Kidworks Community Development Corporation
PROGRAMS
Family Engagement
A parent is the first educator of his or her child and we do our best to give parents the resources, support, and training to support their families. KidWorks supports over 320 parents through workshops, training, peer mentoring, and social enterprise activities.
Research shows that when parents are involved in their child’s education, everyone benefits. No matter a child's socio-economic status, ethnicity, or parents’ education level, the benefits of parent engagement include: higher grades and test scores; better attendance and homework completion; higher graduation rates and postsecondary enrollment; decrease in negative behaviors; increase in positive attitudes and behaviors.
KidWorks After School Program
KidWorks After-School Programs provides educational, enrichment, and youth development services for 450 K-12th grade students. Students develop their academic skills through homework help, tutoring, and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) lessons. Students improve their knowledge and awareness of post-secondary education, through college campus tours, college application assistance, college fairs, SAT preparation classes, career exploration workshops, and financial aid application assistance. Lastly, students grow socially and emotionally through character-building lessons, mentoring relationships, work experiences, community service projects, and leadership development opportunities.
Many at-risk youth living in central Santa Ana suffer from a lack of positive role models, particularly those close to their own age. By the time students reach middle school, many of their friends and peers are becoming actively involved in gang life or other negative social pressures, including substance abuse. With enrichment activities and leadership development training, KidWorks builds a strong peer network for young people, enabling them to feel greater support and become one another's positive role models. By ensuring that they have scholastically motivated friends of their own age who participate alongside them in the program, we dramatically increase the chances that young people will stay in school and on-track for college.
College & Career Programs
Our KidWorks College Success Initiative™ is aimed at ending the poverty cycle by providing our students the tools they need to graduate from college and launch careers that break the cycle. The students we serve at KidWorks live near or below the poverty line and face significant barriers to education. Often their families are caught in a poverty cycle and are just surviving. The best way to break the cycle is preventing it in the next generation. Currently 89% of low-income students leave college without a degree and 23% leave after their first year (known as Summer Melt). Currently 73% of Kidworks college students are on track to earn their degree. Education leads to higher income, improved health, lower crime rates and a better future. By ensuring our students graduate from college, we are ensuring a brighter future for our students and Orange County.
Our goal is to provide the students at KidWorks with the tools needed to prepare for higher education and graduate. Upon graduation, we help equip KidWorks students to enter the workforce and train for the careers of tomorrow.
Preschool
Our preschool helps 48 children improve their school-readiness skills through activities promoting socialization, developing fine motor skills, improving literacy and English language development, increasing personal hygiene, gardening, art projects, and learning to use technology.
The benefits of attending preschool, especially for children living in low-income, predominately Spanish-speaking families, have been well-documented. Higher rates of high school graduation and lower rates of juvenile arrest are two long-term outcomes that have been associated with receiving a preschool
education.
CONTACT
Kidworks Community Development Corporation
1902 W. Chestnut Avenue
Santa Ana, CA 92703
Phone: 714-834-9400