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PHILANTHROPY NEWS DIGEST
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| Name: | StandUp For Kids |
| Founded: | 1990 |
| Founder & CEO: | Richard L. Koca, Sr. |
| Address: | 3911 Pacific Highway, Suite 212, San Diego, California 92110 |
| Phone: | 1.800.365.4KID |
| Fax: | 1.888.453.1647 |
| E-mail: | info@standupforkids.org |
| URLs: | http://www.standupforkids.org/ |
| Mission: | To empower homeless and at-risk youth toward life-long personal growth through an on-the-streets outreach program, and to create in these youth a sincere caring and belief in themselves through open, straightforward counseling and educational programs, thereby helping them acquire the life skills necessary to become effective members of their community. |
| Background: | Since 1990, StandUp For Kids has helped homeless and at-risk youth with immediate necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and personal hygiene, while at the same time offering these kids a wide array of services, including housing and education assistance, vocational development, counseling, health services, transportation to self-help meetings, and legal assistance. The organization makes laundry services and lunch and snack facilities available, as well as mail and message services. |
| Current Programs: | StandUp For Kids is a 99.9 percent volunteer operation. (The organization has a full-time staff member in its Denver office and a part-time employee on its national staff.) In addition to filling a variety of positions — executive director, public relations manager, community resource director, outreach and apartment support directors, and kid and adult training directors — volunteers conduct life-skills training covering such areas as budgeting, banking, apartment cleanliness and safety, shopping and cooking, nutrition, and hygiene. Since 1990, StandUp For Kids volunteers have performed more than 500,000 hours of community service and conducted more than 60,000 counseling sessions. |
| Web Site: | The StandUp For Kids Web site provides general information about the national organization, links to and information about local branches in twelve states and the District of Columbia, an online volunteer application form, information about how individuals can contribute, and the most recent issue of the organization's quarterly newsletter (in PDF format). |
| Recent Successes: | StandUp For Kids founder and CEO Rick Koca sent us the following when we asked him about his organization's recent successes:
"Tim B. — believe it or not — one of our kids from years ago is now working for Lucent Technologies. Nathan M. has now been off the streets for two years and now sits on our National Board of Directors. Sunshine has a great job and Anthony is still in school — he graduates this year — no one would know he has been homeless for more than a year. Joey went home and Short and his mom are trying to make it work. Chris is going into the Job Corps and four more kids off the streets this week!" |
| Funding Needs: | StandUP For Kids' funding needs are considerable. The organization currently does outreach in Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia, and is looking to start programs in Boston, Jacksonville, Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Austin, San Antonio, and Minneapolis/St. Paul. As Rick Koca writes: "We can really use all the help we can get."
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Every week, the NPO Spotlight in Philanthropy News Digest highlights the activities of a nonprofit organization; periodically, we shift the focus to an NGO in a country other than the U.S. Organizations are selected, using a range of criteria, to ensure the broadest possible representation of the nonprofit sector, both in the U.S. and abroad.
If you'd like to have your NPO or NGO appear in the "Spotlight," e-mail a profile of your organization (using the format above) to spotlight@fdncenter.org, or send a hard copy via snail mail to: NPO Spotlight(The editors of Philanthropy News Digest reserve the right to edit submissions.) |
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