Cornerstone Kids Incorporated has served the Tampa Heights Community for 38 years. It started as Cornerstone Club in 1984, founded by Rev. Bruce Caldwell, who was the rector of the Episcopal House of Prayer. His intent was to provide a safe place for the children in the underserved Tampa Heights community to play and avoid the negative influences in the neighborhood. The club was financially supported by the church and operated successfully two or three days a week for many years.
In October 1998, the program began operating five days a week as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with the official name of Cornerstone Kids Inc. The organization became a “Kids Café” of Feeding America Tampa Bay and began providing the children a hot, well-balanced meal daily.
Today, hot meals are still served daily, and Cornerstone Kids Inc. is a comprehensive after-school program that serves children in grades K-5 in Tampa Heights and surrounding neighborhoods. Now, after 37 years, the program continues to operate on site at St. James House of Prayer Episcopal Church in Tampa.
Program activities focus specifically on homework assistance/tutoring, reading and math programs, technology, mentoring, nutrition, and the social-emotional development of at-risk children ages 5-11. During the summer, Cornerstone Kids Inc. operates on a modified schedule Monday through Thursday. The curriculum includes arts and crafts, Vacation Bible School, field trips, indoor board games, organized outdoor activities, reading and math programs, financial literacy, and other enrichment activities.
In 2013, Cornerstone Kids was awarded a Jubilee Ministries Program Impact Grant. The Jubilee Ministry Program is a social justice ministry of advocacy and service for the poor and oppressed. It was established by an act of the 1982 General Convention as “a ministry of joint discipleship in Christ with poor and oppressed people, wherever they are found, to meet basic human needs and to build a just society.” One of its major ministries is locating and affirming as Jubilee Centers those congregations, including ecumenical clusters, already directly engaged in mission and ministry with poor people.
As a part of Frameworks Tampa Bay’s Teens in Action program, Plant High School students volunteer at Cornerstone Kids each week. Teens in Action is a program helping high schoolers develop performance and leadership skills and partake in civic engagement. The program uses a social and emotional learning curriculum. The teens work with the Cornerstone students on communication skills and developing strategies to compliment others appropriately. Many of the teens feel that they get a lot more out of spending time with Cornerstone students than they ever expected. To learn more about the Teens in Action program and Cornerstone Kid please visit: cornerstonekidsinc.org