At the beginning of the year, our Community Relations Officers - Angela, Jenise, and Irene - developed a comprehensive plan with specific goals for their respective communities. During the initial four months, KBK Foundation has made a significant impact on the residents in several ways. Let's take a moment to examine some of their remarkable achievements:
Economic Development
Nearly 1 in 4 households have experienced food insecurity this year!
CSS has always made its mission to make sure they fulfill the needs of their residents. Due to the systematic geographical structure of underserved communities, unfortunately many of them are in food deserts. This makes it extremely difficult for our residents to access fresh and healthy food options. Therefore, it was important CSS not only continued to partner with 412 Food Rescue, who delivers several pounds of fresh food and produce weekly directly to our community centers. Due to CSS expanding 412 Food Rescue to additional of our communities:
From Jan. 2023 – Apr. 2023
Skyline Terrace, Garfield Commons & Kelly Hamilton Homes
SERVED 260 FAMILIES
Community Development & Art
Did you know? At top schools, your extracurricular profile makes up 30% of the weight of your application, which is more than any other component.
It is not all grades and test scores. When you are applying to college, what happens outside of the classroom is just as important as what happens in it. In Columbus at The Heritage Angela Miles, CRO has been working extremely hard working with the Ethiopian Tewahedo Social Services (ETSS) Program. The program gathers for academic support, learning about their own and other participants' language, music, and cultural traditions. In addition to homework help, our afterschool programming also offers enrichment activities focusing on science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) and social emotional learning (SEL). Here are some of the fun activities ETSS and CSS have held for the children:
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Abott Labs: Scientists with Abbott Laboratories visited the children at The Heritage. There were fun and interactive activities for the kids which offered educational processes to show chemical interactions, the effects of temperature on air pressure and how everyone can create secret, invisible messages from a mixture of baking soda and water! Abbott Labs gifted each child a pair of safety glasses and donated a microscope to The Heritage classroom for the kids to use. This exciting event was the kickoff to the S.T.E.A.M. program the ETSS organization is rolling out. |
Heritage Book Club: The Heritage Book Club is a weekly gathering in The Heritage community room, which is organized by an ETSS staff member and a long-time resident of the property. The youth book club began with eight participants and follows a curriculum that measures each child's progress in grammar and reading comprehension. Each week the youth prepare book reports and discuss their books amongst the group. B+ average reading grade Goal is A+ |
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Chef Darienne Key: Chef Darienne and friends created a fun and healthy "Taco Tuesday" culinary experience for the children enrolled in the after-school program. This included a mix of freshly chopped vegetables, prepared along with delicious slow-braised beef and corn tortillas. The fun came when Chef Darienne gave the kids an opportunity to make their own salsas and use the griddle to make their own Birria Tacos. The kids were so excited to make and try the recipe because it has been a viral trend, and fun to make and eat! The children have their plates ready for the next time for Chef Darienne to introduce them to a new meal to create and share with their families!
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Columbus Symphony Orchestra: At the top of the year the Columbus Symphony Orchestra came on site for a short concert and taught the children about the different strings and answered any questions they had about being professional musicians. Many of the children had never played certain string instruments and became very intrigued and considered taking lessons.
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Social Services
One of the most important qualities of our CROs is being able to support and connect with our residents. In the beginning of the year a survey was distributed to our residents to express their needs and suggestions on how we can serve and connect the community even more. As a result, one of the most impactful events to date this year was a recent Women’s History Month celebration hosted by both Irene Sparks and Jenise Shealey.
KBK Foundation's Community Relations Officers are dedicated to supporting and connecting with residents in underserved communities. In the beginning of the year, KBK Foundation distributed a survey to residents to express their needs and suggestions on how they can serve and connect with the community even more. One of the most impactful events to date this year was a recent Women’s History Month celebration hosted by Irene Sparks and Jenise Shealey.
The celebration featured a viewing of the documentary of “We Wear the Mask: The Hidden Face of Women in Poverty.” Executive Produced by Pittsburgh native Tammy Thompson. Tammy shared her story and why she felt the need to create the documentary,
“The film digs deeply into the psychology of poverty to shine a spotlight on an often-underestimated segment of society,” said Thompson.
Tammy then led the group in an intimate discussion about poverty in the communities all over the world, “My work is dedicated to removing the stigma of poverty, particularly for women,” said Thompson.
She is outspoken in her belief that “social service programs that just give help without offering options are planning for failure,” Thompson says.
In just four months KBK Foundation and the CSS team have done an extreme job at making sure our primary focuses of community and economic development, social services and art are being reflected throughout our Columbus and Pittsburgh communities. There is so much more KBK Foundation has in store for the year 2023 and we cannot wait to share with you in our second quarter recap!
How you can support:
Be a part of an organization that is bridging today’s realities with tomorrow’s possibilities. If you would like to support the work of The KBK Foundation, please send your tax-deductible donation to The KBK Foundation, 345 E, 5th Ave, Columbus, OH 43201, Tax I.D.: 20-8565209 or head over to our Paypal to donate here: Donate (paypal.com). The KBK Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. Thank you so much for your support!
What is next?
