The mission of Cornerstone Kids, Inc. is to assist at-risk inner-city children in their educational, spiritual and emotional development in a safe, secure and nurturing environment.
Cornerstone Kids, Inc. is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit after-school program located at St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Tampa. The program is structured specifically to reach at-risk, inner-city children who reside in low-income, single-parent households in Tampa Heights and surrounding neighborhoods. Cornerstone Kids, Inc. was started as a club in 1984 for the children in the neighborhood by Reverend Bruce Caldwell, the rector of the church at that time. He filled an unmet need for the underserved children of the area.
In 1994 the program expanded to include hot meals served daily, homework assistance, and academic and social guidance/enrichment. Cornerstone Kids, Inc. provides a comprehensive after-school program that serves 35 children in grades K-5, ages 5-11 years old. When the program was reorganized the decision was made to become a registered nonprofit organization. Several members responsible for enhancing the program make up our diverse, 10-member board of directors today.
At Cornerstone Kids, we offer the children the opportunity to develop academic skills to succeed in school and provide opportunities for learning outside of the traditional school day. Our program activities assist us with our mission of providing the educational, spiritual and emotional development of the children who do not have this opportunity for growth and academic support in Tampa Heights.
Our curriculum activities include homework assistance/tutoring, reading, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), mentoring and development of social emotional skills for all children, free of charge. You will find the children Monday-Friday in a safe, nurturing, supervised environment from 2:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. with four instructors, a cook and an executive director. We are also blessed to have many partners who volunteer with the program to implement valuable projects/programs to help us live our mission.
During the summer we operate on a modified schedule Monday through Thursday from noon until 4 p.m. Lunch is served daily. The curriculum includes field trips, indoor and outdoor activities, Spanish, reading and math programs, and other enrichment activities. One of the highlights of our summer program is vacation bible school (VBS). Every summer we are given the opportunity to attend VBS with the children of St. John’s, St. Andrew’s and St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church. It is a beautiful experience when the children meet new friends and learn about God together. We have many success stories. One of our former students is an airline pilot, which was his childhood dream, and others are having successful high school experiences. Some of our students have finished college and others are enrolled in two- or four-year programs. During the summer, some former students return to volunteer. A few students in our program today are children of former students.
Cornerstone Kids, Inc. is funded by our annual fundraiser, The Lincoln-Douglass Ball; special projects, grants, private donors and donations from many of our churches; The Episcopal Church Women; and other organizations in the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Thanks for helping us make a difference!!
Due to COVID-19 and the Safer-At-Home Ordinance in Hillsborough County, the school system is closed until May 1. Cornerstone Kids, Inc. follows the Hillsborough School System calendar; therefore, our program is not in operation at this time.
KFORCE Giving Day
On December 6, 2019, Cornerstone Kids, Inc. partnered with KFORCE Staffing Agency to celebrate their Annual Giving Day. Approximately one dozen KFORCE employees attended the event and participated in a variety of indoor board games and artwork with the children. They also provided goody bags with healthy treats and gifts for the children to take home. It was a fun day for all.
Bess The Book Bus
Bess the Book Bus visits Cornerstone Kids up to three times each year. She is usually our Special Guest Reader at our “Annual Book Give Away” in March of each year and she supplies books for the kids to take home as well as for the program.
Framework’s Teens in Action
The Teens in Action have been volunteering with our program for many years. This year they took a different approach on delivering the Social-Emotional Development Training to the children. The program is delivered to all of the students on a level to help them understand. The sessions are called “Social Emotional Learning Themes.”
The themes are designed to help the students build prosocial skills through positive social interactions with the staff and their peers. The children perform activities that involve Self-Esteem, Comfortable and Uncomfortable Emotions, Gratitude, Kindness, Making Good Decisions, Teamwork, and Diversity and Culture. Each theme has a learning activity that relates to it. The children enjoy interacting with the teens each week.
What are Cornerstone Kids, Inc.’s plans for the future in connection with the kids and the effect that the coronavirus has had on the them and the program?
As of April 18, 2020, our governor announced that all schools in Florida will continue to stay closed for the rest of this school year. With that decision plans are to prepare to open our Summer Enrichment Program based on the date Florida and the CDC will suspend the Safe-at-Home/Social Distancing Coronavirus guidelines and when Bishop Smith will allow face-to-face meetings/gatherings on the church premises. When that happens, hopefully we will open our Summer Enrichment Program for six weeks, which will include Vacation Bible School, recreation/enrichment activities and fieldtrips.
Since the program has been closed, I have been contacting our parents via telephone and text messages to find out how the children are handling their schoolwork online and offering to help any way that I can based on the current condition. Getting the work done online has been a challenge for some of our parents due to no online service or computer; however, the children are still able to complete their work using prepared paper assignments. Many parents expressed how thankful they are of our program for doing what we do on a daily basis with the children. Some expressed how sorry they were for not saying it often enough.
Children in our program are able to receive a free breakfast and lunch at “Grab-and-Go” locations at designated schools. Some parents are receiving food from the local food bank and other locations. This was a concern since a part of our program was feeding the children a hot meal daily.
Olatha Leggett
Executive Director
Cornerstone Kids, Inc.
813-293-1284
