Urban Youth Impact is the recipient of a $110,000 donation to build a fenced-in parking lot and recreational area on the south end of its Dream Center facility on North Australian Avenue.
The James and Claudine Kirkwood Fund of The Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties and Mr. Mitchell Watson collaborated to offer a $55,000 ($25,000/$30,000) matching grant challenge to fund this construction project. This month, The Batchelor Foundation committed $55,000 to finish the match.
This new recreational area will benefit the students involved in Urban Youth Impact's Leadership Academy after school program. The Leadership Academy operates in the Dream Center, which neighbors the Tamarind Avenue corridor of West Palm Beach. Located less than a mile from CityPlace, this neighborhood has one of the highest crime rates in the city. The West Palm Beach Police Department identifies the Tamarind Avenue corridor as one of its most difficult, especially when it comes to extensive drug trafficking. Approximately 50% of all homes in the neighborhood consist of single parent, female-headed households that operate below the poverty level. Statistically, 32% of youth will not graduate from high school.
The Leadership Academy's goal is to break the negative cycle of poverty in this community by developing students academically, physically, socially, and spiritually. The program provides 100 inner-city students with tutoring, computer-based literacy learning, life skills lessons and character building lessons, mentoring relationships, performing arts, field trips, and recreation. In 2008-2009, The Leadership Academy's first year of operation, 73% of students improved their reading scores. To date, The Leadership Academy is the only comprehensive youth development program of its kind in the community.
The new recreational area will offer the students a safe outdoor space to play basketball, unwind after school, and develop friendships in a part of the city where secure play spaces for children are limited. Construction will begin immediately upon receipt of the funds.
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