WESPAC Charities Awards Grant to MentorKids USA

Phoenix, AZ – MentorKids USA is honored to announce that it has received a generous grant from WESPAC Charities in support of the organization’s year-round youth development programming.

MentorKids USA serves more than 600 K–12 youth each year through six Promise Neighborhoods across the Valley. Through LEAD, its K–8 after-school program; the Summer Enrichment Program; and iLEAD, its high school leadership and workforce development program, MentorKids provides youth with academic support, mentorship, leadership development, enrichment, workforce preparation, and opportunities for personal growth. All programming is provided at no cost to families.

“We are incredibly grateful to WESPAC Charities for investing in MentorKids USA and the young people we serve,” said Aaron Parrott, Executive Director of MentorKids USA. “Their commitment to strengthening Arizona communities closely aligns with our belief that lasting change begins by investing in young people and equipping them to become leaders in their lives, families, and communities.”

MentorKids USA’s Promise Neighborhood model establishes a long-term presence within the communities it serves, with programming currently offered in South Phoenix, Palomino in North Phoenix, Paiute in South Scottsdale, Maryvale, Tempe, and Sunnyslope.

WESPAC’s commitment to giving back is rooted in strengthening the communities that shape Arizona’s future. MentorKids USA is grateful to partner with WESPAC Charities in creating lasting opportunities for young people and stronger communities across the Valley. To learn more about WESPAC Charities, visit www.wespacaz.com/charity.

Download the Official Press Release

About MentorKids USA

MentorKids USA is a faith-based nonprofit equipping K–12 students to become transformative leaders in their families and communities. Through six Promise Neighborhoods across the Phoenix area, MentorKids provides no-cost programs focused on academic excellence, spiritual growth, and leadership development. From elementary school through high school, students are surrounded by consistent relationships and opportunities to learn, lead, and invest in others—Building Leaders Who Build Leaders.

Media Contact

Jill Bailey
Development Director, MentorKids USA
480-767-6707 | [email protected]

Executive Council Charities Awards Grant to MentorKids USA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 21, 2026

Phoenix, AZ – MentorKids USA is honored to announce that it has received a generous grant from Executive Council Charities in support of the organization’s LEAD After-School Program.

LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Enrichment, Academics, and Discovery, is MentorKids USA’s no-cost after-school program serving K–8 students four days each week. Through daily reading, homework assistance and small-group academic support, leadership development, enrichment, healthy living activities, and relationships with caring adults, LEAD provides a safe and supportive environment where students can build academic confidence, strengthen leadership skills, and grow toward their full potential.

“We are incredibly grateful to Executive Council Charities for this investment in the lives of the youth we serve,” said Aaron Parrott, Executive Director of MentorKids USA. “Their support helps us provide students with consistent opportunities to learn, develop as leaders, and recognize the potential they have to positively influence their families and communities.”

MentorKids USA currently provides LEAD programming through six Promise Neighborhoods in South Phoenix, Palomino in North Phoenix, Paiute in South Scottsdale, Maryvale, Tempe, and Sunnyslope. The program focuses on both short- and long-term student success by providing individualized support that recognizes each student’s unique strengths and challenges.

Funding from Executive Council Charities will help MentorKids USA sustain and strengthen LEAD programming, ensuring students have access to consistent academic support, mentorship, enrichment, and leadership development throughout the school year.

To learn more about Executive Council Charities, visit www.ec70phx.com.

For more information about MentorKids USA and its programs, visit www.mentorkidsusa.org.

Download the Official Press Release

About MentorKids USA

MentorKids USA is a faith-based nonprofit equipping K–12 students to become transformative leaders in their families and communities. Through six Promise Neighborhoods across the Phoenix area, MentorKids provides no-cost programs focused on academic excellence, spiritual growth, and leadership development. From elementary school through high school, students are surrounded by consistent relationships and opportunities to learn, lead, and invest in others—Building Leaders Who Build Leaders.

