Leaderkids

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The mission of LeaderKids Fort Worth:
Developing leadership abilities in middle school students through community involvement.

The goals of LeaderKids Fort Worth:

to communicate positive, lasting values for kids to consider
to foster volunteerism and support kids’ involvement in the community, and
to develop leadership potential in kids

Background
In 1995, Leadership Fort Worth was invited by then Mayor Kay Granger to become involved with Our city, Our Children initiative to make Fort Worth a “more child-friendly city.” In response to that challenge, Leadership Fort Worth designed LeaderKids Fort Worth as a program for middle school students ages 11-14.

Plan of Action
LeaderKids Fort Worth is an operating program of Leadership Fort Worth. It is a collaborative effort with existing organizations and resources that work with kids, including the Fort Worth Independent School District, YMCA, Because We Care and Tarrant County Youth Collaboration, among many others.

LeaderKids Fort Worth introduces students to the City of Fort Worth in two ways:

career presentations allow them to visualize personal achievement as adults, and
volunteer opportunities allow them to improve the community in which they live now.

How participants are selected
School counselors select students who have leadership potential, but have not yet developed their leadership skills. The theme of LeaderKids is “Everybody as a leader inside.” The program is designed to help these students develop as leaders at school, at church or temple, in the neighborhood, and in the larger community of Fort Worth.

Volunteers
Adults and college students volunteer as mentors. The mentors “bond” with the students by giving them respect and undivided attention, by gaining their trust, and by clearly communicating high levels of expectations to these young leaders in training.

The program is entirely dependent on volunteer time, energy and commitment. Volunteers serve as program speakers and small group facilitators. They prepare meals and chauffeur students. They share their knowledge of the history and heritage of Fort Worth, their personal experiences in getting an education, finding a role model, starting a career, and becoming involved in the community.

Community Involvement

Career presentations – LeaderKids get involved in the exciting growth and development of the City of Fort Worth. They visit the civic, corporate, government, charitable and educational centers of our community. These field trips allow students to hear presentations from people at workplaces and see firsthand the kinds of jobs that will be available to them. In addition, LeaderKids receive “Leadership Skills Training.” Mentors offer practical guidance to LeaderKids in areas such as time management, teamwork, project planning, public speaking, networking and dispute resolution.

Volunteer opportunities – LeaderKids get involved in volunteer projects that produce tangible benefits for the community of Fort Worth. Each year, two program days are dedicated to Community Service Projects.

Financial Support and In-Kind Contributions
LeaderKids Fort Worth is funded by cash and in-kind contributions from individuals, including members of Leadership Fort Worth; civic groups; foundations; and corporate sponsors. No public funding has been requested. However, the support of the Our City, Our Children staff at the City of Fort Worth is very valuable to the program.

A meal is served to the students at each event. Fortunately, meals have often been provided as in-kind contributions, thus lowering expenses significantly. However, expenses have increased in the third program year, because we are using FWISD busses for transportation – transporting students in volunteers’ cars became unmanageable as the number of schools and students increased.

Results
It is difficult to quantify the impact of a program like LeaderKids Fort Worth. However, we believe that the impact on the lives of students who participate in the program will be reflected in their academic performance and extracurricular activity in the years ahead. Leadership Fort Worth plans to track their progress through high school graduation.

9th grade LeaderKids alums take on a

service project to read to children at the

Fort Worth Public Library

10th grade LeaderKids alums
take on a variety of tasks at
Cook Childrens Hospiotal

Posted on February 15, 2008