at TCP. Which is why we decided to give them small grant award. We put some questions to TCP Founder and President Andy Schindling to find out more about this work.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about your demographic? Who are the children that you serve?

Andy Schindling: TCP Charity serves a diverse population of elementary and middle school youth who live and/or attend school in the northern part of Anne Arundel County, MD. Our Young Leaders and Sports & STEM programs serve low-income youth in Brooklyn Park and Glen Burnie. Our Leaders in STEAM summer camps serve students throughout the northern part of the county, with most of them coming from low-income households.

Based on the latest Poverty Amidst Plenty Needs Assessment, 24.8% of Brooklyn Park and 15.9% of Glen Burnie residents live under the poverty line. These two communities have the first and third largest percentages of households on food assistance programs, the highest numbers of homeless youth, and residents without a high school diploma, with Brooklyn Park and areas of Glen Burnie being designated food deserts.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your background? What led you to found a leadership program for kids?

Andy Schindling: I am a former professional athlete in the Baltimore Orioles organization (’04-’09) and graduate of Anne Arundel Community College and Towson University. I have always had a heart for kids and new that I wanted to give back to the younger generation. In 2014 the path for my life was laid out to me – to serve kids growing up in the poorest areas of the county.

I founded a leadership program for two reasons:

1. I was always interested in leadership and passing on knowledge and wisdom to other people
2. After reflecting on my life and realizing how I gave up living out my dream as a professional baseball player, I realized I lacked the key emotional intelligence and self-leadership skills needed to become successful in life. It hit me hard to know that someone like myself who had everything they needed in life became lost in life, so I committed to educating young people on those key skills, so they don’t have to one day experience what I did – becoming lost in life and giving away the opportunity to live out their dream.

Kars4Kids: TCP is committed to exemplifying “H.I.A.C.S.”: Humility, Integrity, Accountability, Commitment & Service in all its dealings, not just with the kids, and that makes lots of sense. Can you talk about “humility” in this context?

Andy Schindling: Great question! First and foremost, humility for TCP starts with understanding that we are part of something much bigger than ourselves and we need to be the best steward of what we are provided with. Therefore, we must be humble enough to know that we cannot do everything on our own and that it will take a mindset of collaboration and partnership to accomplish what we aim to accomplish. Secondarily, we know it’s not about us. It’s about the kids and their futures. It’s about our partners, donors, and volunteers who enable us to make the impact we make. We understand that it takes a team to achieve success and results and that we are just one piece to the puzzle.

Kars4Kids: The TCP website speaks of establishing win-win collaborations that lead to opportunities for young people. Can you offer some examples of such collaborations and how they benefit both sides?

Andy Schindling: The first collaboration that comes to mind is with Live Water Foundation, Capital SUP, and Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP). This collaboration brings our participants the opportunity to experience stand up paddle boarding and serve their local environment by building oyster cages to start oyster farms. Most if not all our program participants have never experienced being out on the water in any capacity.  ORP benefits from the oyster cages as their demand for cages exceeds their capacity to build them, so any time they get volunteers to build the cages is a huge win for them.

Another key partnership we have is with the Chesapeake Arts Center, which provides art-related and career exploration activities to our student. In so doing, the center advances its mission of cultivating and delivering innovative arts and education programs within and to the community.

We also have multiple partnerships with local businesses such as The Stone Store, Wagner & Son’s, Titan Hospitality Group, and Skyline Technology Solutions. These companies provide their employees with volunteer opportunities to help educate the workforce as to the importance of community service. A major part of employee retention and acquisition these days is the company’s involvement in their community. Employees love to give back and get involved so we take full advantage of that to engage all parties in a meaningful learning experience.

Kars4Kids: How would you describe your philosophy of leadership? Why did you choose leadership as the main focus of TCP?

Andy Schindling: I believe we are all born to be leaders, because every morning we wake up we must lead ourselves. Which makes my philosophy more on the side of self-leadership or self-mastery. This is something that I take seriously because as I mentioned earlier, I led myself out of my dream job because I could not lead myself effectively. I also believe that we are called to be a positive influence on others and in our community and to do that we must be effective leaders.

Our philosophy is to lead in a way that attracts others to follow us. Not through coercion, pressure, or because they must follow because of our position, but because they choose to follow us because of the way we act and handle our business.

Another reason I chose leadership is because this is something that most schools do not teach. I want to provide students with knowledge and wisdom that they will be able to take with them for the rest of their lives. Something that will empower them to reach their full potential. Something that can truly change their lives.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Young Leaders program. What can participants expect to come away with from this 7-month-long program?

Andy Schindling: First and foremost, our primary goal is to lavish love on the kids we serve. Participants can expect TCP to provide them with mentors who will truly care about them as individuals and want to pour everything they’ve got into their mentees. At the end of the program, participants remark that their TCP mentors really cared about and loved them, and treated them with respect.

When it comes to the program itself, participants can expect to be pushed out of their comfort zone on a daily basis. This could be from having to stand and present in front of the group, to self-reflection writing about emotions and feelings they experienced during the day, to having to work in diverse groups with peers they do not already know. Our leadership philosophy is that all people are leaders because every day we wake up we must lead ourselves, and we want our participants to become the best leaders of themselves that they can be.

Participants can also expect to be challenged and held to a high standard, to be uncomfortable (as stepping out of their comfort zone implies being uncomfortable), to be introduced to new ideas and activities, and be expected to participate all for the purpose and intent of increasing their confidence and self-esteem and emotional intelligence skills. They can also expect to receive knowledge, wisdom, and advice they will not learn during the school day that will prepare them for success and living out a meaningful and impactful life.

Participants can expect to leave our program with a greater awareness of who they are as an individual, a greater awareness of jobs and careers, and to make an impact in their community by bringing their own ideas to life.

Kars4Kids: Why is afterschool programming an important part of what you do at TCP?

Andy Schindling: Simple! Because this is when adolescents need positive role model and mentors the most. The hours between 3-6 pm are especially critical in the communities we serve. These are the hours where kids either stay on the right path or not. Research shows that this is when middle and high school youth engage in illegal and self-demoralizing activities that change the course of their lives forever. And I can relate to that.

Kars4Kids: Your summer camp seems to be all about learning. Can you give us an overview of how that works? Does this programming include recreational activities, as well?

Andy Schindling: Just with our afterschool programs, we view our summer camps as another opportunity to learn and grow. As a former athlete I certainly value free time and recreational activities, which we do give to our campers. We give campers an hour each day for recreational activities and then another 30 minutes of free time to end the day.

Our goals for TCP camps are for campers to leave with an enhanced understanding of who they are and an increased awareness of their skills and how their skills relate to career success. We also aim to educate campers on how they can serve their community by introducing them to the needs of their community.

To start the camp day, campers journal about what they are grateful for; emotions they experienced prior to coming to camp; and list three positive things about themselves. Then we jump into a variety of activities pertaining to emotional intelligence and STEAM. Activities range from group activities to individual activities; to watching TED Talks on leadership; to building out STEM kits. And most importantly, field trips to learn about different jobs and careers, and to serve local nonprofits.

Kars4Kids: TCP is about “impact over numbers.” How many kids do you serve, in general? How do you measure impact?

Andy Schindling: Up to this point, we serve between 35-50 students during the school year through our afterschool programs. This past summer we served 53 campers in the summer. We aim to keep our participant/mentor ratio at 6:1 so we can build strong relationships with the kids.

The impact we can make on a child’s life is our main focus. We could easily increase our registration numbers to serve more kids but that would diminish our ability to build relationships with each child. Last summer illustrates our commitment to maximizing our impact. Ninety students registered for one of our camps, but we only accepted 25. For those of us at TCP, relationships with students and campers are paramount. This is what these kids really need. So, we will not sacrifice this just to say we served X number of kids this year.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Complete Player Charity?

Andy Schindling: First, we plan on building our organizational capacity. Word of mouth is spreading which is increasing the demand for our programs.

Second, we are adding a robotics program which we are very excited about. Our hope is that we will launch a TCP Robotics afterschool program at the middle school level next school year that will have students building battle bots for competition.

Thirdly, due to the demand at the elementary school level, we are planning on launching the Sports & STEM summer camp for rising 4^th-6^th grade youth this coming summer.

Lastly, we are eager to tackle the math and reading proficiency issue in the schools we are in so we are looking to hire part-time college and high school interns, and build new partnerships with local nonprofits to go into the schools during the school day to mentor and tutor our students.

Doc Wayne Youth Services offers a unique curriculum that uses sports as a therapeutic device to help kids develop resiliency, confidence, and leadership skills. Think about it: spending time with an encouraging coach, revving up your circulation, taking the lead, learning to be fair, learning to be confident, dealing with loss, feeling good about the win—sports really does have everything you can think of to help children proactively improve their mental health and social emotional skills.

Well, while there’s nothing new under the sun, there is no doubt that the Doc Wayne brand of sport-based therapy is innovative and different. And it’s working. This year alone, Doc Wayne students self-reported positive change in key life skills such as critical thinking, reflection, empathy, and learning interest.

The novel approach of Doc Wayne, and its proven benefits, was reason enough to support this youth services nonprofit with a small grant award. What should we learn from the successes of Doc Wayne about sports and youth mental health? We put some questions to Doc Wayne Youth Services CEO David S. Cohen:

Kars4Kids: What was the inspiration behind Doc Wayne Youth Services? Presumably, there is/was a person named “Doc Wayne?”

David Cohen: Doc Wayne Youth Services was founded in 2002 by Susan Wayne in memory of her brother, Eli (Doc) Wayne. Eli was a pediatric physician as well as a tremendous supporter of using sport as a medium for positive youth development. He committed his time to students in the community by volunteering for and coaching youth sports. It began as a program of Justice Resource Institute and focused exclusively on youth in residential treatment programs. In 2010, Doc Wayne became an independent 501(c)(3). We now operate with 25 full-time staff and a 13-member Board of Directors.

Kars4Kids: Doc Wayne operates globally. In how many countries do you operate? What is the common denominator for the children you serve, wherever they may live? Who is most likely to benefit from the Doc Wayne curriculum?

David Cohen: The need for Doc Wayne’s intervention in youth mental health has never been as apparent as it is today and the need to reach underserved communities with effective clinical and support services has never been more intense. Doc Wayne has been improving the overall health of children and adolescents in the Greater Boston area for over a decade through sport-based mental health programming. Over the years, other organizations from around the world have approached us about training them on our model. Our Champions Network™ trainings were born out of this growing interest in our approach, and since its launch, we have trained over 600 individuals who work with youth in a sports or educational setting. We have reached clients in 25 different countries who have served over 500,000 youth worldwide.

Kars4Kids: The Doc Wayne curriculum utilizes four fundamental constructs to promote wellbeing. What can you tell us about these constructs?

David Cohen: Our four fundamental constructs are Teamwork, Communication, Resilience, and Confidence, and they are divided into a total of 30 teachable skills that eventually ladder up to Connectedness. Doc Wayne’s Creating Champions™ curriculum is a sport-based adaptation of common clinical frameworks. The Playbook, available in youth and adult formats, guides a participant’s skill-building journey and provides a visual representation of Doc Wayne’s proprietary curriculum, layering clinical and social emotional learning goals onto an intuitive sports framework.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of Creating Champions™?

David Cohen: Doc Wayne runs four community-based services; group therapy, individual therapy, Therapeutic Mentoring, and Therapeutic Recess, all guided by our proprietary curriculum, Creating Champions™, which layers clinical and social emotional learning goals onto an easy-to-grasp sports framework. Our curriculum is derived from two therapeutic models: the Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) Framework and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about Chalk Talk®? What are the indications for sports-based therapy?

David Cohen: ​​Chalk Talk®, Doc Wayne’s sport-based group therapy program, engages youth by harnessing the power of sport. Our clinicians lead weekly sessions with students within their schools and communities designed to support them as they process experiences of trauma. They use soccer, basketball, flag football, and other team sports to facilitate talk therapy and help students process and persevere through adversity. Clinical notes are taken after each session to track youth progress over time. Our team sees success as positive changes in youth behavior, such as youth beginning to use healthier coping skills, feeling confident to engage in sport and fitness, and becoming leaders in their school or community. An individualized treatment plan is designed for each youth based on their strengths, needs, and developmental stage.

Kars4Kids: What is Rookie Pride™?

David Cohen: Rookie Pride is Doc Wayne’s curriculum for younger constituents (5-8 years old). Rookie Pride reflects themes from Doc Wayne’s original proprietary curriculum, Creating Champions™, while incorporating language, themes, and characters which are more age-appropriate. The final design of Rookie Pride includes cartoon-like characters (a pride of lions), coloring sections, and stickers. Each facet is intended to make a participant’s time with Doc Wayne more engaging and fun. The addition of Rookie Pride enables our team to address the needs of younger participants with more accuracy. Doc Wayne coaches now have greater flexibility to design group sessions which accommodate the developmental needs of youth in our programs.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your therapeutic recess program?

David Cohen: Doc Wayne launched Therapeutic Recess as an opt-in program for students that provides structure, programming, and oversight during the school day. Through this program, students strengthen their ability to recognize, communicate, and manage difficult emotions while at recess. Our clinicians also help them develop prosocial skills and strengthen their ability to independently manage conflicts with peers. Finally, we work to ensure that students develop trusting relationships with coaches and recess staff. Doc Wayne launched its recess program in 2019 at just one school site, and this year, we are running our program in 7 schools across Greater Boston, reaching over 1,500 children each week.

Kars4Kids: You offer therapeutic mentoring. How is this different than garden-variety mentoring?

David Cohen: Youth in Doc Wayne’s Therapeutic Mentoring program are our highest need youth. These children have been identified by their individual clinician as needing an extra clinical relationship through their Therapeutic Mentor. Each of our mentors meets with their youth clients 1-2 times each week, lasting between 3 months – 1 year. Our clinical focus is on youth who are survivors of complex trauma, youth who have experienced domestic or community violence. Children who are currently working with a mental health clinician, often in-home or in-school, can be assigned a therapeutic mentor as an additional form of clinical support. Doc Wayne currently has 3 therapeutic mentors who work with the rest of a youth’s therapeutic team to support their growth towards treatment goals. These partners vary from in-home therapists to residential clinicians and typically are organized by an Intensive Care Coordinator. All collaborate to deliver consistent and successful therapeutic guidance to the over 20 youth in Doc Wayne’s Therapeutic Mentoring program.

Kars4Kids: What role does telehealth play in your work?

David Cohen: Throughout the pandemic, our team transitioned to working remotely, including performing all of our clinical work through telehealth. Restrictions on group gatherings over the course of the pandemic required us to adapt the focus of our direct services. During lockdown, we delivered over 5,000 telehealth sessions. We have since returned to in-person programming while also maintaining telehealth as an option for youth. This option better meets the needs of some of our youth whose school schedules and access to technology varies.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Doc Wayne Youth Services?

David Cohen: Our new vision is to maximize the impact that Doc Wayne can have on at-risk youths regardless of where they live. Over the next three years, Doc Wayne’s ambition is to provide one million children access to sports-based mental health support. Our organizational partners have played an essential role in allowing Doc Wayne to expand in the past several years, and together, we are confident that we can achieve this goal.

Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program is doing something novel, so to speak, to further literacy in underserved Seattle neighborhoods. They have created little “book nooks” for children where they can discover the joy of holding a book; look at the pictures; and if all goes well, eventually read the book to completion. It’s one new way to get books into the hands of those who need them the most.

Our small grant program allows us to lend support to initiatives that fit in well with our own mission. We see literacy as the crucial first step to academic success and a brighter future. Page Ahead is doing something really different and we could easily see how their program could lead to lifelong lovers of books. We put some questions to Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program Development Manager Rebecca Brinbury to find out how the magic happens:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic? Who are the children you serve at Page Ahead?

Rebecca Brinbury: We focus on kids’ early reading journeys, with particular emphasis on preschool and kindergarten through second grade, because stopping reading gaps before they start is a really powerful intervention. And we’re doing this work with an eye toward educational justice and more equitable distribution of resources, so we focus on kids in majority low-income communities, who, thanks to entrenched racism and structural barriers, also tend to be from families of color and/or Hispanic/Latinx families. Basically, our community works to get books to kids who could benefit from them most.

Kars4Kids: The Page Ahead website says there are 22,000 children in Seattle who live in book deserts. For the sake of our readers, can you define “book desert” and why such a phenomenon exists? Which leads to the obvious question: can’t children just go to the library if they don’t have books at home?

Rebecca Brinbury: We’re all familiar with the idea of a “food desert,” an area where fresh food isn’t easily obtainable. Book deserts are similar, but for reading material—book deserts are areas where reading materials are hard to get ahold of. The organization Unite for Literacy maintains a map of book deserts that is fascinating to explore, where you can see census data on how many homes have at least 100 books in them. If you look at Seattle on that map, the book deserts are where you’d expect them to be—while the wealthier enclaves have lots of books, those with lower incomes don’t.

The book desert phenomenon exists for the same reason any other resource inequality exists; books cost money; money is inequitably distributed; and many families have to prioritize food, shelter, clothing, and other necessities. Yes, libraries provide crucial services, but they cannot stand in for having books at home.

For example, school and classroom libraries are a big part of a child’s reading journey at school, but I know at my daughter’s school, the younger grades aren’t allowed to bring their school library books home—these have to stay in the classroom. And public libraries are fantastic—maybe my favorite places in the world!—but when you’re seven and you live a mile from your neighborhood library, you need your grownup to go with you, and if that grownup’s work hours don’t line up with the libraries open hours, you’re out of luck.

But say you are able to go to the public library and check out your Pete the Cat books. Hooray! In Seattle, those will be due back in three weeks. And there is a joyful novelty in getting to experience a new story, which is so important. But being able to read and reread the same material is a foundational part of reading fluency, too. So owning your own books, and reading them over and over again, is really important in building your literacy skills.

On Equity in Education

Kars4Kids: Your website talks about the need for equity in education and opportunities. Why are resources distributed in an uneven manner in the public schools? Who is responsible for this situation and how is Page Ahead helping to narrow the gap? Are you working with the parents, too?

Rebecca Brinbury: Ah, if we had an easy answer to this question, Page Ahead could cease operations tomorrow! Unfortunately that is not the case. Smarter people than me have done plenty of research on inequity in public education, but it basically comes down to entrenched inequitable school funding models, which reflect and perpetuate the larger inequitable resource distribution among people and families in our society, particularly along racial lines. In Seattle, for example, the median net worth for Black households is only 5 percent that of white households. And since school funding tends to be tied to local property values, inequitable and racist housing models and gaps in median income and generational wealth make themselves known at the school level too. Plus, in Washington, the state struggles to pay for basic education costs, even though it is constitutionally required to do so, so districts rely on passing levies, which is much harder for districts in poorer areas to do because their voters are less likely to approve “extra” costs.

So the problem is multifaceted and generations in the making and is a legacy of a white supremacist system that has historically centered (if even unconsciously) the needs of white kids in general education. And Page Ahead can’t fix that.

But! There is a ton of research that shows that when you have access to books in the home in childhood, regardless of your parents’ education or income level, you are more likely to succeed in school and in life. Academic success tends to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. So that’s our focus—equitable book access for ALL kids.

We are a small team (just four employees, plus a couple hundred AWESOME volunteers), so our model is very decentralized. We work directly with schools and organizations to help them get books in the hands of the kids they serve; that means our immediate partners are school librarians, teachers, early childhood educators, and more. We also support family reading time with family literacy nights and prompts for questions to ask during shared reading times.

Free Library “Oases”

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about the Book Oasis project. Can you describe these “oases” for us, please? How did Page Ahead come up with this fantastic idea?

Rebecca Brinbury: Our Book Oasis project installs, maintains, and refills Little Free Libraries in Seattle-area neighborhoods with the most limited access to books. Originally conceived of as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how much harder it was for kids to find new books to read with school and public libraries closed, each Book Oasis provides a constantly refilled pipelines of brand-new, high-interest title for babies through young adults from our book stock.

Custom designed for little browsers (including shelves closer to the ground that face book covers out), each Book Oasis is maintained and refilled by Page Ahead volunteers. Located near Seattle schools we already serve with our other programs, Book Oases further expand these students’ access to books, strengthening home libraries and increasing community book circulation.

The first Book Oases were installed in the High Point community in West Seattle in March 2021; we’ve now installed eighteen total Oases in more than a dozen neighborhoods. Thanks in large part to Page Ahead’s amazing corps of Book Oasis restock volunteers, our Oases are now putting an average of more than 140 books a week out into the community!

Combatting Summer Learning Loss

Kars4Kids: How is Page Ahead combatting summer learning loss?

Rebecca Brinbury: I think the first question to ask is why we are combatting summer learning loss. And that’s because it’s where the majority, about 80%, of the “achievement” gap comes from—that is, the gap in testing scores between kids in families experiencing low income and their better-off peers. Even though those kids learn at the same rate during the school year, when the educational “faucet” is turned off, the kids whose families have more resources are better able to keep learning during the summer outside of school, but the others aren’t. So if you can keep kids from sliding back during the summer, you can keep them on even footing all year round, and the “achievement” gap doesn’t get established in the same way.

And we do that through Book Up Summer. Based on a highly regarded 2010 Department of Education-funded study, Book Up Summer gives students in grades K–2 reading material for summer vacation. In late spring, students choose 12 new books from a special book fair at their school. Prior to the book fair, students and their families are invited to a literacy night where they learn about the program and discuss book selections.

Instead of a summer setback, Book Up Summer students experience a boost! According to 2018 Seattle Public Schools test data, Book Up Summer students show an average improvement in reading skills of 2.63 points over the summer for rising first graders and 1.84 points over the summer for rising second graders. To see these students, who would typically slide back, actually gaining reading skill is a powerful endorsement of this summer reading model.

Access to books through Book Up Summer has also functioned as a protective factor during the pandemic, which has knocked students back at all levels. Seattle low-income fourth graders who had participated in Book Up Summer in their K–2 years have slid back nearly four points less in their reading scores than their statewide low-income peers (a drop of 9.7 points for Seattle Book Up Summer students vs. 13.3 points for statewide low-income students).

Since we first piloted Book Up Summer a decade ago, we’ve put nearly 1.4 million self-selected books on kids’ shelves in more than 100 schools statewide.

Pushing Against the Achievement Gap

Kars4Kids: What makes a child “kindergarten ready” and how are you helping to move the children of your community closer to that goal?

Rebecca Brinbury: “Kindergarten readiness” is a measure of how prepared kids are for elementary school. But it isn’t about how many letters or numbers they know. It’s more about how ready they are to learn, and includes everything from motor skills to social-emotional development to persistence capacity and more. One crucial part of that is language and preliteracy skills, which is where our Story Leaders program comes in.

Story Leaders is a reading intervention that trains educators and families in evidence-based shared reading techniques for preschool children (that is, reading stories together, asking questions about the books, and so on). Story Leaders is designed to rapidly develop vocabulary and language skills and provides eight free books that the students have read in class during the school year to take home, building both their home libraries and reinforcing the home–school connection.

Pre-literacy skills like print awareness, self-regulation (the ability to sit still and listen to a story), and exposure to a high number of words are the foundation of later reading success, and shared reading like what we teach through Story Leaders is a proven way to support the development of those skills. And because Story Leaders is offered at government-supported preschool programs that serve families experiencing poverty, we’re giving those kids a leg up on their reading skills before they even get to elementary school, as a preemptive pushback against the aforementioned “achievement” gap that they are statistically likely to encounter.

Are Books Still Relevant?

Kars4Kids: Why is it important to build “joyful” reading habits? Where does technology fit in with all this? Are books still relevant? You offer three programs that specifically address this critical need. Can you tell us a little bit about them?

Rebecca Brinbury: Obviously I am very biased, but yes, books are SO relevant! As any publishing professional will tell you, a “book” is a way for a story to get across, regardless of whether you’re reading it on a page, on a screen, or through an audiobook. And personally, I love my ereader for requesting and checking out ebooks from the library, for example. But “traditional” printed books are still very much central to the learning and literacy process—especially because it is much easier to distribute books than it is to distribute digital devices. Plus, even if they have access to them, kids don’t usually own their digital devices—they belong to the school district, or to an adult in their household, or so on. Kids can own books, and ownership is powerful. (Plus books don’t need to charge, and when they break, they can be fixed with a little tape instead of a support ticket and a Master’s degree!)

We help make those joyful reading connections with books through our Story Time program, in which trained volunteers visit preschool and kindergarten classes to read books, sing songs, and do crafts on themes like “friendship” or “springtime”; we also work with partner schools and volunteer groups to hold one-off reading events, during which kids pick a book to read with visiting volunteers and then they get to take it home and keep it. And in a throwback to the original name Page Ahead was created under—Books for Kids—Page Ahead works with fellow nonprofits and schools to provide books that they can give the kids they serve.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your volunteer program. How do you manage such a large team? What kind of role do they play at Page Ahead?

Rebecca Brinbury: My amazing colleague Stacey Lane runs our volunteer program, along with the fantastic Lisa Ceniceros, our literacy programs manager. They train and support our program volunteers, like those who do Story Times or restock Book Oasis. Stacey especially does a ton of work with our corporate volunteer groups, who tend to do project-based volunteering, such as decorating bookmarks or preparing bunches of bookplate stickers.

Last year, we had 187 volunteers who donated 2,332 hours total (pre-COVID, we had closer to 400 and 500 volunteers annually, but of course the volunteer opportunities were more limited last year). The value of a volunteer hour in Washington in 2021 was $34.87; that means Page Ahead volunteers donated the equivalent of $81,316.84! We truly could not get this work done without them. And anyone who is interested in learning more about volunteering can go to pageahead.org/volunteer to learn more!

Measuring Success

Kars4Kids: Do you have a way to measure the extent of your impact and success?

Rebecca Brinbury: We track our numbers internally, of course, about the number of books distributed, kids served, and so on. And we also get testing data from the schools we work with in Book Up Summer to help track reading scores (though of course COVID interruptions to standardized testing has interrupted that for the last couple years).

We also survey our educators and families about the impacts of our programs. 98 percent of teachers responding to our survey in spring 2022 agreed that Book Up Summer helps to build a culture of reading for their students’ families; 99 percent agreed that it makes a positive impact on their students’ attitudes toward reading and fosters engagement with reading; and 100 percent agreed it increases their students’ access to books in the home.

Also in spring 2022, 69 percent of families responded that Book Up Summer would increase their future family time spent reading together; they also reported that their children’s home libraries grew by an average of 62 percent thanks to Book Up Summer.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Page Ahead?

Rebecca Brinbury: Growth! Book Up Summer is expanding to new schools in Spokane, the Yakima Valley, and Pierce County. Story Leaders is adding a bunch of kiddos in the Highline district. And that’s just for this school year!

As they work to make up for pandemic disruptions to their learning, more kids need more books than ever. So we’re working hard to raise the money and build the systems we need to make sure those kids have plenty of books on their shelves. We’re grateful to Kars4Kids for joining us in this work and invite everyone else to find out how you can be a part of our partnership too at pageahead.org/get-involved.

LaunchPAD Children’s Museum offers children something crucial: everything they need to engage in creative free play. Play is important for a child’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. But at LaunchPAD, they understand that play, without too much adult interference, is also a hands-on learning experience. That is what this Sioux City-based children’s museum has tried to provide for the children of this, the fourth-largest city in Iowa.

At Kars4Kids, we appreciate that learning begins way before a child ever enters the classroom, through the power of play. As the adults in the room, it is incumbent on us to provide the right settings and opportunities for children to explore their world through play. As such, we saw it as our duty to support an initiative that offers exactly that, which we accomplished by way of our small grant program. We had a chat with LaunchPAD Children’s Museum Education Director Sara Bunker, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the community and the children you serve?

Sara Bunker: LaunchPAD is the play destination for Sioux City and the surrounding area. Sioux City is a close knit and very diverse city of 85,000. We also serve families from the Siouxland area in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Kars4Kids: When was the museum established, and why? Whose idea was it to create LaunchPAD Children’s Museum?

Sara Bunker: The idea for LaunchPAD Children’s Museum came from a group of moms in 2009. The moms wanted to have a safe space for kids and care givers to play year-round. This dream became a reality in 2016 when we opened our doors.

Kars4Kids: What made you decide to call it the “LaunchPAD” Children’s Museum? Why LaunchPAD?

Sara Bunker: The name was chosen by children and PAD stands for Play and Discovery. The name is also incorporated in our mission of launching a child’s love of learning through play and discovery.

Kars4Kids: How many permanent exhibits do you have? Can you give us some examples of the exhibits and what they teach?

Sara Bunker: We have eight permanent exhibits. Many of the exhibits focus on the development of the whole child where children develop their senses, cognitive, mental, emotional and physical health. We see kids’ imagination and creativity develop in many of the exhibits and hands-on activities.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the various camps you offer?

Sara Bunker: We offer after school, summer and winter break camps. In all of our camps children complete many hands-on activities that are open ended. This means that there is no one correct answer or specific finish line that they need to accomplish. Children learn many things by discovering how to complete the activities in the way that they feel is best. All of our camps based on themes chosen by our staff. Our favorite camp ‘Sloppy Science’ that is held every summer with plenty of messy activities.

Kars4Kids: We see you have an initiative called Garden Club 2022 that looks intriguing. What can you tell us about this new offering?

Sara Bunker: This initiative came from two volunteers that are master gardeners that want to inspire children to garden. Kids complete many of the activities virtually and occasionally meet to work in a garden.

Kars4Kids: How did you weather the pandemic? Are there still precautions or limitations in place for young visitors and their families?

Sara Bunker: It was difficult because we focus so much on hands on activities. We were able to make activity kits that were offered to families and kids through community agencies.

Kars4Kids: We like this note on your website: “At LaunchPAD, all children deserve opportunities to learn and play. Support for low-income families is available through our access membership program. These families are asked to stop by the museum in-person to apply.”

What percentage of your visitors fall into the category of needing such support?

Sara Bunker: LaunchPAD serves anywhere from 25-40% of daily admissions at a reduced rate to help families in need.

Kars4Kids: Your call for volunteers is from ages 14-up. What kind of duties do your volunteers perform?

Sara Bunker: Our volunteer duties range from helping facilitate special events, playing with kids, helping in camps, prepping materials and cleaning. We would not be able to do all of our amazing educational programs without the hep of volunteers.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the LaunchPAD Children’s Museum?

Sara Bunker: The sky is the limit! We will continue to grow programs and extend our reach outside of the museum into the community. We are also getting ready to install several new exhibits in December 2022. We look forward to our continued growth.

Strong Women, Strong Girls (Pittsburgh) has a unique approach to empowering women and girls. SWSG has female college students mentor young girls, while putting career women together with the college students. Hence, women are empowering women, with each group receiving a boost from the others. It makes sense that one woman can offer the truest example to another of what can happen when girls and women gather up their courage and take that next step toward an awesome future.

We like the concept of women helping each other to overcome the obstacles they encounter in life, be it bias, a shortage of self-confidence, a lack of resources, and often all three. Kars4Kids believes that girls and women are deserving of greater support than they now receive to offset these things that get in the way of their success. Our small grant award, we hope, will show the world that this is important stuff, and that they too, should be supporting this work.

We asked Kimberly Baston, managing director of Strong Women, Strong Girls Pittsburgh, to tell us how this organization is working its magic:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic. Who does your organization serve?

Kimberly Baston: Strong Women Strong Girls (SWSG) serves three generations of women and girls, and those who identify as such. Our primary focus is on elementary school girls in grades 3-5 who live in under-resourced communities. A majority of our participants are girls of color, and many come from households with income below $40,000 per year. We also work with college students and adult professional women who volunteer with us.

Kars4Kids: SWSG says it connects three generations through mentorship, but apparently grandmothers, mothers, and daughters are not what is meant by “generations.” Can you explain? Why is this aspect of your program important?

Kimberly Baston: That’s correct! Our multi-generational model is our claim to fame versus other mentoring programs. Our three generations are our adult professional women (women in the workforce), college women, and elementary school girls. Professional women mentor our college women through 1:1 mentoring relationships, while our college women mentor the elementary school girls. This creates what we refer to as a trickle-down effect, where each group is pouring knowledge, confidence, and insight into the next. By engaging women at different ages, we aim to build up future generations of women leaders in our region.

Kars4Kids: Strong Women, Strong Girls offers different types of mentoring. Can you tell us how this works? Who are the mentors, and what is the goal of the various kinds of mentorship you offer the girls?

Kimberly Baston: Our core mentoring program consists of college women who mentor elementary school girls. They do this during weekly after-school sessions that follow a lesson plan built on research around the 6Cs of Positive Youth Development and social-emotional learning. The girls and their mentors learn about strong female role models, do fun activities, and journal back and forth to provide the girls with a safe space to share their fears, goals, and triumphs with their mentors. We also have what we call the Strong Leaders program, which is where professional women mentor college women through 1:1 mentoring relationships. Those professional women can also become a real-life role model and deliver a lesson about themselves at a program site with our girls. All of our programs are aimed at building girls’ and women’s self-confidence and empowering them to do anything they dream.

Kars4Kids: SWSG helps elementary school girls to build relationships with “strong female role models.” What constitutes a “strong female role model?” Can you describe some of the role models who work with the girls in this capacity?

Kimberly Baston: Our role models display strength in so many different ways. The role models we feature in our weekly curriculum include a widely diverse pool of women AND young girls who are doing amazing things in the world. We’ve featured everyone from Michelle Obama to the Wisjen sisters – teenage girls who are working to eliminate single-use plastics in Bali! We include people who are local to Pittsburgh, women who were famous in history, and people in current events. Each role model is carefully selected to show our girls a wide variety of not only backgrounds, but also life paths. We want them to be exposed to as many options for their future plans as possible.

Kars4Kids: You work with girls in grades 3-5. What sets this age group apart, and what are the specific goals you work toward with them?

Kimberly Baston: Our organization is founded on the fact that research has shown girls’ self-confidence peaks around the age of 9, or during pre-adolescence, and then drops off – not returning to those peak levels again until she’s in her 30s. We’re seeking to intervene during those pre-adolescent years to build and solidify girls’ self-confidence so they are empowered to build a stronger and brighter future for themselves. We’re an assets-based program, meaning we take an approach of nurturing the gifts and talents our girls already possess in droves, instead of assuming a deficit that needs to be “fixed.” Through lessons and activities that build on those talents, we hope they can enter the next chapter of their lives with higher confidence and big dreams.

Kars4Kids: Your website states that “Strong Women, Strong Girls works to counter the social pressures that discourage girls in under-resourced communities.” In what sense are the girls you serve “under-resourced?” Is this across the board in all three Pittsburgh chapters of SWSG? We wouldn’t have thought, for example, that Squirrel Hill girls would be considered “under-resourced.”

Kimberly Baston: Our primary focus is on under-resourced communities, yes – which often means a community that doesn’t have many enrichment opportunities for girls, is facing other significant challenges like being a food desert, or has a significant population of families that are considered low-income – among other things. But our program is not exclusive – we operate at more than 40 sites all around the city. We recognize the value in exposing as many girls as possible to mentorship and confidence-building, regardless of circumstance. And while folks may have perceptions of various neighborhoods in and around Pittsburgh as either being under-resourced or the opposite, the reality is that each of our program sites houses a diverse group of girls whose various life circumstances could be creating additional barriers for them, and the lines between our many wonderful Pittsburgh neighborhoods are not always drawn in ink.

Kars4Kids: The Pittsburgh branch of SWSG opened in 2006. The Tree of Life synagogue shooting, occurred just blocks away from your Squirrel Hill (Murray Ave.) location in 2018, and left a permanent mark on the neighborhood. Did you see a difference in your young participants in the aftermath of the tragedy, and did you do anything special to help them get through this time?

Kimberly Baston: The Tree of Life synagogue shooting was such a tragedy for our city and for the Squirrel Hill neighborhood. We felt the impacts deeply as an organization – both in our staff team, who exist as part of the Squirrel Hill community, and also in our girls and mentors. We anticipated that our elementary girls would be affected by the shooting, especially at sites in surrounding neighborhoods, so we immediately prepared a toolkit for the mentors who served those sites. We not only provided our mentors with a safe space to talk with our staff if they needed it, but we also shared strategies for navigating difficult conversations, reminded them of the training they receive each semester on taking a trauma-informed approach to working with the girls, and we created a list of activities that could help either focus girls’ emotions in the aftermath of the tragedy, or redirect them, depending on the group. For instance – one of our program sites spent their next session writing sympathy cards that we collected and sent to Tree of Life. Many of our girls knew someone who had either been at the synagogue during the shooting, or who typically attends there. They were confused, scared, and angry – like the rest of us. Thankfully, our mentors were prepared and handled conversations around the senseless violence with compassion and grace.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Campus Discovery Tours?

Kimberly Baston: Yes! Many of the girls in our program have never experienced a college campus or been exposed to what it means to be a college student. While we are not a college prep organization, we find value in exposing the girls to this potential life path. Each spring, our girls get to take a field trip to the campus where their mentors are from and explore the college, eat in the college cafeteria, see classrooms and labs, and engage in fun activities that other on-campus student groups host.

Kars4Kids: Like so many orgs in the wake of COVID-19, SWSG now has some virtual programming. Can you share about these online offerings?

Kimberly Baston: When the COVID pandemic hit in 2020, we spent the summer entirely recreating our curriculum and program model to operate virtually, which we did for a whole school year. Sessions took place on Zoom in a shorter time frame due to screen time concerns, and activities were adapted to be done from home with supplies that we shipped to every girl. This allowed us to have zero gap in our program offerings, and it allowed us to reach girls who may not ever have been able to attend in person due to geographic, transportation, or other barriers. At the same time, there’s no denying the value of in-person programming! Now, we have a hybrid model that means our sites can choose the best way for them to engage with SWSG programs. We’re primarily in-person, but a site that has scheduling or busing issues can still participate virtually so that we don’t leave those girls out. We hope to continue expanding these options to one day let girls enroll in the program without having to be tied to a program site!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Strong Women, Strong Girls?

Kimberly Baston: We’re in the midst of a 3-year strategic plan that is putting us on an exciting path toward growth and expansion. In the near future, you might see us at more universities and more elementary schools in Pittsburgh, as well as new regions in Western PA where we can reach even more communities!

Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson, if you didn’t know better, might seem to you like just one more branch of this national youth organization. This particular branch of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, however, distinguishes itself for being attuned and responsive to the needs of the community it serves. BGCT also instills in the youth it serves, a better sense of and connection to their natural surroundings and resources. At Kars4Kids we feel it’s important for kids to have a safe place to go after school. The uniquely creative offerings at BGCT go beyond, elevating this safe space to a place that enriches, supports, and connects youth to their surroundings and to the community.

With BGCT in their lives, the boys and girls of Tucson are much more likely to become successful adults who give back to the community. The stress on community and the excellence and creativity of its programs are two of the main reasons we chose to award a small grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson. We spoke to the inspiring CEO of BGCT, Denise Watters, to learn more about the work of this local asset for Tucson youth.

Kars4Kids: Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson is serving in six locations. That must be a lot of kids! What proportion would you say are from low-income homes? 

Denise Watters: It sure is! Our current numbers indicate that 92% of the youth we serve come from low-income households.

Kars4Kids: As CEO, what are your day-to-day responsibility for all the BGCT youth? Can you tell our readers about the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Standards of Organizational Effectiveness evaluations and how you placed? What’s your secret?

Denise Watters: Having been a BGC member myself on the East Coast, I know from the inside how important our mission is, and that’s where I begin. In all my daily activities, in choosing my priorities and charting our direction, I revisit these words: “The mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson (BGCT) is to provide young people in our community, especially those who need us most, with a clear path to reach their full potential and pursue their dreams.” Managing my day-to-day duties is driven, at its core, by the pressing obligation all of us at BGCT have to create, develop, and nurture a safe and supportive space for those who need us the most.

As far as the BGCA Standards of Organizational Effectiveness go, those are a series of rubric-based metrics that allow BGC organizations to decide for themselves where they want to focus their energy, resources, and improvement efforts. It may not be a rank, but it does speak to the inviting and inclusive relationship between BGCA and its branches. BGCA has always served as a beacon to all of us, providing us with key insights into our own practices. We remain ever committed to understanding our impact through a variety of lenses, from these national assessments all the way to our treasured staff on the ground who give us daily input on what they see in the Clubs.

My secret is simple but true: at the end of the day, it’s all about the youth.

Kars4Kids: The first iteration and chapter of BGCT opened its doors in 1963. Is your mission the same, today? What is different about BGCT in the 21^st century?

Denise Watters: BGCT has gone through an incredible evolution over the years, and in my opinion the Tucson chapter especially has leapt from strength to strength. Our mission remains the same as it has since we first opened our doors. The ways we implement it, however, as well as keeping our finger on the pulse of the needs of Tucson’s youth as they evolve, continue to evolve as needed. I’ll give just two examples that can highlight this:

When the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson first opened its doors the organization (national as well as branches) was missing the “G,” being a boys-only club. The Tucson chapter rallied together with other branches across the country in voicing their desire for inclusion, and this ultimately led to the tipping point where girls were allowed to attend, and BGCA as we know it today was born. We may not have made the change ourselves, but we sure were a heavy rock in an avalanche of change.

More recently, when 2020 and COVID-19 exploded into the picture, we were one of the first organizations to get a bead on the educational crisis that was about to unfold. In just a few months into the pandemic we transformed our Clubhouses into daytime learning centers for the children of first responders, essential workers, and frontline COVID workers. This past summer (2022) we participated in Arizona OnTrack, and were able to make our summer programs free for more than 2,000 youth and served more than 29,000 meals and snacks during this time. Now that schools are returning to more normal schedules we are adapting our programming to fit around the circumstances our youth encounter daily.

The Tucson branch has always been forward-thinking in adapting to social needs. We keep our finger on the pulse, the voice that guides us being the needs of the youth today.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the Formula for Impact. Who developed it, what is it? When was the formula adopted by the Boys and Girls Club Movement and why?

Denise Watters: The Formula for Impact is, at its core, a vision created by BGCA. Described as a roadmap, it outlines a series of objectives all BGC chapters should strive towards. These are to ensure that every member we serve sees strong outcomes in the areas of Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles. It further expands to include more specific components of how to achieve these outcomes. We first find the youth who need us the most. This simple but deep step involves a lot of strategy and planning, encompassing everything from where we concentrate any outreach efforts to how we plan new Clubs or extensions. Having accessed these youth, we provide them with Outcome-Driven Club Experiences, High Yield Activities, Targeted Programs, and Regular Attendance.

There’s much more to be said about the Formula for Impact. I would encourage anyone interested in this targeted approach that has supported so much of both BGCA’s and BGCT’s success to visit BGCA’s website to read more about it. It really is one of the most exciting components that drives the BGC Movement, and informs so much of what we do.

Kars4Kids: Parks in Focus is a program that really caught our eyes. What a wonderful way to teach children about their local natural surroundings. Can you tell our readers about this program?

Denise Watters: I love all of our programs, but I agree: Parks in Focus really is special. It’s a partnership with the Udall Foundation that instills in youth a love of nature through photography. Throughout the year various opportunities exist for our participating youth to visit local and state parks while learning about photographing nature and wildlife. This not only teaches a skillset but also instills in participants a love and appreciation for the wildlife and plants of the southwest. Arizona is home to some of the most majestic scenery in the country, and we want everyone to do their part to learn about the land they live on and care for it. This inspires youth to understand more about the environment but also science fields such as biology, botany, and more.

One of the most exciting highlights for Parks in Focus occurs annually, when the youth take a trip to the Grand Canyon and spend several days immersed in one of the most unique natural environments on earth. I think back to one of our Club members from our Frank & Edith Morton Clubhouse location, named Yvonne. Going on that trip was one of the most meaningful experiences of her life. It was fun, educational, and unlike anything she had ever encountered. It’s a touching thought to think that, whatever her career path in life will be, this was one of those milestones that contributed to her personal development, confidence, and education. We are very fortunate to have this partnership with the Udall Foundation. It creates positive memories that last a lifetime and support a youth’s journey on so many levels.

Kars4Kids: We were also intrigued by the description of the Games Club as a science and design-thinking program. How is this games club different than other such clubs?