Media Contact

Jill Bailey
Development Director, MentorKids USA
480-767-6707 | [email protected]

Dollar General Literacy Foundation Awards Summer Reading Grant to MentorKids USA

Phoenix, AZ – MentorKids USA is honored to announce it has received a generous grant from Dollar General Literacy Foundation in support of Summer Reading and our no-cost Summer Enrichment Program.

MentorKids USA’s Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) provides K–8 students in underserved communities with consistent literacy support, academic enrichment, and hands-on learning opportunities during critical out-of-school time. A core focus of the program is strengthening reading skills through daily reading activities, small-group literacy instruction, and engaging educational experiences. Through a safe, supportive environment, students build confidence, improve academic engagement, and develop the foundational skills needed for long-term success. Funding from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation supports these literacy efforts and helps ensure this programming is provided at no cost to families.

Currently serving students across six Promise Neighborhoods throughout the Valley, MentorKids USA’s Summer Enrichment Program will support more than 300 youth this summer through literacy enrichment, leadership development, STEAM activities, healthy living education, and relationship centered mentorship.

Support from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation will help provide literacy materials, educational resources and reading-focused activities that encourage students to strengthen their reading skills, remain academically engaged during the summer months, and build a lifelong love of learning. 

Download Press Release

About MentorKids USA

MentorKids USA is a faith-based nonprofit equipping K–12 students to become transformative leaders in their families and communities. Through six Promise Neighborhoods across the Phoenix area, MentorKids provides no-cost programs focused on academic excellence, spiritual growth, and leadership development. From elementary school through high school, students are surrounded by consistent relationships and opportunities to learn, lead, and invest in others—Building Leaders Who Build Leaders.

Media Contact

Jill Bailey
Development Director, MentorKids USA
480-767-6707 | [email protected]

BLUEPRINT FOR A PROMISE NEIGHBORHOOD

What do we look for when we're considering building a New Promise Neighborhood?

In July we shared some background on how the opportunity to establish a new Promise Neighborhood in Maryvale opened up and our progress to that date. This month, we want to take a deeper dive into the conditions and characteristics that make an area a good candidate to become a Promise Neighborhood, and how God works to bring it all together.

You might expect that some of the criteria used to determine Promise Neighborhood potential would include high rates of crime and poverty, and underperforming schools, and you would be correct. But there's so much more to the equation than that.

We also look for neighborhood identity - a clear sense of cohesion and connection to the neighborhood is a vitally important piece of the puzzle. When the people living in the neighborhood know each other and share a sense of belonging to their community, God can open the doors to three elements that are crucial to the success of a new Promise Neighborhood.

One of these criteria is for the neighborhood to have an Anchor Church, a fellowship of believers who have the heart to reach the community for Christ. Anchor Churches like Valley Presbyterian Church (Paiute) and Scottsdale Bible Church (Palomino) provide tremendous resources that address the material needs of the people living in the Promise Neighborhoods and create a sense of community connection through outreach events and other acts of compassion and generosity.

Another criterion is that the neighborhood must have an Anchor School that is supportive of the mission of MentorKids and willing to work cooperatively for the good of their students. Anchor Schools provide access to students and families who can benefit from the services we offer, even going as far as arranging bus schedules so they can drop students off at our afterschool programs.

The third criterion that we look for is a bit more ambiguous and might best be described as Neighborhood Buy-In. Neighborhood Buy-In is indicated when families are spreading the word about MentorKids, when kids are enjoying the programs and bringing their friends, and when churches, businesses, and community partners are joining forces to create and strengthen connections between MentorKids and the neighborhood.

After evaluating demographic data to determine the level of need in a given community, we assess these three important criteria by launching a short-term pilot program designed to introduce MentorKids to the neighborhood. The level of collaboration necessary to launch a pilot program allows us to determine the compatibility of our potential partners and the reaction of the neighborhood families to our programming. But that isn't where the evaluation stops.

The most important work happens in the quiet places of prayer as our leadership and Board seek God's will for this ministry and rely on His Holy Spirit to lead us where He wants us to go next. And when we see His leading in such clear ways as we did in Maryvale this year, we can move forward in the confidence that He is leading and the vision we see is His.

