About Character 4 Kids, Inc.
Character 4 Kids, Inc. is a Florida-based nonprofit corporation. Organized in 2007, the organization was founded to address a two-fold need:
§ to address the critical call for bolstering the literacy levels of adolescents as a key to better prepare them for secondary learning and education; and
§ to present Christian principles (also known as “standards of the heart”) for living in a format that engages young people while at the same time teaching and helping form positive values.
The mission of Character 4 Kids, Inc. is:
To improve educational outcomes in adolescents by promoting reading, literacy and Christian values as a means to close the achievement gap across traditional cultural and social barriers.
As outlined in our strategic plan, the Corporation will embrace several of the fifteen recognized teaching strategies and school-wide reforms that rigorous scientific research has shown to have positive effects on adolescent literacy achievement. Specifically, the Character 4 Kids organization will be engaged in the following activities:
§ review and acquisition of age-appropriate character-building reading materials that help mold positive thinking and behavior in young people;
§ sponsoring programs and services to strengthen positive character development among youth through volunteer mentors and neighborhood-based reading clubs;
§ working with local and state organizations to provide character-building reading materials to their network of young people; and
§ working with parents, caregivers and home-school advocates to advance improved reading and literacy levels in the home.
These activities are designed to support several program elements – student motivation and self-directed learning; creating opportunities for collaborative learning; introducing students to diverse, age-appropriate, high-level texts; and providing intensive instruction and practice in writing and decision-making – standards identified by AEE as ways to make a difference in student outcomes.
At the same time, the staff and volunteers of Character 4 Kids, Inc. will work with youth people to develop standards of the heart; teaching them to become caring, contributing, productive, and responsible members of society. These attributes are vital to youth becoming successful in school, making responsible decisions, caring about others, contributing to society; developing social and personal skills (such as problem solving), processing various perspectives, setting and attaining goals, and developing a core set of common values.
