About Developing K.I.D.S.
Our mission is to strengthen urban communities through
inter-generational leadership, academic enrichment, and civic engagement.
Our Vision
Through the work of Developing K.I.D.S., we will create stronger communities throughout metropolitan Detroit with an emphasis on building vibrant communities where individuals and families are heard, valued, and thrive.
Core Values
D.R.E.A.M
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: We accept all youth, parents, and community members, meeting them where they are.
D
Relationships, Retention, Respect: We support youth throughout their journey to live a meaningful and productive life. We serve youth participants from 5-24, college care, alumni, and career opportunities for enrichment.
R
Evolving – Evolution of a A Kingdom: “We do that” mentality – We consistently adopt, adapt, and customize our organizational strategy to meet the needs of the community.
E
Accountability – We, the staff, board and participants, are accountable for our actions. We follow through and own our mistakes when needed.
A
Motivated: We are inspired to shape the future leaders of tomorrow.
M
Our History
Developing Kingdoms In Different Stages (Developing K.I.D.S.) is a non-profit organization that services its community through four areas: Youth Development, Family Engagement, Community Support, and Workforce Development. The word Kingdoms is used as a synonym for communities. The word Stages represents the process of how we will service communities. The underlying philosophy is that leaders will be developed and nurtured in every community that we serve. Therefore, that Kingdom (community) will be initially serviced in a stage that reflects the voice and needs of that community. The mission is fulfilled through efforts to reach out to families instead of individuals. There is tremendous support for families but our priority is the youth and we host activities for them to work together; hence building and increasing strong communities.
Initial services began in the St. Suzanne Faith & Friendship Center (later named the Don Bosco Hall Community Resource Center) in 2007 with elementary and middle school youth. In 2008, we implemented our first high school program and it was unsuccessful. In 2010, the high school program was revived by youth request and continues. We have had as many as seven locations within a year, all operating at once. In 2010, our peer organizations within the DBH Community Center selected us to lead a collaborative project to boost participation of adults and youth in the community center that was extremely successful and became the model used for all other neighborhoods. In 2014, we expanded to provide services in two community locations and five schools. Since our first group of high school graduates, we have had a 99-100% high school graduation rate. Developing K.I.D.S. was proud to present at the 2016 National Dropout Prevention Conference. In 2021, we served over 600 youth from 59 zip-codes, who attended 112 schools. All community programs and services are provided at NO COST to participants.
Our Impact
We are thrilled to share our, Case For Support and Strategic Plan with you! You can also review our most recent updates to our Strategic Plan Scorecard. It shows our ongoing progress to achieve the goals in our plan.
Also, check out our summer program's recent external evaluation scores , Pre- and Post-Assessment Results from Summer Discovery 2024, and summer 2024 parent survey results.
Successes
In 2022, Developing KIDS made great strides by expanding our team and purchasing a 23,000-square-foot facility to become our new permanent home.
Several of our alumni have been awarded national and global Fellowships and acknowledgments for their leadership. We celebrate development and offer opportunities within as we have both long-term participant parents and alumni on our team. Developing KIDS made great strides in 2022 as we purchased a 23,000-square-foot facility to become our new permanent home and expanded our team from 10-31.
We were awarded contracts in Detroit Public Schools Community District to facilitate programs in 14 classrooms in the summer of 2022 and to be a Managing Partner of the afterschool programs in 2 schools in the 22-23 school year. We have provided summer employment through the city of City Detroit’s summer employment youth programs since 2009 and have been a Lead Agency for the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) program since 2020 serving 150-200 youth each summer. In 2022, our participants came from 42 zip codes to attend our programs. Our executive leaders have led professional development workshops on our best practices at the local, state, and national level; most recently at the National Afterschool Association in 2022. Developing KIDS has been the recipient of national grants awarded to only a few in each cycle that include funders such as New York Life Foundation, LISC, Footlocker, and Bright House Network.
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