Hermanowski Family Foundation Initial Request Form

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Organization Name: Kingdom Kids Christian Academy
Legal Name (if Different):
Also Known As:
Mailing Address: 1003 S. John Young Pkwy.
City: Kissimmee
State: FL
Postal Code: 34741
Main Phone: 4073469136
Main Fax:
Organization Website: www.KingdomKidsCa.com
Employer ID Number: 82-1325450
Organization Tax Status: 501(c)(3)

Proposal Information

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Today’s Date: 3-28-24
Requested Amount: 10,000.00

Project Title: Kingdom Kids and Families Support Program
Project Description:

Kingdom Kids Christian Academy wishes to thank you for the opportunity to request grant support for our Community Education, Mental Wellness Support, and Community Programming for homeless and underserved students, which is known as the Kingdom Kids and Families Support Program in Kissimmee, Florida. More students are failing and performing below grade level in the history of education. With a 47% increase in student mental health issues and a 33% increase in depression, along with the lack of affordable housing in Osceola County, which presents a series of challenges within our communities through poverty, homelessness, food insecurities, substance abuse, suicide, an increase in crime shows that our programs are an absolute necessity. Along with educating our school’s students and providing intense, high-quality tutoring for low-income families outside our school family, we holistically provide clothing, feeding, counseling, and community outreach for needy students, as well as providing trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and achieve personal and collective goals for our students. Funding from your foundation will help us overcome our communities’ academic challenges, mental health disorders, and social hurdles with our programmatic categories: Community Education, Mental Wellness Support, and Community Programming.

The Kingdom Kids and Families Support Program has made it our priority to educate, counsel, feed, and clothe students in need while providing services to holistically restore dignity and self-sufficiency to families. Because our school has a partnership with the Vine Church, we believe in SERVING and HELPING everyone we can. Our program is comprised of three programmatic categories: Community Education, Mental Wellness Support, and Community Programming.

Community Education

(County-Wide Academic Acceleration and Tutoring to Combat Learning Loss Due to the Pandemic)

Students from low socioeconomic communities were disproportionately impacted during the pandemic, resulting in further widening achievement gaps. To help struggling students in our community, we provide high-quality tutoring to accelerate student learning, compensate for lost instructional time, and help raise their test scores. Our tutoring ensures that students, especially those who have experienced the most significant learning losses, are consistently instructed with grade-level materials, provided scaffolding, and gain the most critical just-in-time content knowledge and skills needed to access curricula at the appropriate grade level. In addition, our programming offers a blend of computer-delivered and teacher-led instruction to increase students’ vocabulary, listening skills, social-emotional development, independence, and academic and cognitive skills.

Our instructional focus will be on the following:

English
• Foundational skills
• Priority standards
• Standard deficiencies

Reading
• Foundational skills and enrichment
• Grade-level standard deficiencies
• Focus on remedial skills
• Focus on acceleration

Math
• Standard deficiencies that bridge the gap for primary grades.
• Foundational skills
• Priority standards
• Standard deficiencies
• Foundational skills and enrichment
• Grade-level standard deficiencies
• Remedial skills
• Acceleration

Although our programs are year-round, we also offer extensive summer programming. In addition, KKCA provides a comprehensive summer school program to provide support and enrichment to meet the academically struggling student’s needs. Summer programs are available to students in all ESSA Subgroups in grades Pre-K-5.

We provide ALL needy students face-to-face/online tutoring regardless of where they attend school. We also are enhancing our literacy programs by purchasing classroom libraries for intensive reading. Our literacy program supports independent student reading within the rotational model and provides opportunities for students to participate in cohort book studies to enhance fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Trends have shown the need for increased print materials to promote improved independent reading. Providing classroom libraries gives students the platform to engage in active self-regulation based on Nell Duke’s Active View of Reading, which is the first step in creating skilled readers. We will also help preschoolers build essential skills for emergent writing, handwriting, and letter knowledge. Our purchased materials will help teach young children how to write well-formed letters and increase letter identification skills using a practical, developmentally appropriate multisensory writing approach. When taught explicitly, multisensory instruction will help children who struggle with pencil grip, letter formation, and many other
skills.

Mental Wellness Support

Many students suffer from mental health issues in silence. These students may be experiencing a wide range of challenges, such as anxiety, depression, stress, eating disorders, self-esteem issues, or other conditions that affect their well-being. Several factors contribute to their decision to suffer in silence, such as social stigma, lack of awareness, fear of consequences, or limited access to resources. Providing a Whole School Approach and Holistic Integration of Education and Mental Health support added to our curriculum is a priority and our primary focus this year. Fortunately, mental health disorders can be prevented with Early Identification, Early Intervention, and Trauma-Informed Social-Emotional Learning (SEL).

Early intervention and trauma-informed social-emotional learning (SEL) are integral to education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions, and achieve personal and collective goals. Our SEL curriculum also teaches our students to empathize with others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions. These skills are developed through evidence-based classroom programs, character education classes, school culture, and ongoing collaboration with families and communities. Our programs empower our students to build skills for success. Providing students with preventative content aligned to their challenges helps them learn and apply skills such as stress management, mindfulness, problem-solving, and self-care in real time. With these tools, students are better equipped to navigate the ups and downs of life, effectively managing stressors and reducing the likelihood of developing more severe mental health conditions down the road.