Denise Watters: The Games Club was developed in connection with a professor from the University of Arizona Astronomy department. It’s a fantastic concept in that it merges fun and education. Just about everyone loves playing a stimulating game, but for a youth, games are a great opportunity to teach critical thinking and math skills. We would also host activities in the Games Club that would teach STEM in enjoyable, engaging ways. Building a model volcano, for example, teaches not only elements of geography and volcanology but also chemistry, archeology and engineering. We’ve all had the experience where the same material presented two different ways can be either incredibly exciting or boring. With passion and some creative thinking, we create high-yield learning activities that inspire youth to learn more and potentially find an area of academic interest. The Games Club shows any youth hesitant about science, math, or critical thinking there are many roads that can lead to knowledge, and some of them can be very enjoyable.

I keep coming back to this word, but in this case it’s very important: in education, having fun counts for a lot. That never changes, no matter what our age is.

Kars4Kids: We’re including here a clip of the Rivera family talking about their experience with BGCT (above). What did you give these boys and their family that made the difference for them, and helped them overcome their tragedy?

Denise Watters: The Rivera family story is a very powerful one, and every now and then I revisit it in my mind. Though we do our best to instill joy in our members, it’s the obligation of every staff member to remember that some of them have gone through immense pain before they come through our doors. It’s so crucial to remain mindful, to honor that pain but find ways to empower them to not be defined by it. We’ve had our finger on the pulse of mental health needs for the past couple of years, especially with how much they were exacerbated during the pandemic. It’s one of the areas of immense importance that is driving us to seek new lasting partnerships to ensure we are doing everything we can to support the mental health needs of our Club members who might have experienced losses similar to the Rivera family. Informed compassion is more crucial than ever in any youth development initiative.

Building on that, while mental health is a vital element of our current interests, we also want to ensure that other pieces of the puzzle are strong. These youth have wonderful, bright futures ahead of them, and the most important thing is for them to realize that. By being academically supported; taught essential skills about the workforce; learning physical wellness and health; and just being in an environment that nurtures good character and positive relationships, our members can gain confidence in themselves. That confidence is very valuable, especially if you’ve come from circumstances where abuse, neglect, poverty, or loss have been a very present factor.

The value of a positive role model can’t be stated enough. Our members develop lasting bonds with Clubhouse staff, and it’s not uncommon for staff to be invited to graduations, birthdays, quinceañeras, or other personal events. We have strict protocols in place for how staff can respond to these types of invitations, but the general picture it paints is a very powerful and meaningful one.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the EXCEL program. We like the idea of motivating kids to help themselves get ahead.

Denise Watters: EXCEL is a great program. Here’s how it works. High Schoolers are encouraged to submit their report cards every quarter.  If they receive an unweighted GPA of 3.0 to 3.4 they will receive a $25 gift card.  If they receive an unweighted GPA of 3.5 to 4.0 they will receive a $50 gift card. If the GPA is lower than a 3.0, and they submit their report card they don’t receive anything, however, the next quarter if their GPA is still below a 3.0 but was better than the previous quarter they will receive a $10 gift card to places like Taco Bell, McDonald’s, etc. This helps encourage them to make small academic gains that can add up a lot over the course of their time in high school, especially if they begin as a freshman.

All grades are recorded on a tracker and maintained so we have record of the GPA and the dollar amount of the gift card earned.  When they complete their senior year all gift cards from GPA’s 3.0 and higher will be matched dollar for dollar and they will receive a check in that total amount.  So if they turned in report cards all four years of high school they will receive a check totaling the amount of gift cards they received over those years which can add up to quite a lot. In addition, if during their senior year they received a 3.5 and higher GPA for all four quarters they will receive a free iPad. If during their senior year they received a 3.0 to 3.5 all four quarters they will be put into a drawing and one member will receive a free iPad.

What makes the EXCEL program so effective is it instills in participants that education has a value. Especially when there are pressures to work to support other family members, or just a lack of interest in school, this type of incentive really can make the difference between a youth staying in school or not. And it can also stimulate the intrinsic desire to do better. A check for a high GPA is great, and can make a huge difference, but we also hope the satisfaction of getting those high grades, of looking at the report card and saying, “Wow, I really did that.” can help build that crucial confidence needed to not only succeed in high school but also in higher education or trade school.

Kars4Kids: We’re curious about your Youth of the Year recipients: has the award helped some of them on to top-tier colleges and universities? It seems like it would look good on a college application or resume!

Denise Watters: Winning Youth of the Year absolutely looks great on both a college application and a resume. Being a national program and competition, it’s recognized across the country and carries with it an impressive weight. I think to our winner two years ago, Anycia, and how it helped her land a place at Hampshire College, where she is studying towards her ultimate goal of being a neurologist. I think, however, that it serves as a mirror. Winning an award always looks great, but this award in particular says so much about the individual receiving it. Winning Youth of the Year means you’ve really made an impact in both your own leadership qualities but also your academic achievements and engagement. We’re so proud of our Youth of the Year winners, and celebrate them as often as we can!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Boys and Girls Clubs of Tucson?

Denise Watters: We have so many exciting projects in the works, a few of which I can’t announce quite yet (but stayed tuned). There is a lot going on at BGCT, we have set our ambitions skyward and the projects stemming from them are matching those heights of excellence we aspire to. It also helps that next year is our 65^th Anniversary, and we plan to really kick things into high gear. So, while I can’t say much for now here are some teasers:

First, we remain deeply committed to continuing our mission, ensuring we reach the youth who need us most and provide them with that enriched path to following their dreams. Within that, we aim to expand our footprint in the community, looking into new partnerships and the exciting projects that will stem from them. There are so many organizations in town interested in supporting the next generation of brilliant workers, thinkers, scientists, artists, and businesspeople. We want to grow and expand by creating lasting meaningful connections, spearheading these collective collaborations. When we work together we are greater than on our own, and BGCT is committed to building enduring, lasting bridges that will connect and reach more of the youth we aim to serve.

Here’s one concrete thing I can say: we are keen and passionate about tackling the challenges our members face and finding new ways to empower them. The future looks bright for Tucson’s youth.

Thrive Clermont teaches kids some of the “hardest and scariest parts of growing up” and much, much more. The organization is the brainchild of a mom who realized there were few resources for teens to learn what they need to learn to become successful adults. Seven years after its founding, Thrive Clermont is, well, thriving. The kids who are lucky enough to take part in this youth engagement organization are well on their way to the next phase of their lives, whether that means college or a trade.

Our small grants program gives us the ability to reach more children than we could ever reach with our own programs. This nonprofit for teens feels like a worthy endeavor, and we were pleased we could give Thrive Clermont an assist. We spoke with Thrive Clermont Founder and Executive Director Sheri F. Lewin to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic you serve?

Sheri Lewin: Thrive Clermont’s educational programs are created to serve any interested students ages 13-18 years old and are offered in venues throughout South Lake County, Florida and beyond. Our nine open programs in 2022 will serve 500+ students. In addition, our Teen Advisory Council is our leadership program for students and is comprised of students from all three public high schools, area private schools and also the homeschooled community.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about how you came to found your organization, Thrive Clermont?

Sheri Lewin: I raised three teens myself in South Lake County. As early as 2008, when our oldest was 13, I realized that there were very few resources offered for teens to learn life skills and explore careers. A full seven year later, in 2015, I finally found myself in the position to transition out of full time work and donate my time and my professional skills to the effort.

In 2015, my two youngest children were 13 and 15. As I noticed that the need in our community for these services remained and my passion to serve in this way was growing. I often found myself in parent circles, as one does when raising active children, and the parent discussions as well as my direct interaction with students continued to impress upon me that the teens in our community were in need of more support to transition post high school. Whether a student’s goal was a college degree, skilled trades career, or entrepreneurial, everyone could benefit from additional support and opportunities to build confidence and ensure greater success. And there was plenty of talent in our community if there was a framework in place.  This led me to hold many coffees with community members and Thrive Clermont officially Incorporated in November 2015. We received our IRS 501(c)3 designation in March 2016 and our first program was a partnership with the local Boys & Girls Club in October 2016.

Kars4Kids: The mission statement on the website describes Thrive Clermont as a “youth engagement organization.” What does that mean? How does it differ from other youth groups? Is there a membership fee?

Sheri Lewin: Thrive Clermont is engaging youth on several levels. Our open programs such as our Adulting Workshops and Summer PopUps are open to any interested students ages 13-18. Local individuals and businesses create mini-workshops on at least 20 different hobbies or activities each June during Summer PopUps nights and the Adulting Workshops in the spring and fall offer career and college readiness, and personal financial literacy support.

Thrive’s programs are different in one way because our local community members who volunteer as instructors develop a custom curriculum around our theme and their expertise. Another unique feature is that our Teen Advisory Council helps design, plan and execute our programs. Which keeps them fresh and relevant. Teens serve as instructor liaisons, develop the post-event surveys, solicit door prizes, create social media campaigns, and more.

There is a $10 registration fee for programs which includes dinner. Fee waivers are available for students who need financial assistance.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your Teen Advisory Council? What is the Harkness Method?

Sheri Lewin: Our Teen Advisory Council can be considered our student board of directors.  The selected teens on our Teen Advisory Council serve for six months (or more) alongside adult mentors as they develop and execute many of the elements of our programming. We accept up to 20 students, twice a year. Students may reapply for more than one semester and are given greater responsibility or they take on different role on the Social Media Team, Video Team, or Event Planning Team.

There is an application and interview process and each student selected learns to build on their strengths to support the many elements that are needed for successful community programs. TAC members grow their self-leadership skills while learning about building successful community programming.

Regarding the Harkness Method, I honestly did not know that I was practicing the Harkness Method when I established the TAC. I just knew from experience that if you sat in a circle around a table like a board of directors might do, the students tended to act like more like a board. If you treated them as adults, I learned they trusted you and would engage more. Also, I believe the circle meeting setup equalizes the group and builds better discussion. So, one day, as I was describing how I ran the TAC meetings to a friend, he nodded and said “aahh, you use the Harkness Method,”

I had no idea what he was talking about, so I had to look it up! I learned that the Harkness Method is a teaching technique used in classrooms at Ivy League schools to prep students to be future Board of Directors and world leaders. There is definitely more to Harkness Method than that and plenty of articles online for those that want more. I do think it’s great, however, that we have the opportunity to set up our meetings that way for such a large group of 16 or more students monthly when we have our full TAC meetings. This is possible thanks to our partnership with our local college, which offers the perfect space.

Kars4Kids: Your summer pop-up activities are led by local community members. What sort of activities are offered? What are some of the advantages of involving the community?

Sheri Lewin: During our three nights of Summer PopUps 2022, local community members offered mini-workshops. Topics included: A Day In The Life Of A Fire Fighter; American Sign Language; Building a Healthy Lifestyle; Cake Decorating; Chess Tactics; College Essay Writing; Container Gardening; Create Your Own Spice Blend; Emergency Aid Tips; Intro to Improv, Longboarding; Love your Hair; Pier Fishing; Trail Skating; Photography; and a Make and Take art area.

Students pick one activity of their choice for the night, followed by food, music, and door prizes. We find that a local, engaged instructor that is paired with a small group of students who are interested in the same topic can create an environment where much learning and positive interactions occur. Summer PopUps are our most popular program and they are a lot of fun!

Kars4Kids: Your Adulting Series “demystifies the hardest and scariest parts of growing up.” What is hard and scary about growing up? How does your program offset these issues?

Sheri Lewin: Our early teen surveys and Teen Advisory Council shared that there are some basic skills and knowledge that are not offered in school or at home.

Our workshop on Personal Finance, for example, interactively takes students through all the important financial concepts related to buying a car, which for most students will be their first financed purchase.

Our Exploring Colleges Field Trip allows students the opportunity to meet representatives from 50+ schools and concludes with a Zoom coaching session to prepare them to narrow the field and ask good questions.

Kars4Kids: Mentoring is a part of what you do. Can you describe how you have incorporated mentoring into your program? Who are your mentors?

Sheri Lewin: Every adult volunteer in our program is considered a mentor. We recruit volunteers who can bring both professionalism and fun. From Instructors and activity leaders to our marketing professional who support our social media team, our students are impacted in every interaction.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Thrive Clermont?

Sheri Lewin: Currently we are working on several initiatives to expand our Adulting Workshops to reach more students with expanded programming and transportation support. We currently serve 400-500 students a year and this represents only 10% of our high school student population in South Lake County. Our 3-year goal is increasing that number to 1,000 students served annually over the next three years through expansion of the successful Summer PopUps and the Adulting program.

Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow (LTLT) is ambitious. The organization not only aims to turn young people from various backgrounds into bright young leaders, but to add some international flavor and experience to the mix.

The brainchild of Emmanuel Lacoste, who came to the United States as a child, Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow reflects the fears and challenges Lacoste himself has overcome in order to become the person he is today. Now he wants to give back—to share his acquired experience in learning and leadership with this upcoming generation—the challenges they face are much the same.

We spoke to Lacoste, founder of Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow, to find out more about the important work of this Kars4Kids small grant recipient:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your demographic? Who are the kids you serve?

Emmanuel Lacoste: LTLT serves all demographics ages 4 to 19. While we know that low income families are in the most need, we believe that mixing kids from mixed socioeconomic backgrounds helps bridge the gap in education and self-worth.

LTLT teaches what we call youth leadership skills. For this, we use a variety of STEM, fine arts and outdoor education programs. Reading is at the hearth of all the programs, because reading is the single most important skill to apply to learning new material. If you can read, you can follow the complex directions provided in our STEM challenges and outdoor leadership skills courses.

Kars4Kids: You have lived and worked overseas all your life. How did that impact your decision to found Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow?

Emmanuel Lacoste: I immigrated to the United States when I was 11 years old. My single mom raised three kids on mostly minimum wage jobs. I was part of the free breakfast and free lunch programs in school and quickly fell in love with reading in the American school system. (We have amazing libraries.) Books were an escape for me.

My first time back overseas was in the military, which was an eye-opener for me. Not the military structure or training, but how soldiers who came from different backgrounds, socially, culturally and economically, all worked side by side, vacationed together, and tried new things with their buddies.

Working in international schools showed me that people with money were able to offer their kids a better education, not just school, but cultural too. People with means were able to have their child attend schools with smaller classes, travel internationally, and participate in programs that give back to a community. Giving back to a community in need has more impact on learning than the average person realizes. It’s one thing to fundraise for a village to build a well, but a completely different experience to visit the village; meet the families that will benefit; and help dig the well. (That’s what international school students do.)

Kars4Kids: The Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow website speaks of empowering youth with 21^st-century skills. Of what do those skills consist and how do your programs impart these skills to your participants?

Emmanuel Lacoste: 21^st Century LEADERSHIP Skills. Most people overlook the leadership part of our mission, which is the most important. Leadership skills tend to be soft skills that help people improve leadership qualities. Of course, before you can be a strong leader, you need to develop individual skills and personality traits. The best chart I have seen, can be seen HERE.

At the foundation of our program is a strong literacy component of reading and writing, along with math. These subjects are taught individually through STEM activities in our after school programs.

The bigger impact comes from our outdoor education program, which incorporates reading, writing, math, and STEM, but in an environment that challenges a kid’s comfort zone. Risk-taking is an important aspect of leadership. The biggest results in all STEM and business fields come from people who are willing to take risks and challenge the norm.

Kars4Kids: What are the benefits of experiential learning and how have you incorporated this type of learning in your programs? Is this type of learning better or merely different than more traditional approaches to learning?

Emmanuel Lacoste: Experiential learning at LTLT is built on the idea that we need to learn to overcome our fear and manage to objectively evaluate risk. Experiential education places our kids in an environment with which they are unfamiliar, often with a challenge that needs resolution. Along the way, they will need to face some personal fears; help each other overcome those perceptions of fear; and learn to communicate effectively, in order to reach their objectives.

Kars4Kids: The programs offered by Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow are held at partner facilities and schools. At how many locations are you currently operating?

Emmanuel Lacoste: LTLT is very fortunate to have partners that share their facilities with us. We currently have four partner locations in Southern California, one in Arizona, and are developing a new partner in Tennessee. We are currently meeting with some other possible partners in New Hampshire.

We’re very excited to also be talking with a couple of international locations for the purpose of sending our students overseas. Imagine the benefit our kids would have if they would take a project from design to funding and implementation in a different country.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about the ages of the kids you work with, 4-19 years old? Why this particular age group? And with your youngest participants only four years old, we can’t help but wonder: How are you imparting 21^st-century skills and leadership—as per your mission—to preschoolers?

Emmanuel Lacoste: It does seem like a strange age range at first, but the younger we can start, the bigger the benefits. America is finally seeing a big move to pre-kinder programs, but those programs are following a very traditional education model. The idea of 4–8-year-olds spending all day at their desks is depressing. In those middle ranges, student need a different type of learning experience too, and many are already behind in reading, writing and math. Teens are most at-risk within the age range of our participants; they have developed habits; made friendships that influence their decisions; and have begun to believe that where they are now is where they will remain. (Each of these can be positive or negative factors depending on the child—another reason we our target audience is mixed.)

Preschoolers are the easiest group to work with. They are already open to risk-taking, learning new things, and being out of doors. With a positive environment and strong teachers, preschoolers learn quickly. Society has not yet had the chance to teach a preschooler that making mistakes is unacceptable. Experiential education in preschool is also very simple. A nature hike through a stream instead of on a trail, hiking to a summit, swimming in a mountain river. The hard part of working with preschoolers is having the parents along and having to teach them why an activity is safe and why their child should, on occasion, make a mistake.

 

Kars4Kids: We really like the name of your org. What is your vision of how learning leads to leadership?

Emmanuel Lacoste: I think this goes back to reading. Over the years, all the best leaders I have worked with were passionate learners. They seem to always have a book to return. They attended workshops and seminars on every possible subject, not just those areas within their own field. The importance of learning, especially learning how to learn, has never been more important. Information and technology are growing too fast to actually track. What we learn today is obsolete a year from now.

Kars4Kids: Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow was founded in 2019, the year before COVID-19 spread to the world, resulting in kids being home during for lengthy periods of time. How did you manage to hold on and presumably continue to operate during this difficult time?

Emmanuel Lacoste: COVID was not easy, but it did help us reach some kids we wouldn’t have otherwise. Our experiential program did a lot of hikes to waterfalls and fewer trust falls. We still managed a couple of overnight canoe trips, too.

Reading crawled to a halt, but our instructors took math outside. Math people are the most resistant to moving away from paper and pencil, skill and drill. Now these wonderful math brains were forced to move outdoors and teach hands-on math. For skill and drill, we used parking lots and playground surfaces as our chalkboards.

Kars4Kids: One of the things you focus on is learning foreign languages. Isn’t English an international language? Why do English-speakers then need to learn foreign languages?

Emmanuel Lacoste: I agree, English is the international language, but not everyone speaks it. I’ve spent 20 years living in Asia and the two most powerful tools I had at my disposal for meeting locals and learning about the local culture was my passion for rock climbing and my willingness to learn the local language. When people see you’re trying, they instantly light up and open doors.

Language gives us the tools to work with others, experience new cultures, and facilitates travel. Foreign languages also improve our understanding of the English language and American culture.

I do believe we need to change the way language is taught in school, both English and foreign languages, but that’s a different conversation.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Learners Today, Leaders Tomorrow?

Emmanuel Lacoste: To extend our sites and facilities through partnerships is the obvious next step. For this to happen, we need to find a way to finance a move from volunteers to paid instructors, guides, teachers, and others in key leadership positions. Relying purely on volunteers isn’t sustainable.

Another goal is to have more portable technology for our participants. Long-term, I would like to have our own campus capable of accommodating both short- and long-term programs, including accreditation by WASC. Ultimately, this campus would host a needs-based tuition boarding school, where we might use our program to help as many students as possible.

Supporting Kidds is filling a critical need: supporting bereaved children. It is normal for adults to experience and cope with grief at some point. Children, on the other hand, are not supposed to lose close family members. As a result, they may not receive the specialized help they need to assist them in the grieving process.

Supporting Kidds provides that assistance, helping kids to understand and process their situation. The critical services offered by this organization are necessary for bereaved children to go on to lead healthy, productive lives. Helping kids grow into successful adulthood is a mission we share, and we were grateful we could lend a hand through our small grant program.

We spoke with Supporting Kidds Executive Director Louise Cummings to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic. Who are the children you serve?

Louise Cummings: Our target population includes grieving children of all racial, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, ages 5-18 who are at risk for complicated grief reactions due a limited capacity of family and community support. Kidds has two core programs: Healing Pathways (“HP”) support groups and Guiding Pathways (“GP”) individual therapy. Our core programs allow us to accomplish 3 things: (1) to intervene to reduce the current suffering of grieving children and their families/caregivers; (2) to prevent development of behavioral and emotional problems that are associated with unresolved grief; (3) to empower the community to support children and their families in the grieving process.

Kars4Kids: You came onboard as interim executive director of Supporting Kidds in 2021. Can you talk about what made you elect to become involved with this nonprofit?

Louise Cummings: My husband was killed in the line of duty April 26, 2017. He was a Delaware State Trooper. When I heard that individual counseling was ending, I knew I needed to help.

Supporting Kidds was established as a non-profit organization in 1989 (33 years ago), and is one of the earliest organizations in the country specifically designed to serve grieving children. In 2019, it was at risk of being closed and had been acquired by a larger nonprofit. The new structure made Kidds a program vs a non-profit that provided many types of programs. In 2020, I stepped in with an amazing team of volunteers and restored Kidds to independent non-profit status again with official separation from the other nonprofit on Feb 1, 2021.

I am now the Executive Director as of July 1, 2022. We received funding from the Longwood Foundation to help with capacity building and secure my position as a paid position. (I had been volunteering as Interim ED.)

Kars4Kids: Supporting Kidds offers assessments and therapy for grieving children. What types of behaviors are typically seen in grieving children? What are their issues, and what is the goal of therapy for these kids?

Louise Cummings: Obstacles to grief can set the stage for increased problems later in life, such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, difficult relationships, and a victim-orientation to living. We make our impact through our two core programs: Healing Pathways (support groups) “HP” and Guiding Pathways (individual counseling) “GP”. HP has 3 components: a 6-week curriculum-based group for the child and a caregiver (both must participate). Our school grief groups that follow this same 6-week model and curriculum but in the school setting with just the children and consent from caregivers. We also offer themed (art, yoga, nature) one-time support groups. The GP program offers guidance, coaching, and support to help children and families adjust to their new normal following a loss. Consultation, assessment, and individual and family support services help address the unique challenges and concerns of grieving families. GP program is intended to serve more fully those clients whose needs extend beyond what is addressed in the support group setting.

Childhood bereavement is a critical issue and increasing national priority, especially considering COVID-19. Delaware ranks 10^th in the nation in childhood bereavement. Working closely with the National Association of Childhood Grief, The 2021 Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model reported (based on 2015-2019 data) an estimated 18,000 children in DE (1 in 11 or 9%) will lose a parent and/or a sibling by age 18; that number more than doubles to 43,000 by age 25. The problem surrounding the number of children grieving the loss of a loved one is of a grand magnitude in Delaware. Grief-related adversity is immediate when facing the loss of a loved one, issues at home, financial burdens, potential moves and/or loss of community and mental health concern. The cost of inaction is long-term. Unaddressed grief often leads to future mental health concerns, relationship difficulties, academic problems, reduced resilience / self-esteem and even early mortality.

The goal of our services is to provide a compassionate pathway to healing. For children to understand and be able to express their feelings and emotions and learn healthy coping mechanism that will carry them into adulthood.

Kars4Kids: You offer support groups for grieving children and their families. What are the benefits of such groups?

Louise Cummings: Support groups allow our children and families to know they are not alone. We provide a safe space to express your feelings and we teach them that feelings are neither good nor bad, they just are. Each person has their own grief journey and there is not right or wrong way to grieve. Groups present a community where the children can relate to one another and see they are not alone. There is comfort in knowing that other peers are experiencing some of the same things. For caregivers, the groups offer support and guidance in assisting the children with their grief journey and understanding children grieve, and it may look different than how adults grieve, but is still valid.

Kars4Kids: Supporting Kidds, as its name suggests, is about helping grieving children. Why then, is it important to involve the entire family? What purpose does this serve?

Louise Cummings: I always say to have healthy kids you need healthy grownups. Many adults do not know how to talk about grief and are not comfortable discussing emotions amongst other adults, never mind children. It takes a united effort for a family to process grief. Everyone had a different relationship with the deceased and everyone will have different emotions surrounding the death. It is important that the family understand that each person in their home and in their family will react and feel differently and that is normal. Having empathy, understanding and respecting each other’s grief journey is important to healing.

Kars4Kids: What is the Supporting Kidds philosophy on dealing with grief?

Louise Cummings: Kidds believes grief is not an illness to be treated; it is a human process to be experienced. The main goal for Healing Pathways is to help children and teens understand the normal grief process and to provide a safe space where they can develop positive coping skills and a sense of community. This is achieved through group discussion, art, movement activities, games, and journaling. Along with a curriculum that guides children along on their grief journey. Children are given opportunities to support each other on their grief journey, encouraged to build social supports and a greater sense of purpose and self-empowerment. Caregivers learn about the normal grief process as well as developmentally appropriate ways to support their children though group discussion. The HP support group program includes:

• Healing Pathways 6-week bereavement support group
• Pathways Through Life 4-week bereavement support group
• Themed grief support groups include:
  • Yoga and Grief
  • Art and Grief
  • Music and Grief
  • Memorials and Memories
  • Memories for Moms
  • Dad’s Day Memories
  • Back to School Night
  • Coping with the Holidays
  • Grandparents Day Memories
  • Coping with COVID

The primary philosophy of GP is that grief is a normative process that can be aided by support and information provided to bereaved individuals in a knowledgeable and caring environment. The GP program offers guidance, coaching, and support to help children and families adjust to their new normal following a loss. We recognize that while grief is normal process and not necessarily indicative of a need for mental health intervention, families often face several challenges that complicate the grief process. Consultation, assessment, and individual and family support services help address the unique challenges and concerns of grieving families. The services can help children and their families find ways to make sense of the losses they have experienced, while addressing the behavioral concerns and bolstering the communication and coping skills necessary to help manage current and future stressors. The GP program is intended to serve more fully those clients whose needs extend beyond what is addressed in the support group setting.

Supporting Kidds also provides Family Survival Kits – a kit for families that includes written information about children and grief that can be used right away, and School Survival Kits – a kit that provides information to enable schools to better meet the unique needs of grieving students. We offer educational seminars and discussion groups for families coping with death and educational programs for the larger community related to supporting grieving children. We have a grief specialized lending library, with books in English and Spanish. We provide consultation services and professional development workshops for professionals that may encounter grieving children, such as teachers, psychotherapists, funeral home staff, day care providers, religious leaders, pediatricians, nurses, and school counselors

Kars4Kids: You offer nature-focused support groups, too. How is Supporting Kidds using nature to heal grief in children?

Louise Cummings: In response to COVID, Kidds created Grounding Pathways – a nature-focused bereavement support group program that helps children and teens understand the normal grief process and provides a safe space where they can develop positive nature focused coping skills and a sense of community. Children and caregivers experience the healing power of nature combined with peer support and community. We teach the natural cycle of life though nature. All things created also die. It is a normal life process. Take a seed that is planted, watered, and cared for. It will grow to become food, a plant, a flower or whatever its intended purpose may be. However, no matter the growth through beautiful and challenging times the seed endures, it will eventually die. It is helpful to see the aspects of life through nature and to understand death is a normal, natural part of life. It is how we manage to understand the process and cope with the loss that is important.

Kars4Kids: Supporting Kidds has several grief specialists on staff. What are some of the reasons that bereavement and grief are a mental health specialty? What makes grieving different than dealing with other types of trauma?

Louise Cummings: Bereavement and grief are a normal, common reaction to death and loss, they are not mental health diagnoses, which makes them a unique type of mental health specialty. Bereavement and grief also present differently in different people, there is no one way or “right” way to grieve. The relationship between the person who died and the grieving person was unique, so different deaths will be grieved differently depending on the relationship.

Grief changes over time, it is not just something that you just get over and are done with; it does not go away. For children specifically, their grief looks different at different developmental stages and also continues to change as does their understanding of other aspects of life. Grief also provides space or opportunity to create a “new normal,” rather than “getting back to normal.” Striving to “get back to normal” implies that grief has an ending, which just is not true. There is no way to ever have things the same after a significant death, so allowing the adaptation process of creating the new normal and acknowledging that grieving is a part of transition is helpful long-term.

Kars4Kids: How does child bereavement differ from the way adults grieve?

Louise Cummings: Children’s grief is unique to their own experience and relationship to the person who died. Children are not just little adults; they have had a limited amount of experience in the world to know how to handle difficult life situations. They look to the adults in their lives to figure out how to cope with the feelings they are having. It is common for adults to struggle to cope well after a significant death, so why would think it is any less difficult for children? It just looks different.

Children are able to compartmentalize differently than adults, they can be sad one minute and playing with friends as if nothing is wrong the next second, and that is okay. Many times, adults think that the grieving child is not grieving in the “right way,” either grieving too much or too little, when really it is important to meet the child where they are at and pay attention to their cues for what they need.

Children are often not included in the conversations about the death and adults tend to avoid talking about the person who died for concern that they will make the child’s grief worse. This results in children feeling lonely and confused and also gives them the impression that death is a topic that is taboo and something that cannot be talked about.

Adults grieve differently because there is often a different type of stress put upon them from the death, it could be role changes, financial issues, childcare issues, and etc. It is also very difficult for an adult to see their child having a difficult time and not be able to “fix it.” There is a ripple effect from the death; it’s not just the death itself. This extra stress tends to get in way of letting the adults grieve in the best way possible.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Supporting Kidds?
Louise Cummings: We are working on sustaining our two core programs and serving as many children as we can because we believe no child should ever grieve alone.

Stanford Sierra Youth & Families (SSYAF) is a place where families can heal from all sorts of challenges and trauma. The organization knows that healing families means creating an environment where children can thrive. Part of the issue is keeping kids out of institutions and giving them a sense of permanency and security either by reuniting them with their families, or by placing them with other families who will give them long-term, loving care.

We too, believe that helping children needs to be a holistic effort that strengthens and supports the whole family. That is why we felt so good about having a small part in the critical work of this organization by way of our small grant program. We share the mission of giving kids a feeling that they belong, and helping families to learn how to heal, moving forward.

We spoke with SSYAF Director of Development Christie Shorrock:

Kars4Kids: Stanford Sierra Youth & Families serves over 6,000 youth and families every year. That’s a lot of people served! Can you tell us something about them? Who are the people you are serving?

Christie Shorrock: We serve kids, young people (ages birth to 21), and their families. The majority of the youth we serve are teens. The youth and families we serve have experienced abuse, neglect, mental or behavioral health challenges, or other difficult circumstances.

We help them heal from trauma, manage their emotions in healthy ways, and develop skills that will help them lead meaningful, healthy, productive lives. Our mission sums it up well: Transforming lives by nurturing permanent connections and empowering families to solve challenges together, so every child can thrive.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your juvenile justice program. What are the goals of this program? What is the recidivism rate for youth in Northern California?

Christie Shorrock: Our Juvenile Justice Intervention Services (JJIS) is a prevention and intervention program focused on positive outcomes for youth involved with the juvenile justice system. The Sacramento County Probation Department refers youth to the program. The program assesses each youth’s individual treatment needs and matches them to the appropriate service intervention(s), including: counseling, skill building, peer and family support services, case management, and linkage to other community-based services.

We provide JJIS in collaboration with the youth’s probation officers, teachers, mentors, and other figures of support, in the home, at school, and in the community. The program is strengths based and helps youth build resilience and reinforce positive connections to family, peers, and the community.

According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, youth recidivism has declined over a five-year period from just over 50% to about 34%. The youth we’re working with are experiencing positive outcomes too. 82% of the youth we serve in JJIS demonstrate improvement in functioning across a wide range of areas. At close of our most recent quarter, 92% of the youth we serve across all our programs had not received a citation, been arrested, or violated their probation.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk to us about the specialized mental behavioral health services you provide? What might constitute a “safety net” for the families you work with?

Christie Shorrock: We provide a wide range of specialized mental and behavioral health services. Some are designed specifically for children in foster care. Some are designed to keep kids with their families—they serve as an intervention to prevent the child from entering foster care in the first place. Other forms of care are designed to help youth transition from a higher level of care into a family setting. Many of these services act as a safety net to keep youth safe and at home with their families, out of institutions.

Kars4Kids: You have a family preservation program. How do you determine whether or not a family should be preserved or reunited?

Christie Shorrock: Each family is unique. The set of conditions under which they are living, their individual and combined strengths and challenges—all these factors contribute to assessing whether or not unification is advisable. Whenever possible, we strive for reunification. And when reunification does happen, our involvement doesn’t end. We then support those families for as long as they need with counseling, advice, and other forms of support, free of charge to them, to ensure the best possible outcome. This kind of care requires a lot of work and attention, but the investment is worth it for the sake of the child, the family, and the community at large.

Kars4Kids: Why is there such a shortage of foster homes in California?

Christie Shorrock: In 2015, California’s governor signed into law what’s become known as Continuum of Care Reform. CCR’s goal is to improve outcomes for youth in foster care. One important aspect of CCR is ensuring that all children live as members of a committed, nurturing, and permanent family. Years ago, kids in foster care were too often moved from one foster home to the next to the next. This is particularly destabilizing and unhelpful for children who’ve already been traumatized.

With CCR, the recruitment and retention of qualified and compassionate resource families (formally known as foster families) is key. A resource family opens their heart and home to a child in foster care, while social workers attempt to reunify the child with their biological family. If reunification proves impossible, then the resource family agrees to adopt the child.

Qualifying as a resource family does require some additional training and support, but we’re convinced there are many, many families out there willing to do this important work. They simply don’t know about the need yet. Kars4Kids can help us get the word out.

Kars4Kids: You offer “Wraparound” and “Prevention Wraparound.” Can you give us an overview of these services you provide?

Christie Shorrock: Stanford Sierra Youth & Families’ Wraparound and Prevention Wraparound “wrap” youth and families with comprehensive care to help keep children/youth safe and at home, in school, and thriving. Young people gain the support and guidance of our Wraparound services to help them remain at home or transition safely to a permanent family or healthy, independent living. These services combine a family-centered, strengths-based, needs-driven and team-driven approach with individualized and wellness-focused interventions. Our approach is comprehensive and outcome driven utilizing creative and individualized strategies to address each family’s needs.

Kars4Kids: What is Ryse Above? What are the benefits of this program?

Christie Shorrock: RYSE stands for Resilient Youth Safe & Empowered. RYSE Above provides support services for youth with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health needs. These substance use and prevention treatment services are provided for youth and adolescents, ages 12 to 20, in Sacramento County.

RYSE Above builds on the youth’s strengths and successes, reduces substance use, increases resilience, reinforces family connections, and improves overall wellbeing.

Kars4Kids: What is “legal permanency” in regard to youth in foster care or those up for adoption, and why is it important? Can you tell us a bit about your Destination Family program that addresses this issue?

Christie Shorrock: By legal permanency we mean reunification with the child’s biological family, adoption, or entrance into a legal guardianship with an adult. In the most basic terms – the opportunity for every child to grow up in a safe, nurturing, and permanent family home.

Destination Family is our award-winning approach to legal permanency. Destination Family specializes in working with children some might call “hard to adopt.” These are children living with one or more barriers to permanency. For example, they might be an older youth. They might require special medical care or belong to a set of siblings that need to be adopted together.

For most kids in Destination Family, the program is their last, best hope at permanency, at becoming part of a loving, permanent family. These are kids who’ve been in foster care for several years already. The county has deemed reunification with the biological family to be unadvisable. At the same time, the county is no longer trying to find an adoptive family for the child. Without Destination Family, these kids would remain in foster care until aging out of the system to face adulthood on their own. Youth who age out experience some of the worst outcomes of any population.

We work one-to-one with these youth, helping them heal from past trauma and preparing them emotionally and socially to thrive within a permanent family. The process is not rushed or hurried. Instead, each Destination Family worker takes their time to gain the child’s trust, understand their strengths and challenges, and then coordinates with others to find that child the permanent, loving family they need and deserve.

Last year, our Destination Family program won the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Adoption Excellence award for the program’s dedication and innovation in finding permanent, loving homes for children and older youth waiting in foster care.

Kars4Kids: You have staff members with personal experience in the child welfare, mental health or juvenile justice systems as consumers and/or parents or caregivers. What do they contribute to the work you do with families and children?

Christie Shorrock: All of our services are youth and family centered. We honor and place their voices and experiences at the center of care. We do this in a number of ways.

We regularly incorporate family and youth panels into our care. During these panels, our youth and family clients provide direct feedback to our staff and management. Their experiences, critiques, and praise help guide program development and improvement.

Our Family & Youth Partnership is another agency-wide approach to incorporating youth and family experiences into our care. Our Family Partners and Youth Advocates have direct personal experience as clients of child welfare, mental health, and/or juvenile justice. They work with and advise current clients, helping them navigate and benefit fully from these systems of care.

We also partner with more than a dozen local, regional, and national colleges and universities. Together, we identify promising students and recent graduates who are interested in pursuing careers in social work, who have themselves participated in these systems of care, and who reflect the diversity of the youth and families we work with.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Stanford Sierra Youth & Families?

Christie Shorrock: We look forward to many more years of continuing to fulfill the organization’s vision of communities with safe, lifelong connections for all young people, built and strengthened through generations of empowered families.

New Vision Youth Services (NVYS) steps in where society has failed Virginia youth. These are the kids who have no dependable place to land at night, and no way forward in life, unless someone steps in with a bit of help. And that’s exactly what New Vision Youth Services has done: provided safe harbor and a brighter future to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

It sounds simple enough, but it’s actually a lot to deal with: making sure that disenfranchised kids have food, work, and a place to sleep at night. From what we can see, NVYS is doing a bang-up job of things, helping kids find their way past adversity to self-sufficiency and independence. We were glad to extend a helping hand to this critical initiative through our small grant program.

We spoke to New Vision Youth Services Communications Liaison Natalie Hood to learn more about this important work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the kids you serve. Who are they? 

Natalie Hood: We provide services to youth ages 13-21 who are homeless, court involved, in foster care, and/or disadvantaged in some other way.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the specific needs of homeless children, other than finding shelter? 

Natalie Hood: After stabilizing safe shelter, the primary focus for these youth is providing a support system that is not already present from a family member or guardian. Assisting with food, shelter, job assistance, and life skills training are all factors we take into account for our youth.

Kars4Kids: What types of “unsafe sleeping” do you typically see in the youth you serve? 

Natalie Hood: Most youth we assess are couch surfing from house to house with no type of stability. When couch surfing is not an option, sleeping in a car or on the street is the next option for youth without stable living environments.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your customized transitional living program. Can you give us examples of how you customize transitional living to the young people you work with? 

Natalie Hood: Our custom housing program is designed to fit the individual needs of each youth through our initial assessments given by a case manager. Our major factors to address are criminal background, no credit history, and the lack of skills to live independently.

Kars4Kids: NVYS offers life skills training. What sort of skills are taught? 

Natalie Hood: The focus of life skills training is to assist disadvantaged youth transition into self-sufficient adults. For example, we assist in completing job applications, preparing for job interviews, and educational advancement opportunities such as our ABE/GED class.

Kars4Kids: What role does mentoring play in your work with youth? 

Natalie Hood: Our mentoring is based on a life skills level where disadvantaged youth work with an assigned life skills coach in order to become self-sufficient.  Our life skills coaches work to assist youth in staying on track and motivated about their set goals for self-sufficiency.

Kars4Kids: Foster youth are more than twice as likely to drop out of school. Why? What is NVYS doing to counter this grave phenomenon? 

Natalie Hood: One out of every five youth age out of the foster system and become homeless. Foster youth already experience the lack of a family support system. Without a support system, school is not a priority for these youth especially as they age out of the foster system at age 18. Factors such as shelter, food assistance, and employment become a higher priority. Once a foster youth leaves the foster care system, they are more vulnerable to predators. 70% of foster care youth who have aged out of the system become victims of sex trafficking. NVYS provides wrap around services to not only offer a support system but a customized housing plan, life skills training, and case management. Once a homeless youth is placed in a stable living environment, we also assist in job searching or educational advancement opportunities.  Self-sufficiency is our end goal for the youth we work with.

Kars4Kids: How does your staff measure success in their work with youth? 

Natalie Hood: NVYS is able to measure our success by evaluating the progress of each youth based on their initial assessment. The assessment involves immediate, short-term, and long-term goal planning designed to fit the unique needs of each youth. One size does not always fit all and we assess everyone based on their personal needs.

Kars4Kids: Can you share a success story with our readers? 

Natalie Hood: Client E.S. was referred to New Vision Youth Services as a single homeless male who was sleeping behind a dumpster. He was previously criminally charged with trespassing locally but was formerly in foster care. NVYS assigned a case manager who then assessed E.S. as a disadvantaged youth who needed assistance with housing and food. NVYS helped E.S. transition initially into a homeless shelter followed by a short-term room rental and then into a permanent low-income housing placement. E.S. had his criminal charges dismissed through the help of NVYS and has since established his self-sufficiency by securing permanent housing and maintaining a full-time job.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for New Vision Youth Services? 

Natalie Hood: We are transitioning into a larger facility within the upcoming months. The demand from the community for our services has rapidly increased since the COVID-19 Pandemic and our transition will allow us to expand our current services. Our ABE/GED classroom will grow to hold 25 students at a time versus the 10 we are currently able to have. We will also have separate intake and testing rooms available in order to best assess the needs of each individual that walks through our doors. We are excited about the upcoming expansion as it will allow us to provide our current services to more disadvantaged youth.

Forward Steps is an apt name for an organization that helps foster kids get ahead at a time when they would otherwise be stuck, and unable to move forward in their lives. For some foster children, there is no incentive to go to college, no one to be proud of their accomplishments, and no one to urge them on. In other cases, foster children may not have a clue about how to apply for and enroll in college. Not to mention, they may need help with their studies to qualify for college.

Forward Steps participants have a completely different experience. There are mentors offering practical advice and emotional support and encouragement. College prep workshops help foster children prepare for a higher education which can help them become independent, successful adults. Foster kids have needs that are unmet by the system and mentoring can go a long way toward filling in the gaps. We are pleased to have been able to lend a hand to this important endeavor through our small grant program.

We spoke with Forward Steps to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the demographic you serve—the young people you assist?

Forward Steps:  Forward Steps (FS) typically serves youth and young adults, ages 14-26. The majority of the students served identify as BIPOC, are low-income, and facing some kind of additional adversity in their personal circumstances. The Guardian Scholars program serves current and former foster youth pursuing a postsecondary education in Colorado.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the barriers your scholars must overcome in order to achieve academic and career success?

Forward Steps:  A common post-secondary enrollment pattern for students who experienced foster care is to not go to college. Only 13.4% of youth who have experienced foster care in Colorado enroll in postsecondary education by age 21. The majority of FS scholars have emancipated from the foster care system, meaning they often do not have support or financial help from family. Many FS scholars are first-generation college students and unsure of how to navigate college enrollment processes like financial aid.  In order to find academic and career success, these students need financial assistance, postsecondary navigation services, connections to career supports, and building a general support network.

Kars4Kids: Are most of your students attending community colleges? Are you helping them apply for scholarships to cover tuition?

Forward Steps:  This past semester, 41% of FS scholars attended community college with the remaining attending four-year universities. Many FS scholars begin at community colleges and then transfer to universities upon completion of their Associates degree. The FS Guardian Scholars program assists scholars in applying for additional scholarships, financial aid and additional resources to cover the cost of attendance.

Kars4Kids: Forward Steps provides assistance of up to $6000 a year to cover the “unmet needs” of your participants while they are attending college. What needs would tend to go unmet for these young adults?

Forward Steps:  Unmet need refers to tuition and fees not covered by other sources of funding, living costs such as rent, food, and other basic needs like: books, supplemental classroom materials and transportation. The goal is for students to be able to afford their basic needs while attending school.

Kars4Kids: You call Forward Steps participants “scholars.” Can you tell us why?

Forward Steps:  FS refers to students as “scholars” as they are recipients of the Guardian Scholars scholarship award, in reference to their academic accomplishments and their drive to pursue postsecondary education.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the workshops you offer.

