Team Kids Inc.

Where kids are the heroes

Founded in 2001 by Julie Hudash, Team Kids is a dynamic nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering young people as responsible, resilient citizens through innovative school-based and community service programs. Guided by the belief in the transformative power of youth, Team Kids fosters a dual paradigm shift—changing how young people perceive their potential as impactful changemakers and reshaping the way adults engage with and support the contributions of youth to community well-being. Stemming from a compassionate response to one child's need for funds to pay for life-saving operation in 2001, Team Kids has since engaged over 350,000 students, raised significant resources for charitable causes, and gained national recognition. The flagship program, Team Kids Challenge, exemplifies our commitment to character development, entrepreneurship education, and instilling a sense of responsibility, empowering students to address real-world issues and become leaders in their communities. With collaborative partnerships and a proven track record, Team Kids remains a beacon of hope, nurturing the potential of every child to catalyze positive change in an ever-evolving world.

Team Kids fosters youth leadership through in-school programs led by our dedicated coaches, supported by local public safety officers. These programs aim to teach the value of teamwork, leadership, entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and civic engagement. Our Team Kids Challenge involves students planning and executing a completely student-led in-school carnival, supporting a local cause of their choice. Additionally, we offer a self-serve program model where kids can host lemonade stands outside of school to fundraise for causes close to their hearts.

At Team Kids, we challenge the notion that children are "too young" to make a difference. On the contrary, we believe that when empowered, children harness their boundless empathy and dream-centered drive to effect genuine, positive change in their communities. Through our initiatives, we aim to shift perceptions, showing children their potential as change-makers and encouraging adults to engage with youth as valuable partners in community building.

Top Accomplishments from 2025:

25 Years of Impact Kickoff: Team Kids launched its 25th-anniversary celebration, recognizing more than 550,000 children empowered since the organization’s founding in 2001. The milestone brought together supporters, alumni, partners, and community leaders around a shared vision for Team Kids’ future and honored its long-standing partnerships with schools and communities nationwide.

Empowered Youth and Communities: Team Kids expanded into new schools in the Ocean View and Laguna Beach school districts, reaching approximately 16,000 students across 31 schools nationwide in 2025. Through school- and community-based programming, young people gained meaningful opportunities to develop leadership, empathy, teamwork, confidence, and a stronger sense of belonging through service.

Strengthened Community Partnerships: Team Kids expanded its network of educators, police officers, firefighters, veterans, college interns, and other caring adult mentors. The organization also developed new institutional partnerships, including one with the South Orange County Community College District, to engage military-connected students from Irvine Valley College in purpose-driven service, support their transition to civilian life, and create opportunities to continue their mission of service by giving back to the next generation of heroes. Together, these partnerships help young people build positive relationships with trusted adults while addressing real community needs.

Doubled the Impact of Charitable Giving: Team Kids completed its 6th Annual Golf Classic, bringing together generous corporate partners, sponsors, and individual supporters to advance the organization’s mission. Through the availability of matching funds, contributions were doubled, extending the impact of every gift and generating greater support for Team Kids programs and the young people and communities they serve.

Prepared for Responsible Growth: Team Kids strengthened its case for investment and expansion and adopted a three-year Strategic Plan focused on sustainable growth, diversified revenue, and increased unrestricted funding. This next chapter prioritizes not only reaching more schools, but also investing in the research, staffing, systems, partnerships, and operational capacity required to maintain program quality as Team Kids grows.

Team Kids’ Top 5 most important current needs:

Team Kids’ top current needs will enable it to expand responsibly while protecting the youth voice, community relationships, and the transformative experiences at the heart of its work.

Funding to Reach 50,000 Students: Team Kids is seeking more than $1 million in philanthropic investment to expand its annual reach to serve 50,000 students during the 2026–27 school year. A gift of $10,000 brings the full six-week Team Kids Challenge to one school at no cost to participating students or the school. Funding supports school coordination, program materials, kickoff activities, weekly service challenges, student leadership meetings, and a culminating youth-led charity carnival.

Research, Evaluation, and Outcome Tracking: Additional investment is needed to strengthen student surveys, program evaluation, research partnerships, and short- and long-term outcome tracking. These resources will help Team Kids more fully measure and communicate its impact on youth leadership, belonging, civic engagement, positive identity, community connection, and relationships with trusted adults and public safety mentors.

Development and Fundraising Capacity: Reaching significantly more students requires dedicated development resources, including additional fundraising staff, grant development, donor stewardship, corporate engagement, and diversified revenue strategies. This capacity will help Team Kids build sustainable sources of unrestricted and program funding while deepening relationships with individual, foundation, and corporate partners.

Marketing, Communications, and Visibility: Team Kids needs professional marketing and communications support to increase awareness of its evidence-based model, share compelling stories of student and community impact, strengthen donor engagement, and expand its national visibility. Greater visibility will help attract the funders, schools, community partners, and champions needed to support responsible growth.

Operational Resources and Growth Infrastructure: Expansion requires investment in the people, training, technology, data systems, and administrative infrastructure needed to coordinate programs across more schools, districts, cities, and states. These resources will support the recruitment and training of coaches, interns, volunteers, and community mentors while ensuring that Team Kids maintains consistency, efficiency, and program quality as it grows.

Southern California: Orange County, Los Angeles County
Arizona: Maricopa County
New York: New York City

I am so lucky to be living my dream. I have the great fortune to serve as the founder/CEO of Team Kids, a nonprofit delivering empirically-validated youth development school programs in CA, AZ, VA and NY! My dream is to ensure that EVERY child knows they matter, they are significant, and that their community needs them as capable leaders. Youth show up in this world with a wide open window of compassion and with big dreams to make our world a better and more equitable place for all. Whether it's to help endangered animals, to find a cure for cancer, or to end homelessness, I believe it's our most privileged responsibility to ensure that our future leaders, social entrepreneurs, and philanthropists have the support, experiences and mentors they need to make their biggest dreams come true.

Our published research establishes that the Team Kids Challenge increases thriving indicators for youth to succeed while strengthening protective factors to reduce high-risk behavior. Our youth face unprecedented challenges including pediatric mental health issues, gang violence, and substance abuse. Team Kids helps youth navigate these obstacles by connecting them to peers and public safety role models to ensure they feel seen, heard, and capable of being heroes in their community.

Together with my esteemed Board of Directors, we’re guiding our strategic planning and amplifying Team Kids as a national model for youth empowerment. We’ve been able to advance our five-week Team Kids Challenge program – enabling students from diverse backgrounds to recognize their significance and fostering resilience and leadership. We are deeply committed to collaboration, and uniting with educators, police, firefighters, business leaders, charities, and generous philanthropists, to keep
our momentum growing.

Since 2001, Team Kids has impacted over 350,000 students, nationwide. As an innovative force in youth development, Team Kids is more than an in-school program — it’s a movement with a mission to change the world by sparking and mobilizing our world’s most valuable resource – our youth!

It is an honor to serve as President of the Team Kids Board of Directors, working beside the most passionate leaders from our business, education, and public safety communities.

From the moment I met Julie Hudash, I knew we were kindred spirits with a shared dream to change the world alongside kids. Team Kids’ mission resonates deeply with my personal and family values, as well as with our work at MacKenzie and Next Gen Collaborative to ensure all voices are heard.

Team Kids is not only empowering our youngest leaders, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists; we are also inspiring entire communities to invest in their success, from California to New York.