Our Founder’s Story
As a young boy Kirk was raised by his mother and grandmother.
These two provided the best care and foundation for success that a boy could ask for in his circumstance. Kirk's mom signed both him and his younger brother up for a mentoring program, but neither of them were matched with a mentor. Many young boys, just like Kirk, are never matched with a mentor and one of the biggest reasons is because parents, like Kirk's Mom, want their son to have a mentor that looks like their child. When families understand the importance of making sure their child can identify with the adult(s) that will pour into them and be part of their support system, it helps to break down any barriers to building a meaningful relationship. This also means that for black and brown young boys like Kirk, it is possible they will not be matched up with a mentor, through a formal mentoring program.
Years later, Kirk finished his career as a collegiate athlete, playing Division 1 football at the State University of New York At Buffalo, where he earned his degree in Business Administration. When he returned home, he signed up to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and for 10 years served as a mentor. Kirk was also a mentor for 3 years with the Concerned Black Men organization located in Philadelphia. It has been Kirk's mission to make sure he can help a few young men, not have the same story as him by matching them with a mentor.
In 2016
Kirk had the idea to offer a fun learning experience to middle school age boys to participate in, by attending the KB P.O.W.E.R. overnight mentoring camp. This camp is focused on teaching life skills and providing the young men with hands-on experiences. These life skills come from many of the things Kirk did not learn as a young boy. Life skills like changing a car tire or his bicycle tire, how to tie a tie, healthy cooking, archery and so many other skills that Kirk understands are important for youth to learn. The inaugural KB P.O.W.E.R. Mentoring Camp had nine boys participate in it back in 2016. The cost of the camp at the time for families was only $60.00. Kirk believes every child should experience overnight camp in a safe environment at least once during their childhood. With the cost of overnight camps being so expensive, Kirk has made sure that parents don't break the bank sending their child(ren) to the KB P.O.W.E.R. Mentoring Camp experience. By making the camp affordable to families, it has required Kirk each year from 2016 - 2019 to fund the camp himself every summer, while slowly increasing the donations he receives from family, friends, church members and community members.
The mentoring camp is the first program Kirk launched under the KB Foundation Inc. which was founded in 2017 and the camp has taken place now for eight consecutive summers.
Exposure is life!
The impact you see from the KB Foundation today
is because of Kirk's commitment to creating safe programs for the youth to participate in, and because of the "group based" mentoring model. Remember this all started because Kirk was not matched up with a mentor as a young boy. There are still not enough mentors for the number of youth that need additional support outside of their family. The "group based" mentoring model allows the youth in the KB Foundation network to participate in any of the programs and connect with the different mentors that volunteer their time for that specific activity on any given day. The benefit to "group based" mentoring is the youth get introduced to many mentors and build relationships with individuals that have different personal and professional backgrounds. The youth build an additional community of friends/peers that normally they would not meet in a traditional mentor model. The youth that connect with the KB Foundation don't have to wait on a list to participate in any of the programs, they just have to be willing to show up and enjoy the fun learning experiences.
In Parallel to the operation of The KB Foundation, Kirk also works as an
AUTHOR AND A YOUTH EMPOWERMENT EDUCATOR,
showing both the youth and those who work with youth, the tools to empower children into becoming young adults. With the success of Kirk's Programs in working with children, the KB Foundation Inc. is helping to create positive experiences for youth and stands firm on the motto "Exposure Is Life".