Forward Steps: FS develops workshops, partners with other community organizations and community volunteers to provide opportunities for scholars to develop meaningful post-secondary skills to enhance their independence.  FS has hosted workshops on topics like: financial literacy, stress-management, how to apply to graduate school, time management and more.  FS mentors discuss with scholars what they would like additional support on; these topics are then built-out into learning opportunities or sourced from community organizations with that specialized knowledge.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your college prep program?

Forward Steps:  The FS college prep workshop provides scholars with an overview of which resources are available to them through the program and on their individual college campuses. Mentors discuss how to: access campus resources and support, prepare for their first weeks in school, purchase their books, and meet with their advisors. Through this workshop, FS provides scholars with a campus resource document helping them learn where information and specific supports can be found at their college or university.

Kars4Kids: Forward Steps offers one-on-one mentoring and support throughout the college years. How many students and mentors do you have? Are the mentors volunteers? How many hours do mentors typically put in?

Forward Steps:  Forward Steps has 3 employees who are mentors and served 31 scholars this past semester. Mentors provide both direct and indirect support to our scholars. Direct support includes meetings with the scholar (in-person, Zooms, and phone calls) and indirect support encompasses all additional supports, such as researching for needed resources, connecting scholars to outside supports, editing scholar papers or writing recommendation letters, and more. Mentors typically spend about 40% of their time providing direct support to scholars and 60% of time providing indirect support.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the issues that come up for Forward Steps youth? What are some of the ways mentors can help? Are they available at any time for a crisis?

Forward Steps:  FS scholars can often feel alone when beginning their post-secondary journey, as they may be exiting the foster care system and beginning a new phase of life. FS mentors provide emotional support while also assisting scholars with navigating these new environments. Mentor support is available to FS scholars year-round and they are always available at times of crisis.

Support FS mentors provided this past semester include:

• Assisting scholars with locating additional scholarships and providing support with the application processes.
• Assisting scholars with applying to specific programs (like nursing or dental hygiene programs), job searching, and drafting personal statements for cover letters, essays, and interviews.
• Helping connect scholars to campus resources like loaner laptop programs, tutoring support, and writing centers.
• Providing academic support through editing scholar’s papers and helping them to enhance study skills
• Providing individualized support through mentor meetings by discussing topics such as healthy eating, self-care, and budgeting.
• Supporting our scholars during urgent situations, such as housing issues and food insecurity.
• Helping our scholars to locate emergency funding and outside resources as necessary.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Forward Steps?

Forward Steps:  FS will be hiring a new Career Coach later this summer, which will help to expand its programming, allowing FS to partner with more organizations and provide services to more students. While continuing to grow programming along the range, FS is also planning to expand its programs in Northern Colorado and Jefferson County.

The Fayette Education Foundation wants the children of Fayette County to have an equal chance at getting the education they deserve. Public schools have limited resources to help the underserved students of this school district catch up with their counterparts from more privileged neighborhoods. Thanks to this new foundation, area teachers can apply for grants to fund educational initiatives or equipment that enhance learning and support the academic success of their students.

Marshaling the resources of the community is a noble endeavor in our opinion, and we were therefore pleased to award a small grant to The Fayette Education Foundation Fund. We would like to see more such initiatives in other school districts that need help. Executive Director of The Fayette Education Foundation, Carrie Boling, took the time to answer our questions about this work:

Kars4Kids: According to statistics cited on your website, in 2006, there were 54 native languages spoken by Fayette County English Language (EL students). Now there are 95. That’s a whopping increase. Presumably you have had an influx of new immigrants. How do you account for the fact that they are both EL students and students who have other native languages?

Carrie Boling: We are proud of the fact that our school district is a majority minority district meaning that 54% of our students are minorities. The diversity in Fayette County Public Schools creates a special atmosphere for learning. The University of Kentucky helps deepen our diversity as well as the horse industry. Additionally, the Toyota plant is one county away and many of its team members live in Lexington. All learners are welcomed and accepted at our public schools.

Kars4Kids: In 2006, 52 Fayette County students were homeless, now that number has climbed to 853. What, if anything, is your foundation doing to address this problem?

Carrie Boling: Under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the school district addresses the problems that homeless students face in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school, and we aim to ensure that each one has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including preschool, as other children and youth. Homeless students should receive the educational and other services they need to meet the same challenging academic standards to which all students are held. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment. The Fayette Education Foundation’s mission is educational excellence through an equity lens. The city of Lexington has a host of community partnerships that are working to ensure our school children’s basic needs are met.

Kars4Kids: Nationwide, 48.3% children are not ready for kindergarten, but in Fayette County, it’s a bit higher at over 50%, though it hits 70-80% in some neighborhoods. What are some of the contributing factors to Fayette County’s higher numbers of children not ready to enter kindergarten?

Carrie Boling: Our children are not coming to school prepared and our schools are playing catch up from day one. At the Foundation, we are looking for creative ways to increase school readiness. Recently, we have brought back Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library to Lexington to ensure children ages birth to five have appropriate reading materials in their homes. Additionally, we are working on a pilot program with one of our elementary schools to try intervention strategies with family type rewards to encourage our little ones have basic skills upon starting kindergarten. There are a multitude of reasons our children aren’t prepared to enter school. There is a coalition of community partners spearheaded by the school district called First5Lex that is taking a group approach to identifying and solving some of these issues.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Kindergarten Readiness program?

Carrie Boling: We are looking at a neighborhood-based approach to kindergarten readiness. One size does not fit all. We are looking at patterns of early registration for kindergarten so we can intervene before a child actually begins school. The Foundation wants to invest in these kids before they walk across the threshold of their neighborhood school because our teachers’ hands are already full.

Kars4Kids: The Fayette Education Foundation is young—only two years’ old. Can you describe for us some of the grants you’ve given thus far by way of your Bright Ideas grant program?

Carrie Boling: We are brand new and created in the middle of the pandemic! The Foundation was a vision of our former superintendent, Manny Caulk. Sadly, Manny died unexpectedly in December 2020, just one month after we were created. Between his passing, the pandemic, an interim superintendent and now a new superintendent, the first 18 months were challenging. But we are in a great position with a great leader in place at the district level. Additionally, our board of directors is dedicated to the children of Lexington and have kept our momentum going strong during these first two years. Our first round of Bright Ideas Grants applications were due on June 15, 2022. We received 26 applications with needs totaling over $46,000. We are excited to announce the first recipients in late July.

Kars4Kids: Despite some grim statistics regarding kindergarten readiness, homelessness, and other factors, Fayette County has had a surprising spike in AP students, rising from 1,622 students in 2006, to 4,104 students today. How do you account for the increase? What is Fayette County doing right and what is being done to support these efforts and momentum?

Carrie Boling: Our schools have worked hard to ensure all students have access to advanced classes.

Kars4Kids: Is there a difference in academic outcomes for white students and those of color? If so, can you tell us about that, and some of the reasons for the disparity? 

Carrie Boling: There are many factors in place when it comes to the equity gap in education. One of our focus areas is creating a more diverse teacher workforce in Fayette County. To address the growing teacher shortage and particularly the lack of minority educations in Fayette County Public Schools, our goal is to build a “grow your own” pipeline of rising educators who are nurtured, trained and ultimately come back to Fayette County to teach. Minority teachers can offset negative stereotypes and act as role models/mentors for students of color. Teachers who relate to their students’ backgrounds usually are better able to look past biases of their abilities and may be more able to link cultural contexts to learning in ways that could benefit racial and ethnic minority students. Minority students often perform better on standardized tests, have improved attendance, and are suspended less frequently when they have at least one same-race teacher. A nationwide teacher shortage exists, and Fayette County is no exception. While teacher recruitment is important, even more critical is a diverse teacher workforce to help minority students attain greater educational success.

Kars4Kids: What is the ratio of BIPOC to white teachers in your school district? What ratio are you aiming for, considering that almost half of your students are white? 

Carrie Boling: Right now approximately 12% of our teacher population is non-white while 54% of our students are non-white. Our ultimate goal would be for our teachers to reflect our student population. We have to convince our best and brightest students that teaching is a noble and prestigious profession. Too many teachers are leaving the profession and not enough – of any race – are joining.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about The Fayette Education Foundation’s efforts to facilitate and encourage Fayette County students to attend college.

Carrie Boling: Several years ago, Fayette County Public Schools instituted the Career Academy model at the majority of its high schools. We support this model as it supports the workforce needs of our community. An Academy is a small learning community. Students are placed in cohorts of+ smaller groups, to foster stronger relationships. So, instead of being one of 1700, they are one of 300-400, and they are grouped with students that have similar interests. In the Academy structure, each academy has its own location in the building, a designated principal, counselor, and a group of core content and elective teachers.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Fayette Education Foundation Fund?

Carrie Boling: We are new so everything is next! We will continue to focus on our successful Bright Ideas Grants initiative to help specifically at the school level. In July, our school district will release its new strategic plan and the Foundation will work hand-in-hand with the district to ensure partnerships and resources are in place to meet our goals.

Porter-Leath is a community gem, offering much-needed resources and services to Memphis area residents. Whether it’s a program that provides books to children, a preschool education, providing foster care, or matching seniors with troubled students for some much-needed mentoring, Porter-Leath makes it happen. We like the way this nonprofit sees and is responsive to community needs, making for happier, healthier families. Our modest small grant award will, we hope, help to support and fund this important community asset.

We spoke with Porter-Leath Development Coordinator James O’Toole to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: The history of Porter-Leath goes back to 1850. That’s a long time! Porter-Leath started out as a home for widows and orphans. How would you describe Porter-Leath, today?

James O’Toole: Yes, Porter-Leath has been serving the Memphis and Mid-South community for over 170 years. It has evolved over time, but continues to focus on providing critical services that are needed in the community. As our mission states, we empower children and families to achieve a healthy, optimal and independent lifestyle. The ultimate goal is to help children and families succeed.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the demographic you serve?

James O’Toole: We have a wide range of services, all focusing on children and families, so we serve a wide range of demographics. The majority of the people we serve are children from birth to age 5 along with their parents, many living in underserved communities. We also serve older children and teenagers, and seniors aged 55 and older.

Kars4Kids: Porter-Leath has an early literacy program called “Books from Birth,” the largest of 1,700 programs affiliated with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Can you give us an overview of the program? How many children are enrolled?

James O’Toole: Yes, Books from Birth is the largest affiliate in the entire world! There are approximately 40,000 children in Memphis and Shelby County currently enrolled in Books from Birth. From birth to age 5, children enrolled in the program receive an age appropriate book each month in the mail at no charge. By the time children graduate from the program at age 5, they can have a library at home of up to 60 books. This not only builds their language and literacy connections, but also inspires nurturing bonds between children and parents which prepares them for kindergarten and in turn yields lasting, positive results.

Kars4Kids: Can you outline for us the goals of your preschool program? What distinguishes it from other such programs?

James O’Toole: Porter-Leath’s Preschool program strives to positively affect the lives of children by making sure students are ready for kindergarten on day one – academically, socially, and developmentally. To meet these goals, Porter-Leath uses an evidence-based curriculum and offers vital wrap around services to families enrolled in the program. Each family is assigned a family service liaison who coordinates services for the families to ensure that every child can develop to the maximum of their ability. This is all done in state-of-the-art centers and academies located in some of the most underserved communities in Memphis, supporting the belief that everyone, no matter what ZIP code they live in, deserves a high-quality early childhood education.

Kars4Kids: Connections, according to your website, “is operated by clinical staff 24-hours a day, and focuses on providing residential, foster care and adoption services for children from birth to age 18 in a supportive and therapeutic environment.” Can you talk to us about the intake process? The kids must come to Porter-Leath in a traumatized state. What happens when they arrive?

James O’Toole: Children are referred to Porter-Leath by the Department of Children’s Services due to abuse, neglect or parents being unable to meet the needs of their children. Therefore, Porter-Leath provides counseling, skills building, treatment and integrated case management around the clock 24-hours a day to ensure that the needs are met. Each child receives an individualized treatment that is customized to their specific needs and is implemented to address traumatic experiences, emotional and physical needs as well as a tool to provide treatment with the family, with the goal of the child returning home with resources, coping strategies and life skills to live a healthy life.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your foster care program. How does it work? How many foster parents are currently on your roster?

James O’Toole: Porter-Leath has 29 foster homes throughout Memphis and Shelby County. The role of a foster parent is to provide a safe environment to children in DCS custody, with the goal of meeting their social, emotional and physical needs in a support home. Foster parents must complete 23 hours of training to become certified as a foster parent and also must pass a background check and home visit. 

Kars4Kids: What is Cornerstone? How does this program reduce infant mortality?

James O’Toole: Cornerstone is an early childhood home visitation program that provides pregnant mothers and families of children from birth to age 5 with the proper tools necessary for positive child development. One of our goals is to ensure mothers have a healthy pregnancy so that newborns are born at a healthy birth weight, resulting in a reduced infant mortality rate. Home visitors use the evidence-based Parents as Teachers (PAT) curriculum to teach preventative health, healthy parenting practices and self-sufficiency to pregnant women as well as parenting families with children from birth to age 3. Parents of children ages 3-5 are taught to be their children’s first teacher along with school readiness skills. Additionally, the program is designed to foster stronger family relationships by increasing the self-esteem of both parents and children.

Kars4Kids: Give us an overview of Generations. How does this program benefit the participants, both seniors and children?

James O’Toole: Generations is the home of AmeriCorps members and AmeriCorps Seniors volunteers at Porter-Leath. AmeriCorps members are age 18 and older, and have the opportunity to gain valuable skills, earn financial support for education, and develop a strong sense of civic responsibility while they look to enter the workforce or change career paths. AmeriCorps Seniors serve in the Foster Grandparents program, which provides older individuals an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children. In the program, seniors give one-on-one emotional support to children in underserved communities, tutor children with low literacy skills, mentor troubled youth, and nurture premature infants and children. As a result, seniors experience a sense of belonging and accomplishment and help build stronger communities through cross-generational interaction.

Kars4Kids:Porter-Leath has a Teacher Excellence program. Can you tell us a bit about how that works? What made you decide to add this program to all the many other programs you offer?

James O’Toole: The Teacher Excellence program’s goal is to provide professional development to early childhood educators with high-quality effective practices that will strengthen their knowledge and skills and help them to be the best in the field. Through workshops, one-on-one mentoring and observation, Instructional Coaches provide the professional development necessary for early childhood educators to improve their skills and translate their training into the classroom. When classroom teachers are attending a training facilitated by Instructional Coaches, a Relief Teacher covers their classroom as a teacher, not a substitute, to ensure seamless operation in the classroom that serves in the best interest of the children and the co-teacher in the classroom. Porter-Leath added this program to professionalize the work of early childhood education by strengthening the knowledge and classroom practices, thus enhancing the skill set of early childhood education teachers throughout the area. This will result in improved education outcomes for children and set them up for success in school and in life.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Porter-Leath?

James O’Toole: Porter-Leath will continue to expand the early childhood education and childcare options in the Memphis area and improve the quality of early childhood staff throughout Shelby County. We recently expanded our Early Childhood Education options for all families by offering a tuition option for preschool children ages birth to 5 years old, and we will continue to grow the enrollment at each one of our early childhood centers and academies. Utilizing a tuition model allows all families access to Porter-Leath’s high-quality early education, social services and emotional development without restrictions on their annual household income levels or socioeconomic backgrounds.

In addition, we will be expanding our NEXT Memphis initiative, which is a shared service program that is available to local independent childcare providers and gives them access to our back office support staff and administrative amenities. It also extends our Teacher Excellence Program to local childcare operators, giving them access to teacher training, coaching, instruction and observation to help increase their classroom engagement.

The Palmetto Literacy Council is dedicated, with a passion, to helping both children and adults acquire the literacy skills they require to succeed in school and in life. With the help of volunteer tutors and just a couple of hours a week, this organization is ensuring that all who need help to get up to scratch on their reading, writing, language skills, and math, are getting that help, and it’s all free of charge. Does the Palmetto Literacy Council sound like a nonprofit with heart? We thought so, and that’s why we wanted to get behind this important initiative by way of our small grant program.

We spoke with Palmetto Literacy Council Founder and Executive Director Dodi Hodges to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic you work with? Are many of those you work with struggling with reading, writing, and math?

Dodi Hodges: We know that 51% of our students in Horry County Schools cannot read at grade level and 57% cannot do math at grade level. Approximately 12% of the adults in our county are functionally illiterate.

Kars4Kids: The Palmetto Literacy Council tutors are volunteers. How many volunteers do you have? Are they mostly retired seniors? What kind of training do they undergo?

Dodi Hodges: We have over 50 volunteers doing various things to help the organization and about 34 volunteer tutors. Yes, they are mostly retired seniors. All volunteers attend volunteer orientation and training. We briefly go over the reading and math curriculum during training along with strength-based language training, etc. Once a volunteer is paired with a student, they get an additional training session (and help as needed) going over the specific materials they will use for the student. Our students get an individualized program using specific strategies and tools to meet their needs.

Kars4Kids: How many children are currently benefiting from your tutoring services? How many adults?

Dodi Hodges: In 2021, we paired 62 students with tutors. We have about 35 students being tutored currently. We have 9 adults currently being tutored, or about 25%.

Kars4Kids: Does literacy in reading and writing tend to be on a par with math skills? How many of your students need tutoring in all three subjects?

Dodi Hodges: We tutor more students in reading and writing than in math. Math is a definite need in this community. Our reading program is a reading and writing program. However, depending on the student’s needs, we also supplement with a phonics program, a penmanship practice program, or a grammar program as necessary. The individual needs of each student is our foundation.

Kars4Kids: The work of the Palmetto Literacy Council is guided by the acronym “TEACH.” Can you talk about what that means for staff and volunteers?

Dodi Hodges: This is discussed frequently with our staff and volunteers. With a strong set of values that we all share; we help our students thrive. It starts with a core set of values.

TRUST – With every relationship we build, we are cognizant of the importance of the foundation of trust. This value is important and our first value as our foundation.

EXCELLENCE – We strive to provide excellence in everything we do: tutoring, programs for tutoring, matching our volunteers to jobs they want and can do for us, and completing administrative duties in such a way as to provide best service.

ACCOUNTABILITY – We are in this together and we strive to help everyone do their job. In every organization if we strive to do our best, it makes everyone’s job easier. Therefore, we are accountable for our duties and our actions.

COLLABORATION – Everything we do at Palmetto Literacy Council requires some level of collaboration. We have worked hard to find partners (volunteers and organizations) who will work with us to provide the best teaching/tutoring in the area.

HONESTY & INTEGRITY – We finish with two (2) other foundational values, honesty and integrity. We value the input and feedback we get and want to improve. That can only happen if we are honest and use our integrity to communicate with each other as well as work with each other.

Kars4Kids: Are your tutors using any specific pedagogical methods in their work with students?

Dodi Hodges: We use strength-based language to begin our shared pedagogical methods. This means we make sure that we are speaking to the students in a way that encourages and motivates them to learn by building on their strengths and skills. We recognize that the students have struggles, we focus on what they know and what they need to do next to improve.

Then we incorporate the Five Big Ideas of Reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, frequency (with prosody), vocabulary (which impacts comprehension more than the first three), and comprehension. They have to be able to write complete sentences to respond to comprehension questions. We use graphic organizers to help students “map” the information, store the information, and retrieve the information in their brains. Most of our students struggle with storing and retrieving information to put it on paper. We help with that.

Kars4Kids: Participants in your program get two free hours of tutoring a week, and volunteers commit to two hours a week, as well. Does two hours represent some kind of magic number for productivity? Or is it all the time that there is in relation to the large number of people you help each week?

Dodi Hodges: No, it’s not a magic number. It seems to be just enough to help students learn and commit to learning and it’s also just enough to get volunteers to commit. Less than 2 hours/week does not give us enough improvement in student learning. More than 2 hours each week and we lose the students and volunteers to other commitments.

Kars4Kids: We’d love to hear a success story, if you have one you can share.

Dodi Hodges: I just gave a TEDx talk and used two of our students as examples:

ADRIANNA was in 6^th Grade when she started getting tutored.

She was in a special education classroom for Language Arts (Reading and Writing) and not in the general education classroom. She was not doing well in school.

Her strengths included that she was highly motivated, & exceptionally organized.

I won’t go in to all of what we focused on in her tutoring or about the wonderful relationship she has with her tutor, Ms. Karen Haas.

What you need to know is that by Grade 7, she had improved so much that the local school educators working with her and her mom, decided it was time for her to go back in the general education classroom for Language Arts.

Adrianna was nervous about this change…in the beginning. Then Adrianna started to shine. She was getting some support in class and, in addition, in her tutoring sessions.

By 8^th grade, this year, Adrianna is getting some support in the general education classroom. She’s getting A’s and B’s in all of her classes. She’s still being tutored.

In January, her guidance counselor suggested and encouraged her to apply for the Early College program. Yes, that’s right.

She wasn’t sure if that was a good choice. I want you to hear that there was a little of that fear of failure creeping back in. We encouraged her to apply.

Well, she was accepted in the Early College program on the Wait List. She was not turned down!

She is also on our Board of Directors as a Student Representative.

Her initial goal, back in 2019, was to be a teacher — maybe, a few weeks ago she told her special education teacher, she was going to be a genetic counselor.

She knows she’ll have to take more science and math, as well as read – a lot!

That’s what tutoring can do for a student who is struggling. Her goals are more in line with her real hopes and her confidence is exponentially better.

JOAN is from Jamaica and has lived in the U.S. for a long time. She is married and has children. She is a housekeeper and works for hotels/resorts in our area.

Joan struggled with employment, due to her inability to read English. Her bosses would text her with instructions on what she was supposed to do when she came into work.

Joan had her husband read the texts and then he would respond based on what she told him to write. It was not as quick as her employers wanted.

She reached out for tutoring, reading at the Grade 1 level. She was assigned a very compassionate and giving volunteer tutor, Ms. Phyllis Townsend.

After a few weeks of tutoring, COVID struck, tutoring halted, but Joan came back within weeks to continue tutoring. By now, she was unemployed.

After a few months, her progress was being assessed. She was so nervous. She wanted to show how much she had learned.

In a very excited voice, she said, “I need to show you something.”

First of all, she had gotten a new job at a different hotel, after several months of not having a job due to COVID. Her new boss was texting her about what she needed to do and when she was to work.

Suddenly Joan exclaimed, “Look! Look! Now I can read her texts, this is my boss. I don’t have to wait on my husband to read the text. I can also answer the text with a complete sentence. I use a capital letter at the beginning and a period at the end. Right, Ms. Phyllis?”

Imagine that kind of pride of accomplishment. Imagine how much better she is as an employee.

Kars4Kids: What are the causes of literacy issues among your participants? What effect does not having a good grasp of reading, writing, and/or math, have on a child? What is the effect on adults? Is there a correlation between cause and effect and why your tutoring services are offered free of charge?

Dodi Hodges: The causes of literacy issues among our participants? They vary. Some are ELL, some have a reading or math learning disabilities, some are experiencing the COVID slide, and some just need a little more help.

What is the origin of the problem?

I’ve always taught my students to look beyond the symptoms of a student failing and look at what was causing the issue.

Figure out why a student is struggling by asking

• what does the student know?
• how are they learning?
• what is missing? and
• what do they do well?

Then you can begin to teach them and build on their strengths.

Tutoring can provide strategies for students that they may not have been introduced to in school, or may not have practiced using with enough guidance.

For students and adults who struggle with reading, writing, and math, there are a myriad of issues.

Some students can read the words at grade level and at the same time cannot tell you who the characters are, what the setting, or really anything about what they read.

Some students and adults struggle with being able to sound out the words, put the sounds together to make the word, or figure out what a word means in a sentence.

These are just a few examples.

What we do know is that students who get some additional help using research-based learning strategies are far more successful in reading, writing, and/or math than those who don’t.

Learning strategies work for every student, those with and without learning disabilities. I mean every student.

There is no correlation between cause and effect and our offering free services. We offer free services because as the founder and executive director, I’ve had the opportunity to recruit volunteers who are just as passionate about reading, writing, and math as I am. Passion for learning drives this organization.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Dodi Hodges: Oh yes…grant funding dried up (it went to food and shelter as it should have), donations dried up, students and volunteers went on hold. After the 6 weeks of shut down we went from 22 students being tutored to 6: 3 online and 3 in person. We’ve had to rebuild. Then Delta, then Omicron…all of this impacted our volunteers’ willingness to tutor, which we totally understand.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Palmetto Literacy Council?

Dodi Hodges: Growing…getting at least 65 students to be tutored consistently by the end of the year…Our goal is 100. We want to see our students “graduate” from our services. I attend school meetings, like IEP, evaluation for Special Education services and parent-teacher conferences when invited by parents. I encourage parents to invite me if their child is going through the identification process or has an IEP.

Elevate Navajo, as part of Elevate USA, is serious about offering its young participants consistent relationships with caring adults—so serious, in fact, that this nonprofit pays a full-time salary to its mentors. As a new branch of Elevate USA, Elevate Navajo was created to serve Navajo Nation children in the American Southwest, where 1 in 3 Navajo homes are without a sink or a toilet. For this community then, having full time access to a trained mentor means the world and in fact, offers a window on the world around these children. We were happy to have a small part in this work by way of our small grant program.

Kars4Kids had a chat with Elevate USA President Emeritus Debbie Speck, to learn more about this work.

Kars4Kids: Elevate Navajo describes its mentors as “Teacher mentors.” Why is this distinction important?

Debbi Speck: Elevate has a commitment to high dosage relationships. In other words, we want to be with the kids in school, out of school, through the holidays, and every day. The model allows for that to happen by having teacher-mentors teach classes and mentor the kids outside of school. They are called teacher-mentors because they both teach and mentor. We believe that the kids want to succeed, but they need caring adults to be available when they are most needed. So, that’s when we are there!

Kars4Kids: Most of our grantees use volunteer mentors. Your mentors are paid, work full time, and in fact, are on call 24/7. What does it take to be an Elevate Navajo mentor?

Debbi Speck: First, teacher-mentors must have a deep sense of passion for their community and the kids in their community. They must represent the community being served, as they best relate to the kids’ challenges and stories. They also have a greater and faster sense of trust that leads to meaningful relationships. We look for adults who are already doing something like this. Oftentimes they are already volunteering to work with the youth because of their passion.Being paid gives them the opportunity to live out their passion full-time.

The full-time salaried position is crucial to our model, as it allows us to hire those from within the community to really give their lives to the kids. Oftentimes, a volunteer isn’t available for enough hours or is unavailable at the random times kids need them. Also, the salaried positions we offer allow us to really train and develop these leaders to become the leaders in their community.

Another benefit of hiring teacher-mentors is the long-term sustainability of the relationships they create with students. Volunteers often come and go. This is not good for our kids. Our teacher-mentors usually stay a long time so they build trust in individual kids’ lives, in their families, and in the community at large.

It surprises people that we don’t have a difficult time finding these types of individuals. There are so many, usually younger people who care deeply about their community and are looking for ways to serve. They just need to be paid to really do it.

Kars4Kids: The youngest Elevate Navajo students are in the second grade. Why do you begin with this particular age?

Debbi Speck: Most of our programs begin in the 4^th grade. A few programs serve 2^nd and 3^rd graders. We begin in the 4^th grade because children that age are really impacted by the presence of high school kids. They’re starting to really deal with hard decisions that are all around them. Having a high schooler who is from their community talk with them about real stuff is highly effective.

Additionally, building relationships with the kids long-term, at age-appropriate relationship levels, is important to win the right to speak to their lives. We don’t ever want to be in-and-out of a kid’s life. We’re in for the long haul.

Kars4Kids: Elevate Navajo offers accredited classes. Is that high school or college accreditation? What subjects are covered?

Debbi Speck: The accredited classes are for middle school and high school.

Kars4Kids: Elevate, in general, offers year-round programming. What is different about Elevate’s summer programming compared to programming offered during the school year?

Debbi Speck: The school year includes the accredited classes. In the summer there are a lot of activities, one-on-one, for small and large groups. There are adventure activities, week-long summer camps, service activities, trips to other areas, business exposure trips, college/vocational training visits, and etc. Some affiliates have the high school kids run day camp for the younger kids. Every city is different, as they have different options for activities. For example, Denver has a lot of mountain-type activities whereas Jacksonville (FL) has a lot of water-type activities. Similar activities happen during the school year but not at the same intensity because of the school classes.

The summer program for the Navajo Nation is yet to be developed. The kids will have a voice in determining what programming they are interested in.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Debbi Speck: Upon the onset of the COVID crisis, Elevate USA and Elevate affiliates across the country made a strong ‘pivot’ to online classes, training and mentoring. Mentors across the country were trained in online teaching strategies, hosting live and interactive groups online and strategies for engaging mentees through social networks. Training included healthy ways to understand and meet emergency and mental health needs and social-emotional needs of mentees during this unique time in our history. Group video calls are being used to network mentees from different cities as well as train and assist senior students in planning and preparation for post-graduation. The full-time work of the mentors did not decrease. Instead, a full effort was put in place to be available and proactive in addressing needs for mentees. Elevate mentors have been on the frontline for schools in delivering food, meeting family crisis needs and assisting in services in a safe and government-advised approach.

Kars4Kids: Having begun the Elevate Navajo program, what’s next for Elevate Navajo’s parent organization, Elevate USA?

Debbi Speck: Elevate USA, the national headquarters for Elevate across the country, is committed to launching and supporting Elevate programs throughout the country. We are now in 17 cities and expanding rapidly. Our goal is to be in 25 cities by 2025.

Travis Manion Foundation serves an important demographic, those who served their country and the family members of those who gave their lives in service. Our veterans and the families of the fallen have unique challenges and needs, and they also need our support and understanding—young people who have lost family members especially so. The Travis Manion Foundation cannot bring back their parents and family members, but it has created a plethora of programming specific to their needs. The programming offered by this unique foundation helps youth develop the resilience and the leadership skills necessary to move forward and live the fullest lives possible. Supporting this work with a small grant award is an honor and a privilege.

We spoke with Senior Coordinator of Institutional Partnerships Morgan Bryan to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: It sounds as though you serve two different groups of people: veterans, and families of the fallen. What are the challenges specific to each of these two groups? Why is it important to have them work together and what are the benefits for each group?

Morgan Bryan: Travis Manion Foundation’s primary purpose is to empower and uplift military veterans and families of the fallen as they become leaders and change agents in their communities. Veterans transitioning out of the service often experience a lack of connectedness and sense of purpose after separation from the military. Surviving military family members also experience a unique sense of loss specific to their experience as a military family. Many survivors experience a loss of identity and camaraderie that comes with being part of the military institution. Because of the nature of these losses, bereaved family members and veterans alike are at higher risk for psychiatric disorders such as Depression, Anxiety, and even Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

However, there are ways to strengthen connections and instill a sense of purpose for both of these populations. Social support is considered critical to recovering from loss, and there are hundreds of studies that suggest that veterans and survivors who volunteer experience improved mental health and well-being. The purpose of Travis Manion Foundation’s programs is to develop, empower, and support the veteran and survivor communities so they can lead and serve the needs of their communities. Unlike many other existing programs in the veteran space, we invest in their strengths, building resiliency so they can thrive personally and professionally long-term.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the Character Does Matter program. How does the program build character and leadership skills?

Morgan Bryan: The Character Does Matter (CDM) program really embodies Travis Manion Foundation’s mission of empowering veterans and families of the fallen to develop character in future generations. TMF staff train veterans and families of the fallen to serve as role models of character for youth nationwide as they facilitate discussions regarding leadership and the 24 character strengths identified in Positive Psychology. Some of these strengths include Honesty, Bravery, Creativity, and Perspective. Veteran Mentors demonstrate these strengths through their personal stories and stories of other pillars of character while using hands-on activities to promote and encourage these strengths in youth. Then, youth participants even have the opportunity to coordinate and engage in service projects in their communities, putting their character strengths to good use while making a difference in the process. As youth gain these skills and harness their strengths, the veterans and families of the fallen serving as mentors are able to showcase their strengths, have the opportunity to tell their stories, and regain that sense of purpose, belonging, and community connectedness. It’s a cycle of positive impact that keeps growing!

Kars4Kids: CDM leaders tell stories of “real people who exemplify great character and leadership.” Presumably one such story would be that of the man for whom your foundation is named. Can you tell us about Travis Manion?

Morgan Bryan: Yes! All of Travis Manion Foundation’s sessions through the Character Does Matter (CDM) program begin with Travis’s story and his mantra, “If Not Me, Then Who…” Travis Manion was first and foremost a man of character and one who lived his life in service to others, whether that was on his sports teams, at school, with family and friends, or on the battlefield. An experienced Iraq war veteran from the 1st Recon Battalion, 1stLt Travis Manion and his fellow Marines were ambushed on April 29, 2007 while searching a suspected insurgent house in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. As he led the counterattack against the enemy forces, Travis was fatally wounded by an enemy sniper while aiding and drawing fire away from his wounded teammates. His courageous acts allowed every member of his patrol to survive.  For his actions, Travis was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star with Valor. His legacy continues to grow through the work of TMF, inspiring people to make an impact by serving others.

Before his final deployment to Iraq, Travis left us with a simple but powerful mantra. “If Not Me, Then Who…” describes Travis’s sense of duty and the sense of duty felt by thousands of service members and their families. Today, it is Travis Manion Foundation’s defining message and a constant reminder for all of us to live with character and put the interests of others before our own. While TMF is Travis’s namesake, it is the spirit of selflessness embodied by the military community and their families that carries his legacy forward.

Kars4Kids: Presumably the CDM mentors are veterans? Is it a salaried position, a way to rejoin the workforce, perhaps? Or are they volunteers? Do they receive special training?

Morgan Bryan: Our Character Does Matter (CDM) program mentors are veterans and families of the fallen. We even have mentors who are active duty service members. It is an entirely volunteer-based position, though many engaged veterans, service members, and survivors have continued on to lead TMF chapters nationwide or have even become staff members down the road. All mentors take their roles very seriously, undergoing intensive training for best practices when working with youth; mandatory clearances for entering schools; and working with youth outside the classroom setting, in addition to diving into their own character development and leadership skills prior to leading sessions. If individuals are interested in becoming a mentor themselves, they can visit this link to learn more.

Kars4Kids: Would you give us an overview of the Spartan Leadership Program? What does it mean to be a Spartan leader?

Morgan Bryan: The Spartan Leadership Program (SLP) is a seven-month immersive learning experience for veterans and survivors. The program blends in-person activities and online learning for a group of veterans and families of the fallen who go through an application process and are chosen for their unique potential to make a difference in their communities. Over the course of the program, Spartan Leaders are empowered to thrive by putting their unique character strengths into action and they learn from best-in-class professionals who share our passion for empowering communities. Participants engage in service projects, develop their own community impact projects, and even go on a Service Expedition! At the completion of the program, participants have a greater awareness of themselves and their strengths; greater skills, and improved confidence to take action; lead in their communities; and build a legacy they will be proud of. Being a Spartan Leader means employing a growth mindset, living with intention, serving others, and leaving a positive impact. Spartan Leaders also graduate from the program with a completed capstone project, showcasing their leadership journey. One example of a recent successful capstone project includes “Camp Cowboy,” a program developed by a Spartan to support the behavioral health of veterans through equine therapy.

Kars4Kids: The TMF expeditions are service projects, is that right? It looks as if they are called “expeditions” because they involve travel. Can you tell us about some of the expeditions undertaken by your participants?

Morgan Bryan: Travis Manion Foundation’s expeditions provide unique character and leadership development opportunities for families of the fallen. We provide participants the opportunity for a 5-7-day expedition where we travel to a community in need, domestic or abroad, where they create long-lasting impact, carry on their loved one’s legacy of service, and build their own path forward. These service expeditions are more than “trips” or a support system, they really lay the groundwork for participants to continue to lead and serve in the selfless spirit of those we have lost. For many, they are a pivotal step in the healing journey as they can turn grief and loss into a tangible and meaningful experience not only for themselves, but for each other and the communities they are serving. Every year, TMF leads one teen expedition as well, for kids of fallen heroes. Last year, teens went to Montana to participate in a week-long expedition where they learned about their personal strengths; engaged in a fly fishing experience facilitated by Warriors & Quiet Waters; and supported conservation efforts at Yellowstone National Park.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Travis Manion Foundation?

Morgan Bryan: Travis Manion Foundation is growing exponentially and we are so very grateful for our community of supporters and the great work of our veterans and families of the fallen. Especially in the wake of the past two years and the pandemic, we feel prepared for anything. We are currently partnering with numerous organizations to ensure our Afghan neighbors seeking refuge and resettling in the United States are receiving the support they need to thrive. Our veteran mentors are working with youth and their families every week to ensure that no one gets left behind as they navigate this transition. We are also working on building out and deepening the service component of our Character Does Matter program to be able follow-up with youth participants long-term, supporting them as they continue to create lasting change in their communities. We welcome any interested folks to join the mission (and our mailing list) by visiting our website.

NOVA Principles Foundation works to instill values that have long guided youth in the right direction, but that may have fallen by the wayside for some youth sectors as a result of negative influences. The positive outcomes for of this program demonstrate that values never go out of style and remain worthy of revival until today. From our standpoint, such values were and will always be the mainstay of leading kids to the right track to become successful adults and members of society. As such, we were glad to have a chance to support the NOVA Principles Foundation by way of our small grant program.

We spoke with NOVA Principles Foundation Executive Director Lyman Gifford to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your founder and how NOVA came into being. Why do you use law enforcement officers to teach your classes?

Lyman Gifford: The NOVA Principles program was created in March of 2003 by two individuals, Sgt. Charlie Wakamatsu and Dr. Paul Jenkins. At the time of this creation another program was being used in local schools. Due to some changes in the program, it was determined the program no longer met the needs of both the local police department and the schools. One of the most significant changes including moving the existing program to junior high and high schools. Professional educators felt there was a significant need for a program at the elementary school level.

In cooperation between the local schools and the police department, a search began for a replacement. After an extensive search, no replacement program was found. Sgt. Wakamatsu shared with Dr. Paul the Orem Police Department project he was tasked with developing. During the early development period for NOVA Principles, Sgt. Wakamatsu and Dr. Paul Jenkins, a Child and Family Psychologist, worked together. Dr. Paul recognized his extensive experience with the State of Utah Program of Youth Reclamation Incorporated (YRI) would provide significant understanding. Together, they worked to ensure the new program was founded upon sound principles (values). A requirement of each principle chosen is that they are supported through outcome research and clinical observations. Cognitive psychology practices are a vital part of the NOVA Principles program.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the demographic of the participants in your program?

Lyman Gifford: The primary curriculum is designed to target young people in scholastic grades 5 or 6. All students are included on a voluntary basis with the permission of their parents.

An enhanced curriculum is available for junior high and high school students in cooperation with local schools within their health, social studies, or homeroom class.

The majority, over 85%, live in urban areas of the state. 1,295,488 of Idaho youth ages 11 to 17 comprise 10.7% of the population. The median household income is $56,607, 9% lower than the US median of $62,175 (June 2018). According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center (2017), 16% of these youth live in poverty. 7% of Idaho youth live in extreme poverty. Of these youth, 26% are raised by a single parent, and 15% live in homes receiving public assistance. 59% of these youth participate in free and reduced lunch programs.

Risky Behaviors/Choices	Participants
The Anne E Casey Foundation, Kids Count Data Center 2015-2016 Teens aged 12-17
Abused alcohol or drugs in the past year.	53,000 – 5%
Illicit drug use, other than Marijuana.	30,000 – 3%
Binge drinking.	54,000 – 5%
Cigarette uses in the past month.	31,000 – 3%
Marijuana use.	58,000 – 6%
Juvenile Arrests	49,331 (9.5% Youth (Charged as Adult))
Sampling: Murder, Manslaughter, Rape, Assault, Robbery	2,935 (5.8% Youth)
Center for Disease Control
Teen Suicide (2011 – 2015)	623 (19.4 % of all suicides)
JAMA Pediatrics
Sexting Behavior Among Youth 11-18	1 in 4

Kars4Kids: NOVA Principles are evidence based, correct? Can you tell us something about the evidence?

Lyman Gifford: NOVA Principles Program is built upon enduring psychological principles.

Preventative programs need to include psychoeducational training in order to reduce the likelihood of future poor choices, or risky behavioral involvement. “A number of predictors have been identified in the literature as being significant precursors to juvenile delinquency. Some of these predictors are socio-economic deprivation, poor parenting, family deviance, school problems, attentional or hyperactivity problems, and antisocial child behavior.” (Farrington 1990)

Significant research exists in this area.

Additionally, NOVA Principles Foundation is currently working with the Brigham Young University’s Good Measures Program. This group is performing a thorough review the NOVA Principles Program and its outcomes. As part of this review, enhanced evaluation processes have been implemented. These enhanced evaluation processes will allow us to show the evidence of our outcomes more fully beyond what currently exists.

The program is founded upon sound principles (values). A requirement of each principle chosen is that they are supported through outcome research and clinical observations.

Kars4Kids: What skills do students come away with after taking the NOVA program?

Lyman Gifford: The skills imparted through the NOVA Program are as follows:

• Participants demonstrate a working understanding and knowledge of the five NOVA Core Principles and ten NOVA Applications, and will develop their own purpose, goals, and plans for incorporating these principles moving forward.
• Participants express their intention and commitment to avoid risky behaviors (i.e., drugs, alcohol, tobacco, vaping, bullying, angry acting out, poor media choices, and etc.) as a result of their involvement in the NOVA Principles Program.
• Participants express increased awareness and appreciation for the knowledge they have gained through the program and their commitment to apply the principles they have learned through a written NOVA Constitution.
• Participants demonstrate understanding of and ability to apply improved thinking and problem-solving skills consistent with the NOVA Principles and Applications.
• Participants engage in (and typically initiate) increased family communications and discussions about risky behaviors, and the proactive application of the principles they are learning.
• Participants develop positive perceptions and relationships with law enforcement through their interactions with NOVA instructors.
• The long-term prevention outcomes of the NOVA Principles program are that young people remain substance free and appropriately handle other risk factors well into the future as they continue to practice and apply the principle-based decision-making skills they learned in the program.
• Individuals, families, and community become stronger as participants share the five NOVA Core Principles with their families and others.
• Principle-based decision-making skills are a protective factor that support the long-term effect of reduced community crime and other risky behaviors including the use of alcohol and other drugs.
• Communities experience improved positive relationships with local law enforcement.

Kars4Kids: What do kids learn from NOVA in regard to media, for instance what they see on their various screens?

Lyman Gifford: Participants are taught that media is a powerful influence on us all. Media provides communication, information, and entertainment. TV, movies, music, video games, print, art, internet, social media, and VR are types of media. Media is powerful and can influence how we think, feel, and behave in either positive or negative ways.

There are two NOVA Applications to assist participants, The Fire Application and The Harvest Application. Here is what our participants learn in regard to these applications:

The Fire Application: Some say fire is good, others say it is bad, in reality fire is powerful. Is fire good? It heats homes, cooks food, powers engines. Is fire bad? It destroys forests, burns communities, kills people. Fire is powerful. It has power to bring about both positive and negative outcomes.  Fire is an analogy for powerful things like media, drugs, thoughts, feelings, behavior, etc. I will handle “Fire” carefully and appropriately.

The Harvest Application: What I put in is what I get out. The seeds I plant and nurture determine what grows and becomes my harvest. This is true for a garden, and it is true with my mind. Everything I see, hear, and do become the seeds I plant in my mind. Good positive seeds bring good outcomes, whereas harmful negative seeds bring negative outcomes. WARNING–Weeds thrive if allowed to grow and can choke out all that is good. I will plant and nurture good positive seeds in my mind.

Influences of Media

Positive Influences: Wholesome and uplifting entertainment, educational materials, useful news and safety information.

Positive Media is linked to: Improved relationships, better mental health, and higher levels of success in school.

Negative Influences: Graphic and excessive violence, vulgarity and profanity (dirty talk/swearing), indecent and obscene (nasty) material.

Negative Media is linked to: Desensitization and addiction to violence and indecent material, antisocial behavior, lower grades in school.

My Safe Media Guidelines

• I will limit media use to a family room environment and avoid media devices in my bedroom.
• I will discuss with my parents what type of media is appropriate for me to watch, listen to, and play.
• I will use media filters to block harmful or inappropriate content from my devices.
• I will limit the time I spend consuming media to make room for positive opportunities.

