In the past four years, Developing KIDS has continued to grow in many dimensions.
More staff
Late in 2012, Developing KIDS added a third person to their core leadership team. Denise Cranford, then 24, had been a peer leader in Kim’s groups at Alternatives for Girls during high school. Like many others, she stayed in touch with Kim for years after that. In 2012, after some years at college, she came home and began working at a security company. That was
unfulfilling, though, and Kim offered her a part-time job as Youth Service Coordinator at Developing KIDS. The salary was lower, but the work was more appealing. Denise took it. “It’s been a roller coaster ride these three years,” Denise reflected in mid-2015. “Over time, I learned how to work better with kids. It helped me evolve tremendously as I learned the Developing KIDS way. I adapted. I have thicker skin now. I deal better with constructive criticism. I have more patience.”
Early on, she considered quitting. “I wondered, maybe this is not for me. I was always messing up. But Toy and Kim said, ‘No, you’re doing well.’”
Denise recalled, “It clicked after I tried to give my two weeks’ notice. I was sad – I had built relationships both with staff and with kids. They are watching me. I know I have to do and be my best. I didn’t notice my growth, until they did. When they told me I was doing a good job, I could see it then, and I wanted to keep doing it.”
Toy affirmed Denise’s growth and commitment. “She has stepped up as a leader.” In 2015, Denise got married, to a man who also volunteers at Developing KIDS.
Kim’s and Toy’s daughters grew into larger leadership roles, too, as they matured through high school and into college.
More leader development
Developing KIDS continued to build its leadership circle, and to emphasize learning and growth for adult leaders as well as youth participants.
One of Denise’s first duties was to go through the Good Neighborhoods Leadership Academy, along with Toy, the DK board president and two parent leaders. Kim completed the entire High/Scope training series on youth development, and became a trainer on Child and Youth Care Basics for the Academy of Competent Youth Work. She attended webinars on youth development, donor recruitment and
marketing, and workshops on nonprofit fund- and friend-raising.
Toy completed numerous High/Scope workshops and the 40-hour Child and Youth Care Basics course.
The entire staff attended a capacity building conference held by the Skillman-supported Cody Rouge-Brightmoor Youth Development Initiative in 2013.
The organization obtained a grant to pay for board development consultants in 2013. It also created a four-person advisory board in addition to the board of directors which includes six to eight members plus Kim.
In recognition of her exceptional investment in capacity building and her success in
implementing organizational growth based on workshop learnings, Kim was honored with the Michigan Growth award for capacity building from the Youth Development Commission in 2012.
More college student interns
Along with growing its core staff, Developing KIDS continued to build partnerships with area colleges and universities, drawing interns and volunteers to DK. In addition to Dr. Yoon’s Wayne State graduate students, interns began coming from Baker College, Marygrove College (through a partnership Community Connections built with Marygrove), Oakland University, Siena Heights University and University of Michigan-Dearborn.
More summer teen workers
The larger core staff enabled Developing KIDS to take on more summer teen workers, and to offer summer jobs to more of its participants, through the Grow Detroit’s Young Talent city program. It hosted 11 summer workers in 2012 and 13 in 2013. During these years, however, it scaled back its summer enrollment to about 75 youth, to maintain quality.
More funding
From 2011 through 2015, Community Connections continued to support Developing KIDS with annual grants, starting with $5,000 in 2011 and in 2012. When grants of up to $10,000 became available in 2013 thanks to increased Kellogg Foundation support of Community Connections, Developing KIDS got yearly grants of $9,455 to $10,000 in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Its increasing skill at raising funds from diverse sources meant it didn’t need to seek the maximum two grants per year from Community Connections any longer as in earlier years.
In addition to its SDOP grants and grassroots fundraisers, Developing KIDS began attracting grants from other sources. The Junior League of Detroit gave two grants to support family nights. Bright House funded science-technology-engineering-mathematics (STEM) activities. In 2014, in recognition of its expanded performance and capacity, Developing KIDS became the first Community Connections grantee to win a Skillman Foundation major grant of $75,000. The grant was renewed in 2015.
More facilities
After operating primarily out of the Don Bosco Hall Community Resource Center since 2007, Developing KIDS in 2014 began renting a space of its own, a former car wash on Plymouth Road about two miles from Don Bosco Hall. This enabled it to offer programming at two sites: after school on Mondays and Wednesdays at Plymouth and on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Don Bosco Hall, and during the six-week summer season at both sites, 10-5 on Monday through Thursday.
More youth participants
With two facilities, Developing KIDS could expand its number of summer teen workers and program participants. In 2014, it hosted 25 summer workers, all former program participants, and 100 participants. In 2015, it hosted 43 summer teen workers – 28 from within Developing KIDS plus 15 other Cody High School students assigned by Grow Detroit – and 150 participants.