HEART FOR THE CITY

Heart for the City works with the WHOLE kid. We don't just do sports, we don't just do education, we work by empowering the whole kid with emotional, physical and social skills to help them get through and succeed in life. But, we start with physical activity because research has shown that inner city kids tend to be less active and more prone to health issues. Within our sports programs—kids can participate in sports that tend to be too expensive for the typical middle-schooler in these lower-income communities. The kids are supplied equipment, transportation and league fees at no expense. During the holidays, these kids are empowered to move beyond those simple survival skills by assisting in the delivery of over 400 food baskets and 2000 Christmas gifts to fellow inner-city families of Glendale and Peoria. Many of these sports participants also progress so impressively in academia that they receive scholarship assistance through HFTC for local private schools. HFTC provides the transportation to/from these schools every day. Lastly, we expose these kids to new lifestyle choices through our community gardening programs. The post-traumatic stress and attention disorders experienced by many of these kids create immense vitamin deficiencies. Our gardening program features instruction on nutrition, gardening basics, and physical activity, as we work alongside of them. We also walk with many of these kids past the middle school years, into high school and through college with our workforce development opportunities at our coffee house. At Java Grounds, kids learn life skills such as customer service, basic money concepts and overall work ethic.