Kars4Kids: Your mission statement includes the idea of helping your participants to “internalize good values.” What are some of the good values that NOVA hopes to instill in its young participants?

Lyman Gifford: The five NOVA Core Principles (Values) and definitions participants memorize are:

• Accountability – I own my thoughts, feelings, choices, and actions.
• Positivity – When I choose Positivity, I experience success and happiness.
• Knowledge – Knowledge creates opportunities.
• Work – My path to excellence requires work.
• Respect – I respect myself, others, and everything around me.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about the “lone wolf” application?

Lyman Gifford: We are very careful to include NOVA Lone Wolf versus Lone Wolf. Lone Wolf is often used by law enforcement for a lone shooter thus the importance of this distinction.

This application is defined as: NOVA Lone Wolf – I courageously stand against those who want me to do wrong.

Part of the teaching includes: If someone wants me to do something harmful, dangerous, or wrong, I will tell them “No” and leave. I will be a NOVA Lone Wolf whenever necessary.

Kars4Kids: Why did you name your foundation NOVA, and possibly related: why do you have instructions for building an air rocket launcher on your website?

Lyman Gifford: NOVA is an acronym for Nurturing, Opportunities, Values, and Accountability.

• Nurturing is to encourage positive development & growth.
• Opportunities are good things that come your way. Recognizing and seeking good opportunities should be an essential focus in everyone’s life.
• Values are sound principles, ideals, and standards that one believes in and lives by.
• Accountability is being responsible for your choices and actions.

There is no connection between the acronym and the rocket instructions. As part of the lesson materials, one of the activities is to build a model rocket. Some classrooms choose to make rockets that can be launched on the playground. The building of rockets is one of the activities used to assist students in their learning of lifelong living skills.

“Active learning is an effective tool to teach not only information, but lifelong living skills. Through the process, an individual can internalize information and assume responsibility for their decisions regarding personal lifestyle choices.” (Jackson, 1993)

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Lyman Gifford: The NOVA Principles Program is taught by instructors face-to-face inside school classrooms. As a result of the pandemic, access to classrooms became limited or closed to instructors. For some classrooms, it was an entire year before our instructors were allowed back inside the schools.

Some cities and counties would not allow their NOVA officers to function as instructors due to the increased COVID exposure risks. Additionally, many departments were struggling with officers infected with COVID and unable to work. In some areas, we offered virtual instruction. Again, not all of the areas in which we operate would allow for this.

Another area of impact was in regard to training for new instructors. We train 20-30 new instructors annually. All training is held in-person over a four-day period. As a result of the pandemic, all in-person training was cancelled for the first year.

It became clear that alternative methods of delivery had to be developed. Video calls had already been used on a limited basis. An expanded use of video calls became necessary. Since some of us had extensive experience using video calling (Zoom software), we offered training on this technology to educators and instructors. All instructor training was resumed virtually. As a result, we discovered we could provide the same quality instructor training virtually as we previously had provided in the face-to-face environment. Costs to departments were significantly lessened through virtual training since the cost of travel, meals, and overnight stays were eliminated. Our training is now offered on-demand with the course faculty providing a live virtual wrap-up.

Financially, the impact was significant. Fundraisers were cancelled; grants were diverted away from our program towards COVID-impacted needs; and program supplies were not purchased by departments. Our 90-day cash reserves were depleted.

We are now working to replenish our cash reserves. We are also working to help departments become operational in schools once again.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the NOVA Principles Foundation?

Lyman Gifford: NOVA has been working to expand into additional states, local cities, and counties. This year we will enter our seventh state. It takes about two years for a department to go from learning about the program to implementation. Working with government agencies is not a quick process. We will continue to work with local agencies within the targeted states for expansion and implementation.

We have had multiple inquiries in regard to bringing the NOVA Principles Program to locations across the US. Some inquiries have come from international locations, as well. With our successful implementation for on-demand training of instructors, we are moving toward implementing similar processes for participants. Each of our lessons will become a series of modules families can subscribe to. The on-demand format will allow these participants to join the NOVA Principles family through NOVA Central (our on-line format). Families can then work on modules and learn the same lessons that are taught in the classroom. We are currently working with existing instructors to record the various lessons.

Bibliography

Jackson, T. (1993). Activities That Teach. Publishers Press.

Just Us 4 Youth (JU4Y) uses various types of mentoring to support inner-city youth growing up under trying circumstances. These young people have so much promise, but they need help to fulfill their potential in the classroom and in life. JU4Y recognizes that mentoring has the power to impart the life skills and values that lead children toward a more successful future. This belief in the power of mentoring is something we share, the reason we awarded a small grant to this organization.

We spoke with Just Us 4 Youth Grant Coordinator Samantha Vacko to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic you serve?

Samantha Vacko: JU4Y began in Pomona, the largest city in eastern Los Angeles County. But recently, with encouragement from others, we have begun to go beyond the bounds of the east San Gabriel Valley to further our mission and vision—to Apple Valley in the high desert, to Imperial County near Mexico, and just five miles away to serve more than 2,000 children coming from south of our nation’s borders. Our focus on at-promise youth is, by definition, a commitment to prioritize those who experience inequities in services and access to resources due to generations of systemic discrimination.

While African-American and Black residents of Pomona comprise only 5.6% of the population, Black youth make up 22% of all youth arrests by the Pomona Police Department. Latinx persons comprise 71.7% of Pomona’s population; Latinx youth make up 70% of all youth arrests by Pomona PD. One-third of Pomona’s population, some 152,000 residents, is under the age of 18, and twenty percent (20%) of Pomona’s children live in poverty. These are difficult and painful statistics to hear, but JU4Y believes that the work of its mentors, staff, volunteers, supporters, and youth in our communities can affect positive change.

Our organization serves a vulnerable population. We define someone to be vulnerable when they do not have access to basic needs such as food, water, warmth, shelter, and safety. Additionally, someone who has experienced systemic barriers that have added trauma to their lives such as fleeing from another country due to safety concerns, family separation, incarceration, sex trafficking, experience of violence, and one or zero parents present in their lives. In 2020 alone, our organization served over 1,600 clients.

Kars4Kids: You offer three types of mentoring for urban youth: group, cluster, and one-on-one. What are the differences between them and what are the specific benefits they offer?

Samantha Vacko: Group mentoring allows for students to sit down and pour into each other. Clusters include participating in an activity that is a catalyst for students and mentors to enjoy together before they feel comfortable to begin their conversations. One-on-one allows for deep personal conversations that are unique to each individual youth’s needs.

Kars4Kids: How many mentors do you have? Are they volunteers?

Samantha Vacko: We have 126 staff members (all staff are mentors on different levels). We also have over 100 volunteers who’ve worked with us within the past couple of years.

Kars4Kids: We have noticed that many organizations no longer use the phrase “at risk” including your organization, preferring instead “at promise.” What is the impact of these two different phrases on youth? If we refer to students as “at promise,” will society still understand that these young people need help?

Samantha Vacko: Our mission statement says: “We mentor at-promise youth to be better students, better people, and better leaders.” In that single sentence, it declares who we serve, who we prioritize due to inequities in services, and to whom we direct resources—namely, “at-promise” youth. The term “at-promise,” being used more and more frequently when it comes to young people who have experienced adverse childhood experiences, reflects our belief that every child comes into the world—whatever manifestation of the world that may be—with promise and potential;  that it is possible to renew and transform children and teens who have acted with violence, anger, and/or despair after having adverse childhood experiences; and that our future can be brighter when we invest in the well-being of our at-promise generations. Society will still understand that these young people need help, it’s just the changing of the phrases that was necessary to denote a positive connotation rather than a negative one.

Kars4Kids: Your On-Point program offers various student interventions. Can you describe what happens in a “restorative circle?”

Samantha Vacko: Restorative circles bring together those who were harmed and those who caused harm with their family, peers, and community to dive deep into the heart of the issue and show the ripple effects that harm can cause to all parties involved.

Kars4Kids: In what sense does the Connect program’s 6-week plan provide long-term mentoring?

Samantha Vacko: The Connect program provides long-term mentoring by teaching youth key life skills that they can carry with them long after the 6-week plan with their mentor is over. In addition, the 6-week plan can always be renewed and mentors and mentees can work together for as long as they want.

Kars4Kids: Is parent engagement a part of the work of Just Us 4 Youth? How so?

Samantha Vacko: Absolutely. We only get to work with each youth for a couple of hours per week, in comparison to parents who interact with them daily for hours. This reality pushed the creation of our TREE program, which guides parents and gives them strategies to be able to best support their children.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Samantha Vacko: The pandemic showed the value and importance of our work because the social and behavioral issues youth are facing are now in the faces of the public. Our work nearly doubled and continues to grow as people are becoming more aware of the support that these youth need.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Just Us 4 Youth?

Samantha Vacko: Just Us 4 Youth is always looking to grow and expand in neighboring counties and communities. We plan to be operational in a few different states in a couple of years.

Kids Ranch Inc. understands that children with challenges need extra help to reveal and realize their fullest potential. This organization also understands that challenges come in all flavors and that every child is an individual requiring different types of assistance. A small grant was our way of supporting children struggling with a variety of issues that can get in the way of academic and life success.

We spoke with Kids Ranch Inc. Executive Director Penny Johnson to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic. How many children do your serve?

Penny Johnson: Annually we serve 150-175 children ages 6-11.

Kars4Kids: For the purposes of the services you provide at Kids Ranch Inc., how do you define the term “struggling child?”

Penny Johnson: The life situations of many of the children we serve can be very challenging. Many of the children come from families that live in chronic poverty, several of the children have suffered the loss of one, or in some cases, both parents; many live with the chaos and pain of addiction in their families. Other problems the children present are depression, anxiety, undiagnosed learning disabilities, anger problems, grief and trauma; some have experienced more than one abandonment by parents or guardians. Children are referred to Kids Ranch by school counselors and teachers, social agencies, and parents or grandparents.

Kars4Kids: Kids Ranch Inc. offers mental wellness support. Does every child you serve require such support?

Penny Johnson: All of the children spend time with our retired family therapist. Sometimes they just need a boost to their self-esteem.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the therapies and techniques you incorporate into the mental wellness support you provide?

Penny Johnson: Our mental health encounters with the children occur in both individual and group settings. Our goal is to teach them tools and skills for reducing stress and managing inner conflict, to develop self-soothing behaviors, and self-care skills. Some of the self-care techniques the children learn are mindful breathing, progressive relaxation exercises, the importance of physical exercise, mood management through cognitive change, problem solving skills, reframing situations to look for what they can change, or strengths they can build from their current situation. We seek to help the child discover that he or she is powerful and capable of choosing positive thoughts and behaviors. We teach them to work toward accepting what has happened in the past, and to reach for what can be in the future.

During the summer, we partner with Baraboo River Equine-Assisted Therapies. (BREATHE). They provide two hours of horsemanship opportunities for each child.

We don’t have the capacity to offer ongoing case management for children or families. But our retired family therapist writes letters of referral and recommendations to physicians, social agencies, counselors, etc. to help each child get the professional help they need.

Kars4Kids: You offer literacy tutoring with the help of volunteers. How many volunteer tutors do you have?

Penny Johnson: The pandemic has definitely had an effect on the number of volunteers we have. Currently we have six tutors and two drivers. Pre-pandemic we had 20 tutors.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your summer day camp.

Penny Johnson: During the summer months, our focus is our beautiful 50-acre ranch in rural Wisconsin. Children from four local school districts, as well as from the nearby Ho-Chunk Nation, enjoy a two-week day camp. Each session is Monday-Thursday, 9:30 AM – 3:30 PM. Camp includes horse therapy, art therapy, hands-on nature experiences, hiking, gardening, and music, along with continued literacy tutoring and mental wellness counseling. Our naturalist leads groups along the many wooded trails on the property, teaching them an appreciation for nature. Our garden assistant helps the children maintain our garden and teaches them how to harvest produce, berries, and flowers to take home. Horse therapy is provided off-site at the BREATHE facility.

In 2022 we are introducing a challenge activity course to provide team-building and confidence-boosting games in the schedule. Children enjoy sitting on the huge front porch, interacting with a trained READ dog. Groups are deliberately small in order to offer personal attention. No more than 21 children attend each of the six sessions offered during the summer, most at no cost to their families.

Kars4Kids: Is parental engagement important to what you do?

Penny Johnson: During the summer of 2020 and 2021, when pandemic restrictions forced us to cancel camp, we began “Family Camp.” We invited one complete family at a time to spend half a day at the Ranch. They enjoyed hiking, nature activities, crafts, gardening, and more. Most importantly, each child and adult met with our Education Coordinator and our Mental Wellness Coordinator to be evaluated for literacy and mental wellness needs. Because of this highly successful program, we have now decided to include “Family Camp” as a permanent service. Our Mental Wellness Coordinator has also written a series of handouts to teach parenting skills.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about one of your “sunshine moments.”

Penny Johnson: A 2nd grade girl, we’ll call her N, had suffered severe abuse and trauma at the hands of her father (now incarcerated). She suffered from effects of trauma on her learning, was behind in school in every area of learning, and could not read. Her behavior was also severely disruptive.

Our retired family therapist, Teresa Parker, asked permission to do a thorough psychological evaluation. She gathered all school pertinent records and evaluated the child for Learning Disability and ADHD. She recommended appropriate medical treatment for N. She also encouraged N’s family to be taught parenting skills from the county mental health team involved with the case. N also continued with weekly Kids Ranch tutoring sessions.

With appropriate medication and new parenting skills in the home, the school progress reports show major improvement overall in learning, successful increase in reading abilities, and new socialization skills that involved new friendships. Teresa did a follow-up Self Esteem Check-Up that showed huge improvement in N’s esteem and belief in herself. N’s mom said, “My daughter is a reading machine! She loves to read now! Behavior reports from school give highest marks and say, ‘Awesome!’”

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Penny Johnson: Besides having to move to a family camp format, as mentioned above, our school year programs were also greatly affected. In April 2020, we experimented with providing families with laptops that had been donated by the county surplus department. The laptops had software and video clips that were originally designed to help train tutors in our unique literacy curriculum. Alas, families were simply not able to use the software, and the challenges of having children doing virtual schooling was already too much.

In May 2020 we tried to connect our tutors to their students via Zoom, but, again, this was not successful. The children we serve benefit from the very personal one-on-one relationships they have with their tutors, and Zoom just doesn’t provide that.

In September 2020 we began limited in-person tutoring and mental wellness counseling. We only had a few volunteer tutors because our older volunteers weren’t available. We also couldn’t use the church or school classrooms as literacy sites. So we recruited volunteer drivers to transport children out to the ranch for their sessions. Eventually one church allowed us to use their fellowship hall, and that is where we still are.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Kids Ranch Inc.?

Penny Johnson: Short term, we are hoping to be able to reopen our tutoring/counseling sites in four communities in the fall. We are excited to be able to offer a full summer camp program this year. Kids Ranch will be celebrating our 25^th anniversary in 2023. We are documenting our history and reaching out to some of the 3000 alumni that we have served for their stories.

While the pandemic curtailed our services, we used the time to strengthen our organizational infrastructure. We have a robust strategic plan, and we have adopted several important policies that address record retention, youth protection, discrimination, and confidentiality. We have re-structured our staffing model and created a dynamic donor database. We are prepared to move into our second generation of leadership, stronger than ever.

We are proud of our local grassroots organization, and we do not want to lose those personal, one-on-one services for which we are known. But we do want to strengthen our presence in the four school districts we serve, and that is our aim.

Los Niños Primero is the hub of the Latino community in Metro Atlanta. Here, they know they will be treated with love, respect, understanding, and support. In this warm environment, literacy and other educational programs help improve academic and career outcomes, leveling the playing field for Spanish speakers in an English-speaking society. Helping the children of immigrants and their parents become full members of the world they live in is critical for success. All of these reasons and more made us want to give this community asset, a bit of an assist by way of our small grant program.

We spoke with Los Niños Primero Executive Director Maritza Morelli to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the demographic you serve?

Maritza Morelli: We serve 400 children (3 to 12 years old), 80 teens (13 to 19 years old), and 250 adults (20 to 82 years old). Our immigrant families are primarily from South and Central America and Mexico. 95% of our school age students are first generation US citizens.

Kars4Kids: What is the purpose of your preschool program? How is it different from other preschool programs?

Maritza Morelli: Our education programs start at age 3 years old and continue through college and adulthood. For our youngest students we offer early literacy programs, a summer education program and Saturday school sessions. Summer and afterschool programs are hosted in public and private elementary schools, high schools, church facilities, and community centers.

Our programs are based on discovery, wonder, respect, and love. Our children and youth often refer to Los Niños Primero as their family. This harmony and cohesion fuels the trust placed in us. Children and youth are nurtured to think critically, work collaboratively and act thoughtfully towards others. We complement the schools academically and differ in that our staff is primarily Spanish-speaking and bicultural; the familiarity of language & culture strengthens our connections.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your youth volunteer program and some of the projects they have undertaken?

Maritza Morelli: Every teen is trained to assist GA-certified teachers in the classrooms of elementary school students. Teens return year after year and build strong bonds with the teachers they assist. The success we have achieved by including the teen volunteers in the decision-making and leadership of our year-round education programs serves the broader community as well. Teen participation is a unique attribute that has proven to be essential to the well-being of our teens and our younger students. Their presence in the classroom allows our students to connect with powerfully inspiring role models. Daily they demonstrate their capacity for kindness while actively promoting leadership, intellectual curiosity and pride in their culture.

A noteworthy figure which underscores our sustainability is that 25% of our youth volunteers were formerly enrolled in our elementary school program. They stay connected through our extracurricular activities and return to us to give their service and to inspire the younger students. From 2017 to 2022 this group of youth leaders accumulated over 37,000 volunteer hours. Many of the youth volunteers continue to participate throughout the school year in our Saturday School sessions. The youth represent 7 Atlanta middle schools, 18 high schools, and 4 Georgia universities.

Teen Projects:

• “Reading buddies” with the younger 3 to 6-year old students
• Fundraising – organizing an annual fundraising car wash
• 5 weeks of summer volunteering in our classrooms, serving 3 to 8-year old students
• Year-round volunteering in the classrooms for Saturday School sessions, serving 3 to 8 year old students
• Accompanying younger students on field trips – to the Botanical Gardens, the Chattahoochee Nature Center, Meta Music Studio, and to SmallTown.

Kars4Kids: Do any of your preschool kids continue on youth volunteers?

Maritza Morelli: Yes, 25% of our youth volunteers are teens who were once enrolled in our preschool program.

Kars4Kids: Los Niños Primero requires that parents be active participants in its programs. How is this accomplished?

Maritza Morelli: During the summer and school year, parents are given materials to continue working with their children at home. Parents are also expected to attend 10 of our 14 parenting classes offered during our year-round program. These classes are intended to educate parents in the concept that school attendance and parental participation are paramount to academic success and graduation. Specific instruction is also given on how to communicate with their children’s teachers and role playing to learn positive, productive communication skills. The parent program teaches basic computer skills enabling the parents to assist their children and improve their professional skills. Empowering these parents builds confidence and the courage to be an advocate for their children.

Eight of the classes are held during the summer academic program, the remaining six classes are held throughout the school year. Topics include:

• Helping Your Child Manage Anxiety, Hector Pereles, LPC
• Cognitive Based Compassion Training, Andrea Garcia
• Raising Your Children to be Compassionate People, Montse Mota
• How to Foster Resilience in Your Child, Montse Mota
• Adapting to Change, Rosa Rodriguez
• Entrepreneurship, Hand to Hand – Maria Bastida, VP Digital of Mundo Hispanico
• Advantages and Disadvantages of Virtual Education, Mayra Coblentz
• Training for ClassDojo, Marisol Villacres
• Stress Management, Andrea Garcia
• Family Budgeting, financial planning, and literacy, Northwestern Mutual Financial Advisor, Juan Diego Ramirez.

Our parent courses focus on community leadership, too. Los Niños Primero parents are taught leadership skills through our Parent Coach program. In this unique program, parents commit to a one-year “coaching” experience. The Parent Coach works with ten (10) Los Niños Primero families throughout the year. The parent coaches function as a liaisons between our administration and the families. With this system, they sharpen their communication skills, deepen their engagement in the program, enhance their leadership skills and facilitate communication for Los Niños Primero. Our plans include expanding this program to provide guidance to our families on the best practices for family budgeting, saving and self-sufficiency.

Kars4Kids: What is the Fostering Family Leaders program?

Maritza Morelli: United Way developed the curriculum for the “Fostering Family Leaders” course. Los Niños Primero has facilitated this 10-week program and now has 70 graduates. It builds on the parent’s current strengths and takes them to a new level of leadership in their home, school and community. The program has sparked real change for Latino adults. It has inspired our Latino parents to assume greater leadership and to become more civically engaged. Our family programs accentuate personal accountability, civic engagement, leadership, and social, emotional, and ethical learning. Programs such as “Fostering Family Leaders” have successfully ignited a demand for additional training – resulting in more marketable skills for our parents.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Saturday School.

Maritza Morelli: Saturday School sessions (4 to 7 years old) are offered throughout the school year. The half-day program engages children, focusing on language/literacy skills, science, math, plus music and art enrichment challenges. Children are encouraged to participate in collaborative conversations and to explore grade appropriate topics and texts. They are nurtured to build on others’ ideas and to express their own ideas clearly. Math, science, and the arts are integrated and explored throughout the day. Students learn respect and responsibility, and build community through exploration, discovery, and joyful play.

Kars4Kids: How does your summer programming differ from the regular programming you host during the course of the year?

Maritza Morelli: The summer program is a full-day program, while during the school year our programs are offered after school and on Saturdays. All of our programs are based on discovery, wonder, respect and love. Our children and youth often refer to Los Niños Primero as their family. This harmony and cohesion fuels the trust placed in us. Los Niños Primero creates classrooms where children are eager to come to and somewhat reluctant to leave, a place where families trust and know their children are being cared for and growing intellectually and emotionally. Our academic and enrichment programs are designed to be fun, friendly and interesting.

During our five-week summer academic program, the students are provided with daily roundtrip bus transportation to and from the program, a morning snack and hot lunch, age-appropriate English language books, and learning material to take home. Additionally, three and four-year olds receive bilingual speech and language screening from a certified speech and language pathologist. Early screening allows us to refer students for further testing and to connect families to additional resources if necessary.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Maritza Morelli: Los Niños Primero has provided financial support for rent, utility, food, and medical support since the start of the pandemic. In March 2020, our organization surveyed enrolled families and 80% had lost their jobs or had immediate reductions of their work hours. At that point, the board of directors voted to provide funding to cover the basic needs for our struggling families. Covering their basic needs became our first priority and ensured our students would have the support they needed to flourish in school.

Our staff pivoted to provide virtual learning training to our families, ensuring they had tablets and internet access to connect. All of our programs were virtual from Summer 2020 to September 2021. We returned to in person learning for Saturday School and in January 2022, returned to in person extracurriculars including theatre, music and the arts.

We introduced three new programs to manage the stress and anxiety the pandemic imposed. They include:

• Cognitive-based Compassion Training (CBCT®) is a prime example of the possibilities that partnerships bring. Andrea Garcia, an Emory University-certified, bilingual instructor, customized the workshop to address the hardships our Latino parents are facing. Los Niños Primero has carefully cultivated a network of bilingual experts at Emory University and their instruction has helped to shape our programs.
• “Among Friends” meets twice per month on Zoom. I work closely with our families to determine what concerns they’d like to discuss. The intent of these Zoom gatherings is to encourage frank and honest conversations about community concerns. Young adults and parents are invited each week to discuss a variety of subjects that impact their lives. The participants choose the topics to consider and explore.
• Music, Movement, and Wellbeing for children and youth. The program serves Latino children (ages 5 to 15-years old). It is led by a bilingual, GA-certified music therapist, Ricardo Hurtado. Ricardo emigrated to the U.S. from Nicaragua and is acutely aware of the challenges our immigrant families face. The program has a clinical-based structure and provides a variety of activities that contribute to the personal development, psychosocial, and emotional wellbeing of the students. Ricardo helps the children sort through their emotions and nurtures their confidence to express them. He is a constant, trusted source of encouragement and support for the children and their families.
• LYRIC – Latino Youth Readiness and Information about College – helps Latino families understand, prepare for, and navigate the process of applying for college, scholarships, financial aid or other post-secondary opportunities. LYRIC partners with high school Latino clubs, high school teachers, and administrators to ensure Latino students and families receive early instruction to prepare for college.

The pandemic revealed many unanticipated needs including culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate mental health services. Our staff has devoted hours to counseling and guiding families as well as referring them to mental health resources. In 2021, we partnered with Spectrum Counseling Center to provide our youth and families with counseling services from a bilingual therapist.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Los Niños Primero?

Maritza Morelli: Our programs are held in 8 site locations across Metro Atlanta – in private/public schools, in community centers and in churches. This month, April 27, 2022, we will cut the ribbon on our very first, permanent facility. In the heart of our Latino community, we will open three community classrooms. The classrooms will allow us to continue to meet and connect with families where they live. Transportation is a significant impediment for immigrant families to surmount. Programs provided in their community improve participation, cultivate a sense of belonging, and enrich our city. In addition to the classrooms, the developers built a playground and park for the community. The programs that will be offered in these classrooms will include:

• Twice weekly multi-generational early literacy program
• Twice weekly chorus
• Weekly dance instruction
• Weekly orchestra
• Parent programs – such as “Fostering Family Leaders”
• Youth programs – LYRIC – Latino Youth Readiness and Information about College, and leadership and civic engagement
• Weekly Saturday School sessions, September to May

Thank you for this opportunity to tell our story! We’ve entered our third decade of service and plan for many decades more!

Future for KIDS knows that growing up is difficult and that kids need help to succeed in school and in life. Sports and mentorship can make a difference in easing the path to success. These activities are about engaging kids in healthy activities that teach fair play, and having consistent adults in their lives. Mentoring is a keystone of our own programming and we have a soft spot for organizations that do similar work. We were pleased therefore, to award this organization a small grant, by way of showing our support.

We spoke to Future for KIDS Program Director John Hopper to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic—the kids you serve.

John Hopper: We serve disadvantaged youth in the community from various socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. We are in 15 different locations and primarily in title-1 schools, but also partner with Homeward Bound (a shelter for displaced families).

Kars4Kids: Who is Rodney Smith? What led to him founding Future for KIDS?

John Hopper: Rodney Smith is a retired NFL football player who recognized the important role that mentorship and sports played in his life. He founded Future for KIDS in 1991 to ensure every kid has access to a bright future. In 2006, Madonna Bistany took the helm and created the programs that we have today.

Kars4Kids: How does mentoring develop resiliency in children who have experienced an adverse childhood experience (ACE)?

John Hopper: Mentorship provides a caring and consistent adult role model for children and helps the children understand their emotions and trauma through Social Emotional Learning. When children begin to understand their emotions, they begin to be able to manage their emotions.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of Discover Your Future? How many mentors and mentees do you have?

John Hopper: Discover Your Future provides an opportunity to engage in meaningful relationships with trained, caring adult volunteer mentors. DYF is offered Tuesday through Thursday and is a once-a-week (2 hour), mentor-driven out-of-school time enrichment program for youth in grades K-8. The Discover Your Future Program is segmented into 3 components (Academics, Athletics, and Ethics) helping to provide a well-rounded curriculum for our participants.

The three components that serve as the basis of this program are:

Academics Weekly STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) and Literacy activities to foster an appreciation for academics and skill-building.

Athletics Engagement in a variety of sports to improve physical health and well-being.

Ethics Based on the Six Pillars of Character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship to promote social and emotional development. Also includes a strong SEL (Social Emotional Learning) focus.

We have approximately 70 mentors and 350 mentees.

Kars4Kids: What’s your summer program like? How does it differ from the programming you offer during the course of the year?

John Hopper: Future for KIDS Summer Program, “Camp FFK“, is an all-encompassing one-week program intentionally designed to promote resiliency and keep kids engaged and learning in the summer. FFK partners with one school or organization to offer this opportunity. Facilitated by caring adult camp counselors and infused with energetic professional guest presenters and an educational field trip, this program features sports & fitness, STEAM, community service projects, arts & crafts, nutrition education, and more! This camp program is geared towards keeping children involved in healthy and enjoyable activities during the summer.

Kars4Kids: Future for KIDS offers various sports and fitness camps during the year. Can you talk about them, and how these camps benefit children at risk?

John Hopper: Future for KIDS offers three large-scale Sports & Fitness camps throughout the year to youth in the community. Professional athletes, coaches, and community volunteers engage with participants in meaningful sports and fitness experiences while having fun! Participants receive a t-shirt, healthy breakfast, and a nutritious lunch at every camp. Camp starts with an energetic warm up, while the DJ sets the tone with high-energy music to help the campers move through the interactive sports rotations. Campers have a unique opportunity to listen to motivational speakers, along with meeting college and professional sports athletes, coaches, and mascots. Future for KIDS camps are offered free to youth ages 8-12.

Youth Sports + Fitness Camp – One Day Summer Camp

Future for KIDS Summer Youth Sports and Fitness Camp is an experience for 300 youth ages 8-12. The event features 7 sports and fitness rotations lead by athletes and coaches (including: football, soccer, hockey, golf, lacrosse, baseball, yoga, and zumba), motivational speakers, healthy breakfast and lunch, camp shirts, and special takeaway gifts!

Basketball Camp (One Day Fall Camp)

Future for KIDS Basketball Camp is an exclusive experience for 100 boys and girls ages 8-12 who love basketball. The event is based on John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and features 7 basketball rotations, motivational speakers, healthy breakfast and lunch, camp shirts, and special take away gifts!

Soccer Camp (One Day Winter Camp)

Future for KIDS Soccer Camp is an exclusive experience for 100 boys and girls ages 7-12 who love soccer. This camp is hosted by the Grand Canyon University Men’s and Women’s Soccer Team and features 6 soccer rotations, motivational speakers, healthy breakfast and lunch, camp shirts, and special takeaway gifts!

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

John Hopper: We kept our doors open and considered ourselves front line workers. Unfortunately, due to pandemic related school closures we did have to reduce our programming during 2019-20. However, we stayed busy by delivering over 10,000 enrichment kits to disadvantaged youth in the community. These kits were all STEAM-based and included activities that children could do at home with their families.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Future for KIDS?

John Hopper: We are growing! We were in 15 locations for 21-22 and are launching in 17 locations for 22-23! We are also expanding to Tucson and will begin offering our programming there. Finally, we have purchased a van. This van will function as a STEAM Outreach Vehicle and will be traveling around the state and providing STEAM-based learning to students at local parks and events.

Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky (PCAK) understands that parenting is hard. Kids are rebellious and difficult at times. Sometimes they whine. Meantime parents may be stressed from work, sleep-deprived, or trying to balance too many things at once. The main thing for a parent to know is when to reach out for help, before they snap. The main thing for the public to know in this regard is how to spot child abuse and what to do about it. And that’s where PCAK comes in.

Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky works to prevent child abuse before it happens and gives parents the tools to deal with feelings that might lead to an abusive situation. PCAK is also works with officials to impact public policy on child abuse throughout the state of Kentucky. We know that being abused as a child has lifelong repercussions that can get in the way of a successful life. Supporting organizations in the fight against child abuse is important, and we were pleased to be able to lend an assist by way of our small grant program.

We spoke with Executive Director Jill Seyfred and Director of Operations and Prevention Education Janna Estep Jordan to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: What led to the founding of your organization?

Jill Seyfred Executive Director: Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky was formed by the merger of two organizations, one of whom had very strong statewide connections, the other with very strong national connections. Both organizations focused on child abuse prevention. So the merger was a natural fit for these two organizations to come together to form the Kentucky Council on Child Abuse. In 1999, our Board of Directors voted to change our name to Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky to more closely align and brand our work.

Kars4Kids: How is child abuse defined, and where does Kentucky stack up in terms of child abuse statistics?

Janna Estep Jordan: If we were to compare Kentucky substantiations of abuse to other states, it would be like comparing apples to oranges. Kentucky is a mandated reporting state, which means everyone in the state is a mandated reporter of suspected child abuse. Other states may mandate that only certain professionals have this duty. Furthermore, state laws that define and substantiate child maltreatment in each state varies.

The best way to ensure the safety of our kids is to help everyone in our communities recognize what child abuse is and how to prevent it. Kentucky defines child maltreatment as a non-accidental injury or pattern of injuries to a child. Child abuse includes non-accidental physical injury, physical neglect, sexual and emotional abuse.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your hotline?

Janna Estep Jordan: 1-800-CHILDREN is a 24/7 hotline anyone can call Monday-Friday during business hours to locate parenting resources, prevention resources and more. Parenting is difficult and kids do not come with manuals, having a resource line parents can call is a vital.

Kars4Kids: How does advocacy fit in with the work of PCAK?

Jill Seyfred: About 10 years ago, our board started moving toward a more robust presence in the arena of public policy. We engage with government as well as non-profit organizations around issues, and, oftentimes, form a coalition to ensure our particular stance is represented to our elected officials. It is a misconception that 501(c)(3) organizations cannot engage in advocacy work; in fact, they can (being mindful of their budget and expenditures on advocacy). Impacting public policy is one of the most powerful and substantial ways in which a state can, collectively, impact the lives of their citizens. We have taken stances on issues ranging from budgets, to administrative regulations, the prohibition of corporal punishment in the schools, providing child abuse prevention training in the schools to establishing a statutorily mandated Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Panel.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about some of the events you’re hosting in April, Child Abuse Prevention Month?

Janna Estep Jordan: Child Abuse Prevention Month is a time where we use the publicity surrounding the month and its activities to onboard people to action. Friday, April 1^st is known nationally and across the nation as “Wear Blue Day.” A day where we wear blue to promote prevention and what we can all do to prevent abuse from ever occurring. On April 11^th at 10 AM, we will host a statewide kick-off at the State Capitol Building in Frankfort. The public is welcome to join.

Throughout the month we will host a door decorating contest and a scavenger hunt for families, individuals, and groups to become involved. PCAK maintains a statewide calendar on our website at https://pcaky.org/about/capm/. This calendar promotes events across the Commonwealth in local communities. We will also host a series of free trainings that help strengthen maltreatment prevention education for everyone. https://pcaky.org/training/training-list/

Kars4Kids: How does fatherhood fit in with child abuse prevention?

Janna Estep Jordan: Research tells us that positive father involvement can have significant impacts on children which include social emotional wellbeing, cognitive outcomes, educational attainment, and can also decrease substance use and behavioral issues in children/youth. Despite the growing recognition of the vital role fathers play in the lives of their children, most services were designed with only mothers in mind. The healthier connections a child has, the better off they are going to be and the stronger a family can be, thereby decreasing risk of abuse or neglect.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about The Kids Are Worth It® Conference.

Janna Estep Jordan: The annual Kids Are Worth It! Conference is the state’s largest educational event focused on child maltreatment education for all professionals. Each year, we average 400-650 attendees. Educational topics include strengthening families, implicit bias awareness, electronic crimes against children, child trafficking, fatherhood and more. Last year, 97% of all attendees who completed evaluations indicated that they learned of a new resource to support the prevention of maltreatment in the families they serve. The 2022 conference will be held September 12-13^th at the Galt House in Louisville.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your parent education program?

Janna Estep Jordan: Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky oversees parent education across the state of Kentucky through trained and dedicated service providers. Our parent education programming welcomes ALL caregivers including single parents, mothers, fathers, kinship providers, grandparents, foster parents, adoptive parents, parents struggling with substance use issues, and more. This is a 12-week program designed to provide the skills necessary for improving the parent/child relationship. 95.36% of parents who complete this program believe they are a better parent because of the program. 84.91% state they have more people to support them than they did before and 81.28% believe their children are happier. For anyone interested they can visit our website at pcaky.org or call 1-800-CHILDREN for more information.

Kars4Kids: What is Partners in Prevention?

Janna Estep Jordan: Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky (PCAK) relies on community partners at the local level to further our mission. The Partners in Prevention Network is 250+ members strong and includes businesses, state government, associations, medical groups, schools and much more. This partner network works collaboratively with PCAK to learn the latest research and tools available to support families and create community awareness from one family at a time to one county at a time.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations? Has the pandemic affected child abuse statistics, and if so, how? Why would a pandemic affect child abuse statistics?

Janna Estep Jordan: Our agency continued services throughout the pandemic. Services adapted to virtual opportunities and the training arm of our agency saw a significant increase in participation. Research tells us when families lack resources and connections, maltreatment is more likely to occur. So, at the start of the pandemic and throughout, we worked diligently to provide educators and others with tools to not only identify and report abuse in virtual formats, but how to reach out to families and children to ensure they had healthy connections and supports during this difficult time.

We are still learning what outcomes the pandemic had on families and children. While reports of abuse declined, our medical partners indicated that the severity of cases increased for physical abuse and the need for mental health services increased.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky?

Jill Seyfred: Our work is guided by a 3-year board-approved strategic plan. While numerous issues surfaced during the Pandemic, we remain committed to tackling our identified gaps and building upon the service and program foundation we have established. We will continue to identify solutions and provide guidance as our state tackles the problem of child neglect, being mindful of not confusing neglect with poverty. We will expand our reach with our military community through Army Community Services at Ft. Knox and Ft. Campbell and our National Guard. We are excited about increasing and enhancing how we engage with service providers, families and partners through educational campaigns, our website, the development of an app, and the expansion of our Partner network. The demand for our trainings exceeds our ability to respond to all requests, so we will continue to expand our ability to provide credentialed training to interested Kentuckians.

One Stone stands out from the crowd because its youthful participants choose to learn, delve, and grow. How does that set One Stone apart? Too many students go through the motions of going to school each day, because their attendance is mandatory. Typically, students have no real choice but to slog through the days and years of school until graduation. One Stone participants, on the other hand, are excited to discover and nurture their strengths and talents.

We like programs that get kids excited about stretching their minds. That’s the reason we chose to give One Stone a boost by way of our small grant program. What’s One Stone’s magic formula? We sent some questions along to the people at One Stone. In a lovely twist from our usual manner of gathering intel from administrators, One Stone asked Meghan Fall, a current Y-Lab student at Lab51 and the Chair of the One Stone Board of Directors, to respond:

Kars4Kids: One Stone didn’t set out to be school, but in addition to your programs serving various high schools, you now also have a school, Lab51. Can you tell us why the school was founded? How many students attend your school?

Meghan Fall: Lab51 was founded because students were passionate about creating their own learning experiences. We like to say we were created by students for students. The success of Project Good demonstrated a need in our community for a high school experience that is rooted in service, design thinking, and discovering what our true passions are.

Kars4Kids: Lab51 appears to be divided into three sections or parts: XLab, DLab, and YLab. Can you tell us a bit about each of these?

Meghan Fall: XLab is for our 9th-grade equivalent students. XLab is meant to help students X(plore) their passions and engage with the design thinking process.

DLabs 1 and 2 are for 10th grade and 11-grade equivalent students, respectively. DLab is short for (D)esign Lab where students dig deeper into the design thinking process and work in cohorts to create solutions for specific problems in our community.

Y(Lab) is the graduating class and is meant to help this cohort discover their (why) in life and how they can take this self-discovery and continue to do good in the world after One Stone.

Kars4Kids: Idea51 offers a program called Living in Beta. Can you give us an overview of this program?

Meghan Fall: Living in Beta is a cyclical process defined by moments of growth, iteration, pivoting, and realizing our ever-changing passions and sense of purpose. There are four key parts of the Living in Beta process: exploration, discovery, purpose, and self-actualization.

Exploration is when students take the time to identify and explore their passions, interests, curiosities, and skills. The goal of this stage is for students to develop a better understanding of how to leverage their unique strengths and talents to realize their potential and engage their passions to the fullest extent.

During the Discovery phase, learners find themes within their passions and make key insights about themselves and what fulfills them. The purpose of this stage is to discover the driving force of their passions while learning what motivates them most in life as well as uncover their values and what is most important for them in life.

The third phase is Purpose, where learners have ample opportunity to explore their passions through meaningful and relevant experiences. With these experiences in hand, learners are now able to articulate their purpose in a powerful “WHY” statement and connect their WHY with their personal and professional values.

Self-Actualization is the final stage in Living in Beta. Learners leaving this stage have a tool kit for life, filled with the skills that afford them the mindset and experiences that will empower them to continually iterate upon who they are and who they want to be.

Kars4Kids: You operate several different studios. Can you give us a brief description of each?

Meghan Fall: Yes! One Stone has a total of eight studios + labs. Seven of our studios + labs are after school and open to any students at no cost who want to participate. In addition to Lab51, our high school experience, we have an experiential service program; a music and recording studio; a coding and cyber lab; an idea lab for student-led ventures, businesses, and products; a multi-disciplinary and multimedia art studio; a maker studio; and revenue-generating creative marketing agency. Each of these studios and labs was developed and is currently driven by student leadership, in response to students’ significant and growing interest in developing various skill sets, competencies, and passions.

In order to attend Lab51, our high school experience, students must go through an application process (directed and run by students). Anyone can apply to Lab51.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about “BLOB.”

Meghan Fall: One Stone’s Bold Learning Objectives, or BLOB, focuses on four key areas of learning: mindset, creativity, skills, and knowledge. Under each area are eight different learning objectives, totaling 32 different tools students walk away with after their experience at Lab51. The purpose of the BLOB is to allow students to be assessed holistically, rather than through grades and scores on a test. We focus on 21st-century skills such as grit, ideation, and goal setting so that when students continue on their journey after high school, they are able to better integrate into the real world.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect One Stone’s operation?

Meghan Fall: Our commitment to doing the right thing, even when it is hard, did not waiver. In the fall of 2020, we learned that our community’s Boys and Girls Club was filling the childcare gap for working families in the crush of COVID-19. In collaboration with our local District Health office and after speaking with club leadership, we developed a safety-conscious, socially-distanced plan to directly aid club staff and members, in the ways they said would be most helpful. In just the first six weeks of this partnership, 120 Project Good participants tutored 55 elementary school-aged club members and supported the club’s 8-floor staff members for the K-1st and 2nd-3rd grade cohorts with over 167 hours of one-on-one attention and engagement.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for One Stone?

Meghan Fall: We are partnering with Title I schools and organizations in rural communities to offer our transformational programs to more students. We will continue to innovate and iterate upon our current programming and continue to do as much good as possible!

Federation Early Learning Services (FELS) has been providing childcare to Philadelphians for over a century. As such, this nonprofit has had plenty of time to refine its offerings. That means that parents can leave their children in the hands of FELS staff knowing that their kids will receive excellent care. That’s certainly one worry that working parents can cross off their worry lists.

But FELS is more than just a childcare drop-off center. It’s also a place where children can learn and grow from infancy through elementary school. And that’s where we come in, because it’s what we want to support.

It concerns us greatly that so many children cannot read fluently by the end of third grade. We know that learning to read begins as soon as children are born. The children of working parents, in particular, may not be exposed to as much language and conversational give-and-take as they need to hone their pre-reading skills. We can see that FELS is doing a great job of filling in the gaps.

As always, we like to tell our readers about the work of our small grant recipients. To that end, we spoke with FELS Interim President & CEO Taka Agawa; Child Development Specialist Susan Garber; and Compliance Administrator Julie Gilbert:

Kars4Kids: FELS began in the 1900s as a means to provide childcare so parents could be free to work and remain economically independent. How far away from that mission is FELS, today? What demographic do you serve?

Taka Agawa: Our mission is still absolutely rooted in providing childcare so that parents can remain economically independent. We’re still serving in the Northeast Philadelphia Area today, and although the demographics have changed just because the neighborhoods that we’ve been operating in have changed, the mission of what we’re trying to accomplish is still the same.

Kars4Kids: How many centers do you run? All told, how many children do you serve?

Taka Agawa: We currently have five centers across the Greater Philadelphia Area and we’re currently serving just under 500 children.

Kars4Kids: Language development, sensory play, and socialization are key components of your infant care program. Can you tell us some of the ways the program provides for these important needs?

Susan Garber: At all of our FELS centers, we think of the whole child when developing the learning environment and daily lesson plans. The curriculum that FELS uses serves as a foundation for this process. Our infant care program is designed with this, and what we know as the stages of development, in mind. Infants are changing quickly and every day is a new experience.

