Growing Kings Received a $35,000 Grant from the Charles and Estelle Campbell Foundation
Growing Kings, an organization that provides mentoring programs to underserved males in public schools throughout the Birmingham region, is pleased to announce it has received a $35,000 grant from the Charles and Estelle Campbell Foundation. This grant was awarded as part of the Campbell Foundation’s commitment to improving educational opportunities and outcomes for at-risk youth.
Growing Kings, founded in 2009, targets many of the issues plaguing today’s underserved male youth through its school-based enrichment and mentoring program series, Journey of a King. The program has been able to engage over 1,500 boys and young men through its innovative, culturally relevant programming, and has also recorded long-term impact with 100% of the students who have been involved with the Journey of a King program for at least three years.
“The Charles and Estelle Campbell Foundation has been a critical partner in our work over the years, and we are grateful for their continued investment in our Journey of a King program series,” said Executive Director, Marcus D. Carson. “We view structured mentoring as a proven strategy that not only improves students’ academic and life outcomes but also as a preventive response that may support young people from ever resorting to crime, and we are thankful that the Campbell Foundation shares the same view.”
The Journey of a King mentoring program engages five hundred, 4th-12th grade boys and young men every week of the school year, who participate in 1,000 hours of comprehensive mentoring and enrichment sessions. This grant directly supports programming that has been proven to increase academic performance, decrease negative behavioral occurrences, and increase school attendance. Growing Kings’ approach to eradicating disparity gaps in academic achievement and social development skills provide participants with constant encouragement, positive mentoring, and high-quality enrichment.