We also have a drop-in counseling hour for groups that can significantly enhance accessibility and allow more students to access the support they need without the requirement of scheduling appointments. We also provide before-school and after-school drop-in support to give students more opportunities to seek and receive the help they need. Our school provides violence and bullying prevention training for students, staff, and parents/caregivers, implements a zero-tolerance bullying policy, and provides readily available mental health services for student referrals. These tools offer a scalable community approach to upstream prevention of mental health crises and school-wide violence in any manner.

Community Programming

With homelessness increasing daily in our community, we are helping 5-10 new families weekly to provide hundreds of children and their families with education, food, clothing, shelter, tutoring, and counseling. We have made community outreach and community partnerships an essential part of our programming that bridges all races, socioeconomic statuses, religions, genders, and sexual orientations. We provide an on-site food pantry to help people experiencing homelessness and families with immediate needs. We are very conscious of people needing transportation to our campus for services, so we make it a point to go out and feed hundreds of people in various high-poverty areas. Our partnership with Grace Landing has placed multiple foster children with families within our school and program. We provide extra support for our foster families, such as transportation, respite, babysitting, clothing, and meals. Single mothers who face domestic violence are an area we get behind. Besides feeding, clothing, tutoring, and counseling for abused females, we partner with H.O.M.E, which houses our single mothers and their children. For the past 14 years, the Kingdom Kids and Families Support Program has sent mission teams to Honduras. We provide food distribution, construction, medical and orphanage assistance, and micro-economic aid to the children and families of the most impoverished areas of Honduras. To demonstrate the versatility of our programs, we provide a Pastor for spiritual guidance, a therapist to help families cope with mental health, and a social worker who can help link families to services such as counseling, housing, employment, medical services, and transportation.

Program Goals
 Improving student academic achievement and combating learning loss and lost instructional time.
 Focusing on closing the achievement gaps and identifying students in need of support.
 Implementing foundational literacy aligned with state standards and private school curriculums.
 Purchasing books to promote improved independent reading.
 Delivering high-quality, equitable, standards-based instruction in both digital and print formats.
 Helping every student thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
 Gathering a full circle of support from the home, school, and through the larger community to reinforce positive behaviors.
 Offering mental health support before and after school to extend the nurturing environment beyond regular classroom hours.
 Creating a safe and supportive environment where students can heal, learn, and thrive.
 Providing students with a calm environment that fosters self-growth.
 Providing low-income/homeless youth and families with food, clothing, shelter, and education.
 Helping homeless and underemployed families gain hope and rise above their current situations by providing a caring place where people can get clothing, meals, groceries, and health care.
 Identifying families’ current needs and empowering them to make a positive change in their lives through our assistance.

Total Project Budget: 317,666.00

Other Funding
Sources For The Project (Committed & Potential): Kingdom Kids Christian Academy has received funding from Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Walmart, Uber, dd Discounts, Costco, Sam’s Club, CVS Health Foundation, Walt Disney World, Publix, Amscot, DiPasqua Enterprises, Subway, Zevia, Medieval Times, Wawa, Sea World, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Universal Studios Orlando, Panera Bread, 4imprint.com, Covelli Enterprises, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, USF Athletics, Pizza Hut, Orlando Solar Bears, Crayola Experience, Ross Dress for Less, Orlando Science Center, Red Robin, Wonder Works, AED Grants, Kennedy Space Center, Andretti Indoor Karting & Games, Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens, Lowes, Aquatica, RDV Sportsplex, Dr. Phillips Performing Center, Uber Eats, 4Rivers Smokehouse, Forever Florida, Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, American Girl Brands LLC, Dollar General, Chuy’s Fine Tex-Mex, Best Choice Products, Toho Water Authority, Picaboo Yearbooks, Best Choice Products, Masana Portrait Artwork NYC, Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, Top Golf Orlando, Z 88.3 FM, Central Florida Educational Foundation, Z Ministries, Puff ‘n Stuff Catering, Travel Set Go, The Florida Aquarium, Oriental Trading, Road Runners Club of America, Merlin Entertainments, Madame Tussauds, Sea Life Orlando, Celebration Restaurant Group, A Yum Brands Franchise, Cobb Theatres, Tampa Bay Lightning, Chipotle, Southeastern Grocers, Winn-Dixie, Foxtail Coffee Orlando, Rubio’s Coastal Grill, Fogo De Chao, Central Florida Pizza Hut, International Paper Company, Insight Credit Union, C&S Wholesale, City of Kissimmee, Five Below, Kissimmee Parks and Recreation, AdventHealth, First Book Marketplace, TD Charitable Foundation, Kissimmee Utility Authority, City of St. Cloud, Osceola County Government, and the American Online Giving Foundation.

Project Duration: Year-Round (12 months)
Geographical Area Served: Osceola County (Florida)
Age Group To Be Served: 2-12

Contact Information

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Contact Prefix (Mr,Mrs etc.): Mrs.
Contact First Name: Liz
Contact Last Name: Foster
Contact Title: President
Contact Phone: 4073469136
Contact Email: lizkkca@gmail.com