Commonly referred to as the ‘sensorimotor stage’, infants until approximately age two learn by what is presented to them through their senses. We provide an environment where they can explore their surroundings safely. Cause and effect toys that they can interact with by, for example, kicking a mobile and watching it spin. A variety of materials such as books, balls, and blocks of varying shapes, sizes and textures, enrich the learning environment. Our teachers even introduce the children to age-appropriate art modalities.

The acquisition of language is an extremely important milestone for young children. This occurs long before the child actually speaks his/her first word. In our classrooms we begin by creating a loving and trusting environment. We feel it is vital that our teachers provide a warm, positive, nurturing relationship with the infants in their care.

Learning to communicate begins with the facial expressions, gestures and body language for the teacher and infant. When the infant turns their head, coos, gurgles, cries, or babbles, our teachers take this opportunity to engage in reciprocal communication with the infant. The face-to-face interactions and conversations with newborns help them learn the different sounds of people’s voices and how they express emotions. They make eye contact while smiling, talking, and singing. Meantime, playing copycat helps very young children get a sense of the give-and-take nature of conversation. All of what we do supports infant socialization, which is the foundation of communication, encouraging healthy language development, and even empathy.

Kars4Kids: FELS offers both Head Start and Pre-K Counts. Can you tell us about these programs, and the difference between them? Who is eligible for these programs?

Taka Agawa: Our Head Start and Pre-K Counts programs both provide preschools for families who are eligible based on income requirements and, although the funding sources differ slightly, they both provide high quality education and care to children who are three- and four-years-old. Priority is given to families whose income is at or below a certain percentage away from the federal poverty level.

Kars4Kids: FELS offers Before and After Care for school age children. There’s a lot going on there, but can you give us a taste of what is on offer for the kids?

Taka Agawa: The aftercare program for school-aged children provides the parents with what we call “rapid round care.” This means that, outside of their elementary school programs, the children have time for enrichment activities and fun with kids that are similar ages. We utilize some of our outdoor spaces during the warmer periods so that they can get outside and have fun.

Kars4Kids: Talk about the Jewish heritage aspect of your programming at FELS. Presumably, not all the children in your programs are Jewish. What is the takeaway for your young participants? Are there specific Jewish values from which all children can learn? How do you impart these lessons?

Taka Agawa: We are an organization founded on Jewish values, though we do serve and employ within a very diverse community. Approximately 80% of the children that we serve are not of Jewish descent and yet choose FELS as their childcare provider. This speaks to how universal the values and ideas of Judaism are across different cultures. Whether it be around trustworthiness, responsibility, caring, kindness, being keepers of the earth, role modeling, community, respect, and/or fairness, these are all things that our families and our children can value.

I believe that our representation of Judaism within our community is a great way to passively fight antisemitism and to promote inclusion at the earliest stages of life for our children. We’re doing a tremendous thing by sharing the core values of Judaism, our core values as an organization, to those who may not typically be exposed to this beautiful religion.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your preschool summer day camp?

Julie Gilbert: Each summer, our programs are transformed into a camp with all of the activities and friendships children will cherish. This ten-week camp includes weekly themes, enrichment specialists, and special activities to add to the fun-filled, exciting, and enriching atmosphere.

Kars4Kids: Camp Woodlight sounds beautiful! What ages attend this camp? What sort of activities are offered?

Taka Agawa: Camp Woodlight is for kids aged 6- to 11-years-old and runs from mid-June until the end of August, right before the school year starts for the public school district. The activities at Camp Woodlight are a blend of what you would find in an early learning center and a typical summer camp. I do think that there are ways to learn through fun and play, and we definitely find that balance at Camp. Our Paley Early Learning Center has an incredibly large outdoor space with multiple play spaces, including an open field, playgrounds, a pavilion, and a black asphalt play area where they can have fun with basketballs and what not. There’s a multitude of things that our children can do at Paley ELC and we know that it’s fairly rare to find a school or early learning center in a neighborhood community with such a large space. We’re really proud to host Camp Woodlight there.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for FELS?

Taka Agawa: We want to take a 21^st century approach to how high quality childcare can be provided. We want to explore the ways to make what is being labeled as an unsustainable business, sustainable again. We want to lean into the fact that we are a nonprofit providing this high quality childcare and education to the families that typically could not afford it. I think all of the things that we have stood for and still stand for today are worth fighting for in the future — and we plan to do just that.

The Learning Lamp offers services that many children need, but that are beyond their parents’ means. Tutoring, for instance, costs a fortune, and many parents simply cannot afford a tutor to help their children with schoolwork. If parents can’t provide their children with the tools to get ahead, how will the kids break the cycle of poverty? How will their children succeed in the classroom and in life?

The Learning Lamp is making sure that kids don’t miss out on what they need to do well in school. The nonprofit also provides trustworthy, enriching childcare, so parents can work, free of worry. That’s just a small taste on what’s on offer at The Learning Lamp, our latest small grant recipient.

We spoke with The Learning Lamp Grant Researcher/Writer Roxanne Tuinstra, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your demographic? Who are the children you serve?

Roxanne Tuinstra: The Learning Lamp is a nonprofit organization based in a small city in West Central Pennsylvania. The community is surrounded by a largely rural landscape. The children we serve live across five counties and benefit from a variety of supports including quality early learning programs, free after school programs, and one-to-one assistance during the school day. The contribution from Kars4Kids will support our free after school program, which is located in two public housing communities in Johnstown, PA.

Kars4Kids: Tell us a bit about Lorraine Nulton. What was it she saw that led to the founding of The Learning Lamp?

Roxanne Tuinstra: Lorraine Nulton is a school psychologist who identified a need for local children to receive help beyond what their parents could offer or afford to pay for. Her dream was for every child, no matter their family’s income or where they live, to have access to tutoring to keep them on track in school and help them graduate.

Kars4Kids: You’ve been in operation for over a decade now. How many children and others have you served since opening your doors, so to speak?

Roxanne Tuinstra: Right now, The Learning lamp serves 30,000+ children and families each year through school and community-based programs. We were much smaller when we were founded in 2003. I think it’s safe to say that we have served well over 100,000 children since our inception. In fact, some of those first students have now come back and are working with us!

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your tutoring program?

Roxanne Tuinstra: We deliver tutoring in a number of ways. This is intentional because we are trying to reach children where they are to eliminate any transportation barriers. We offer one-to-one tutoring at our main office in Johnstown. We also deliver tutoring in schools and community centers. We use certified teachers and the curriculum from students’ schools to ensure instruction matches what they are learning during the school day.

Kars4Kids: We liked what it says on the description of your childcare program: “Leaving a child to go to work shouldn’t leave a parent riddled with guilt.” What is it about your childcare programs that leaves parents feeling good as they drop off their children?

Roxanne Tuinstra: The Learning Lamp’s child care programs are top-notch. Caring and qualified teachers, an evidence-based curriculum, and a well-planned day full of activities ensure that children learn the skills they need to prepare for kindergarten and beyond.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your preschool program. We understand that some children qualify to attend your preschool programs free of charge? What, in your opinion, makes your preschool stand out from the rest?

Roxanne Tuinstra: Since 2004, The Learning Lamp has worked together with area schools to ensure little learners gain the academic, social, and emotional skills they need to prepare for kindergarten. Again, it’s the qualified and caring teachers alongside a carefully chosen curriculum and daily schedule that make the difference. Our organization is nationally accredited and holds the highest rating in Pennsylvania’s quality assurance system for early childhood.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe for us the SPARK curriculum you employ in your Before and After School programs?

Roxanne Tuinstra: The SPARK curriculum provides a framework for everyday movement, even when children can’t get outside to play. This is critical to gross motor development, health, and helping children have a healthy attitude about exercise. Plus, the activities are so much fun!

Kars4Kids: We would love to hear all about your Children’s Book Festival. (We figure that anything that makes kids read, has got to be terrific.)

Roxanne Tuinstra: This year’s children’s book festival is right around the corner. Our spotlight author is Eric Litwin of the Pete the Cat book series. Who doesn’t love Pete the Cat? (Google Pete if you haven’t heard of him. You’ll love him too!) The festival is free for families and every child takes home a free book. The Children’s Book Festival is the Johnstown area’s premier event for children. Between school visits and the festival, itself, more than 4,000 local children are able to interact with award-winning, New York Times best-selling authors and illustrators.

Kars4Kids: How did COVID affect your ability to operate, especially with so many locations and with the ever-changing pandemic school rules?

Roxanne Tuinstra: COVID. Oh my. Please tell us it’s almost over. Like most other services for children, we shut down from March through June of 2020. Over time, we have slowly reopened all programs, with plenty of safety measures in place. We’re still not back to where we were in terms of the numbers of children served. Amazingly, we were able to open two new child care centers and two new preschool programs during COVID. We are so proud of our staff for accomplishing that!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Learning Lamp?

Roxanne Tuinstra: We are taking a hard look at the needs of children and families in the region we serve and developing a plan to better meet their needs. This includes expanded child care offerings in underserved communities and the introduction of a home visiting program focused on helping parents gain the skills and confidence to embrace their role as their child’s first teacher.

Families First Learning Lab, as you might have guessed from its name, is holistic, in that it offers enrichment for children as well as parent education. By providing services for all the members of a family, the nonprofit makes for a healthier environment in the home. Parent education is a first step in making sure that kids have everything they need to fulfill their potential. As such, supporting this organization with a small grant award was a no-brainer.

It’s always good to take an inside look at how the most winning nonprofits serving families and children, do what they do. To that end, we had a chat with Families First Executive Director Hannah Zuraff:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about the demographic you serve?

Hannah Zuraff: We make it our goal to show up for all families regardless of their demographics. About half of our parenting participants are referred to us by the Missoula County Court system and qualify for reduced fee programming. We also serve most of the schools in our district that offer free lunches. Roughly 30 percent of our family education programming takes place on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Lake County.

Kars4Kids: According to your website, “Families First Learning Lab is no longer traditional a ‘children’s museum.’”  What is it now, and how did it evolve?

Hannah Zuraff: We are a family support agency that is based on the 5 protective factor frameworks by Strengthening Families. This means our programming is intentional and aims to meet the following goals:

• Build parenting knowledge and skills through workshops and multi-session classes
• Provide a place and opportunities for social connection
• Develop social-emotional skills in children through hands-on learning through play experiences
• Link families to professional support systems in time of need
• Build parental resilience by providing tools and resources to build confidence to navigate challenging times

Our current model evolved over the more than 3 years we did not have a location. We then moved to the new public library in our community, which follows an All Under One Roof model of collaboration.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of Community Connections?

Hannah Zuraff: In January of 2019 we launched Community Connections. Community Connections is a program consisting of mini interactive exhibits for children that pop up at partner organizations and events throughout our community. These exhibits inspire hands-on exploration and play while focusing on building empathy and kindness, social emotional development, cultural expression, and imaginative and dramatic play. Community Connections activities are free and open to the public.

Kars4Kids: Families First offers “fairy kits” for child enrichment. How does it work? What might a child find in one of these activity kits?

Hannah Zuraff: While we LOVE getting to spend time with kiddos and their families, we have realized a need for distanced programming. During the pandemic, we began partnering with several organizations throughout Missoula and neighboring communities to deliver take home activity “fairy kits.” These interactive activities are free, with each kit providing a fun activity for children and conversation starters for parents.

One example of the contents in a fairy kit is a “notes of kindness” activity which has a postcard and stamp for a kiddo to send to a loved one. The talking points for parents, included in the kit, are structured around kindness; the importance of being connected; and how writing someone a nice note may make their day.

Kars4Kids: Parent education is a big part of your work. Can you describe the Circle of Security parenting program for us?

Hannah Zuraff: Circle of Security is a parenting program designed to help foster a healthier parent-child relationship. Using the COS-P model developed by the Circle of Security originators, our trained Facilitators work with parents and caregivers to help them to:

• Understand their child’s emotional world by learning to read emotional needs
• Support their child’s ability to successfully manage emotions
• Enhance the development of their child’s self esteem
• Honor the innate wisdom and desire for their child to be secure

Kars4Kids: Families First has a program devoted to helping children through the separation or divorce of their parents. Can you tell us about that, please?

Hannah Zuraff: Children in Between is a divorce and separation curriculum that presents skills training using best practices in adult education and behavior modeling. Children in Between focuses on teaching anger control and respectful communication to parents as a means of ending loyalty conflicts and lowering risk for children of divorce and/or separation.

 

Kars4Kids: We were pleased to see you have a special program for dads. What can you tell us about this program?

Hannah Zuraff: Based on the five protective factors by Strengthening Families™, this workshop works to break down the stereotypes of men, particularly fathers. The generalization of fathers is problematic in that it is rigid and relatively unchanging. Just as perceptions of women have changed as a result of new roles that they have taken on in the work domain, perceptions of men might similarly be changed in a beneficial manner as a result of highlighting their social role as fathers. We work to support the individual, not the stigma. In this workshop fathers:

• Learn to effectively communicate with their child(ren)
• Gain knowledge that is critical for child(ren)’s success and growth
• Dismantle the assumptions, perspectives, and mental filters that come with being a father
• Establish healthy relationships to mirror for their child(ren) so they can develop the capacities they need to lead a happy and fulfilling life
• Be welcomed into a safe environment where every voice is heard, and every struggle is listened to without judgement​

This is the first father-support program in our community and we are so excited to be offering it!

Kars4Kids: What is Dream Bigger Montana?

Hannah Zuraff: Dream Bigger is a three-month program that will assist underserved teens in our area. It provides professional mentorship and hands-on training through skill building and experience in the workforce. The first Dream Bigger summer session will kick off in June 2022, offering financial workshops, career coaching, and goal setting for career success.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your Mending Broken Hearts program?

Hannah Zuraff: ​Mending Broken Hearts focuses on healing unresolved grief and inter-generational trauma. ​Developed by White Bison, It is a 20-week indigenous program that focuses on the following areas:

• Explore natural, normal reactions to loss
• Define and describe the impact of unresolved grief
• Explore the myths and messages of grief
• Examine the way our belief system shapes our grieving process
• Identify the characteristics of grief
• Identify what to do and what not to do with someone who is grieving
• Examine the Natural Order for healing from unresolved grief
• Create an action plan for completing incomplete relationships and healing from grief
• Identify cultural traditions and practices that can enhance the healing process
• Describe the links between unresolved grief and the Boarding School experience
• Describe the links between unresolved grief and inter-generational trauma
• Recognize and remove the masks we use to hide our grief

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Hannah Zuraff: The pandemic made it very difficult for us to utilize our partner agencies for programming. We were without a facility 2017-2020, so it was an interesting time to be launching our new space, as well as raising funds for that new space. We shifted gears to offering virtual parenting classes, fairy kits, and streaming online programming – things we are continuing to do to reach even more families. I am excited to know that this has helped expand our reach into more rural communities and excited for the growth ahead of us.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Families First Learning Lab?

Hannah Zuraff: In 2022, we are hoping to continue stabilizing our team and programming in our new home. Families will be getting parenting support and access to play-based learning all under one roof. Additionally, for the first time ever, we are offering summer camp for kindergarten readiness this year. We are so excited to be trying new things to meet the needs of our community and to have support from entities like Kars4Kids. Thank you!

The Bakken Museum has a wealth of youth programs to give children a deep look into the science of how things work. More than that, however, The Bakken Museum encourages kids to use scientific concepts to create their own innovations. With school budgets on a shoestring, young people are missing out, getting only the barest basics of science in the classroom.

That’s not good enough in today’s world of technology. Once kids finish their education, they will need to find jobs, and the better jobs today require a good grounding in STEM subjects. The Bakken Museum is helping to fill in the gaps in our children’s education. But the museum also gets kids excited about science, which may be the best reason of all for offering them our support, which is exactly what we did, by way of our small grant program.

We had Director of Marketing & Communications Laura Whittet, tell us all the ways that The Bakken Museum is offering science enrichment to Minnesota and Upper Midwest youth:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your founder and why he created the museum?

Laura Whittet: Earl Bakken spent his early years building and taking apart electronic devices. As a child, Earl saw the 1931 film Frankenstein in theatres. He was so inspired by the use of electricity to create life in the movie, he would eventually pursue degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and cofound one of the world’s largest medical device companies, Medtronic. Earl began collecting artifacts and literature for others to learn from in his company’s headquarters. In 1975, The Bakken Museum became an independent nonprofit and moved to its current home in Minneapolis.

Kars4Kids: The museum provides over 1,250 programs to over 44,700 individuals each year through outreach education. Can you give us just a few examples of such programs and where they take place? You must have a LOT of people on staff to provide so many programs to so many people.

Laura Whittet: The Bakken Museum’s outreach team travels across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest to provide engaging STEM programs to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade. They travel to libraries, community centers, and schools. The museum’s programs include humorous live science theatre assemblies and multi-day workshops where students get to try out scientific concepts themselves. Topics range from the historic feud between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison to the big impacts of nanoscience. Our goal is that each student walks away knowing they have the potential to make an innovation that improves our world.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about your inventors club. How long does it run? What are some of the things the children in this program have invented?

Laura Whittet: The Bakken Museum’s makerspace is filled with tools and technology to help students dream up and build their own innovations. Programs are usually for students in grades 3 through 9 with sessions for beginners and more advanced makers.

During Inventors Club, students spent six consecutive Saturdays, planning, making, and improving a unique project. There are no limits to what students can build. Our expert educators and volunteers help bring projects from conception to reality. At the end of each six-week session, students get to show off their project and talk about the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.

Kars4Kids: What is the Innovators Workshop?

Laura Whittet: Innovators Workshops are single-day programs in the museum’s makerspace. Programs are usually held over school release days and each program has a different theme. Recent themes include building a solar-charged robot and creating customized locker decorations that light up. These programs are excellent for students who are new to the museum or not sure if they’re ready for a full six-week program.

Kars4Kids: What’s your summer camp like? How many children attend in a given year?

Laura Whittet: Summer camps at the museum combine building in the makerspace, learning magic tricks, and exploring the museum wetlands and grounds. Students spend the week making a custom innovation with guidance from museum educators and camp counselors. At the end of the week, students get to present their work to parents and guardians and talk about what they learned during camp. Young Makers Camp is for students in grades 2 and 3 and Camp Innovation welcomes students in grades 4 through 9. Each camp typically has 24 students and we typically see around 350 students a summer.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your break camps for kids?

Laura Whittet: Each school break, we hold camps in the makerspace. Break camps offer students an opportunity to work on a collaborative project that combines art and technology. Last year, the students built a mechanical jellyfish that hangs in the museum. This spring break, attendees will each design a custom hole for a miniature golf course. Break camps are multi-day programs held over the four-day Minnesota Education Association (MEA) conference, and winter and spring breaks for students in grades four through six.

Kars4Kids: What kind of field trips do you offer for children of various age groups?

Laura Whittet: We offer field trips for students in grades three through 12. Each field trip gets to experience a tour of the museum and receives a hands-on workshop led by Bakken Museum educators. Younger students in grades three through six learn all about energy, electricity, and magnetism. Older students in grades seven through 12 get to dive into the life of Mary Shelley and her novel, Frankenstein, along with the history of Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Laura Whittet: The pandemic was difficult for all cultural institutions. The museum began our first major renovation in 20 years in January of 2020. We were closed to the public for several months during the pandemic and were not able to provide in-person outreach programs. To best support our local community, we began providing in-person virtual learning support for small groups of students in the museum’s classrooms and outdoor spaces. We also recorded digital versions of our outreach education and onsite workshops to help teachers provide high-quality distance learning curriculum.

Kars4Kids: It was impressive—not to mention responsive to our current situation regarding the pandemic—to see that you designed a program to help teach kids about face masks. Can you give us an overview of this program? How do you navigate the politics of masks, if at all?

Laura Whittet: As an institution grounded in science, we believe that it is of the utmost importance to provide people with the most up-to-date research and information and allow them to make their own informed decisions. We worked with local health care companies to produce the Science of Masks series. The program includes a series of humorous videos and interactive activities. There are free kindergarten through twelfth grade versions for families and educators. More information is available at thebakken.org/science-of-masks.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Bakken Museum?

Laura Whittet: In October 2020, we completed our renovation and opened our newest exhibit. Our Spark exhibit focuses on the cycle of innovation and inspiration. The interactive exhibit discusses the ways that improvements in science, technology, and the humanities are shaped by, and help shape, our society. We are excited to bring back a full calendar of events for families and our 21+ series, Bakkenalia. Going forward, we’re looking to expand our popular education programs to serve more students and develop new exhibits that help people of all backgrounds and identities see themselves as potential innovators and changemakers.

More information about our education programs can be found online at thebakken.org/education-programs.

The Sage Mentorship Project operates in a school district with a dismal performance record. Sage Mentors give kids a lot of what they’re missing in the classroom. Most of all, Sage Mentors let underserved children know they can achieve anything they set their mind to doing, in spite of limitations. We believe in mentoring in general, and believe that underserved children, in particular, benefit from having a caring, consistent adult in their lives. That’s why we gave the Sage Mentorship Project a small grant award.

We spoke to Sage Mentorship Project Finance Chair Lauren Vaca, to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the demographic you serve? Who are the children who participate in your program?

Lauren Vaca: Our program consists of elementary students from 10 different schools spanning from Oakland to Berkeley to El Cerrito. Each student comes from a unique background and even though Berkeley and Oakland are known for being ethnically diverse, culturally vibrant, and rich in history, unfortunately it is also home to one of the worse performing school districts in the state. Our hope is to help our students break this cycle!

Kars4Kids: When and why did UC Berkeley create a mentoring program? How many children and students have thus far taken part in this program?

Lauren Vaca: Our program was founded by Cal alumni Alex Velez back in 2007 with the goal of creating a program that empowers high achieving UC Berkeley students as leaders and educators to help kids realize their goals and ambitions no matter what background and socioeconomic status they come from. We’re proud to say that we’ve continued this mission and have had over 300 mentees per semester.

Kars4Kids: How many UC Berkeley students are taking part in the program? Aside from the rewards of mentoring children, are there any special incentives for them to become mentors?

Lauren Vaca: There are over 200 UC Berkeley students participating each semester and our mentors do not have any special incentives to become mentors. Each student volunteers solely for the rewards of mentoring children and to give back to the community.

Kars4Kids: Where does the mentoring take place, and what form does the mentee/mentor relationship take?

Lauren Vaca: Mentoring takes place at each of the 10 schools in either a one-on-one setting, a small group, or in a classroom setting. The mentee/mentor relationship is both formal and informal, we spend time with our mentees doing both academics and extracurriculars while also being there for them on an emotional level. Mentors help their mentees with classwork, friendships, creating self-confidence, and even join some exciting classes together like music, cooking, and gardening. Overall, our mission is to create meaningful lasting relationships through academic and extracurricular activities to foster life skills and personal growth.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about some of the mentees? What is the impact of mentoring on them?

Lauren Vaca: Our mentees have a wide range of personalities, backgrounds, and talents thus making each mentoring experience unique! We can honestly say our mentees are overjoyed to see us each time we visit. One mentee told her mentor, “Sometimes I’m having bad days, but when you come, they’re always good!” and I think this shows just how impactful mentoring can be to our mentees’ lives.

Kars4Kids: Is there some sort of matching process in place for putting mentors and mentees together?

Lauren Vaca: Since each of the 10 schools and all of our mentors are so unique, mentors get to pick what school fits them best. For example, one of our schools has a special needs program for those mentors who want to mentor children with special needs while another school has a Spanish immersion program for Spanish speaking mentors who want to work with Spanish speaking students. Allowing mentors to choose their school provides them the opportunity to match their skills to the mentoring experience.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Lauren Vaca: Unfortunately, when the pandemic first started, all in-person mentoring had to be put on hold, but luckily, we had the resources to continue mentoring through Zoom! Now thanks to the widespread availability of vaccines and masks, we have been fortunate enough to resume in-person mentoring once again.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Sage Mentorship Project?

Lauren Vaca: We plan on expanding to even more schools in the Bay Area! Every single semester we have new schools that reach out to us asking for Sage Mentors, but we have not had the capacity to expand the last few semesters due to the pandemic. Our hope is that Sage will be able to accommodate those schools in the Bay Area that need mentors very soon.

Son of a Saint is a mentoring program for boys without fathers. No organization can take the place of a father, but Son of a Saint is filling in the gaps of need as much as program possibly could. It’s an impressive and comprehensive effort and it’s making a difference.

When we received the small grant application from Son of a Saint, and took a look at their website, we were pretty much blown away. We love the idea of maximizing resources by taking on only a modest number of new mentees each year. Not many organizations would take this tack, and tend to overextend their resources to the point that they are no longer helpful to those they serve.

Son of a Saint is different. It stands out in the crowd of the hundreds of applicants seeking our assistance. We find this organization more than worthy of our admiration.

We talked to Son of a Saint Founder and CEO Bivian “Sonny” Lee III to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Son of a Saint works with fatherless boys in New Orleans. Are many boys in New Orleans, fatherless? Why? What made you decide to work specifically with fatherless boys?

Sonny Lee: With nearly half of New Orleans’ children growing up in single-mother households, there is a significant need for our program that cannot be ignored. The problem of fatherlessness certainly extends beyond just the Greater New Orleans area as well.

Fatherlessness is a generational cycle for many young men in our community due to systemic barriers (like overincarceration, under-resourced schools, and racial and socioeconomic inequity) that chronically deprive families of the economic, health, and educational resources they need to thrive.

I chose this work because it is part of my own experience and resonates on a personal level. My father passed away of a sudden heart attack when I was only three years old. I grew up without his presence in my life, and that informed so much of my adolescence. It shaped my view of the world and underscored the need for mentors and father figures to provide a strong example for young men in the world.

Kars4Kids: You bring boys aged 10-12 into your program each year, in addition to the boys you are already mentoring. How many boys do you take into the program in a typical year? How many boys are you working with altogether? Is there a waiting list?

Sonny Lee: In the fall of 2020, Son of a Saint launched a strategic growth plan with the goal of doubling the number of mentees in our program (from 100 to 200) by January of 2022. This growth plan was successfully completed, with Son of a Saint enrolling our final 2021 cohort of 28 mentees in December of 2021, bringing our current enrollment to 201– the largest enrollment in our organization’s history.

In a typical year, we are intentional about enrolling young men into our program in thoughtfully staggered cohorts throughout the year. Through this pacing, we typically welcome between 25 and 50 new mentees each calendar year.

A stark reality is that there are more boys throughout our community than we can consistently reach who could use and benefit from the services and support Son of a Saint provides.

Kars4Kids: Are there any qualifications for joining your program?

Sonny Lee: Yes. Son of a Saint accepts young men who have reached age 10 – 12 during the timeframe of the application cycle or at the time of joining the organization. Our program accepts young men who have lost a father due to death; long-term incarceration of 15 years or more that can be verified; adoption by a single mother; or a young man whose father has been deported.

Due to limited resources, Son of a Saint is unable to accept all mentee applicants and selects new mentees according to a set of carefully constructed criteria that account for a mentee’s need for our services. Our application and enrollment process does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), national origin (ancestry), disability, or socio-economic background, in any of its selection processes.

More information can be found on our website at www.sonofasaint.org/join

Kars4Kids: Son of a Saint continues to work with the boys until they are young men. Can you tell us about that? Do graduates of your program ever come back to work with your organization?

Sonny Lee: Yes, we invest in our young men for a long period of time, from when they enter the program between ages 10 and 12, until they graduate high school and into their collegiate years or their post-secondary career journeys. We have certainly had alumni come back to visit us and engage with our program. Not only do they volunteer and spend time with us during events, but they also engage with the younger mentees for extracurricular activities and community service projects. We even have a program graduate, Julio Bermudez, now on our full-time staff in the role of Logistics Coordinator.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the program itself?

Sonny Lee: Son of a Saint launched in 2011 to address the burgeoning problem of fatherless boys in the New Orleans area. We are a 501 c (3) organization, with a staff of 28 talented individuals, dedicated to our core mission of transforming the lives of young males through mentorship, emotional support, development of life skills, exposure to constructive experiences and formation of positive, lasting peer-to-peer relationships.

Son of a Saint utilizes an evidence-based approach that engages youth in a manner that is constructive, applies each youth’s strengths, fosters positive relationships, and cultivates safe and trusting spaces. Son of a Saint’s approach is:

• Preventative: Statistics show the need to intervene and engage with young men during their formative years and create change when it is most critical.
• Long-term: Son of a Saint is present in our mentees lives from age 10 – 18. Our philosophy is that this is the amount of time needed to make a deep, lasting impact.
• Holistic: Life does not happen in silos; the many issues our boys face are all interconnected.

Son of a Saint’s program includes mentorship, postsecondary preparation, mental health services, case management, career development, academic enrichment, nutrition education, and travel, among other core elements.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the name of your organization. Presumably this relates to your father? Can you talk about that, please?

Sonny Lee: Yes, the name is in honor of my dad whose name is Bivian Lee Jr. He played cornerback for the New Orleans Saints from 1971-1975. So, the name Son of a Saint is a direct and constant tribute to his life and legacy.

Kars4Kids: You say that you save lives. Can you talk about that?

Sonny Lee: Our goal is to graduate self-sufficient, independent thinkers who are leaders and give back to their community. What we provide, above all else, is an example.

Through the Son of a Saint experience, we seek to equip boys with the tools they need to become productive men. We give them hope, vision and opportunity. We provide a secure and consistent environment for them. Son of a Saint employs a holistic approach, using a network of volunteers and partner agencies that enables us to address every boy’s every need. But the Son of a Saint mentors’ most important role is simply to be a good example.

Kars4Kids: Do you have a success story you can share?

Sonny Lee:  Jaedon has been a Son of a Saint mentee since 2015 and is currently a senior at St. Augustine High School. Jaedon maintains above a 3.9 GPA, actively participates in the school’s STEM Club, and is a Drum Major of the St. Augustine “Marching 100” Marching Band. Within the Son of a Saint program, Jaedon is an exemplary leader and trusted support for his fellow mentees, earning him Son of a Saint’s 2021 Mentee of the Year award in December.

I am thrilled to share that Jaedon has committed to study mechanical engineering at Florida A&M University this fall. Jaedon’s interest in engineering was sparked during explorational STEM activities hosted by Son of a Saint, and was developed over the years through tutoring, rigorous ACT preparation, individualized education coaching, mentorship, and participation in (2) immersive pre-college engineering programs at LSU and the University of Denver.

To say we are incredibly proud of him is an understatement! Jaedon is just one example of the deep impact that can be achieved when we invest in our young people.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Sonny Lee: While COVID-19 may have temporarily slowed Son of a Saint’s growth, it has not stopped its expansion and depth of impact. In particular, new supporters, partners, collaborators, donors, activists, organizers, business owners and individuals are becoming more aware, educated and illuminated about the near-decade-long work and core mission of Son of a Saint, forging new partnerships and bridging gaps that previously existed.

Due to the onset of COVID-19, the usual programming and funds required to support Son of a Saint’s mentees with the proper wealth of resources and opportunities were immediately triaged and redirected to provide basic needs and services to the boys’ single-guardian families.

As a result, Son of a Saint made several impactful developments since the start of pandemic, including:

• Delivering more than 15,000 meals and counting to families struggling to keep food on the table during COVID-19
• Facilitating more than 200 mental wellness therapy sessions and counting
• Providing technology and smart device access to all mentees for continued online and remote learning
• Providing direct financial assistance to our mentee’s families for rent/mortgage payments, utilities, and groceries

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Son of a Saint?

Sonny Lee: We are entering another year of transformative growth for the organization. We are set to move into our permanent headquarters in the heart of New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood this summer, and we will be focused on refining and optimizing our programs for a growing number of mentees and alumni throughout 2022.

Charleston RISE was founded to address the dire state of education in Charleston County, where the public school system was failing the most vulnerable sector of Charleston youth. It was clear that something needed to change. But how and where to start? Charleston RISE had the answer: training and empowering parents to become education advocates for their children.

Charleston RISE believes, as we do, that every child in the public school system deserves to be offered the same, quality educational opportunities. No child in the public school system should lose out because of the color of their skin or how much money their parents have. Parents as knowledgeable education advocates can have a powerful impact on their children’s schooling.

That’s why Charleston RISE is, in our view, an important effort in the fight for educational parity in our schools. It was a pleasure therefore, to offer our modest assistance by way of a small grant award. We are sure it will be put to good use!

Kars4Kids put some questions to Charleston RISE Executive Director Lisa Ruda, to find out more about the work of this important organization:

Kars4Kids: Charleston RISE is a grassroots movement that advocates for the improvement of public education. Can you tell us why such an organization is needed in Charleston?

Lisa Ruda: Charleston RISE is a grassroots network of community advocates who demand higher quality public schools for all students. Our work is dedicated to the Charleston County School District (CCSD), which boosts some of the best public schools in the nation, but where white students outperform Black students by fifty (50) percentage points at each grade from 3rd to 8th in reading and math. Since 2017, RISE has graduated nearly 230 advocates, over 98% of whom identify as Black; worked tirelessly to ensure CCSD supports policies to close the growing achievement gap; and knocked on over 25,000 doors to share information about the performance extremes in our Charleston public schools. Charleston RISE helps to educate parents as to the performance of their child’s school and understand their options if their child is attending a failing school.

Kars4Kids: How many parents and other education advocates attend your two cohorts, each year? Can you give us an overview of this program?

Lisa Ruda: Over the past five years, RISE has graduated eight cohorts of parents and grandparents and currently includes an alumni network of over 230 graduates. Over 95% of our graduates and 97% of our active alumni, identify as Black. Cohort 9 launches in March and Cohort 10 will launch in August. We expect another fifty (50) graduates in 2022.

Our program has two primary components. The first component is a fellowship or education program, which lasts 12 weeks and consists of a weekly training program designed to give the participants a strong foundation on community education issues through guest speakers, data deep dives, and crafting advocacy campaigns. Participants receive a monthly stipend to offset costs associated with childcare and transportation while they are participating in the weekly fellowship classes.

Kars4Kids: What happens after fellows complete the first part of your fellowship program?

Lisa Ruda: The second part of the Charleston RISE program is our alumni committees which convert our fellows’ passion for excellent schools and their newfound knowledge on educational issues into action that supports our students and their families.

Charleston RISE is committed to ensuring all students, regardless of where they live, have access to high quality schools. Charleston RISE works directly with families and operates through one of its active committees which include the following alumni committees: School Board Accountability, Alumni Engagement and Community Outreach, and Provider Review. Alumni have served on one of these committees and worked more than 11,500 hours to educate and advocate for high quality schools for all families.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe the impact of race on education in Charleston schools?

Lisa Ruda: The Charleston County School District (CCSD) is rightfully proud of the fact that it continues to outpace the State of South Carolina and other school districts when it comes to student performance. However, we wish we could say that all students, Black and white, saw the same growth in performance. They didn’t. While the overall system outpaced other districts and the State, the achievement gap between white and Black students within CCSD grew larger during this same period. Moreover, CCSD’s most perpetually failing schools targeted for intensive support and resources, have not improved.

Kars4Kids: One of the components of your program is alumni engagement. Why is it important that alumni remain involved with the education scene in Charleston?

Lisa Ruda: The public school system is not easy to navigate. RISE administers a pre- and post-assessment of participant knowledge and satisfaction at the end of each fellowship cohort. Survey results from our most recent cohort were as follows:

• 100% of participants learned information that they did know before they completed our program,
• 100% of participants obtained information that will allow them to better advocate for their own children,
• 93% of participants committed to use the information they learned to advocate for ALL children; and
• Participant assessment scores (content questions answered correctly) grew from 34% to 94% over the course of the program.

We have similarly found that parents seeking help with their child’s education are more willing to reach out to other parents and rely on their advice. By remaining engaged in RISE after fellowship graduation, our alumni can serve as an important resource to other parents.

Kars4Kids: Your organization has a Community Outreach Committee. Can you talk about this committee and what it does, specifically?

Lisa Ruda: This committee seeks to engage and inform the larger community about the performance of schools, and options and resources for students attending Charleston’s most failing schools. Parents and community often don’t know how their neighborhood school performs or that Black students lag behind their white counterparts by almost 50 percentage points on each of the state mandated tests. In addition, many families, particularly families attending historically failing schools, do not trust the school district or information shared by it. Our Community Outreach Committee distributes literature at neighborhood events and spreads the word about how parents can get more involved in their schools. In addition, our Community Outreach committee door-knocks, and visits anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 homes each year in an effort to spread the word about school performance and advocate for high-quality schools for all students.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Charleston RISE?

Lisa Ruda: June 2022 will mark RISE’s 5^th year in operation. We are incredibly excited to celebrate that milestone this summer.

The Latin American Community Center (LACC), if you’ll pardon the cliché, is not just another community center. That’s what struck us when our small grant people took a look at the LACC website. Most community centers offer some nice programming, but in terms of sheer scale and quality, nothing even close to what the Latin American Community Center offers those it serves.

With our focus on mentoring and education for children, we found the LACC programming for young people both comprehensive and empowering. LACC is a place where they can learn important new skills in a safe and nurturing environment. We went to Latin American Community Center Director of Development Kelly Scanlon and Director of Youth Development Wanda Burgos-Rincon—referred to here collectively as LACC—to find out more about this work.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about the community you serve. What are the challenges confronted by this community?

LACC: The Latin American Community Center (LACC) serves primarily low-income, Limited English Proficient (LMI) Latino individuals and families that reside in Wilmington, Delaware and the surrounding area. The LACC is located in Wilmington’s Hilltop Neighborhood. 56% of Hilltop residents have household incomes at or below 100% of the U.S. poverty level and 47% speak a language other than English at home. Hilltop has a drug overdose death rate six times higher than the state average. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that in neighborhoods such as Hilltop, 60% of children have experienced trauma, compared to 20% statewide.

Additionally, the community we serve was hit hard by the economic impact of the pandemic. UnidosUS reports that only 16% of jobs held by Latinos could be done from home. This left many Latinos in Delaware out of work for months, with some individuals still out of work almost two years since the pandemic’s start. Of the people who were able to work through the pandemic, the majority of these individuals were essential workers who were at much higher risk of contracting COVID-19. The impact of the pandemic was especially dire for the many undocumented individuals served by the LACC as they were ineligible for support such as SNAP and stimulus checks.

While more jobs have become available in 2021 and 2022, allowing more people to return to the workforce, many of these individuals are still behind on bills from earlier in the pandemic when they were without income. Furthermore, many childcare centers permanently closed during the pandemic. Without access to reliable childcare, parents are unable to return to the workforce. The LACC has over 30 programs to help combat the challenges faced by our community. This includes, but is not limited to, an Early Development Center, Before and After School programming, ESL Classes, a Workforce Development Program, a Financial Literacy Program, Crisis Alleviation funds to help families prevent eviction and/or utility shut off, and a food closet.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of the history of “El Centro Latino,” as it is known in the community?

LACC: The mission of the LACC is to empower the Latino community through education, advocacy, partnerships, and exceptional services. The agency vision is a thriving Latino community. Since its founding in 1969, the agency has transformed drastically from a small, grassroots organization into Delaware’s largest multi-service bilingual agency serving the Latino community.

Known in the community as “El Centro Latino,” the LACC is the longest-serving and most trusted nonprofit agency dedicated to serving Delaware’s Latino community. The LACC provides holistic wraparound support and advocates for low-income children, youth, and families in a bilingual, safe, and culturally specific environment. The LACC offers more than 30 programs in two strategically focused tracks: Lifelong Learning, which provides a broad spectrum of educational services from ages six weeks to 18 years, and Life Empowerment, which helps low- and moderate-income (LMI) minority individuals and families achieve or re-establish self-sufficiency. Agency programs include but are not limited to La Fiesta Early Development Center, Before and After School Community Learning Centers, English as a Second Language, Crisis Alleviation Funds, Food Closet, Workforce Development, $tand By Me Financial Literacy, Los Abuelos Senior Program, Domestic Violence Prevention, HIV Early Intervention Program, and Case Management.

For over 50 years the LACC has served as a vital community anchor, serving more than 7,000 individuals annually. Located in Wilmington’s Hilltop neighborhood; the most densely populated area in Delaware with one of the highest concentrations of unemployment, poverty, single- parent households, and children (2013 American Community Survey, U.S. Census Tracks 22 and 23); the LACC has been addressing growing community needs for programming since its inception and has led Delaware’s efforts to support the Latino community throughout the pandemic.

Kars4Kids: What is the goal of your Before and After School program? Can you tell us a bit about this program?

LACC: The goals of the LACC Before and After School Programs is to provide a positive, safe, home-away-from-home environment where children are developing academically, socially, emotionally and physically. We also work with partner schools to advocate on behalf of families and build strong connections to contribute to the overall academic, social and emotional success of the students we serve. We serve students from kindergarten-12 years old, representing over 15 different schools across 5 different school districts and multiple charter schools. Our highly qualified, bilingual staff are thoroughly trained in a variety of areas, including trauma-informed care, positive behavior management, curriculum and academic support including Nemours BrightStart Early Literacy Curriculum and the Common Core.

Enrichment activities are also offered to students to contribute to their holistic well-being, granting them opportunities to participate in a variety of STEM, Art, Music & Movement, and Mindfulness programs. This includes: Boy and Girl Scouts, Wilmington Children’s Chorus through partnership with OperaDelaware, Kind to Kids Life Skills Program, University of Delaware Mentor Program, and many more.

We operate four Before and After School Programs: The LACC Learning Center, The Learning Center at William C. Lewis Elementary, The Learning Center at Academia Antonia Alonso, and La Fiesta II Before and After School Program. Three of our programs participate in the Delaware Stars for Early Success, which focuses on building on quality improvement of our programs to contribute to the overall success of our students. The LACC Learning Center and La Fiesta II Before and After School Program are a Star Level 5, and the Learning Center at William C. Lewis is a Star Level 3.

Kars4Kids: You have a Youth Achievement Center. What sort of activities are offered through this program? How many youth are enrolled in this program?

LACC: The Youth Achievement Center supports students 13-18 years old, to act as a safe haven during their out of school time. The goal of the YAC is to provide an engaging environment for teens to positively express themselves in a safe environment through a variety of enrichment activities, while also having access to academic support and small group tutoring across all academic subjects. The Youth Achievement Center boasts a variety of activities, including: art, cooking classes, drug prevention, sports leagues, dance classes, swimming, ESL, and academic tutoring. This program works in partnership with A.I Middle School and A.I. High School recruit students for the program.

Kars4Kids: What is the LACC High School Credit Recovery Program?

LACC: The Credit Recovery Program works in conjunction with the Red Clay School District High Schools. This program supports students who, for a variety of reasons, cannot complete school in the traditional classroom setting. Instead, they are under the supervision of the LACC Credit Recovery Program Coordinator, which supports them through their online learning platform. The goal of the program is to ensure students are on track to return to the traditional school setting, or graduate with the program. This program has been a staple in the community and important resource towards closing the achievement gap for young Latinos in Delaware.

Kars4Kids: How does the Hispanic Student Recognition Program work? What is the focus and goal of this particular program?

LACC: The Hispanic Student Recognition Program runs state-wide to call for nominations from teachers, counselors, coaches, and community members to celebrate the incredible achievements of Hispanic students in the state of Delaware. Students are nominated across 5 categories: Visual and/or Performing Arts, Community Service, Academic Excellence, STEM, and Athletics. Students put together portfolios that are evaluated by an outside committee that based on a thorough rubric, scores the portfolios to decide the winner of each category. At the end, there are also two students who score the highest out of all of the categories that is chosen for SOY (Student of the Year). An in-person ceremony is held for all nominees in the spring time, which includes a motivational keynote speaker, and a variety of performances. The goal of this program is to showcase the incredible talents and hard work of Hispanic students across the state of Delaware, while celebrating their heritage and cultural roots

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your summer camp? Is it a day camp?

LACC: The LACC’s 10-week Summer Camp serves students from kindergarten-12 years old. Each summer, our goal is to close the learning gap for students during the summer months, for all of our students to have a smooth transition into the next grade. This has been especially important in the midst of the pandemic, due to students receiving interrupted instruction as a result of the virtual learning that took place during the 2020-2021 school year. Our camp operates from 6:45am-5:30 pm Monday-Friday for ten weeks. While we do concentrate heavily on the academic component to keep students on or above grade level in reading and math, we also make sure our students are provided with a variety of experiences that contribute to their overall summer experience, including trips, and in-house presentations and activities across: arts, physical activity, social-emotional well-being, team building, developmental milestones, STEM, healthy lifestyles, and more.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your programs?

