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Tia Diaz-Balart, CEO of Miami & Broward Youth for Christ, recently announced that, for the sixth consecutive year, the Ocean Reef Community Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant to be applied to City Life KIX, for its Indigenous Leader Program (ILP).
The exciting news came just before children in the popular KIX after-school program set off for summer camp to experience positive experiences that will impact their lives forever, according to City Life KIX director Stacy Morales, who founded the program more than 30 years ago.
Both women were ebullient in their praise for the Ocean Reef Community Foundation for their loyal support to help sustain City Life KIX.
“We are extremely grateful for the generous grant given to us, and the moneys provided will help us continue to develop excellent youth leaders who have grown up in and through our City Life KIX ministry,” Diaz-Balart said. “We provide academic coaching, character lessons, training and employment opportunities for these wonderful leaders.”
Morales added, “For over 30 years, we have been sharing the love of Christ with youth and families, while also providing a safe place for young people to learn and grow in the Gospel.
The fact that the Ocean Reef Community Foundation continues to recognize the need for our ILP program in West Homestead is testament to their clear understanding of our mission and purpose.”
An example of the program’s success is the story of Venia, as shared by Morales. Now 20 years old, Venia came from a home where her support system was lacking, yet she completed her Associate of Arts degree in political science at Miami Dade College in December. She started attending the University of North Florida in January.
Venia started coming to KIX when she was 5 years old because her mom wanted her to have an after-school program where she could get help with homework. As she got older, she kept going, because of the people she met. KIX gave her healthy role models whom she could come to for advice.
In middle school, staff recognized her leadership potential and invited her to volunteer with KIX Club. Once she started, her love of helping others grew. During high school and her first two years of college, she worked at KIX as one of the Indigenous Leaders. Even now that she is away at school, she stays connected to the KIX staff and students, regularly calling to check on everyone and encourage our youth.
Venia , while home for the summer has become a regular volunteer. She continues to influence the next generation of youth at KIX as an adult indigenous leader.
When asked why she worked and volunteers at KIX, Venia said, “I feel like I have a support system at KIX, and I’m not sure what I would do without that. I know that I am making a difference in the lives of children at KIX because I am giving them the support that they need to succeed, that I didn’t have at home.”
Miami & Broward Youth for Christ is a 76-year-old non-profit organization dedicated to serving over 4,000 at-risk youth in Broward and Miami-Dade counties through five ministries, which all incorporate teaching Gospel message of Jesus Christ to teens ages 11-19.
The ministries are:
Campus Life, which provides creative programs to help middle and high school students make good choices and includes lunch and breakfast clubs on school campuses;
Catalyst is dedicated to reaching youth in the hip-hop culture by providing a safe, clean environment in the four sub-cultures of Hip-Hop: emcees, breakers, graffiti writers and DeeJays;
Juvenile Justice Ministries work with at-risk youth who have been in the justice system. Programs are held inside the walls of detention centers and mentorships are formed outside the walls through rehabilitative life skills programming;
Cloud Life reaches out to kids who spend much of their time on-line. This ministry creates and implements fun, educational, and engaging content to help and minister to our youth in the Cloud.
City Life KIX is an after-school mentoring and tutoring program.
Yuri Mikolay, executive director of the Ocean Reef Community Foundation, in awarding the grant to City Life KIX said, “We are excited about the good that your efforts will accomplish in our communities through this year’s grant and look forward to working with KIX in the year ahead.”
Miami Youth for Christ is headquartered in Kendall at 9350 SW 79 Ave. The telephone number is 305-271-2442. For additional information go to the website at www.miamiyfc.com.
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