Kids Making It is a national award-winning program. Our unique strengths-based approach is to empower at-risk youth and help them grow into responsible, employed, law-abiding citizens.
Kids Making It was founded in 1994 as a volunteer effort and a pilot program was launched at Jervay in 1997. KMI has currently been working full-time with Wilmington’s youth since 2000. Kids Making It is dedicated to teaching woodworking in a strong mentoring environment and instilling patience, pride, perseverance, confidence, teamwork and self-esteem. Our kids are able to build character through community service projects and impart the truth of actions and consequences through the woodworking process.
KMI is a long-term program with many of our kids returning year-after-year. Many started with us when they were in elementary school, building go-carts with hand tools. They are now teenagers, and we have grown with them to offer the skills of a power tools shop. At our shop and retail store on Water Street, they build what they can imagine. By selling many of their products, our kids are able to earn 100% of the profits. As they have grown, so have their skill levels. The go-carts have given way to handcrafted bowls, pens and custom orders from customers.
The retail shop is a wonderful learning atmosphere where these kids are immersed into the mainstream of society, as they sell their products to the public. They are now moving toward high-school graduation and KMI is committed to helping them successfully transition from school into either the workplace or higher education.
In our 2008 expansion, we added a social worker to our staff to provide more intensive counseling and support work for not only our kids but their families. An additional instructor was also added to our team. With the City Council’s help, we were able to buy two modern, state of the art pieces of woodworking equipment that interface computer technology with woodworking. KMI provides vocational training on this equipment to our older youth. This skill set is in demand in today’s work force. We also would like to take over the other half of the ground level at the Jacobi Warehouse. Here, we would add another shop space, to serve more kids and hold more classes. Finally, we will be providing vocational counseling to assist kids transitioning into the work place to help ensure they become gainfully employed.
Jeanne Denny, faculty member at the UNCW Department of Social Work, has been consulting with us to better serve our kids. Her belief is that KMI’s unique cutting-edge, strengths-based entrepreneurial programming offers these kids the best chance for success. We work with them as unique individuals, tapping into their own personal strengths to lead them to self-sufficiency.
To learn more about how you can help, please e-mail us at info@kidsmakingit.org