LACC: The pandemic greatly impacted the demand for programming and as a result, many agency programs have seen considerable growth over the past 2 years. During 2020, the number of individuals served more than doubled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The LACC has worked tirelessly since the beginning of the pandemic to ensure the needs of Delaware’s Latino community were being met. The LACC never stopped providing services to the community. Staff immediately began to implement creative strategies to continue programming whether it was through virtual sessions via zoom, phone calls, and Facebook live; coordinating outdoor outreach and community events such as hosting outdoor job fairs; and for some programs, continuing to provide services in person.

The LACC became one of the first childcare centers in the state to be approved as an emergency childcare site, serving children ages 6 weeks to 6th grade. This ensured that essential workers were able to continue to work and provide for their families, confident that their children were in a safe, culturally specific environment while schools and other childcare centers were closed. As it became clear that pandemic restrictions were going to be in place for the foreseeable future, the LACC quickly acquired the resources to transition the Before and After School Community Learning Centers into the Community Learning Center Hub. Through this effort, the LACC was able to provide full day support to children as they completed virtual schooling. The LACC ensured each student had access to wifi, a device, and additional academic support at the LACC so that they would not fall behind their peers as virtual learning continued. Although schools have now returned to an in-person model, the LACC continues to support these children by providing additional academic support before and after school and by providing full day care when a school may be closed due to a COVID outbreak.

Additionally, the LACC has been providing Crisis Alleviation funds to families during the pandemic to help them to cover rent, mortgage, and/or utility bills. In 2020 the LACC assisted 866 households consisting of 1,579 children and 1,684 adults. Support consisted of $792,729.27 of crisis alleviation funds and $23,018.40 worth of food. While demand decreased in 2021 as more individuals returned to work, the LACC still distributed $195,605 in Crisis Alleviation funds which is a 459% increase compared pre-pandemic numbers in 2019. Additionally, LACC case workers assisted clients in submitting more than 500 Delaware Housing Assistance Program (DEHAP) applications in 2021 which resulted in clients receiving $229,730 in rental assistance. This partnership with DEHAP has also allowed the LACC to hire two Case Managers who are dedicated to helping families complete DEHEAP applications. These applications have the potential to make a huge impact on families because DEHAP is able to support clients with rental arrears as well as up to three months of prospective (forward) rent up to a total maximum of 15 months at $2,000/month. Utilities that are due to the landlord, late fees and court fees can also be covered by DEHAP and are included within the $2,000/month maximum. Many LACC clients were out of work for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are still working to try and catch up on bills from that time frame. DEHAP gives these clients the support they need to cover months of rental arrears, helping them to reestablish self-sufficiency.

In addition to existing programming, the LACC launched a new program in August 2020, ConeXiones, to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Latinos in Delaware. Since its inception ConeXiones has hosted education sessions and workshops as well as hosted vaccination and testing events. In 2021 ConeXiones hosted 4 COVID workshops, 3 community engagement workshops, and 18 vaccination clinics where 1,256 doses of vaccine were administered.

Additionally, in November 2021 program staff were trained to conduct COVID-19 PCR testing and the LACC has now been able to offer onsite testing twice a week. In the first 2 weeks of 2022 alone, staff tested over 122 people with rapid COVID-19 testing and over 744 people with PCR COVID-19 tests. Program staff also sit on a variety of local committees and coalitions to ensure decision makers are taking the needs of the Latino community into account when developing COVID-19 relief, education, and policy.

In addition to these in-person services, many of the programs that shifted to a virtual model saw a dramatic increase in demand. The ESL program currently has 132 students enrolled in the program, the largest cohort the agency has ever had. The Workforce Development program had to expand and hire a part time program assistant to help individuals with job searches, applications, and unemployment claims. The Financial Literacy program was able to both help clients who were financially impacted by the pandemic to find ways to make ends meet as well as help those who continued to work through the pandemic reach their financial goals, including 11 clients who were able to purchase their first home. Based on the success of virtual services, many LACC programs are planning on maintaining a virtual or hybrid model beyond the pandemic as we have found that virtual services make programming more accessible to our community.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for the Latin American Community Center?

LACC: Right now, the biggest thing on the horizon is our Education Expansion Project. The LACC’s Education Expansion Project will expand access to high-quality early childhood education and increase opportunities for low-income children to engage in the active outdoor play that is crucial for a healthy lifestyle. The project includes new construction of a 15,000 sq. foot Infant and Toddler Center at the corner of 4th and Van Buren streets, across the street from our main building, and a 4,000 sq. foot Outdoor Playground at the corner of 4th and Harrison.

The Infant and Toddler Center will enable LACC to provide high-quality early learning to 214 children ages 0-5. The playground will enable 300 elementary students from primarily low-income Hispanic families enrolled in LACC’s after-school and summer programs to get the exercise they need to support healthy lifestyles. This project will also create 30 new permanent jobs and revitalize the Fourth Street corridor on Wilmington’s West Side. The project broke ground in October of 2021, construction will be complete in December 2022, and the new Infant and Toddler Center will be open for occupancy in January 2023

The LACC is also looking to purchase a permanent location in New Castle, Delaware which will provide early development and school age programs for families in New Castle. Additionally, the building will include a co-working space and the LACC plans to develop a rotating schedule to enable staff from all agency programs to work from this space so that individuals in New Castle who do not have transportation to get to our main building in Wilmington can still easily access agency services.

Beyond the expansion project, the LACC is looking to continue to grow our programs to ensure we are able to best meet the needs of our community.

Camp Twin Lakes (CTL) is a summer camp for children with all sorts of challenges. But it’s more than just a camp for children with medical and other issues. There are weekend retreats and adventures for families and even programs geared specifically military families. We have a soft spot for summer camps, but CTL is really special, offering state-of-the-art medical care to those who need it, and making sure that everyone has a good time. There was no doubt in our minds that they would find a good and important use for small grant funding.

We spoke to Director of Grants & Outcomes Measurement Anna Hutchins to find out more about Camp Twin Lakes:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your campers. Who do you serve at Camp Twin Lakes? How many campers and families do you serve in a typical year?

Anna Hutchins: Camp Twin Lakes (CTL; “Camp”) is such an amazing place! In a typical year, we serve nearly 10,000 campers with serious illnesses, disabilities, and life challenges and their families. We have two campuses in Georgia and are building a new, third campus to help us serve even more campers every year. Our programs include weekend retreats for campers and their families, and week-long summer camps just for kids.

We also collaborate with more than 60 other nonprofits, our Camp Partners, to serve campers throughout the year. Our Partners help us recruit campers and specialized medical volunteers to meet their needs.

Kars4Kids: What are some of the health issues and disabilities that your campers deal with? What are some of the life challenges that your campers may be experiencing?

Anna Hutchins: Camp serves children and teens with a wide range of illnesses, disabilities, and life challenges, including children with cancer, type 1 diabetes, limb differences and amputations, heart disease and transplants, cerebral palsy, brain injuries, epilepsy, and Tourette syndrome, as well as children with an incarcerated parent, children living in poverty, and children who have experienced trauma.

Our campers face isolation, low self-esteem, lack of self-acceptance, and lack of wellness opportunities in their daily lives. They often are the only child in their school or family who is facing a certain diagnosis, or they feel separate from their peers because of their life challenge. Camp gives them a place to build lasting and meaningful friendships, learn and practice new skills, and build confidence – all in a safe, supportive environment.

Kars4Kids: How does Camp Twin Lakes provide for children with health issues or disabilities? What sort of medical staff and facilities do you have? Do you have mental health care professionals on hand to help campers suffering from mental health issues?

Anna Hutchins: One of the great things about is Camp is that we can support our campers’ diagnoses and medical needs onsite. Our campuses have medical lodges that act as onsite clinics, providing intensive medical treatments, like chemotherapy, dialysis, or factor injections, as well as daily medications and treatments. We also have adaptive equipment to support campers of all mobility levels. This means everyone can ride horses, get in the pool, shoot archery, or canoe in our lakes.

Our staff are trained in trauma-informed care, and we train our volunteers on supporting campers with adverse childhood experiences. This provides an understanding of how trauma impacts children, families, adults, caregivers, and providers, and increases understanding of complex trauma exposure. By furthering our understanding of trauma, we are better able to serve our campers in a more meaningful and effective way. And as we grow, we will develop intentional programs for youth with non-acute mental health diagnoses and work with local mental health organizations to provide specialized therapeutic programming.

Kars4Kids: What kinds of activities do you offer? What are some of the challenges you encounter with ensuring that children with disabilities or health issues are able to participate, and how do you deal with them?

Anna Hutchins: Camp provides all of the traditional activities you think of when you hear the word “camp” – archery, zip lines, rock walls, kayaking/canoeing, biking, high ropes courses, woodworking, pottery, arts & crafts, horseback riding – we just make everything adaptive so that all kids can engage! Our staff are experts in medical and disability camping and have developed many of the adaptive techniques and equipment we use onsite, like our water wheelchairs, zip line and climbing wall harnesses, and bow mounts for archery. We also have accessible playgrounds, customized meal plans that encompass each camper’s unique dietary needs, and accessible onsite cabin housing so kids can stay right at Camp.

We also have a 120-acre farm on our Rutledge campus that is incredible. Our farm provides STEAM learning, outdoor teaching kitchens, and wheelchair accessible greenhouses and gardens. Our farm has chickens and production land, too, that provide eggs, fruits, and vegetables for our dining halls!

Kars4Kids: Why is camp important for the campers you serve? Why is it important for your staff and volunteers? How many volunteers and staff do you have?

Anna Hutchins: Camp is incredibly important to the youth and families we serve, and the COVID-19 pandemic showed us just how much. The COVID-19 pandemic compromised our campers’ mental, emotional, and physical health, causing isolation, lack of community, and lack of access to wellness and development opportunities. Our campers and partners have looked to us to provide safe places for community, respite, nature-based physical activity, and connection during this time. We are deeply grateful to be part of our campers’ lives and be able to support them and their families.

One of our core values is that people come first. Working and volunteering at Camp provides incredible opportunities for personal and professional growth, learning about different diagnoses and life challenges, and being part of a community whose common goal is improving the quality of life of children and youth with special healthcare needs and life challenges. We have a year-round staff team of about 30, including program, administrative, and maintenance staff. We also engage around 3,700 volunteers every year, including corporate workday groups, special event support, seasonal summer staff, cabin counselors, and medical staff.

Kars4Kids: You have a lot of different camps. How long is your summer camp? What ages do you serve? Can you also give us an overview of your weekend camp and Camp-To-Go?

Anna Hutchins: Camp does have a lot of camps! Each “camp” is for a specific diagnosis or life challenge, which allows campers to build community and meaningful relationships with peers who are facing the same situation. Our week-long summer camps run from Memorial Day through the first week of August, and we serve between 20 and 30 different groups over the 10-week period. Our campers range in age from six years old to young adult, with more than half in the 10-19 year old range.

Our weekend programs mostly provide opportunities during the school year for families to attend Camp with their child or teen camper. Some of our weekend programs are leadership development retreats for older teen campers, as well as programs that provide space for teens to build the skills they’ll need to transition from pediatric to adult healthcare (like when they go to college or are on their own for the first time).

Camp-To-Go brings Camp to our campers! We have paused this program during the pandemic and are excited to resume them as soon as possible. This program brings the same intentional, engaging, and therapeutic activities enjoyed at our rural campsites directly children who are in hospital-based or rehab settings. Children participate in activities like blow-dart archery, kiddie pool fishing, and silly games. Camp-To-Go designs camp programs to match patients’ abilities, while also helping them reach goals set by the clinical team. For example, blow-dart archery doubles as an opportunity for children to work on lung capacity and strength, and kiddie pool fishing works on mobility and coordination.

Kars4Kids: What about your Military Family programs? Can you tell us about them?

Anna Hutchins: We started serving military veterans and service members and their families in 2015 when we saw a need for wraparound, family-based programming. We have a dedicated program coordinator who focuses specifically on these campers. Our weekend programs in the spring and fall provide opportunities for sharing experiences and personal stories; therapeutic adult recreational and connection programs; breath awareness; therapeutic art projects; equine therapy; kayaking; team-building ropes courses; yoga; nature-based family bonding activities; and outdoor games. We serve nearly 300 veteran service members and their families through these weekend retreats every year, as well as 100 children in military families through a week-long, child-only summer program.

Kars4Kids: You also offer Adventure Camping and Family Getaway Weekends. Can you give us an overview of these programs?

Anna Hutchins: Family weekends are incredible ways to increase camper touchpoints and provide community and respite to the whole family. These weekends programs also help us serve smaller groups that do not hold summer programming. The therapeutic focus of our weekend camps helps all members of the family learn how to cope with their unique challenges, build peer support among parents and siblings, and let our campers show off what they’ve learned!

In a typical year, we also have teen weekend retreats where campers sleep in traditional dome style tents, cook over open fire, and learn about outdoor living skills. It’s a great chance for older campers to get away, develop leadership skills, learn independence, develop a sense of community and teamwork, and gain a new appreciation for nature. This program is also paused during the pandemic, and we can’t wait to bring it back!

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your programming?

Anna Hutchins: Our program team pivoted quickly to create and implement incredible virtual programming called Camp Twin Lakes: Connect. This allowed us to continue engaging our campers during the early months of the pandemic. Each week during Summer 2020, our staff led programs and activities tailored to specific diagnoses and populations, teaching campers the same values, skills, and life lessons they learn when they come to Camp in person. Campers engaged in daily activities like music, cooking, science, and nature exploration), group discussions, and interactive live programs. Everything was adaptive and accessible, and we served nearly 700 campers during Summer 2020.

We returned to modified, in-person weekend programs in August 2021 to serve campers and families. Because of the pandemic, 80% of our families felt increased isolation, 50% reported mental health challenges, and 33% experienced a loss of income or job. Camp is grateful to have been able to provide a safe place for respite and outdoor activities for our families, giving them the opportunity to rest and bond outside of the home.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Camp Twin Lakes?

Anna Hutchins: We are growing! Our programs have waitlists and our third, year-round campus will increase our capacity by 33% – that is 3,500 more campers served every year. We started a capital campaign in 2019 to build a third, year-round campus to meet this need. Our community of donors and supporters continued to prioritize our campers through the pandemic, and we reached our fundraising goal in June 2021! We are continuing to raise funds for increased construction costs and all of the adaptive equipment and supplies needed at our new campus. Camp is excited to open this new campus in early 2023 to serve campers throughout the year!

First Chance for Children is all about identifying needs in order to ensure that families and their children are successful. Sometimes that means offering parenting information that keeps babies safe, in other cases, it means providing safe cribs, diapers, and toys that stimulate growth and development. As an organization concerned with helping children be the best they can be, we loved the idea of giving kids a great start. This is why we chose First Chance for Children as a recipient for our small grant award.

We put questions to First Chance for Children Executive Director Kasey Hammock and this organization’s Baby Bags Diaper Bank Coordinator Verena Wilkerson to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about the demographic you serve? Who are the children and families you work with?

Kasey Hammock: First Chance for Children strives to serve all families with children ages 0-5 in mid-Missouri. Parenting is hard for everyone, so we provide a wide array of services to meet each family’s unique and ever-changing needs. We have an emphasis on serving families with the highest level of need, and those who have been historically underrepresented and underserved, but most of our programs are open to all.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Lend and Learn Toy Library. We understand this isn’t just a place to play with kids and toys, but also a place where parents can ask parenting questions.

Kasey Hammock: Lend and Learn Libraries are a free, fun place where parents can play with their children ages 0-5, interact with other parents, and ask trained staff questions about development or other concerns. Toys are available for check out so families can extend learning and play at home. There are locations with regular hours in Columbia and Centralia, and varying hours in other locations across mid-Missouri.

Kars4Kids: You have what you call Stay at Home, Play at Home activity kits. Were these designed specifically for the pandemic? What do the kits include? How long can families hold onto them before it’s time to return them?

Kasey Hammock: The kits are designed to give families play-based learning activities that encourage creativity, imagination, sensory experiences, movement, going outside, and family togetherness. These activity kits include a full month of activities for families with young children ages 0-5. They were designed specifically for the pandemic when it was particularly unsafe for children and families to gather. Families can keep all the items in the kits and continue to use them to play together for activities outside the kit!

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Baby Bags program? What’s in a Baby Bag? Why is this program necessary?

Verena Wilkerson: Baby Bags is a two-part program that includes a Smart Start kit (the original baby bag) and access to our diaper bank. Families can access diapers and wipes, hygiene items, and other supplies needed to provide care and comfort to children which are delivered along with development and safety information. The program started with our Smart Start kit, first conceived while meeting with MU pediatric and emergency room residents over 15 ago.

Our program director asked the residents what First Chance for Children could give families to reduce incidents of preventable emergency room visits. The residents suggested safety kits that would include: outlet covers and door and cabinet locks; a bath thermometer easy for parents to use to prevent scalding; a health kit including a thermometer so that families could know if their child was running a temperature; and finally, an infant sleeper, so a family would know what was safe for their child to sleep in. The bag also includes a safe sleep book and infant and maternal health information.

This program is necessary because some families don’t always have the supplies or resources necessary to provide a safe and healthy environment. The Smart Start kit and diaper bank provide essential items to help parents provide a safe and healthy environment for their child.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your Safe C.R.I.B.S. program. Why did you decide to offer cribs to the parents of your community? Isn’t this the first purchase a parent would make, borrow, or buy second-hand? Is it just the crib you give out, or is it more than that?

Kasey Hammock: Babies are at greatest risk of child abuse and death because of sleep issues during their first year of life. First Chance for Children’s Safe C.R.I.B.S. program provides a safe crib and the information families need to safely put their child to bed and deal with sleep-related issues. The crib is delivered to the family home and is followed by five additional home visits that focus on child abuse and neglect prevention, and child development information.

There are so many unsafe types of cribs, it’s really important to pick the right one. Often the right ones are expensive and many families can’t afford them and used ones are many times outdated and unsafe. We help break down the barrier to make safe sleep possible for families across mid-Missouri.

Kars4Kids: What can you tell us about Baby U?

Kasey Hammock: Baby U is designed to help families strengthen protective factors that help them navigate the issues of raising children. It is a home visitation program that serves families with children prenatally up to the age of 5. It utilizes a blended home visitation model of Parents As Teachers and Nurturing Parenting. Both are evidence-based early childhood home visitation service delivery models. The model used, and information given, is tailored for the specific family’s needs.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us how you measure the results of the work you do? What kind of results are you seeing?

Kasey Hammock: First Chance for Children is committed to creating opportunity, changing circumstances, and impacting lifelong outcomes for families. By measuring what families are achieving, we can determine how successful we are in inspiring greatness and supporting growth for our next generation. We use screenings, surveys, and assessments to measure growth and progress.

Our families have growth in their understanding of health and safety issues, and setting and achieving family goals. The children are screened for on track development for kindergarten readiness, and caregivers report feeling more connected to others, and more confident and effective in their parenting.

Kars4Kids: You offer a variety of volunteer opportunities. Can you tell us a bit about them? How many volunteers are currently on staff?

Verena Wilkerson: Our program offers different volunteering opportunities. Volunteering can be done through internships, group teamwork, and other monthly needs. Through internships, volunteers gain valuable knowledge and skills that will help them excel in their career, build expertise in their field, and have a positive impact on our community and change lives. Through group teamwork, volunteers strengthen their relationship to their team and have a meaningful effect on our organization.

Monthly needs volunteers, help with tasks to help our program provide quality experiences for families and greatly increase our ability to serve more families with intentional services using fewer resources. This includes, but is not limited to helping sanitize our Lend and Learn library, diaper wrapping and helping with community diaper drive through events, and book organization.

The number of volunteers participating varies monthly based on available tasks, community events, and needs. At this time we currently have two permanent part-time interns and 40 community volunteers.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your programs?

Kasey Hammock: The pandemic has forced us to be creative and dramatically change the way we work with families. As COVID numbers continue to change, we continue to be responsive to community needs, and innovative in the way we meet our mission and vision.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for First Chance for Children?

Kasey Hammock: We are in the middle of a three-year strategic plan that has three primary priorities:

1. Cultivate resources to be intentionally accessible and inclusive to all families in the counties we serve.
2. Build and execute an inclusive, advocacy-centric brand and marketing strategy that educates and informs across all levels of our communities.
3. Develop a contributed revenue strategy that supports revenue diversification and positions us to grow our programs and supports building healthy financial reserves.

Our vision is that we can continue to grow as mid-Missouri’s best resource for families with children under the age of 5, breaking down barriers and dismantling barriers to success.

Attollo may best be described as a mindset. The students in this program work hard because they want to work hard. They learn to believe that if they strive, they can reach the highest heights in the classroom and in life. And that is the magic of Attollo that is really no magic at all, but a way of thinking and believing that if you keep moving forward, there is nothing that you cannot achieve.

This is a program that inspires students to learn and succeed. Attollo has kids doing serious work and feeling good about it, too. It’s original work that we wanted to support, and we were pleased to help out in our modest way, with a small grant award. Naturally, we wanted to learn more about this work. To that end, we spoke with Attollo Executive Director Leo Silva:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic?

Leo Silva: We serve predominantly students of color, low-income students, and/or first generation college students. There is also a significant amount of students who are white, middle income or affluent, and/or students whose parents have gone to college. This is intentionally designed and creates a diverse and inclusive environment for people from various perspectives to learn from each other. This also allows us to say that there is no stigma to the students who participate in the Attollo program.

Kars4Kids: You work with success-oriented students. What does it mean to be “success-oriented?”

Leo Silva: Success-oriented means that you are pursuing excellence; the key is in the phrase pursuing excellence, not being excellent. This is pursuing growth and eventually wanting to contribute back to society and something beyond yourself. This is what success-oriented truly means.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about the name of your organization, “Attollo,” and its significance.

Leo Silva: Attollo means “to rise up” in Latin. The A in Attollo also represents academic excellence, and this is a key part of our mission. It also rhymes with and goes hand in hand with Apollo. When I think of Attollo, I think of students wanting to reach higher and past their current circumstances. I think of students who are striving to elevate and level-up as well as students who want to be change agents; in order to do this they need to go through personal growth and this is exactly what Attollo represents.

Kars4Kids: What exactly is Attollo Recruit and why does it begin at 5:30 AM, when many schools are right now opting for later start times to accommodate the supposed differences in a teenager’s circadian rhythm?

Leo Silva: The truth is that we believe a junior in high school is at the ideal stage of development to start being metacognitive. Junior year also represents a year of many transitions and a time in a student’s life where they feel a sense of urgency around articulating and mapping out their future while they are also being hit with so many things from school: a challenging year academically and socially. This presents us with the perfect opportunity for students during this time of transformation to press pause, reflect, and be introspective and intentional about how they start thinking about themselves and their thoughts.

Because of the vast amount of pressure that they are feeling, their time is limited and scarce. In the past we have realized that it would be impossible to compete with the many other programs, clubs, sports, or work duties that a student might have after school. Hence, the creation of an immersive, six-week program that allows students in a short period of time to experience personal leadership development in a time frame where they have no other commitments besides sleep: Attollo Recruit. We realize the high expectation we are demanding from students in a short period of time but our data has reassured us that this is by far the best time for students to do this. We typically have between a 97-99% attendance rate at 5:30am and students are just as punctual.

Kars4Kids: How does your SAT program work and what are its specific goals?

Leo Silva: Our SAT program is broken down into two main components. The first one is at the beginning where students are in a larger group (20-30) and our learning about the general structure of the test. The second part consists of smaller, individualized groups (3-5) led by an SAT instructor who is solely focused on their specific needs. Those groups are created based on previous academic standing such as practice tests and PSAT scores.

We have been using an SAT prep program called A-List that runs their programming in 48+ states. In addition to the group and individualized program we run, we utilize A-List’s materials. The goal is for a student to have a significant jump in 10-16 weeks; by significant we mean 100-150 points by putting in 30-60 hours of SAT prep.

Kars4Kids: You offer engineering and code. Why is it that so many youth organizations have to provide this kind of enrichment? It seems so crucial in our time, but the schools don’t seem to be keeping up. What can you tell us about your program? How is it filling in the gaps?

Leo Silva: There is a clear gap in the number of students of color and females that are exposed to STEM and because of our demographics that are predominantly female and students of color we thought it would benefit the students in our program. There is also a frictional unemployment problem that can be bridged by exposing more students to the fields of STEM; there are more jobs in STEM than there are students interested in it. Not only is there higher returns on this, but we know that students who are exposed to an interest have a higher chance of being employed in it in the future. This program runs in the spring and will be continuing again in 2022!

Kars4Kids: Talk about your start-up program—what skills do participants stand to gain?

Leo Silva: Our start-up program is 12 weeks long and focuses on entrepreneurship. We use the design thinking process to guide students to solve the pain points that they personally experience in their own lives. The underlying theory is that a founder should be passionate, have domain expertise or lived experience, and also be provided with the resources to tackle a problem that is close to them. Through the design thinking process students have the opportunity to come up with an idea that is feasible. They also get to present this idea to an audience.

Kars4Kids: Why offer pre-med to high school students?

Leo Silva: There is a disproportionate number of professionals of color within the medical field. Based on the demographic we serve, we know that it would benefit a lot of our students to be exposed to the medical field. Something our founder always says is “you can’t be what you can’t see.” We have partnered with PatientsRWaiting which also shares this mission of exposing students of color to the medical field, and they help us co-lead this initiative.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Leo Silva: We certainly consider ourselves a high-touch organization: a lot of value that we provide stems from services that are face to face and personalized to each student. Although we were able to pivot to Zoom, we did see a drop in engagement and retention. In fact, we were able to onboard 177 students when in the previous year pre-Covid, we were able to onboard 204. Our biggest fundraiser is also an in-person event and we had to forgo how we initially went about raising funds for that year by cancelling our biggest fundraiser. As a result, we are working to reach sustainability by diversifying our sources of revenue.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Attollo?

Leo Silva: Our biggest growth areas lay within our alumni initiatives. We have been able to adequately serve our juniors and seniors, however there is the opportunity to support our students after they transition from high school. We also see ourselves serving more schools in Lancaster. We currently serve 10 different school districts and in the next year we will be serving 13-15. We have positioned ourselves to welcome our alumni back to this community and help them become not only contributing members of society, but contributing leaders in Lancaster. We are currently in the process of creating match programs to help students obtain gainful employment and internships over the summer.

Hawaii Literacy has an amazing legacy in the community it serves: 50 years of helping thousands of children and adults improve their literacy skills. Many of the participants live in low-income neighborhoods, while others are homeless. In such situations, there are no or not enough books. The truth is, as a society, we tend to take literacy for granted. Discovering that this is not so for everyone is both shocking and heartbreaking.

Without knowing how to read and write, there is no future, no chance of success. We felt compelled to help this effort with a small grant award. Because this is a gap that must be closed.

We talked with Operations Director Amy Truong to find out more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic. Who are the children in your community, and how many of them do you serve?

Amy Truong: Hawaii Literacy has helped 40,000 adults and youth build their reading and writing skills to help end generational cycles of poverty and under-education, and help our communities to thrive with our five programs across three of the Hawaiian Islands. Our programs are Adult Literacy, English Language Learner, Digital Literacy, Family Literacy Libraries, and Bookmobiles.

Hawaii Literacy’s Family Literacy Libraries serve youth and adults that live at Towers of Kuhio Park and Mayor Wright Homes, both of which are public housing communities and help low-income youth and their families.

Hawaii Literacy’s Bookmobiles primarily serve families with keiki ages 2-14, focusing on the Leeward Coast like Waianae, Nanakuli, and Metro Oahu like Kahili. Most (92%) are low-income or live in transitional housing, and 13% are or were houseless in the past year. Many are Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian (62%) or immigrants (30%), and nearly 100% are DOE public school students.

Intergenerational poverty, lack of employment, insecure living situations, and no literate or English-speaking adult at home are common barriers to literacy for the families we serve. Most have little access to quality books and out-of-school educational resources.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of how your bookmobile works? Is the bookmobile just a lending library on wheels, or is there more to it? 

Amy Truong: The program reaches at-risk families, and staff work to bring learning into the home, particularly homes with few books and resources, and provides extra caring attention to encourage children to read and learn.

Having books in a home can help a child identify as a reader and is a factor in influencing early educational success and correlates with reading scores.

The bookmobiles visit community organizations like the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii, homeless shelters, foster homes, transitional housing communities, and underserved schools. Our current work includes providing services to assist families and youth who lost months of instruction due to various language, technology, access to public libraries (due to closures or without a car), and income barriers with more intensive reading help to reduce regression in reading outcomes.

We offer consistent access to high interest, culturally relevant books, e-books, digital resources, educational and sensory games, learning activities, free tutoring, and organized summer reading campaigns with incentives. We provide healthy snacks and research-based activities that promote and increase reading readiness for youth in at-risk backgrounds and provide 1:1 attention critical for improved reading. We are working on a plan to offer small remote group and 1-to-1 tutor platforms that can be accessed at community hot spots or Wi-Fi000 points. During this time, we are adhering to all health and social distancing guidelines to ensure that our youth and staff are safe.

During the height of the pandemic, we also distributed literacy kits that included literacy activities for children to complete at home with their parents or guardians, brand-new locally published books for children to build their home library, school supplies, PPE, health snacks, and COVID-19 health and safety information. The bookmobiles are also visiting COVID-19 testing and vaccination events where we distribute literacy kits, give brand new books, and offer information about our other programs, such as our Adult Literacy program, where struggling adults can learn to read and write, and our English Language Learner program, where non-English speaking adults can increase their English speaking, reading, and writing skills.

Kars4Kids: Why is a bookmobile important for the families and children in your community?

Amy Truong: Since the pandemic, we have shifted our regular services and highlighted how essential our long-time mission to increase educational equity and support is. The impacts of the learning divide, including less access to books, technology (digital divide), and parental support, have never been more apparent.

Kars4Kids: Where do you operate your Family Literacy Program? What types of activities does this program offer children?

Amy Truong: Hawaii Literacy’s Family Literacy Libraries serves youth and adults who live at Towers of Kuhio Park and Mayor Wright Homes on Oahu, both of which are public housing communities and serve low-income youth and their families.

During the height of the pandemic and shutdowns, our staff distributed literacy kits filled with brand new books, school supplies, PPE, literacy activities, COVID-19 health & safety information in multiple languages, and snacks to our children. In addition, we also distributed masks, hand sanitizers, soap, shields, and food boxes filled with protein and fresh produce to help our families who were most disproportionally impacted by the pandemic’s effects.

As restrictions lift, we are slowly resuming our normal activities while pivoting to new ways to serve our youth and their families. Our staff offers intensive reading tutoring using Book Nook. This online reading tutoring platform allows for learning with social distancing, as well as workshops to support parents to help their children with learning and reading.

Besides tutoring and our library with thousands of books for children and adults with no fines, we also have fun educational and sensory toys, group activities such as group reading, arts & crafts, science activities, and tech time. The library also distributes literacy kits, school supplies, and healthy snacks to our children and we offer a free summer lunch program to ensure no child goes hungry when school is not in session. At the libraries, we also provide digital literacy classes, literacy classes, and English Language Learner classes for adults. As restrictions ease, these classes will resume when it is safe to do so.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your Technology Rooms?

Amy Truong: Our technology rooms at the Family Literacy Libraries are equipped with desktop computers and printers to allow children and adults to access the internet and software to gain digital literacy skills, complete school and homework assignments and complete tasks such as online applications, creating a resume, or filing for unemployment. We also offer Kindles in the library for adults and children to use.

Kars4Kids: What is Book Nook?

Amy Truong: Book Nook is a virtual online tutoring platform that allows tutoring students in a remote or socially distanced environment. We have Book Nook on our laptops and tablets where our youth and tutoring staff can read and tutor together in a socially distanced environment. The platform tracks the child’s learning and provides assessments and their improvement or regression over time.

Kars4Kids: You offer Saturday storytime events. Can you tell us about that?

Amy Truong: Before the pandemic, our Family Literacy Libraries would be open on Saturdays, and there would be time for read-alouds where our staff or volunteers would read books or stories to our youth. During the pandemic, some of our volunteers and staff recorded story times and we posted them on our social media and YouTube channels for our children to continue storytime online.

Kars4Kids: How many volunteers do you typically have on staff? What type of work do they do?

Amy Truong: Before the pandemic, we would have 200-300 volunteers annually helping with all of our programs and at our main office. To adhere to state and federal social distancing guidelines and keep our families and youth safe, we have limited our volunteering opportunities. Currently, we have about 100 volunteers who are adult literacy tutors and a few interns and volunteers for our bookmobiles. We hope to have more volunteers participate again as restrictions ease.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Amy Truong: We have found new and better ways to serve our communities while adjusting to the latest health and safety guidelines, such as using Book Nook – the online tutoring platform that allows for reading tutoring in a socially distanced environment. The pandemic also highlighted the importance of digital literacy skills and underscored the gulf between people who can leverage technology and those that can’t – it’s an equity issue. Access to technology and the opportunity to develop digital skills are critical for adults’ and students’ academic success.

To address this issue, Hawaii Literacy joined the Workforce Resiliency Initiative to reach the goal of connecting 100,000 people to opportunities to develop digital skills. The addition of this partnership to existing programs will help the 1 in 6 adults who struggle with reading and writing to reach a basic level of digital and traditional literacy to ensure they can participate in the initiative. We have created a digital literacy model to focus on connectivity, culturally informed digital skills training, and access to technology that can be scaled to public housing sites and other organizations that serve low literacy adults. Classes began this fall in honor of our 50th anniversary.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Hawaii Literacy?

Amy Truong: For the past 50 years, Hawaii Literacy has worked with communities disproportionately affected by high illiteracy and poverty and helped improve their reading, writing, school, and life skills and build the foundation for a better life.

We have recently launched our digital literacy program to help adu0lts gain digital literacy skills for future success and seek to begin service on our bookmobile in Kona on Hawai’i Island to support the underserved communities there. We strive to expand our services on the rest of the Hawaiian Islands to help end generational cycles of poverty and under-education and help our communities thrive.

Seaside Sustainability Inc. teaches youth about our waterways. But a large part of this teaching is not so much done in the classroom as it is, hands on, right there, on and by the water. This is project-based learning, making ecological issues real in a way that sitting at a desk in a classroom, never could.

Teaching young people about our environment should be a part of their education. The youth of today are future stewards of the land and of the sea, charged to protect all that we have. Investing in this part of the education of our young people is important to us, and that is why we were pleased to give Seaside Sustainability Inc. a small grant.

Founder and Executive Director Eric Magers gave us of his generous time, to tell us about the work of this marine science-based organization:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic? 

Eric Magers: Our Green Scholars program is comprised of middle and high school teachers and students around the world. More nationally, our Sustainability Consulting program includes all schools and small businesses. Our Marine Sciences and Education program meanwhile, is local to our home in Gloucester, Massachusetts and includes both students and marine citizen scientists.

Kars4Kids: Your youth successfully advocated for a ban on single-use plastics. Can you talk about that?

Eric Magers: When I was a teacher, my students helped initiate the third single use plastic bag ban in the state of Massachusetts. When I started Seaside Sustainability I wanted to continue with this effort and our interns have successfully implemented dozens of single use plastic bans around the world. This includes one of the most comprehensive single use plastic bans in the United States in Rockport, Massachusetts. Our interns continue to support lots of groups around the world in single use plastic legislation as one of our many successes.

Kars4Kids: What is the Seabin Project?

Eric Magers: Seabin is a floating trashcan that is attached to a dock that is generally found in marinas and town city municipal docks. It spends its day sucking up floating marine debris. We are Seaside, that is, the East Coast representative for Seabin and have sold dozens in the last few years.

Kars4Kids: Your participants are restoring a lake. What is that about?

Eric Magers: Seaside Sustainability has led the effort in restoring a local water body that is important to our fragile ecosystem near our headquarters in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Chebacco Lake historically has been an important ecological feature to the North Shore as many species depend on the health of the lake for reproduction and seasonal migration. Our team has been hard at work creating partnerships and restoring the lake to its original glory.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your podcast and its purpose?

Eric Mager: Our podcast, affectionately known as “Dive in with Seaside,” has become one of our important marketing tools for spreading the good word of sustainability! In the last few months we have hosted five episodes and will be creating about one podcast a month starting in 2022.  We have received excellent feedback and are going to enjoy continuing to interview local regional and international professionals and scientists and even our interns, in the work that we do in sustainability that is important around the world.

Kars4Kids: What is Green Scholars?

Eric Magers: Green Scholars is a course I designed when I was a teacher, during my 20-year tenure. I wanted to create an opportunity for students to be able to make effective change inside of their schools around sustainable solutions and actions. So I designed a hands-on project-based learning business sustainability course called Green Scholars for middle and high school students.

Students design and implement a project that directly affects their school, their district, or their community. Projects that students have run in the past vary widely from solar, wind, composting, waste reduction, energy consumption reduction, water consumption reduction, aquaponics, hydroponics, green cleaning, healthy sustainable food, outdoor gardens, and a lot more. Our plan for 2022 is to launch a virtual platform for Green Scholars so we can get it to schools all over the world! We have trained over 600 educators from around the world in the Green Scholars model.

Kars4Kids: Talk to us about Citizen Science. What does that involve?

Eric Magers: Our Citizen Science program is nestled under our Marine Science in Education division or program. It is—well has been—a program that we run in Cape Ann, Massachusetts on the coast. However because of COVID-19, we have had to make significant changes in what we do.

Programs are designed around local citizens interested in engaging with the environment and taking actionable steps to protect it. Our teams do a variety of scientific and marine citizen science work including mud flat certification testing, marine debris trials, invasive species mitigation and monitoring, coastal cleanups, managing our Seabins and skimmer, water quality testing, testing for micro plastics in sand, testing for plastics and monitoring for plastics in the rack line, and several more.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Eric Magers: The pandemic has been an interesting part of our organization and navigating it has been interesting and challenging. The negative effects of the pandemic have been mostly felt locally at our office and in our Marine Science and Education work. Due to the fact that we have not been able to host groups in and on the coastline, we have had to change most of our marine science work to research with interns, staff members, and advisers working virtually.

Another negative or challenging effect of the pandemic has been not having the face-to-face daily communication in our office that is and has been so effective in our past. I miss seeing everyone. We have over 80 interns right now and almost 30 advisers. I have only met a handful of them in person.  Which in and of itself has been a challenge but also a blessing.

We have now an international organization with thousands of applicants annually wanting to volunteer in our international internship program and advisor program.  I am actually working virtually as I write this from my mother’s home in Mexico.  The pandemic has also given us new fresh perspectives on our Green Scholars program being virtual and our sustainability consulting working with schools and businesses virtually.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Seaside Sustainability?

Eric Magers: As Seaside continues to build, 2022 is going to be a banner year. We will continue our exceptional internship program, probably having over 100 interns at any given time. Our advisor program has become a huge success and we hope to engage over 40 advisers in the next few months. Collectively we should be exceeding about 70,000 hours a year with our team internationally.

Besides the programs that we run, we plan on starting a climate change division in 2022 as well.  We hope that Green Scholars will be a huge success in 2022 and plan on working with dozens of schools and businesses in our Sustainability Consulting division.  If everything goes well with the pandemic, we will re-imagine our Marine Science and Education division locally on the north shore of Boston, with hopes to engage with hundreds of marine citizen scientists in the spring summer and fall months.

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston has a wide reach, mentoring girls in the Greater Boston area. That’s important, because girls have unique challenges that must be addressed in order for them to succeed. According to the American Association of University Women (AAUW), “Girls and women are systematically tracked away from science and math throughout their education, limiting their access, preparation and opportunities to go into these fields as adults.”

We believe that something is needed to counter the fact that women make up only 28% of the workforce in STEM in our hi-tech world of today. And one of the best ways to counter this disproportion is to bolster the self-confidence of girls and young women. Probably the most effective way to do this is through mentoring, the primary focus of Big Sister Association of Boston. Clearly this organization is all about mentoring and all about the girls.

Children should have what they need to get ahead. That concept is central for us, and we saw that BSAGB is making it happen for girls. As a result, we were pleased to give this organization a small grant award. We went to Big Sister Association of Boston President and Chief Executive Officer Deborah Re to learn more about this most important and invaluable work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic?

Deb Re: Big Sister Boston’s programs are for girls ages 7-24 in the Greater Boston community. Although the majority of them live in the neighborhoods of Boston, our reach extends across 69 cities and towns across Greater Boston.

Kars4Kids: Your organization is all about girls and meeting their needs. What exactly does this entail, and what, about your programs, is specific to young ladies?

Deb Re: We are part of a network of more than 250 agencies in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America network, but we are the only affiliate solely focused on girls. With that said, Big Sister Boston is both gender-intentional and a gender-inclusive organization and welcomes all people who identify as women, girls, non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming to join our community as Big and Little Sisters. Big Sister Boston is a place for girls and gender-diverse youth to find a community that is supportive, dedicated, and compassionate about their growth, and celebrates every part of their identities. Our programming is based on research on youth mentoring and the unique development of girls, including the importance of building confidence and self-esteem. We train all mentors to approach their role as Big Sisters from a strengths-based perspective, to help ignite girls’ passion and power to succeed through a supportive, committed friendship.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe your Community-Based mentoring program? What kind of commitment in involved for your Big Sister volunteers?

Deb Re: Community-Based Mentoring is our signature program. In the program, girls (Little Sisters) ages 7-15 are matched in one-to-one mentoring relationships with trained women mentors (Big Sisters) for a minimum of one year. Matches meet weekly in the community, or virtually these days, for the first three months, and then at least twice a month after that. Big and Little Sisters are assigned a dedicated Match Support Specialist who facilitates a match’s first meeting; conducts monthly check-ins with Big Sisters, Little Sisters, and caregivers; offers coaching for Big Sisters; recommends strategies for problem-solving and scheduling; and connects matches to Big Sister Boston’s free enrichment programs. Girls can remain Little Sisters until the age of 20.

Kars4Kids: Your website states that Big Sisters engage with their Little Sisters in “low- to no-cost activities.” Should we assume that Big Sisters are discouraged from engaging with their mentees in high-cost activities, for instance, a concert or a ball game? Can you talk about why it is important that activities be inexpensive or free?

Deb Re: Yes, during training for new Big Sisters, as well as throughout their relationships with their Little Sisters, we encourage Big Sisters to discover ways to connect with their Little Sisters without a big price tag. The bond that Big and Little Sisters build isn’t based on material things, but rather on their genuine trust in and care for each other. This is important because it encourages Big and Little Sisters to connect on a personal level, rather than on a transactional one. Our Match Support Specialists regularly share low-to-no cost activity ideas, and our free enrichment programs with matches.

Thanks to Big Sister Boston’s 70-year history of serving the Greater Boston community, we have robust relationships with partners like the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, that can offer Big and Little Sisters free tickets to games and concerts. Although the pandemic has paused those special activities, we are hopeful that we can resume them again when it is safe to do so.

Kars4Kids: How does your Site-Based Mentoring program differ from your Community-Based mentoring program?

Deb Re: Site-Based Mentoring differs from Community-Based Mentoring in that it takes place in schools and community centers. Rather than meeting in the community, Big and Little Sisters meet once a week during the school day or after-school program, and they commit to at least three academic semesters together, excluding summer break and school holidays. During visits, they read books, learn new skills, work on projects of their mutual choosing, or engage in physical activities. A Big Sister Boston staff person is on-site during match meetings and offers ongoing coaching and activity ideas to support Big and Little Sisters in Site-Based Mentoring. Matches in this program typically end after middle school or early high school, but many matches transition to Community-Based Mentoring to continue their relationship.

For some caregivers, Site-Based Mentoring is preferable to Community-Based Mentoring because their child can meet their Big Sisters during their regular school day or after-school program, and the communication between the school and our organization happens with the school personnel rather than with the parent. The pandemic has disrupted this program across our service area, as schools have primarily prohibited volunteers from entering the school in-person. Instead, matches in Site-Based have met virtually or decided to put a hold on their relationship until they can meet in-person safely.

Kars4Kids: Your High School Mentoring Academy draws on students from Boston Latin to mentor their Little Sisters. Boston Latin is famously prestigious. Can you talk about the impact of this particular program?

Deb Re: We piloted the High School Mentoring Academy in 2007 with Boston Latin Academy and Trotter Elementary School to meet the growing need to serve more girls in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester. In this program, Big Sisters from Boston Latin Academy spend time with their Little Sisters from Trotter, participating in a range of mentoring activities together – from interactive group games to one-on-one activities like arts and crafts, reading together, completing schoolwork, or just talking about topics that are important to Little Sisters. In building our partnership between Boston Latin Academy and Trotter, we were a part of the turnaround efforts for the elementary school in its transition to become an innovation school. Although these are the only schools that participate in High School Mentoring, we are currently assessing how to expand the program to other schools in Boston.

Kars4Kids: What is the Girls Leadership Program?

Deb Re: The Girls Leadership Program is a vital piece of what makes the High School Mentoring Academy so successful. We recognize that girls in the roles of Big Sisters in this program are students too. And while they have much to offer their Little Sisters, they also find value and growth through the additional and consistent support of the Girls Leadership Program.

Along with weekly sessions led by our trained staff for high school Big Sisters, we partner with companies such as Comcast and Milk Street Cooking School to match high school Big Sisters with employees to act as coaches. We host regular staff-facilitated activities for Big Sisters to practice leadership skills, answer questions, and talk about any challenges. Big Sisters in the Girls Leadership Program can also attend our annual career week, which features panel discussions and workshops with our partners about career options and post-secondary pathways.

Kars4Kids: What is your Workplace Mentoring program about?

Deb Re: Workplace Mentoring is a program that offers girls an opportunity to engage with a mentor in a professional workplace. In collaboration with our corporate partners, which include Edelman, Fidelity, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, John Hancock, and Wayfair, we match girls from a local school with female employees at a nearby company. Little Sisters meet with their Big Sisters at the company’s office to provide girls with a meaningful mentoring experience and valuable career awareness. As with our other programs, these matches are meeting virtually as a result of the pandemic.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your enrichment programs?

Deb Re: Big and Little Sisters in our Community-Based Mentoring program have access to free, monthly enrichment activities in the areas of the arts, career/college, civic engagement, health and fitness, and STEM. Girls participate in hands-on activities, such as designing and building bridge models, conducting experiments to understand how medicines are created, and learning about STEM jobs from professionals in the field. Through these activities, girls learn alongside their Big Sisters in a supportive community, which increases their confidence to try unfamiliar activities, practice new skills, take healthy risks, and achieve their goals. These enrichment activities are offered thanks to the support of our dedicated partners including Biogen, Encore Boston Harbor, the Courageous Sailing Center and the National Women’s Sailing Association, and the Society of Women Engineers, among others.

For girls waiting to be matched with a Big Sister, we also offer our free Big for a Day program, a monthly event that invites girls on the wait list to participate in a fun, engaging activity that we host with one of our partners. Each girl is matched with a volunteer for the day to keep girls connected and to give women who cannot commit to a full year as a mentor the opportunity to do so.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Deb Re: In March 2020, we closed Big Sister’s office and shifted all our mentoring programs online. This was a huge transition for our programs, which are designed to take place in-person. Our number one priority as an organization was to ensure Big Sisters, Little Sisters, and their caregivers had the resources and support they needed, and to help our staff make the transition to working from home.

Today, I am proud of the way the organization has pivoted to stay 100% invested in girls. Not only are matches continuing to meet successfully online, but we instituted safety guidelines to allow Big and Little Sisters who have been matched for at least 3 months, to meet in-person. Although our staff are still working remotely, we cut down on our office space and are prepared to begin a hybrid work model in 2022. And, despite the many challenges of the pandemic, it also gave us the opportunity to pause and reflect on our work and impact.

One of the largest changes to our operations is a recent budget increase to directly support staff. Earlier this year, we hired Edgility Consulting, a firm that specializes in talent compensation equity with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Over the last year, Edgility worked directly with our staff, leadership, and board to develop a pay compensation and equity plan for the organization. As a result, we are implementing a large-scale personnel budget increase to be more competitive in the job market, and continue to deepen Big Sister Boston’s commitment to equity. In turn, we will need to raise more money annually to sustain a higher budget to equitably compensate its staff.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Big Sister Boston?

Deb Re: We are focused on having our matches meet in-person, safely. Although we have successfully created and supported virtual matches, we know that face-to-face relationships are optimal. We are also exploring ways that corporate employees who are working virtually can have the opportunity to meet with Little Sisters outside the office. In 2022, we plan to offer fun, enriching Big for a Day programs to all girls in Greater Boston to give them the chance to have a mentor on a monthly basis. Our goal is to ensure that every girl gets the chance to have the care, support, and attention of an adult mentor.

Urban Adventure Squad builds on what our moms always told us: “You need to get outside more and get some fresh air and sunshine.”

But what is in DC to attract kids to the great outdoors?

As it turns out, quite a lot.

It seems there are hidden—and not so hidden—attractions everywhere in our nation’s capital, just waiting to be explored. And it’s a sad fact that the many green spaces in DC are going unexplored by the children who live there. Urban Adventure Squad aims to change that and we like their style—so much so that we wanted to lend our support by way of our small grants program.

Urban Adventure Squad is an organization worth emulating and so we had a chat with Executive Director Elana Mintz to discover more about how even city kids can learn from the great outdoors:

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic.

Elana Mintz: We serve children in kindergarten through 8th grades from every DC ward, and from Maryland and Virginia. We’ve also had visitors to our programs from other states and countries, when they’re in DC.

Kars4Kids: What made you decide to found Urban Adventure Squad?

Elana Mintz: I’ve lived in Washington, DC since 1994, and I’ve always loved walking the city–exploring neighborhoods, wandering around the National Mall, and spending time in our incredible greenspaces. When I was looking for programs for my children, I didn’t find any that made regular use of DC’s free and low-cost resources–walkable bridges, neighborhoods rich in history, over two dozen National Park Service sites, and public greenspaces in every neighborhood.

Kars4Kids: What opportunities exist for children in DC in terms of access to green spaces?

Elana Mintz: DC is an incredible place for park access. In 2021, the Trust for Public Land ranked DC #1 for park access, in part because 98 percent of the city’s residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park. That is excellent, but we also know that our parks are underused, and they’re not always welcoming to neighbors. So we have lots of work to do to make sure that children, their families, and their schools and communities feel connected to and comfortable in green spaces.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your Geocaching project?

Elana Mintz: Geocaching is a global, GPS-based, scavenger hunt. There are caches hidden in plain sight by people all over the world, and we know about them because they are visible on the free Geocaching app. We use Geocaching as a teaching tool. It can help students everywhere access game design, neighborhood history, environmental science, city infrastructure, navigation, and so much more. In 2018, through a grant from the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE), we did a project with three schools called “Geocaching DC’s Waterways,” in which students learned about the effects of pollution on the Anacostia River and then hid geocaches all around Washington, DC, that shared what they learned. Anyone living in or visiting DC can go find them!

Kars4Kids: What can children learn about the environment from a hike in Rock Creek Park or along the Anacostia River? 

Elana Mintz: The learning opportunities are endless. For example, if you take a ride on the DC Streetcar, you can learn about this fun, exciting mode of transportation that runs on electricity. Then you can get off at the last stop (Benning Rd and Oklahoma Ave., NE), and walk onto Kingman and Heritage Islands on the Anacostia River, where you can see turtles, Great Blue Heron, and other beautiful, wild creatures. You can also learn about the significant environmental challenges to the river by looking at the number of plastic bottles and trash in the water. And you can learn about land restoration and preservation by walking along the trails and the river. You can also take a paddle in a canoe!

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your project “DC’s Hidden Waterways?”

Elana Mintz: This was our first environmental education grant from DOEE and it was life-changing for us. We finally had the funding and time to create and implement a curriculum that reflected the community- and neighborhood-based model we were developing. The goal of the project was to teach students–through field trips, local hikes, map-making, and visits with local environmental educators–how to identify hidden bodies of water in Washington, D.C.; why and how buried streams affect the health of the Anacostia River; how litter affects D.C.’s bodies of water, particularly the Anacostia; and how daylighting (or restoring) buried streams reduces stormwater runoff and improves the health of our waterways.

As part of this grant, we created a free, web-based resource for educators and families.

Kars4Kids: How many schools take advantage of your classroom activities? Can you tell us about the activities?

Elana Mintz: We work with schools through partnerships that might last an entire school year or part of a school year, and we also work with teachers to help them incorporate outdoor learning into their school day. The most successful are when we can see children regularly, know their names, and share with them activities they can do at home, back in their classrooms, or with neighbors. These might include an exploration of impervious and pervious surfaces on their block or on school grounds, a hike to learn about local Black history, or a walk to identify and measure the age of local trees. We are working on a guide that shows all of the curriculum connections that are possible through our lessons. We may have an idea that outdoor learning means environmental education. It goes far beyond that–it’s taking a broader look at how to bring the outdoors into the classroom, and how to bring the classroom outside.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the importance of getting kids—especially city kids—outside? 

Elana Mintz: I don’t think there’s any more important time than right now, but it’s been urgent for many years. Our educational approach is based on containment–we seem to think that children are safer indoors, and that outside equals recess while indoors equals learning. This is particularly damaging for children with attention deficits, and it has led to problems during the pandemic. The evidence on the benefits of the outdoors for physical and mental health is well established. But I think what we don’t accept yet is how much learning happens when children of all ages are outside, getting to know their natural and built environment, making connections, and asking questions.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Elana Mintz: This has been the most difficult time in our organization’s history, but it’s also been the most innovative. We struggled financially, but we also came through this period more nimble than we ever thought we could be. We began running fully outdoor programs that didn’t rely on an indoor space, and we started helping other organizations and educators think through how to make outdoor learning accessible at a time when children were desperately in need of social connections and stress-reducing activities. Between September 2020 and August 2021, we saw 450 children in fully outdoor, masked programs. Many of those children returned regularly, and we offered easy, no-questions-asked scholarships for every family that needed them. We didn’t have a single incident of COVID, and for many families, it was their first time bringing their child to a group activity. It was a scary time, but also incredibly exciting, and just beautiful to be able to be together safely.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Urban Adventure Squad?

Elana Mintz: A sustainable future! We have a chance to grow and to reach more students in every ward of the city, and to reach children for whom nature feels inaccessible or distant. Urban Adventure Squad is a founding member of the DC Coalition for Equitable Outdoor Education, and we want to make sure that outdoor education does not remain the realm of private schools and early childhood programs. Outdoor learning is for everyone; it doesn’t require expensive infrastructure or equipment. For most of the programs that Urban Adventure Squad runs, educators carry everything we need in a backpack and a tote bag.

Code Savvy is aptly named, ensuring that kids gain a good grasp of coding along with other computer science skills. Computer science is arguably the most important discipline for getting ahead in today’s world of technology. And if kids aren’t getting this knowledge in public school, they will be at a disadvantage when it comes time to pursue a higher education or a career.

We see computer science education as critical to the future of today’s children. It made sense then, to lend our support to an organization that is focused on working to fill gaps left unfilled in the classroom. We interviewed Code Savvy Executive Director Valerie Lockhart to learn how this organization is making sure that kids don’t lose out on learning these skills so key to their success:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic—the kids you serve?

Valerie Lockhart: Most of the kids we serve come from areas where Computer Science is either deprioritized or not provided due to budget constraints or a lack of internal capacity. The kids come from diverse backgrounds and are typically hungry for STEM learning.

Kars4Kids: Your youth programs offer opportunities for children to engage in coding activities. Why are these programs needed? Why is our public school system not offering such programs?

Valerie Lockhart: Our programs are needed because these are the skills everyone needs for the future. They expand critical thinking and problem-solving skills – which equate to success in higher education, and any careers these kids will eventually go on to hold. A lot of times, our public schools are so tightly funded and stretched so thin, they don’t have the capacity to build these programs internally, which is what brings them to partner with us.

Kars4Kids: Code Savvy offers hands-on training to educators in computer science. Can you give us an overview of this initiative?

Valerie Lockhart: Each year we host a cohort of teachers (about 15) who get monthly lessons in how to integrate technology and computational thinking into their day-to-day curriculum. These lessons come in the form of workshops and guest speakers and give the teachers an opportunity to learn collaboratively so they can take the concepts and lessons back to their classrooms. The cohort expectations are that they will develop at least one hybrid curriculum of their own, as well as pay it forward through mentoring up to 10 other teachers in their area on the lessons they’ve learned through the cohort.

Kars4Kids: Your AI Racing League teaches important concepts in a fun way. What skills do children learn in this program?

Valerie Lockhart: Through the AI Racing league, kids learn more about the Python programming language, general concepts in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, and overall computational thinking.

Kars4Kids: You’re offering CoderDojo and this appears to be a global movement. What do kids get out of CoderDojo, and what is the idea behind having a global coding movement for children?

Valerie Lockhart: CoderDojo is a global movement that we have been working with and coordinating for many years. Kids get a safe space where they can explore, receive guidance, and gain experience working with programs like Scratch, Raspberry Pis, and Python programming. It’s also a great example of cohort learning, where more experienced kids can then mentor younger, less experienced students and pass on the knowledge they’ve gained through being a part of the program.

Kars4Kids: Technovation seems to be for older students and sounds like an exciting program. It’s likely that a lot of adults wouldn’t mind having something like it! Can you give our readers an overview of the Technovation curriculum and how it relates to the Technovation Challenge?

Valerie Lockhart: Technovation is also a global initiative that we have been working with and coordinating for many years. Through a 12-week session, groups of girls are given access to a curriculum that includes design thinking, user experience, and app development components. The goal is that each team will develop an app that will solve problems they see in their community. By working with mentors from the business community, the girls design, develop and pitch their ideas and the whole season culminates in a huge event where the girls get a chance to present their apps to the community. It’s an amazing opportunity for girls to get experience with product development and entrepreneurship, as well as exposure to new tech concepts and platforms.

Kars4Kids: Code Savvy also has summer coding camps, in conjunction with The Works Museum. How and why did this partnership come about? What’s the camp like?

Valerie Lockhart: We partner with The Works Museum to provide half-day coding camps as a part of their summer programming. Code Savvy’s founder, Rebecca Schatz, was also a part of the team that developed The Works Museum, and so we’ve been partners from the very beginning as a means of bringing technology programming to more students. The camps, moved to a virtual platform due to COVID, are a great way for students to learn about web development, and to develop skills in HTML, CSS, and Javascript.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Valerie Lockhart: In March of 2020, we moved all of our operations online. Now that the schools have opened up again, we are providing in-school programming, but most of our CoderDojo and Code Camps are still being held virtually. We were already a remote-first company for our operations, so that didn’t change us that drastically, but the programming is now functioning through more of a hybrid model as threats and opportunities wax and wane.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Code Savvy?

Valerie Lockhart: Our organization is currently going through a new 5-year strategic planning session, and we have new people in some very pivotal roles – myself included. We will be focusing on listening to our community needs, partnering with organizations that are providing some of the peripheral and complementary services, and doing what we can to expand our offerings to more of the areas that need them. We have a great footprint in the Twin Cities and Rochester areas, but part of our goals include expansion to more of Minnesota, including the North Shore, Mankato, and St. Cloud. Additionally, we will be developing and expanding our virtual offerings to include more informational workshops and accessible learning opportunities for people of all ages.

Math Circles of Chicago (MC2) offers math enrichment to the youth of Chicago, free of charge. The activities on offer are so much fun that according to Executive Director Doug O’Roark the kids often don’t even realize they’re learning math. We live in a high-tech world, which makes it more important than ever to ensure that kids from every sector have access to quality STEM programming. This was reason enough, in our view, to lend a hand to MC2by way of our small grants program.

We spoke with Doug O’Roark to learn more about the important work of Math Circles of Chicago:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic—the kids you serve.

Doug O’Roark: We serve 5^th to 12^th graders across Chicago. We are trying to make high quality math enrichment available to anyone interested. We believe the focus of math class and math/STEM enrichment programs often send the message that math isn’t for everyone. Math IS for everyone.

Kars4Kids: Your website talks about creating opportunities for kids to develop a passion for mathematics. Some children may actually be frightened of math—especially if they are more “right-brained”—and with dyslexia so prevalent, it’s likely that dyscalculia is also an issue for many children. How does your programming overcome what seems to be a kind of math phobia?

Doug O’Roark: We have a heavy focus on community building. Relationships and strong norms are important. We want to create a culture where mistakes are seen as valuable opportunities to learn. Creating such a culture requires teachers who really know what they are doing; we have a strong teacher community that talks about teaching, reflects about their teaching experience at MC², who attend workshops, and who seek out and receive one on one coaching.

Our activities are designed to be accessible. The math we do is significant, important mathematics. But the experience itself is usually given through the context of a game or a puzzle. Anyone can join in. These games and puzzles are often physical—every math circle teacher has a collection of cards, dice, games, folding paper, coins, etc., etc. Sometimes our kids wonder why they aren’t doing math (trust us, they are).

“Our kids wonder why they aren’t doing math (trust us, they are)”

Kars4Kids: MC2 programs are offered free of charge. What entered into the decision to make your programming cost-free?

Doug O’Roark: We were fortunate enough back in 2011 to get an initial gift to get math circles started in Chicago where we could pay teachers and not charge a fee to students. Since then, we’ve grown our fundraising so that we’ve been able to keep the programming free—Kars4Kids is helping us continue this! So we’ve done it because we are able to do so.

But much more importantly, we don’t want there to be any barrier to a student joining a math circle. Our programs are free, and we hold them all over the city. We want to keep growing, stay free, and eventually have sessions in every neighborhood in the city. We want it to be clear that everyone is welcome.

Everyone is Welcome

Kars4Kids: How do math circles work?

Doug O’Roark: No session is absolutely typical—sessions are generally standalone so that if you are absent one day you’ll be just fine the next time you attend. Almost every session does have a few key elements in common, though: (1) There’s a community builder, that may be mathematical or not. We want to get every student talking within the first 10 minutes of the session; (2) A puzzle, a game, a situation that makes students curious—so students might play a game like Nim, where the rules are very simple, and they almost immediately think about strategies for winning the game. The mathematics emerges from the game; (3) Students get a chance to ask their own questions. If it’s a game, they might ask about what’s the best strategy and how they could be sure that strategy was best, and they might wonder what happens when they change the rules; (4) Students share their thinking and make connections. They may see connections between what they did in math circles and in school, or with a different puzzle they did at another time, or a pattern that they’ve seen before. Notice that there are some things we generally do not do—we don’t give math lectures, and we don’t hold competitions. Our emphasis is on student agency and student collaboration.

Emphasis on Exploration

Kars4Kids: Why do kids need math enrichment beyond what they receive in the classroom?

Doug O’Roark: There are many, many wonderful math teachers in Chicago. But the curriculum they teach from is often constrained, and the students’ view of math may be very limited. In math circles we study chaos, group theory, topology, game theory, continued fractions, non-Euclidean geometry—and, to be clear, we almost never tell the students that they are studying these things—we avoid “fancy language” until it’s developmentally appropriate. We want students to have a broader view of math than they may develop from school alone.

A lot of time can be spent in school learning procedures which, frankly, isn’t really doing mathematics—re-enacting a process that someone else is telling you how to do is fundamentally not mathematical. We’re trying to give students an experience where the emphasis is continually on exploration. It’s hard to emphasize exploration as much in school as we do in math circles.

Kars4Kids: MC2 sponsors a program called QED. Can you give us an overview of this math symposium?

Doug O’Roark: A math symposium is very much like a science fair. Students come up with their own math or computer science research idea, explore it, make some kind of generalization and prove their result, and then present that result at QED. They write a paper and create a poster board, give an oral presentation to two judges, and receive detailed feedback from those judges. We use a rubric and rate projects as Successful, Distinguished, or Highly Distinguished. Note that QED is not a competition—we don’t rank projects against each other; we set a standard and students try to reach as high as they can.

Math Circle Lottery

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your lottery.

Doug O’Roark: It’s fairly simple—for our 8 Hubs across the city, along with our online classrooms, students new to MC2 rank their top choices. Most students get their first choice. Students re-enrolling automatically get to keep their spots; otherwise Chicago Public School students have highest priority for students who enter the lottery. After the lottery, open spots are first come, first serve.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about your Math Circle summer camps?

Doug O’Roark: For the upcoming summer we are planning to have a two week, all day summer camp for Rising 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders. We really want these to feel like true camps, with fun math circle activities like we usually offer along with “free math time,” athletics, breakfast and lunch, and more!

For high schoolers we are hoping that Eugenia Cheng, a world famous mathematician, author, pianist, and chef (!), will return to lead a camp. Dr. Cheng is the scientist in residence at the Art Institute, and has led camps for us for several years.

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected your operations?

Doug O’Roark: We almost immediately moved all of our sessions online after the advent of Covid (I think it took us about two weeks to get up and running after Covid really struck in mid-March 2020). For the 2020-2021 school year, along with our 2020 and 2021 summer camps, we were online for all of our program levels. To support student collaboration, we generally had 3 teachers in every online classroom (usually led by a school teacher, and assisted by undergraduate and high school student volunteers). We learned a lot about offering online sessions and while we generally returned to in-person programming in the fall of 2021, we continue to offer four online classrooms and will be adding two more this winter. By the fall of 2022 I’m hoping our in-person Hub programs will get back to the enrollment we had in 2019 (800+ students), and at the same time we may offer online sessions at all 5 of our program levels. As for any program, Covid was a real challenge, but it was an opportunity to learn and grow too.

Coming Up Next

Kars4Kids: What’s next for MC2?

Doug O’Roark: As I said, we are committed to reaching all children. Our traditional programs are called ‘Hubs’—these are locations where kids come from many different schools. These are large but require a lot of administrative support and have limited geographical reach.

We have a new program that’s growing rapidly, that I think of when you ask “What’s next?” We call it Math Circles in a Box/MC2iaB. Here, our programs are led by teachers in their own after school programs. This is, of course, a traditional way to do an after-school program. We are starting to do this now because our activity plans are so well developed that we can hand them off to these teachers (while also providing coaching support and workshops) and they can lead them in weekly sessions with their own children. My hope is that by the end of this year we will be in 20-25 schools; in 5 years I hope this program will be running in more than 100 schools in Chicago.

We are also expanding by partnering with other STEM organizations that can incorporate our work into their programs. We already have an active partnership with Chicago Hopes for Kids to bring math circles into homeless shelters. We are working now to integrate our sessions into MAPSCorps programming, a program run by the Urban League, and Sunshine Gospel Ministry in Woodlawn. We are really just getting started here, but ultimately I think these partnerships can be a very cost efficient way to bring our activities and approach to even more children across Chicago.

Higher Achievement doesn’t call its participants “students,” but “scholars.” That’s the growth mindset that is yielding results for middle school students in the DC area. The organization offers intensive programming to help close the education gap for those living in low-income neighborhoods. Largely, Higher Achievement succeeds, and that success is what led us to award a small grant to this organization. We spoke to Higher Achievement Executive Director Thalia Washington to learn more:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your demographic?

Thalia Washington: Higher Achievement serves middle school scholars across the District of Columbia, Alexandria, VA, and Greenbelt, MD. Our scholars are talented young people, and Higher Achievement supports their academic success during the critical middle school years.

Addressing the Opportunity Gap

 

Kars4Kids: Higher Achievement addresses inequity. Can you talk about that? What sort of opportunity gaps exist for your participants?

Thalia Washington: Higher Achievement focuses our work in communities where there is a historical and systemic disparity in resources and access to opportunities for students. The opportunity gap that we target is equal access to the DC metro area’s high-performing public schools. Too often, students of color and students from low-income families are concentrated in the city’s lowest performing schools.

In addition, graduating middle school students in DC can apply to any high school that best suits their goals, but the application processes are complicated and competitive and can be daunting for families furthest from opportunity to navigate. Higher Achievement’s role is to bridge that gap and support scholars and families through the process of learning about the high school landscape, applying and matriculating to rigorous, college preparatory high schools. We do this through academic enrichment and small-group high school readiness mentoring and high school placement coaching during middle school.

Kars4Kids: How do students come to take part in your programming? Are the students referred to you by the schools? What are the eligibility requirements?

Thalia Washington: Higher Achievement recruits students of all levels of academic achievement into our program. On average students come to us with a 2.5 GPA (or a “C” average), placing them in the academic middle. By graduation from the program in 8^th grade, the average scholar grade is an “A minus.”

We intentionally apply an equity lens to scholar recruitment by making presentations in individual classrooms, participating in open houses at the school, and following up by phone with all prospective families. Scholars are also often referred to us by teachers and counselors. We know that if we only filled our open seats with scholars whose families proactively seek us out we would miss scholars who could benefit and we would be replicating inequities that already exist due to language barriers, work schedules, and general knowledge about out of school time opportunities.

“High-Impact” Tutoring

 

Kars4Kids: You offer “high-impact” tutoring. Can you explain how this type of tutoring differs from basic tutoring sessions?

Thalia Washington: Yes! “High-impact” refers to standards for program dosage and quality that are proven by research to be successful in supporting students in recovering lost learning, which is especially important as students return to school in-person after a year of virtual learning. High-impact tutoring programs are held at least three times per week for a minimum of 45 minutes per session, and students work with a trained tutor in groups of four or fewer.

Specifically Higher Achievement offers literacy tutoring in this high-impact format to target lost learning from the interrupted school year. This personalized approach will support our scholars in reading comprehension, reading, and communication skills.

Kars4Kids: Higher Achievement offers mentoring. Can you give us an overview of how it works, and describe your goal for providing mentors to your participants?

Thalia Washington: Mentoring is at the center of Higher Achievement’s programming. We have seen over our years of work that the relationships that our community mentors build with scholars in the program have real positive results – both for the scholar and the mentor. For scholars, having someone outside of school and home who is on your side and encouraging you can be transformative, and our mentors stay with the same group of scholars throughout their time volunteering so that these relationships can flourish.

Mentors works with our scholars each week on a high school readiness curriculum that our staff designed to build scholar confidence, expose them to their high school options, and in 8^th grade, support applying and enrolling in their best-fit high school.

“Last, Best Chance to stay on-track for College.”

 

Kars4Kids: Higher Achievement works with students in 5^th-8^th grades. Why have you chosen to focus on this age group specifically?

Thalia Washington: Middle school is a student’s last, best chance to stay on-track for college. It’s a critical time of growth, change, and goal-setting, and when students capitalize on this time to invest in their futures through their grades and their personal development, they are setting themselves up for long-term success.

The path to college and post-secondary attainment begins in middle school when students make the choice to commit themselves to their goals and develop a path to get there. Higher Achievement’s role is to help them make these first steps by supporting their academic enrichment, social-emotional learning, and high school enrollment.

High Expectations

 

Kars4Kids: What sort of time commitment comes with enrollment in Higher Achievement?

Thalia Washington: Higher Achievement asks students and families to commit to our program for four years, which is a lot! We set high expectations for our scholars because our program is most effective as scholars build on each year’s successes. Scholars meet at minimum twice per week for three hours after school for 29 weeks during the school year.

Kars4Kids: Do you have a summer program? Can you tell us about that?

Thalia Washington: We know it’s important to keep scholars engaged year-round, so Higher Achievement does stay in touch with our families during the summer. We hold family engagement meetings with scholars and families to discuss the previous year and set goals for the coming school year, particularly looking at the scholar’s high school goals and what we can do to help them get there.

Higher Achievement also encourages our scholars to keep an eye on the college goal, and each summer we hold college trips to local universities in the DC metro area. These trips are fun, energetic, and informational as scholars walk on campus, take a class in a lecture hall, and learn more about the rewards and rigors of the college experience. They’re always a scholar favorite!

Shifting to the Virtual Model

 

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected the work you do, if at all?

Thalia Washington: As was experienced by educators and students everywhere, the pandemic was hard on our organization. Higher Achievement is traditionally in-person, but when schools closed their doors in 2020, we had to quickly transition to an entirely virtual model. This virtual model incorporated new program elements to target our scholars’ top needs, like personalized math support and opportunities to learn and engage with their friends.

We are proud to have implemented this virtual model for the entirety of the 2020-2021 school year, but we’re thrilled to be back in person for 2021-2022! Higher Achievement is now targeting our program to provide the personalized learning opportunities that were lacking in the virtual setting so that our scholars not only regain lost learning, but continue to set goals and excel.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Higher Achievement?

Thalia Washington: Higher Achievement is focused now on supporting students through academic learning recovery while paying special attention to their social emotional needs during this period of transition back to in-person learning. We are continuing to recruit more students who were impacted by the pandemic, and we are looking closely at the research as well as listening to our scholars, families, and school partners to provide programming that meets the current need, particularly through our high-impact literacy tutoring and high school readiness mentoring.

Orion Area Youth Assistance (OAYA) does what it can to ensure that students get the support and tools they need to cope with often challenging circumstances. Helping kids before they get into trouble, or helping them recover from a bout with the criminal justice system is all about having consistent, caring adults in their lives. It’s also about programming that keeps kids engaged while they learn and have fun, too. Kars4Kids was pleased to be able to lend a hand to OAYA by way of our small grants program.

We had a chat with Orion Area Youth Assistance Caseworker Amber Kish to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic? 

Amber Kish: We work with students and families who live within the Lake Orion Community School District boundaries. We work with students from 4 to 17 years old. Our students have many different family situations including various socio-economic statuses.

Students are referred for many different reasons from a variety of sources. Nearly 90% of our referrals are “prevention” referrals. These referrals are students who may be struggling academically or behaviorally or who are experiencing social/emotional challenges or a change in family situation.

As a prevention-based program, we like to see the majority of our students coming in for services before they have any interactions with the juvenile justice system. We know the earlier we can intervene and provide support to students and families, the sooner we can hopefully provide tools for them to manage whatever stressful events are occurring in their lives and reduce the behaviors that often accompany distress for youth. The more tools they have in their tool belts, the less likely students are to become involved in the criminal justice system or be victimized.

Approximately 10% of our students come to us from referrals from law enforcement agencies or our county prosecutor’s office. These are generally students with a first-time, misdemeanor offense. They are referred to us under what is considered a “diversion” referral. If students choose to participate in the program and they complete their individual program successfully, no charges will be brought for the misdemeanor offense in court. If the student chooses not to participate or does not complete successfully, then charges may be brought in official court. Our program presents an opportunity for students who have made a poor choice to correct course, offer reparations in some form to the community, and make better choices moving forward without juvenile adjudication.

Finally, approximately 1 % of our students have been adjudicated and are now part of what is called a “re-entry” program. In these cases, students have been adjudicated through the juvenile court for an offense. A team of professionals, including our local caseworker, work with the students and their families from the day the students begin their residential program, getting services in place and preparing for the students to re-enter their communities. Regardless of how our students and families come to us or for what reason, we believe that helping to strengthen connections between the child and family and between the family and our community can have powerful and positive outcomes. 

Kars4Kids: Parents pay a one-time processing fee of $25 for the counseling services you provide. Is that largely a symbolic fee? What is the importance of the symbolic fee? 

Amber Kish: The $25 fee serves to cover the cost of processing our files and is paid directly to the 6^th Circuit of Oakland County – Family Division. Symbolically, it does represent a commitment to participate in services, however if this fee is a barrier to a family participating in services, it can be reduced or waived. We want to ensure that finances are never a barrier to any family receiving services.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us about the various summer camps you run? Are these camps free of charge? How many children attend these camps? 

Amber Kish: In the past, OAYA has run its own early childhood summer camp for pre-K students. Families who demonstrated financial need were provided scholarships for anywhere from 90% up to 100% of the cost of the camp. Approximately 25 students attended the early childhood summer camps.

Now we primarily provide scholarships for camps run by local agencies such as Lake Orion Community Schools Enrichment Services, Orion Township Parks and Rec, and other local programs. Most children attend day camps; however, we do have partnerships with a handful of local overnight camp programs and offer a limited number of overnight camp scholarships as well.

Both day and overnight scholarships generally pay for 90% of the cost of one week of camp for our students with the family covering the remaining 10%. Again, we never want finances to be a barrier to participation so if a family cannot afford the 10%, arrangements are made to ensure this cost does not prevent a child from being able to attend summer camp. Additionally, our board of directors recognizes that attending camp often comes with additional costs for families beyond the enrollment fees. In these situations, the Board has authorized assistance, providing items needed to attend camp where OAYA finances allow. Approximately 50-75 students take advantage of our camp scholarship program in an average year, engaging in opportunities to step outside their comfort zones; strengthen social skills, learn problem-solving skills and how to work with others; and make new friends and memories. 

Kars4Kids: What is an enrichment scholarship? How many scholarships do you provide in an average year? 

Amber Kish: OAYA understands enrichment activities are important for all students. Enrichment scholarships are used to supplement the cost of activities for students with financial need throughout the year. These are activities meant to nurture learning and strengthen or build new skills. We have provided scholarships for activities from art/music lessons, swimming lessons, athletic classes/teams, college prep tours, and Lego and robotics classes as well as specialized therapeutic programs and driver education courses in certain situations. The number of scholarships provided varies depending on our budget for the year, however an average of 10-15 students receive enrichment scholarships each year. 

Kars4Kids: You offer family education programs. Can you tell us about some of the events and programs you’ve run for families? 

Amber Kish: Each year, OAYA’s Board of Directors looks at trends, available area programming, and needs to determine programs they will offer. Some of the programs we offer on a yearly basis (Covid-restrictions allowing) are:

• Family Fun Fest with carnival games, crafts, petting zoo, bounce houses, photo booths, public safety personnel/vehicles, and snacks/food. This event is completely free, aimed at encouraging families and children to put the electronics away and engage in fun together. 
• Youth Recognition – (see more below.)
• Child Abuse Prevention Month – we partner with Care House of Oakland County, our local specialist organization on child abuse and prevention, to provide body safety presentations to students in early childhood programs as well as facilitating “pinwheel gardens” throughout the community to raise awareness of child abuse and the need for early and frequent prevention-based programming 
• Back-to-School supplies distribution – we partner with Operation Homefront and our local Dollar Tree stores who collect school supply donations and provide them to us for distribution to local military families and families with financial need
• Holiday Mart – we again partner with Operation Homefront and our local Dollar Tree stores who collect donated items prior to the December holidays. We have created a Holiday Mart where our local Head Start students are paired up with student volunteers from our local Alternative High School to shop together for gifts for their family members. Children are allowed to select one toy for themselves and one gift for each member of their immediate families. Volunteers then help the children to wrap their gifts while they have cocoa and visit with their high school volunteer and/or Mrs. Claus if they would like.
• Just the Facts Math Club – (see below.)

Other programs that we have offered include: Parent support group to address stressors of parenting and how to navigate the pandemic; Human Trafficking 101 for education and awareness; Dating Violence for Teens for teens and parents; educational programming on vaping and alcohol abuse; and programming on diversity, equity, and inclusion with local adult and student panelists. 

Kars4Kids: How many volunteers and children are in your Mentors Plus program? Can you give us an overview of this program? Do the kids you serve ever come back to volunteer with OAYA? 

Amber Kish: Due to Covid-restrictions, we are currently down to three adult-student matches, but are looking to increase these partnerships as restrictions are removed. With the Mentors Plus program, adults in our community commit to a minimum of one year volunteering to meet with a young person for at least an hour or two a week. Many of our matches meet more often. Volunteers are vetted at the county level through Oakland County Circuit Court and are provided with training prior to being matched with a child.

This program allows students to meet one-on-one with a caring adult to develop important supportive relationships and engage in fun activities together. Matches meet individually and the program provides free tickets and other group activities for the mentor/mentee matches to come together as a group from time to time, to connect and celebrate their developing relationships. While matches commit to one year, many of our matches continue on for many years beyond the one year commitment. I have not been around long enough yet to see a mentee come back as a mentor, but I could certainly see this happening as both our mentees and our mentors report gaining much from the program! 

Kars4Kids: OAYA has a math club! These must be some pretty special youngsters. Can you tell us about the kids and the program? 

Amber Kish: We love our Just the Facts Math Club for SO many reasons! It is a partnership between OAYA, Lake Orion United Methodist Church, Blanche Sims Elementary School, and volunteers from Lake Orion High School’s National Math Honor Society. Our LOHS National Math Honor Society students work with four adult volunteers (mainly retired teachers) to put together fun math games and activities that focus on improving knowledge of “math facts.”

Studies show that students who are not at grade level with math facts by the end of third grade will continue to struggle with math throughout their educational careers, often falling behind. Third grade students from Blanche Sims Elementary meet with our student and adult volunteers once a week, afterschool, on site. They have a healthy snack and then dive in to fun games and activities that encourage a love of math and learning as well as strengthening skills, helping them to meet their educational goals. 

Kars4Kids: You have a Youth Recognition Awards Ceremony where outstanding youth can win your Community Service Award. Can you tell us about some of the past awardees and their achievements?

Amber Kish: OAYA is an organization that relies on volunteers to provide programming, so we feel it is important to continue to nurture a love for giving back to our community. So many students are doing so many incredible things, and we look forward to honoring some of these students every year! Students have been recognized for going above and beyond, with some students being recognized for over 400 hours of community service!

Students have been recognized for participating in clean-ups and repair programs to help seniors and other local residents in need; mission work both in and out of our local area; work at our community library and with other local non-profit organizations; creating events and drives to collect supplies for frontline workers during the pandemic; drives to collect supplies for local animal shelters/rescue organizations; and volunteering time with seniors – for instance playing cards, and reading to the visually impaired, just to name a few. It is amazing all the great things our students are doing, some starting their volunteer work at very young ages. We have recognized students from elementary, middle school, and high school levels and continue to be inspired by their desire to help others! 

Kars4Kids: How did COVID-19 affect your operations? 

Amber Kish: The Covid-19 Pandemic has created several challenges for our program. Unfortunately, due to restrictions, we have had to cancel most programming as well as fundraising events. We rely on fundraising and donations from area businesses and individuals to fund programming. Due to the impact the pandemic has had on our local economy, it has made it difficult and often impossible for area businesses and individuals to be able to provide donations for the past two years, impacting the funds we have available to help area students and families. We are so very thankful for this Kars4Kids grant which will help us to offset some of this decline due to Covid. 

Additionally, the way we deliver services has been impacted. All counseling and casework services have been provided remotely. We are thankful for the technology to allow us to continue providing services remotely. We also recognize the challenges many families have with being able to afford internet connectivity as well as understanding the technology needed to be able to connect. We have been fortunate that when school is in session, each student is provided a device which helps to increase the number of families that are able to access these remote services; however, we recognize this solution does not work for everyone and has presented a barrier to receiving services for some.

Additionally, while some of our teen clients and clients with social anxiety report a level of comfort with the remote services, it is more difficult for some of our clients, especially our youngest clients, to engage in services remotely. We have done our best to make services as interactive as possible despite their remote nature. We were able to purchase some supplies at the beginning of the pandemic to drop on the porches of some of our youngest clients. Using a combination of technology and these supplies has allowed us to create more interactive experiences for our youngsters who learn best through play and interaction vs verbal communication.

In addition, it has been difficult for our clients to find camps and enrichment activities. Many camps did not run in 2020 and many ran at limited capacities in 2021. Extra-curricular and enrichment activities faced similar challenges. In order to counter some of those trends, we created a “Summer Camp in a Box” program with fun activities, materials, and directions for families to do together to mimic some of the fun activities students do at camp. Similarly, we expanded our enrichment scholarships and provided supplies to some students so that they could participate in on-line art classes as an alternative enrichment activity. We remain hopeful that circumstances will allow us to be face to face with our clients and able to conduct fundraising and educational as well as enrichment activities for families again soon!

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Orion Area Youth Assistance? 

Amber Kish: We recognize the pandemic has increased an already growing level of anxiety for many of our students and families. Additionally, there is a significant amount of grief and loss that has occurred over the past two years, from lost lives to lost expectations, a loss of connection and normality, lost experiences, and a loss of a sense of safety for many. We are ready to provide support to our families as they navigate these and other challenges. We are looking forward to reviving our parent support group; continuing to address diversity, equity, and inclusivity issues; and resuming educational programming for students and parents in areas of need and interest. We are eager to return to our face to face services when safe and yet are thankful to have the technology to continue remote services for those who are in need as sometimes transportation or other barriers make it challenging to come into the office to receive services or attend events.

While the pandemic has made it imperative for us to pivot (and pivot and pivot again!), we recognize that much of what we have learned can help us to expand our services and be more inclusive moving forward, and for that, we are thankful!

We are also excited to use the money from the Kars4Kids grant to start a new program that will be focused on building strong self-esteem and relationships in girls before they start middle school. We are still in the development stages, but we’re using the grant money provided to purchase curriculum to teach adult mentors who will run group sessions with 5^th grade girls to teach critical skills that will help the girls navigate middle and high school. We want to help them avoid the pitfalls we’ve witnessed through the years such as dating violence; pressure to send inappropriate photographs; and pressure to drink, vape, use illegal substances, or act out sexually. OAYA is extremely grateful for the funding from Kars4Kids to make this program possible. We are in the process of selecting and training mentors now as well as creating selection criteria for which girls to serve in the pilot program. We plan to launch the program once the pandemic restrictions in our schools are lifted.

Foster Hearts is one those nonprofits that just grabs hold of your heart and doesn’t let go. Imagine kids left waiting in a social worker’s office with no place to go and only the clothes on their backs. Think of foster parents who receive monies too late to provide for the needs of their young charges, and you begin to understand the challenge. Foster Heart fills the gaping holes in our foster care system, to help the children and their new families, feel a little more whole.

We know that with Foster Hearts, our small grant award will be going to an important cause and serve critical needs for some very vulnerable children. We spoke with Executive Director Shala Crow to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: You have ample experience with foster parenting. Can you tell us about your professional and personal experiences with fostering?

Shala Crow: My husband and I have fostered over fifty children and are also the adoptive family of three siblings. In serving as the program director of Fostering Together, I served foster parents in a wide variety of ways, with training, events, support groups, and other resources. Our mission was to advocate for foster parents and helping them keep fostering.

When the Fostering Together program ended, the need was still there. I created Foster Hearts in order to continue the support for foster families. In addition to my nonprofit work, I served for 10 years as a representative for Washington State’s 1624 Foster Parent Consultation Team, Region 3, and recently became a volunteer member for the Foster Parent Association of Washington State (FPAWS).

Kars4Kids: How do you identify the foster families and children you help?

Shala Crow: Foster Hearts works closely with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF), social workers, private agencies, court appointed advocates, and by word of mouth. We also have a large online presence and they find us there.

Kars4Kids: Foster Hearts was established in June 2020. How many foster children and families have you managed to assist since that time?

Shala Crow: In the short time we have been established we have helped over 1500 children in foster care within the 5 counties we cover.

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us some of the ways in which you’ve enriched the lives of the foster children who come to your attention?

Shala Crow: Foster Hearts provides care kits to children entering foster care. The kits include clothing and hygiene products for 3 days, along with other essentials like a book, diapers, pullups, formula, stuffed animal, and a blanket. We also have our Food 4 Fosters Program to help diminish food insecurities for children who are in foster care. Another great program is our Education & Experiences program where we can help fund camps, education needs, and normal childhood experiences like going to the zoo. Foster Hearts also has the Foster Closet program where children in foster care can come shop at the Foster Closet for free. We offer clothing, shoes, coats, socks, undies, hygiene products, toys, books, and equipment. This program is available for any child who resides in foster care. We provide wishes for Birthdays and work with other great programs to enrich the lives of children in foster care.

From one of our foster parents:

“I received care kits for a 2-month-old and a 9-year-old, and I can’t put into words how wonderful as well as helpful they were. You can tell there was alot of thought went into them and the quality of the items were so nice. As you know, the children came last minute under crisis situations and come with no belongings, and I did not have much time to prepare. To be able to get such a complete care kit with everything we might need, was really a blessing. I really appreciated the quality of the personal hygiene items that were in the bags as well as the nice P. J’s. It sure was nice to have pacifiers for the baby as well as a substantial number of diapers. My nine-year-old foster son really appreciated the fidget type toy and was excited to have his own nice duffle bag with pockets as well as a set of pajamas where the top and bottom matched.

Thank you again for providing such a valuable resource to foster families.

Sincerely, one very appreciative foster parent.”

Kars4Kids: What are some of the supports foster parents lack that Foster Hearts provides?

Shala Crow: Foster Hearts can provide caregivers with many concrete resources and offer effective system navigation and caregiver guidance with the expertise of the founders’ “boots on the ground” personal and professional experiences. Foster Hearts offers resources to foster parent that are not already met by Washington State or other programs. We are able to provide many extra supports such as care kits; apparel through our Foster Closet program; enrichment through our Education & Experiences program for youth in foster care, along with supporting them through our liaison program.

Kars4Kids: According to your website, one of the most needed items for foster children is underwear. That is somehow so heartbreaking. Why is such a basic necessity out of reach for so many of these children?

Shala Crow: Almost all children come into foster care with just what they are wearing. Coming into care happens so fast that they are typically not able to pack up any of their personal items. While foster parents are given a clothing stipend (typically a one- time $100 to $200 clothing voucher) to buy all the child’s clothing needs including shoes, coats, socks, and underwear, it most often comes 3-4 weeks after the child is placed in a foster home. While most foster homes try to keep extra clothing in the home, depending on the ages they are licensed for, this is not always possible.

Foster children deserve new clean underwear, and we try to help provide that. Many of our kids have issues with incontinence due to trauma and neglect and may go through a lot of underwear while adjusting to the new home. I had one 4-year-old little girl come to my home just for 2 nights until they found a relative she could go stay with. We had given her a new package of Dora the Explorer underwear to have the first night she came. When her social worker came to pick her up, she asked me if she could take the new undies with her. I said, “Of course! All the items we have provided for you since you came you can take with you.”

She jumped up and down; she was so happy and smiling and set to showing her social worker the undies still in the package. Sometimes what seem like small things to us, are big things to them.

Kars4Kids: Your website states that sometimes foster parents only learn that a child will arrive mere hours before this happens. How do they know to get in touch with Foster Hearts and what kind of assistance do you offer in a case such as this?

Shala Crow: It is very unusual that a foster home has a day or more to plan for a new foster child. We have set up our program with private Facebook groups for caregivers to post what they need, and they can also fill out the online request form, call, text, or email us for needs. Also, the child’s social worker will often call and give us a heads up about the child’s needs and how we can support those needs. Foster Hearts volunteers and staff personally deliver equipment, care kits, diapers, and more directly to the foster home. We can also open the Foster Closet to enable the caregiver to bring the child in to shop at any time. We know how stressful it can be when new children come into the home so we try to provide multiple ways they can reach us at any time.

Kars4Kids: One of the ways Foster Hearts helps foster children is by providing food and snacks to compensate for food insecurity. Can you talk about this? Don’t foster parents provide food for the children they foster?

Shala Crow: Foster parents do provide food to foster children. Licensed foster homes have a monthly reimbursement to provide for each child in their care. One of the problems is the reimbursement comes 30 days after the child or children are placed in their home. Relative or kinship providers, if not running a licensed foster home, do not, however, qualify for the reimbursement. The purpose of our Food 4 Fosters program is to offer resources and ongoing support to foster children and to those who care for them.

In our community are many who were directly impacted by Covid-19 and/or have a foster child experiencing food insecurities due to trauma and neglect. One of the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic is food insecurity among foster family households. Food insecurity occurs when a household has difficulty providing enough food due to a lack of resources. Each foster or adopted child has a unique food history that you can “read” by paying attention to their behaviors around food. They have learned they cannot trust adults to feed them. They may fear they will not get enough to eat and are likely to hoard food if they can. A substantial portion of the families we serve (including foster families, adoptive foster families, and kinship/relative foster families) report having insufficient funds to purchase food or items for the children they foster or adopt who are experiencing issues with hoarding food or other expressions of food insecurity.

We also have a free online program for foster children to participate in called Kids Cook Real Food. This online program shows kids how to cook healthy and make healthy food choices.

From one of our foster parents: “We both have lost our jobs due to COVID-19 and just took in two new placements making us a family of 6 kids and 2 adults. We are really struggling to make it right now and could use some help. Both of our new foster placements have food hording issues that we need help with.”

Our program can help by providing food, gift cards for food delivery and diapers/wipes to foster homes and snacks provided for parent visits and to the Department of Children, Youth, and Families for children waiting in the office for placement. When foster children come into care, Washington State does not provide any funding for the child until 30 days after the placement of the child. This is leaving many of our foster families struggling to make it each month due to many who are now unemployed or staying home to homeschool our foster youth. We also provide snacks to our CPS offices for children who are in the offices waiting for their social worker to find them a foster home or if they are traveling longer distances to visit their parents.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your work?

Shala Crow: The pandemic put us in overdrive. The needs are real for caregivers and foster children. While the number of children coming into foster care was reduced, the trauma and fear of the pandemic left many children with food insecurity, behavioral issues, a dearth of computers and internet for home schooling, stressed-out foster parents, and other significant problems. Foster Hearts was able to bridge the gap for many families regarding clothing, food, diapers, formula, computers, and more. We did a lot of porch drop-offs and phone calls, walking parents through tough times and the difficult behaviors of the children they were caring for. Many foster homes were struggling at Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were able to offer Thanksgiving baskets and holiday gifts for those who needed the extra support.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Foster Hearts?

Shala Crow: What we know for sure is that unfortunately, there will always be kids coming into foster care, and there will always be foster parents needing support and resources. We have expanded this year to supporting the Extended Foster Care Youth program for kids ages 18-21 who have aged out of foster care and enrolled in this DCYF-provided program. This program requires participants to be enrolled in college and with a part time job.

We also would like to start in-person foster parent support groups as well as classes for birth and foster children. We hope to do all these things once Washington State allows us to start meeting in person in larger numbers again. As foster care continues to change so do the needs of foster families, and we hope to be able to pivot our programs to meet those needs head on!

Horton’s Kids came to our attention when we asked our followers for charity referrals for our small grant program. We figured they might like to tell us about charities that are doing great work for the children in their communities. Well, tell us they did, and a referral from follower Carmen Romero on behalf of Horton’s Kids struck a chord with us.

Horton’s Kids operates in some of the toughest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. This is an organization that is completely dedicated to narrowing the gap for underserved children. But it’s not just about the children. The centers make sure to include their families, making it a holistic experience that has the best chance of helping children be the best they can be.

We spoke with Horton’s Kids Executive Director Erica Ahdoot to learn more about the work of this organization:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your demographic—the kids you serve?

Erica Ahdoot: Horton’s Kids serves children and families living in Wellington Park and Stanton Oaks – two communities located in the Anacostia neighborhood of southeast DC. These communities have endured decades of systemic racism and disinvestment, depriving them of essentials like affordable housing, quality education, healthy meals, and basic safety. The children we serve have big dreams and the potential needed to achieve them – our goal is to remove barriers and provide them with the resources and services needed to achieve those dreams.

Kars4Kids: How long have you been in operation? How many children have you served over the years?

Erica Ahdoot: We have a 32-year history of being a supportive and guiding presence in Anacostia, with volunteers and staff who have been part of the organization for decades. The trusting relationships built by them with community members over many years has led to a deep understanding of the daily, and now generational, challenges families face. We serve over 500 children and their families annually.

Kars4Kids: Children in Horton’s Kids are more than twice as likely to graduate from high school, according to your website. What is Horton’s Kids doing right?

Erica Ahdoot: Horton’s Kids’ place-based model embeds us directly in the communities we serve. This allows us to evaluate and customize the services we’re providing, ensuring that we’re effectively meeting the needs of community members. Our holistic approach provides wraparound academic, youth development, family engagement, and health & wellness services. Because we personalize supports to the individual, we’re able to monitor progress and assess what supports need to be modified or included so that academic, social-emotional, and development milestones are met.

Additionally, our organization is made up of people who are fiercely dedicated to improving outcomes for children in underserved communities. It’s the volunteer who spends every Thursday night tutoring a child in reading. It’s the donor who commits a monthly gift to help sustain our programs. It’s the parents and staff members working together to ensure a child has an education plan that suits their learning needs. Everybody who is a part of Horton’s Kids wants and believes in the power of people to bring about change.

Kars4Kids: Why is there a need to supplement the education these children receive in public school? Where does Horton’s Kids come in?

Erica Ahdoot: Schools in southeast DC are chronically underperforming and most students read below grade level. We seek to close the academic gap for each child by providing one-on-one tutoring, literacy intervention, homework help, and educational advocacy.

Kars4Kids: How does Horton’s Kids encourage family participation in helping their children succeed, and what form does this participation take?

Erica Ahdoot: A healthy and stable household greatly contributes to a child’s wellbeing and success. Horton’s Kids partners closely with parents to promote their children’s progress, while providing families with essential resources that reduce stress and promote stability. We conduct regular household check-ins and offer services like parent discussion groups, game nights, employment resources, and food/supply distributions. We also have 6 parents on Horton’s Kids staff.

Kars4Kids: We hear a lot about “social-emotional learning.” Can you talk about that and how you help children develop their social emotional skills?

Erica Ahdoot: Social emotional learning or “youth development” as we call it, allows children to broaden their horizons, find new interests, and explore their strengths. We build on these skills by providing an impressive curriculum of enrichment programming to include cooking classes, college and career readiness programming, arts & crafts, team sports, field trips, mentoring and more. These activities also give participants the chance to enjoy their childhood.

Kars4Kids: Your center is outfitted with bullet-proof glass, a sad commentary on the state of the neighborhoods in which the children you serve, live. Can you talk about the prevalence of crime in the area where your two centers are located? How does this affect the children and parents in your programs?

Erica Ahdoot: Decades of structural racism and community disinvestment has had a tremendous impact on public safety in southeast DC. Children and families often feel fear and stress just leaving their homes. While we aim to operate safe and welcoming community resource centers for children and families, we’re also committed to identifying and removing additional barriers to opportunity and working to change the status quo.

Kars4Kids: You’ve had some pretty famous volunteers through the years. Can you do a little name-dropping for us?

Erica Ahdoot: CNN’s Jake Tapper is a long-time volunteer of Horton’s Kids. To this day, he and his son join us every Christmas to wrap gifts for participants in our programs. A few years back, we were featured in an episode of “Restaurant Impossible”, where Robert Irwin did a complete makeover of our Wellington Park Community Center. Michelle Obama even dropped by and helped us plant a community garden!

Kars4Kids: How has the pandemic affected the work you do?

Erica Ahdoot: The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted the inequalities experienced by residents living in Wellington Park and Stanton Oaks, where access to quality housing, educational opportunities, or a clean environment are already limited. We rapidly shifted our services to ensure that families had meals, cleaning supplies and PPE. We also provided Wi-Fi hotspots and tablets so that children could engage in virtual learning. We built stronger relationships with local schools so that we could help students stay on top of their schoolwork and stay engaged. With kids returning to the classroom this fall, we’ve ramped up our academic supports, offering high-intensity tutoring across 3 different sites in DC to help students recover the learning lost during the pandemic.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Horton’s Kids?

Erica Ahdoot: Last year, we opened a Community Resource Center in a brand-new neighborhood in Southeast DC. In just one year, we’ve been able to establish close relationships and enroll many new children and families in our programs. Knowing that this model works, we are looking to expand our reach even further. We have exciting news on this front, and we’ll share more information about that in the coming months!

Friends of the Children—Klamath Basin is an organization that provides mentors to children. Most mentoring organizations offering this service has volunteers, working with kids an hour here or there in their spare time. Unlike most organizations, Friends of the Children pays its mentors, believing that the best mentors are paid mentors. Instead of grabbing an hour with the kids after a long, hard day at work, “Friends” devote the bulk of their day to mentoring. For them, it’s a full-time profession.

This is an impressive model for mentoring by any standard. As such, we felt Friends of the Children—Klamath Basin to be worthy of support, by way of our small grants program. We spoke to Executive Director Amanda Squibb to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your demographic—the youth you serve. How many kids are you helping?

Amanda Squibb: We serve children who face multiple risk factors and few protective factors. We currently have capacity for 51. All the children we enroll have faced extreme challenges by the time they are in kindergarten and benefit from the consistent presence of a trauma-trained, caring mentor to help build their resiliency and empower them to reach their goals.

Kars4Kids: Can you define ACE for our readers, please?

Amanda Squibb: ACE is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experience, which is a potentially traumatic experience in the childhood years, such as neglect or violence, or a parent’s involvement with the justice system. The children we serve typically have experienced multiple ACEs before they reach kindergarten. Research shows that ACEs can lead to development problems, lifelong health problems, and more. The good news is that the impact of ACEs can be mitigated, and that’s the work we are privileged to do through our mentoring model.

Kars4Kids: You pay your mentors. How come? Do you offer training? How many “friends” do you have on staff?

Amanda Squibb: We rely on volunteers for our board of directors and many other aspects of our work, but it is important that our mentors be paid professionals. This is a hallmark of our model because volunteers may lack expertise with trauma or be short on free time. Our paid mentors, called Friends, can commit consistent time to youth and bring extensive training to every interaction with them. We have 5 full-time Friends and 2 part-time Friends right now.

Kars4Kids: Your website states that you work with children “from kindergarten through graduation, 12+ years, no matter what.” Where does the plus come in? Do you sometimes continue working with kids past high school graduation? What about the “no matter what” part? What kind of obstacles might need to be overcome to keep things going?

Amanda Squibb: We enroll children ages 4-6. We mentor them through high school graduation, so children enrolled before first grade get more than 12 years with us (12+). We will stay with them no matter what happens during those years—even a global pandemic!

Kars4Kids: What are the benefits of long-term mentoring? What kind of impact are you seeing in your mentees?

Amanda Squibb: Before establishing Friends of the Children, our network’s founder Duncan Campbell commissioned research to learn the best way to help young kids overcome obstacles and realize their potential. The research showed that the strongest single protective factor is a close, healthy, and sustained relationship with a caring adult. So the Friends model of youth support is built on long-term mentoring relationships—a promise of 12+ years to every child. Even if other supports come in and out of their lives, even if they move from home to home, our kids have a Friend for the long haul. Because of that long-term commitment, youth feel a sense of belonging and are able to invest time and trust. They know we are not going to leave them. Our outcomes speak for themselves: Of our graduates, 100% remain free of the juvenile justice system, 96% postpone parenting until after the teen years, and 89% earn a high school diploma or GED.

Kars4Kids: Your branch of the organization was founded in 2000, long enough to have graduates of your program. Have any of your graduates come back to serve as “friends” for the next generation?

Amanda Squibb: Our graduates have not yet returned as Friends; that would be wonderful to see!

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your 9 Core Assets approach.

Amanda Squibb: We help ensure positive social-emotional development and a foundation for future success by instilling 9 research-based Core Assets. The asset of Hope, for example, has been shown to ward off or reduce anxiety and depression. Friends are intentional about incorporating all 9 assets into their activities and conversations with youth. This year we even held a Core Asset coloring contest and turned winning designs into sticker decals so that youth see them daily on their water bottles and notebooks.

• Growth Mindset: I love learning and know that my abilities will improve through dedication and effort.
• Belonging: I understand who I am, have a place where I feel accepted and know that my contributions count.
• Hope: When I have tough times, I believe it can get better.
• Problem Solving: I know how to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision.
• Perseverance & Grit: I work hard through challenges and finish what I start.
• Self-Management: I know how to manage my feelings and take care of myself in a healthy way.
• Self Determination: I believe in myself and am able to set goals and achieve them.
• Find Your Spark: I use creativity to explore my passions.
• Positive Relationship Building: I get along well with others and am able to find people to support me.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Amanda Squibb: The pandemic has affected everything we do, from how we raise funds to how we hold staff meetings. It radically changed mentoring activities, of course, because Friends and youth couldn’t always be together in classrooms, in our clubhouse, or indoors at all! I’m so proud of the many ways our Friends developed creative ways online and outdoors to stay connected with kids, and that we’ve added new supports to meet new challenges, such as a tutor to help with distance learning challenges. Our mission says that we’re committed to kids “no matter what,” and the pandemic showed how true that is.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about some of the ways that “friends” assist the families of the children in your program?

Amanda Squibb: The more stable families are, the more youth can thrive. So while Friends’ priorities are to work with program kids, they always try to respond to the needs of caregivers, from providing resource referrals, to helping them navigate tricky systems like special education. During the pandemic, family needs increased because of new financial, emotional, and academic challenges, and Friends stepped up with more direct supports, such as deliveries of food and supplies for caregivers, program youth, and siblings. This year we’re thankful to be adopting a Two-Generation (2Gen) model of mentoring support that equips us to deepen our family supports through a Family and Community Engagement Specialist. The 2Gen model is in place and successful at many Friends of the Children chapters, and we’re excited to see how it will amplify our impact on program youth and extend our reach to their siblings as well.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Friends of the Children-Klamath Basin?

Amanda Squibb: We’ve just started drafting a 3-year strategic plan that will guide our work. One component will be the acquisition of a larger clubhouse where we can better operate and potentially expand our program, which has more than doubled in size since its inception in 2000. Stay tuned!

Everybody Wins! Atlanta operates in a city in which 56 percent of third graders are reading below grade level. That statistic is a grim one. But Everybody Wins! Atlanta is committed to turning that statistic on its head. Reading fluency is crucial to getting an education. An education is crucial to getting a decent job.

Our small grants program helps us reach and educate more children than we could on our own. We were pleased to support this Atlanta-based organization and its mission, in our modest way. We had a chat with Executive Director Tiffany Tolbert, to learn more about this work.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about your demographic, the children you serve.

Tiffany Tolbert: We serve youth in grades K-5 who are struggling to read. Our students attend public schools in low income communities.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your Power Lunch program.

Tiffany Tolbert: Our Power Lunch program pairs volunteers with students for 1:1 weekly reading sessions during lunch time. The program increases leisure reading time, comprehension and vocabulary. In addition to weekly reading sessions, each student receives 3-5 books annually to help build their home library.

Kars4Kids: What is the value of the live story-telling that takes place in the framework of your StoryTime program?

Tiffany Tolbert: StoryTime is an exciting and engaging program for our students. The program includes acting, dancing, and drumming as a value story is read aloud for kids in grades K-2. Children get caught up in the story, and each child benefits from interacting with props and drums. For many students, this is the first time they have been involved with story performance, a wonderful way to learn by doing.

Kars4Kids: Can you describe the Home Library Project for us?

Tiffany Tolbert: The Home Library Project was created during the pandemic. Since 1997, we have distributed books for our Power Lunch and StoryTime students. In 2020, however, families expressed a need for books for the entire family. The families requested cookbooks and books on money management and self-esteem. In response to this request we solicited books for every age level. The response was amazing! Through donations from several local companies and longtime volunteers we were able to distribute 8,000 books to families in Metro Atlanta. We are continuing the Home Library Project this school year.

Kars4Kids: How important are volunteers to your programs? How many volunteers do you have?

Tiffany Tolbert: Volunteers are the heartbeat of our Power Lunch program. Their weekly interaction with the students is critical to the impact and growth of our mission. Prior to the pandemic we had over 800 volunteers, we now maintain 250 volunteers who read virtually with our students.

 

Kars4kids: How many schools participate in your programs? Can you give us an example of feedback you’ve received from a teacher?

Tiffany Tolbert: There are 10 schools in the Power Lunch program and 12 schools in the StoryTime program. Teachers have informed us that there is a significant increase in their library lending after each StoryTime program session. The teachers have also shared that for many students, the 1:1 reading sessions are the highlights of the child’s day. Students are improving their reading and comprehension, but additionally the connections with caring adults are helping children to improve their social skills, self-esteem, and confidence.

Kars4Kids: Your website quotes a dire statistic: 56 percent of Atlanta third graders are reading below grade level. We know that kids who aren’t reading proficiently by the end of third grade, are less likely to succeed in the classroom. Can you tell us something about the impact of your program?

Tiffany Tolbert: Our program provides support to children who are reading below grade level. Children reading above grade level often have additional resources at home and read in school and at home with their families. The students reading below grade level in 3^rd grade are at risk of failing in other subjects.

Between the ages of 0-8 children are learning how to read, age 8 and beyond, children are reading to learn. If a child is not reading well in 3^rd grade, then they will not have good comprehension in their other subjects. Unfortunately, the percentage of low readers is higher in lower income areas. Sadly, there are many students who lost 2 years of learning due to out-of-school learning over the past 17 months. This dire need is why our program is so important, our Power Lunch sessions, volunteers, book distribution and reading tips are helping to close this gap. Our students are learning new vocabulary words, improving comprehension and increasing their leisure reading and family reading times.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Tiffany Tolbert: The obstacles to education created by the COVID-19 pandemic were more difficult for students who already struggled to read, and especially those living in poverty and are Black or Hispanic. A recent study conducted by Learn4Life showed that 78% of students attending public schools within the broader Metro Atlanta region are of color, and 59% are considered low-income. Only 44% of the entire student population are reading proficiently by the end of third grade. Only 32% of Black students and 31% of Hispanic students in Metro Atlanta public schools are reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. Twenty-nine percent of those students are economically disadvantaged. Seventy-one percent of students considered low-income in Metro Atlanta are reading below grade level.

When the coronavirus pandemic prompted a stoppage on in-person learning in many of the public school districts, large numbers of students fell further behind in their core subject areas as time went on. As a result, there has been a steady decline in students meeting standards for reading. Those who were already at-risk prior to the pandemic, dropped another two percentage points or more as virtual learning continued throughout the academic year. Everybody Wins! Atlanta remains more committed than ever before to closing this gap, and helping our students get back on track in the year ahead. Although our program shifted to a virtual platform, we were able to increase the number of books we distributed and remain connected with our families.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Everybody Wins! Atlanta?

Tiffany Tolbert: We are gearing up for our 25^th anniversary next year! We are expanding our programs to additional schools within the districts we serve. Additionally, we are partnering with more authors of children’s books and literacy-based organizations.

Camp Horizon offers one of the most moving experiences a foster child is likely to have: being greeted by their counselors, as they come off the bus, with each of their names emblazoned on hand-held signs. Foster kids, for the most part, are unaccustomed to the feeling of being welcomed, special. It’s the beginning of a years’ long relationship with a caring, consistent adult, and a staff that will eventually teach them how to successfully age out of the system. It’s a beautiful and important initiative, and one we were glad to support with a small grant award.

We spoke with Camp Horizon Executive Director Tonya Malone, PhD, MSW to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Tell us about Camp Horizon campers. Who are they?

Tonya Malone: Our program works with 8 – 24 year-olds in the metro Atlanta area, who are currently experiencing or have experienced foster care. Camp Horizon is dedicated to preparing our youth with the skills and relationships they will need to manage the process of aging out of foster care.

Kars4Kids: We were so moved to see the counselors waiting with signs with the names of their campers! Can you explain what that’s about?

Tonya Malone: This is how we welcome kids to summer camp. All the volunteer camp counselors are matched with a youth. They draw a sign with the youth’s name and other fun things. They then line up at the notice of the bus arriving, with the signs, bull horns, flags and other celebratory items cheering the kids. The kids exit the bus one at time, the volunteer they are matched with hold up their name signs and greet them with a hug and then help them to get their bags.

We hope to create a fun and welcoming environment with this, removing any fear or anxiety a youth may have been away from home. Additionally, allowing them to have a moment they feel special with their name being called and someone collecting their items.

Kars4Kids: You have a 1:1 ratio of counselors to campers. Why is this important?

Tonya Malone: This one-on-one relationship is to give them a consistent supportive adult relationship. Utilizing research and an overall understanding the importance of a consistent supportive adult in a foster youth’s life, we developed our program, to build this relationship with the intent to identify additional resources and ways to support the child as they navigate life.

Additionally, as research highlights, a majority of young adults in the United States are reliant on multiple forms of support, including financial support from their families at least until their mid-twenties and often well into their thirties. However, young people growing up in foster care, those who were removed from their families due to abuse and neglect, relying on familial financial assistance isn’t an option.

After being bounced around from place to place, frequently changing schools, communities and caregivers several times in one year, instability is the norm for youth in foster care. They don’t have the benefit of consistent relationships with adults, or even with peers. Overcoming the effects of childhood abuse and/or neglect is a life-long process, but Camp Horizon’s one-to-one mentor matching program, intentional life skills lessons, loyal volunteers, and family-like environment, help our campers by addressing the challenges and allowing them to consistently beat the dismal odds.

Kars4Kids: What kinds of activities do you do with the kids?

Tonya Malone: During summer camp, the youth engage in self-esteem classes and activities such as horseback riding, canoeing, paddle boats, bike riding, farming, cooking, art and crafts, fishing, and rock climbing. Monthly we have events called “Opportunity Days,” to bring the youth together and give them a break from reality with a fun activity; professional photograph-taking, as many foster youth do not have photographs of themselves; educational activity to encourage academic growth; activities for youth and families to encourage togetherness; and holiday parties to provide them with gifts and Camp family togetherness.

Kars4Kids: How do children find their way to you? Are they referred by an agency? Who covers the cost of tuition?

Tonya Malone: Youth are referred to our program between the ages of 8 – 9 years old, by either a case manager from Division of Family and Children Service or by a foster parent, to participate in our week-long sleepaway summer camp. At that point a camper can continue attending summer camp every year; participate in our other monthly activities; and matriculate through our programs despite leaving foster care or changing placements. And most importantly, our program is free to the youth and families.

Kars4Kids: You have been running this camp since 1982 when you began with 8 campers in a church parking lot. Where are you today in terms of how many children you have served? Tell us about your current location.

Tonya Malone: We currently serve approximately 100 youth annually. However, we are looking to expand in the near future. We progressed from the church parking lot to having a great partnership with Camp Twin Lakes. We utilize their Rutledge Camp for our summer camp and Camp Will-a-Way for our Leadership Development weekend.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your other programs and why they are necessary?

Tonya Malone: At camp we offer daily self-esteem classes to teach campers key skills like self-awareness, anger management, personal safety, appropriate boundaries, and self-control, to support their growth into healthy, productive adults, parents, and citizens.

When the youth turn twelve years old, they enter our Leadership Development Program (LDP). LDP is where we focus on peer-to-peer interaction, life skills, and continuity of relationships, during weekend retreats, Service Project Saturdays, and Life Skills Events. The program focuses on five pillars: future planning, health & well-being, relationships, financial literacy, and communication. We are dedicated to preparing our youth with the skills and relationships they will need to manage the process of aging out of foster care at 18.

When the youth age out of the LDP, they become involved in our Camp Horizon Adult Mentoring Program (CHAMPs). CHAMPs was designed specifically for young adult campers ages 18-24. They remain in the “family” and receive support, guidance, and assistance with real-life issues like creating a budget, buying a car, or renting an apartment for the first time. Our goal is to foster a path into a healthy, productive adulthood paved with good decisions and personal successes.

Our programs and support, inevitably helps by reducing the number of foster care placement changes; increasing positive behavior; supporting the youth as they exit care; and increasing academic achievement.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Tonya Malone: As with many organizations, we had to limit our in-person activities and cancel our 2020 summer camp and Leadership Development weekend, thus impacting the relationships that were developed between youth, volunteers, and staff. We are currently rebuilding and reestablishing our program norms and relationships.

Kars4Kids: What is it you hope that your campers take away from their experience at Camp Horizon?

Tonya Malone: We hope the youth feel supported, loved, and have acquired the basic skills to maintain a productive and successful life.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Camp Horizon?

Tonya Malone: We are looking to grow our numbers in youth served. Additionally, we look to build our evaluation methods; strengthen our Leadership Development Program and CHAMPs program; and grow our staff to ensure we are continuously improving our services and meeting the needs of the youth we serve.

Pebble Tossers is a staunch believer in the power of community service projects. The organization offers children and families the chance to do good for others and for society. They let the participants choose from a variety of service activities, give them what they need to make it happen, and let then put them to work. This is an obvious exercise in building character and leadership and it’s just the kind of organization we like to support with our small grants program.

We spoke to Pebble Tossers Founder and Executive Director Jennifer Guynn to learn more about this work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic?

Jennifer Guynn: We work with youth and families throughout Greater Atlanta to support their development of leadership skills. We offer opportunities for children from a very young age to young adulthood. Our target demographic is youth in elementary through high school. Pebble Tossers unites youth from all socioeconomic backgrounds to serve those most vulnerable in our community.

Kars4Kids: You collaborate with nonprofits to set up volunteers with community service projects. How many nonprofits are you working with altogether? How many member volunteers do you have this year? Do you have whole families working together on projects?

Jennifer Guynn: Throughout the year, we work with more than 60 different nonprofit organizations throughout the Greater Atlanta Area. Pebble Tossers does all the prep work by bringing all supplies so our member volunteers can focus on the hands-on serving. We want to make things simple for busy families!

In 2020, we recorded close to 3,000 volunteer hours with nearly 1,000 different volunteers. In 2021, we expect that number to rise significantly as in-person service projects are being added back to our service calendar.

We frequently have whole families that serve together on projects especially with several of our outdoor, environmental stewardship projects such as our BeltLine Beautification or Big Trees Forest Preserve activities. Our virtual projects such as assembling snack sacks or creating cards for the elderly, veterans, or children experiencing homelessness or also wonderful projects that can be shared by an entire family.

Kars4Kids: Tell us something about the different types of community service projects that are available.

Jennifer Guynn: A key aspect of our mission is offering a wide variety of service projects for our youth and their families. We focus on 12 different cause areas (and showcase one cause area each month) and branch out from there. There are in-person service projects that range from spreading mulch and planting flowers to participating in pet therapy days with elders at nearby assisted living locations and playing games with kids experiencing homelessness. Our 12 cause areas are Animals + Wildlife, Arts + Culture, Citizenship, Environment, Education + Literacy, Elderly, Families in Crisis, Fragile Children, Global Awareness, Homelessness, Hunger + Food Drives, and US Troops + Veterans.

We also offer virtual service projects in addition to our in-person opportunities. These include such activities as creating no-sew fleece blankets and toys for animal shelters, writing cards of gratitude to health care workers, and more.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your teen leadership program?

Jennifer Guynn: Serve. Lead. Succeed. These are the three tenets of the Teen Leadership Program (TLP). The TLP provides 9th-12th graders with opportunities to develop leadership skills in out-of-the-box ways. Through life-skills workshops and peer-to-peer collaborations that focus on social-emotional learning, teens will gain critical, life-long skills. The TLP builds a sense of self-worth and self-efficacy through meaningful service. Teens are grouped and given a $100 budget to identify, design, and execute a service project. They must identify a community need and work together on project logistics which include budgeting, communications, safety, supplies, and training. If project costs exceed the budget, the group must determine how to raise the remainder. Teens are provided a real-world opportunity to work as a group, plan a project from start to finish, balance a budget, and learn fiscal responsibility while benefiting a good cause.

Kars4Kids: What is the job of teen leadership program advisers?

Jennifer Guynn: The TLP advisors attend monthly meetings, facilitate breakout group discussions, provide advice when needed, and generally support the students’ interests in community service.

Kars4Kids: Why did you call your organization “Pebble Tossers?”

Jennifer Guynn: That’s one of our favorite questions. When a pebble is tossed into a lake, it creates ripples. This is what happens when we serve within our community. It creates ripples that extend beyond our own front door. Our tagline is #startarippleofgiving. The pebble found on a beach can represent a child or their act of service. When you are skipping stones at a lake, you typically don’t pick up the first stone you see. You look around for one that will feel right in your hand and fits with the type of “splash” that you want to make. We want youth to experience service that way too, to find a project that fits with their interests and abilities.

Kars4Kids: How do the families and children who take on the community service projects you offer, benefit?

Jennifer Guynn: Naturally, our parents and youth benefit from participating in our service projects in many different ways. For many, service projects are a way to spend quality time as a family doing something that positively impacts their community. Projects are also a learning experience: be it building empathy, discovering different living environments, or simply, learning the proper techniques for a wheelbarrow and pitchfork to spread mulch to beautify the Atlanta BeltLine. There soft and hard skills and life lessons learned that will extend into their adulthood. My daughter now knows how to change out a toilet due to one service project, now that is a life skill!

Kars4Kids: There’s a fee to become a member, but you offer need-based scholarships. Presumably, even those who are financially-challenged benefit from participating in community service projects. Can you talk about how such work specifically benefits this sector?

Jennifer Guynn: The membership fee helps offset the cost of all the supplies we provide for each project. We do not want the $35/year membership fee to be a barrier to service, so we provide need-based scholarships. Youth from disadvantaged areas, Title I schools, and military families are often the beneficiaries of service. At Pebble Tossers, we believe that everyone has something to give. We can all give a smile, a helping hand, or a kind gesture. When kids participate in one of our projects they are charged with certain responsibilities and once they complete the project, they feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in the job they do. This builds their self-esteem and self-efficacy and gives them a sense of purpose. All kids (and adults) should have this opportunity.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Jennifer Guynn: It was challenging but it was also exhilarating in that it forced us to get creative and focus on socially responsible ways that our members could continue to meet the growing needs of our nonprofit partners. We went from providing in-person service projects to developing virtual projects that could be done at home. In fact, in 2020 out of 286 projects offered, 153 were virtual! While the Covid-19 pandemic forced us to shift the way in which we delivered our services, it did not change our core mission. In fact, we found that our volunteers and youth were willing to donate their time, resources, and energy to those in need over and beyond our 2019 outcomes. Our staff worked very hard to ensure that community needs were met and our volunteers had projects to engage with, I’m very proud of our little team.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for Pebble Tossers?

Jennifer Guynn: In continuing our mission of empowering and equipping youth to lead through service, we want to grow our membership base throughout Greater Atlanta and expand into other regions, starting in the Southeast. We want to expand the depth of school programming to support schools in their efforts to encourage students to serve, increase the impact of our Teen Leadership Program, discover new partnerships with local nonprofits, and create more service and leadership opportunities and workshops for our younger students.

The Lawn Academy is a youth program with a couple of unusual twists. Twist number one is hinted at in the name of this organization: the young participants do lawn maintenance for seniors. Twist number two: the kids audit actual college classes, though they are middle school and high school-age. We look for unusual methods of engaging and educating kids when selecting our small grant recipients. This org took our fancy, immediately. We spoke with The Lawn Academy’s president, Eric Miller to learn more about the unique nature of this organization and its work:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us something about your demographic, the kids you serve and those they serve?

Eric Miller: Our youth are ages 11-19 years. They serve seniors, veterans, and people with special needs with free lawn care.

Kars4Kids: The Lawn Academy puts youth in the college classroom from age 11 to “increase their confidence with education.” How much time do your kids spend in the college classroom? Which classes do they audit?

Eric Miller: Our participants spend 2 hours per week in the college classroom during the summer. They take a mixture of classes in MAC, PC, Cyber Security, and Workforce Development. The young people attend class sessions taught by college instructors.

Kars4Kids: Why lawn care?

Eric Miller: Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee, I provided lawn care services for several seniors. I learned at an early age that seniors are often taken advantage of and need trustworthy and dependable sources for lawn care. I really enjoyed seeing the smiles of my grandmother and seniors like Ms. Tappan and Ms. Flagg on Edith Street, as they were so pleased to have well-manicured lawns. I introduced lawn care to allow youth an opportunity to further develop in character and compassion for others.

Kars4Kids: You started this initiative in memory of your mother and grandmother. Can you tell us something about these two special ladies and how The Lawn Academy specifically memorializes them? What do you think they would say about The Lawn Academy?

Eric Miller: My mother, Dr. Deloris Miller, was a career educator who believed that, “All youth have the capacity to learn. We all learn via different methods.” Being that I love art, she would allow me to create visuals that aided in the teaching process. In celebration of her, I created The Lawn Academy to provide an avenue for positive youth development.

My grandmother, Ms. Rosie Henderson, always believed in me and constantly encouraged me through positive words and prayers. She was a strong, caring person who was gifted with wisdom and a heart for the well-being of others. In celebration of her, we plant roses for seniors to let them know that they are loved and a gift to be cherished.

Kars4Kids: Tell us about your mentoring program.

Eric Miller: The mentoring program is an important aspect of The Lawn Academy, as it provides youth with the connections needed to increase confidence through affirmation. Mentors aid youth in developing competencies in key areas of academics, business, and life skills.

Kars4Kids: The Lawn Academy is offering math help. Can you describe how this works and why it is important for the student participants?

Eric Miller: I received an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. That experience helped me develop my problem-solving skills and methods to process information to achieve desired outcomes. In the afterschool programming we offer, youth receive assistance with math and other homework. It is important for youth to engage with math to further develop their approach to solving problems. This skill is transferrable to other subjects and expands beyond the classroom.

Kars4Kids: Can you give us an overview of your community projects?

Eric Miller:  Youth provide the following for seniors, veterans, and people with special needs:

• Lawn Care
• Winterizing homes – windows
• Roses for seniors
• Snow blowing
• Food delivery for seniors
• Food and warm clothing distribution to the homeless

Kars4Kids: In what year was The Lawn Academy founded? Since that time, how many youth have participated in your programs? Do they ever come back to volunteer after aging out of your programs?

Eric Miller: The Lawn Academy was founded in 2009. Several hundred youth have participated in the program. Former youth participants come back and serve as program leaders in their capacity as AmeriCorps VISTA Members. The AmeriCorps VISTA team serves as youth mentors and supervisors.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Eric Miller: For the classroom, we switched from in-person learning to virtual. We limited youth participation in community service events and paid contractors to provide lawn care for our seniors, veterans, and people with special needs. This provided us an opportunity to protect our youth and take care of our lawn care recipients.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Lawn Academy?

Eric Miller: We will offer programming onsite at schools. This will provide youth with greater access to our programs.

The Child & Family Guidance Center (CFGC) offers supportive services that help families stay together and be the best they can be. But CFGC is also about providing mental healthcare services to those who might otherwise not receive treatment. The aim here is to counter the root causes that can lead to dropping out of high school, substance abuse, child delinquency, and many other serious problems that tend to prevent a successful life.

Our small grants program is proud to lend our assistance to initiatives like this that treat the family holistically as a unit, and that can also step in and help a family in crisis. This is work we believe in. We spoke to CFGC Director of Development and Communications Kate Czaplinski to learn more about the services rendered by this Connecticut-based nonprofit:

Kars4Kids: Can you tell us a bit about your demographic? Who are the people you serve?

Kate Czaplinski: The Child & Family Guidance Center (CFGC) serves Fairfield County children from birth to 18, and offers services to parents and caregivers. Roughly 80% of our families are low-income. More than 50% of CFGC clients, overall, identify as racial or ethnic minorities. In FY21, of 1,544 outpatient clients, 20% identified as Black/African American and 45% of Latinx heritage.

Kars4Kids: You offer counseling services in your office or in the home. How do you determine when to offer counseling at home?

Kate Czaplinski: All of our programs take the needs and the family culture into consideration. Some of our more intensive programs, like Functional Family Therapy, include in-home components so we can work with the family in a comfortable environment and spend time understanding the dynamics in a different way. Most of our Family Support Services, which provide case management and meet basic and emotional needs, will meet in-home, so case managers and family members can build a trusting relationship.

Additionally, if a child is in psychiatric crisis — this can include violent behavior or suicidal ideation — our Mobile Crisis Clinicians will go to a family’s home to provide an emergency assessment. This service is accessible through Connecticut’s 211 line.

Kars4Kids: Can you talk about some of the counseling services you offer?

Kate Czaplinski: CFGC provides culturally and linguistically competent individual and family therapy; psychiatric evaluations; and medication management for children and youth. Central to our mission is a commitment to never turn a family away from services, based on inability to pay.

Our team of clinicians are trained in six evidence-based practices that focus on treating childhood trauma. More than 80% of the kids we serve have been exposed to trauma including abuse, community violence, and cultural dislocation. Untreated childhood trauma can have a lifelong impact. Research shows that children who experience trauma have a higher risk of learning problems; increased involvement in the juvenile justice system and child welfare systems; long-term health problems; and higher risk for substance use disorders (SAMSHA).

Our Behavioral Health Unit includes: Outpatient Psychiatric Clinic for Children, Mobile Crisis Intervention Services, Functional Family Therapy and Co-Occurring Treatment Programs that focus on both behavioral health and substance use, including Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach/Assertive Continued Care (A-CRA), SMART Recovery, and Family-Based Recovery for young parents.

Kars4Kids: What kind of parenting supports do you offer?

Kate Czaplinski: All of the programs under our Family Support Services offer educational components and coaching support to parents and caregivers. These programs include: Community Support for Families, Care Coordination, the Greater Bridgeport Home Visiting Partnership, the Early Childhood Consultation Program, Reunification and Therapeutic Family Time, Intensive Family Preservation, and the Visitation Center.

Kars4Kids: What types of help do you offer to youth in crisis and their families?

Kate Czaplinski: Mobile Crisis Intervention Services (MCIS) provides assessment and intervention to children in psychiatric distress within 45 minutes of a caregiver’s call and provides up to six weeks of follow-up support. This program provides behavioral health assessments for youth at imminent risk of psychiatric hospitalization; MCIS clinicians also provide short-term treatment which may include referrals to our Psychiatric and Outpatient Services. MCIS, accessible to all Connecticut families through the state’s 211 line, provides assessment and treatment services to approximately 100 children per month.

Kars4Kids: Looking through your website, it’s clear that parent education and family preservation or reunification are major goals at The Child & Family Guidance Center. What are some of the issues that pull the family apart? How do you serve to prevent this from happening?

Kate Czaplinski: Many parents we work with have experienced their own traumas, they struggle to make ends meet and, in some cases, have been impacted by institutional inequities. When families don’t have access to needed resources it puts strain and stress on that family, which can lead to child abuse or neglect. Our Family Support Services work to prevent abuse and help families thrive by giving parents the tools they need to succeed and build up support systems. This can include meeting basic needs, mental health treatment, referrals to needed resources, parent coaching, and more.

In cases where a child has been removed from a home or is at risk of being removed from a home by the state, we work with those parents to rebuild relationships, teach parenting skills and improve access to needed supports, creating an opportunity for families to reunify and create a healthy home environment. “Children do best when raised in a stable family setting, which can support positive effects on their cognitive, behavioral, and health outcomes. When fewer children reenter foster care, it indicates that families have made adjustments that improve family functioning and keep children safe in the long term.” -The Child Welfare Information Gateway, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Kars4Kids: What are some typical behavioral issues you see in young people?

Kate Czaplinski: Acting out in home or school, anxiety, and depression are common in children and youth that come to CFGC for treatment and services. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen depression and anxiety rates go up and acuity increase. In fall 2020, the State of Connecticut released a Public Health Alert on teen suicide, because of a devasting number of cases. Our clinicians responded and provided support to schools impacted by youth suicide and continue to work with teens experiencing suicidal ideation.

Kars4Kids: What is “culturally-informed” mental health care, and why is this important?

Kate Czaplinski: CFGC treats children and families of all backgrounds and we are particularly attuned to the disparities and concomitant social strife faced by children from ethnic and racial minority groups. Fifty-eight percent of our clients identify as persons of color. Racial and ethnic minorities face barriers to proper mental health treatment, including: a lack of availability of services; a mental health system weighted heavily towards non-minority values and culture norms; language barriers; and a lack of adequate health insurance coverage (National Alliance on Mental Health, 2017). At CFGC, we work to eliminate those barriers. Roughly 50% of our clinicians are bilingual/bicultural (Spanish) and more than 65% of our staff identify as people of color, coming from diverse and multicultural backgrounds. Being able to offer services in a person’s native language and understanding/respecting a family’s cultural background is vital to improving outcomes and access for families in need.

Kars4Kids: How did the pandemic affect your operations?

Kate Czaplinski: In March of 2020, CFGC moved all our programs to telehealth. To date, we have provided over 45,000 telehealth sessions. Our team worked diligently to ensure that telehealth would be successful for families. This included ensuring access to technology, finding creative ways to engage and more. Historically, transportation and parent work schedules are a hurdle for many families in getting to appointments, so telehealth was a good solution, improving access and lowering our no-show rate.

The pandemic has also been a challenge for many of our staff, some who have lost loved ones. In what is already a challenging job field, many clinicians and care managers are feeling additional stress. As an organization, we have worked to provide tools, support, and self-care opportunities to manage this impact.

Today, in September 2021, our programs have returned to in-person services, though we are still able to offer telehealth as an option.

Kars4Kids: What’s next for The Child & Family Guidance Center?

Kate Czaplinski: In the wake of COVID-19, our nation is experiencing a mental health crisis, particularly among children and youth. CFGC is here to meet that crisis and growing need. We’re working toward expanding our reach and imbedding ourselves more deeply in the community. Connections with generous funders, like Kars4Kids, is key to ensuring we can reach and serve the families who need us — which improves the overall health and strength of our communities as a whole.