What has happened this summer in Maryvale is a good example of how this process works. Quite unexpectedly, God provided an Anchor Church in Maryvale (Unidos en una Visión Church), an Anchor School (Heatherbrae Elementary, next door to Unidos Church), and a tremendous outpouring of support from the neighborhood.

So what's next in Maryvale?

Register now for our

Morning of Hope Annual Breakfast Event

on October 21 to find out!

The vision blossoms in Maryvale

God gives us the vision, then he takes us down to the valley to batter us into the shape of the vision, and it is in the valley that so many of us faint and give way.

Every vision will be made real if we will have patience.

~ Oswald Chambers

Our vision for opening our fourth Promise Neighborhood in the Maryvale area has been a long time in the making. And we have seen our time in the valley since the vision was first planted in our hearts, which only makes the story of how God has worked to make this vision reality all the more remarkable.

We began laying the groundwork for opening a fourth Promise Neighborhood in 2020 - yes, during the pandemic because the Covid shutdowns emphasized just how essential the services we provide to families are. And staying operational during Covid meant reviewing policies and procedures so that we could continue ministering to our families. This led to a multi-year project: creating a replicable program model, or as Aaron calls it, "MentorKids In A Box."

Alignment was the name of the game throughout 2020-2021 and our leadership team embarked on the gargantuan journey of reviewing and refining policies, creating procedures that are consistent across all our Promise Neighborhoods, reviewing and adopting curriculum, and documenting it all so that we would be ready to launch our next Promise Neighborhood as soon as God opened that door. We thought that time would be 2022.

However, as 2022 dawned each of our Promise Neighborhoods was facing unique problems that needed to be addressed - problems like lack of space to house or grow our programs, housing market changes forcing our families to move out of our neighborhoods, and fractures within communities that impeded the collaboration we need with church and community partners to operate a successful program.

In light of these challenges, Aaron and the Board made the difficult decision to focus our energies this year on shoring up our current Promise Neighborhoods and set the vision of opening a new Promise Neighborhood on the "not yet" shelf. Even in the midst of our disappointment, we felt God's leading and His peace as we created action plans to tackle the challenges we faced in our Neighborhoods and we went to work.

Our Neighborhood Managers took each obstacle in stride and went above and beyond to address their neighborhood's unique challenges while still providing a loving environment to serve kids and their families. This was, in many ways, a year of battling in the valleys in our Promise Neighborhoods, but our people never gave up or pulled back. And while that was happening, God was working in ways we could not see.

"It's like you're down in the trenches slugging it out,

and you look up and you see that God is doing something,

and it's amazing. We serve such an awesome God."

~ Samantha Lingor, Paiute Neighborhood Manager

While we were focusing on the challenges before us, God was laying a vision on the hearts of Pastors Roy and Karla Lainez of Unidos en una Visión Church in the heart of Maryvale - a vision to reach their neighborhood for Christ by bringing in and serving the children of the neighborhood.

"We were praying and God told me clearly that

we needed to reach the kids in our community,

but I didn’t have any idea how to do it. Pastor Obed

knew Aaron and he invited him to come here

and tell us about MentorKids.

I think this is God’s purpose because he

connected us - we call this a divine connection."

~ Pastor Karla Lainez, Unidos en una Visión

From that first meeting, it was clear that we had a shared vision and purpose with the leadership of Unidos en una Visión, so we began the process of putting a pilot MentorKids Summer Enrichment Camp in Maryvale. We saw God provide funding through a grant from the First Baptist Church Foundation and an extremely successful MentorkIds Golf Challenge event. Palomino Neighborhood Manager Nora Espinoza worked closely with Pastor Karla to hire and train staff, and we got to see how well our "MentorKids in a Box" worked in a real-life setting. And the result of all of this hard work can be seen in the faces of the kids who were blessed by the Maryvale Summer Enrichment camp over the past four weeks.

The seed of a vision begins to sprout…

“Have you ever considered opening a new Promise Neighborhood in Maryvale?”

I’ve been asked to consider starting a Promise Neighborhood in hundreds of places over the years, so I didn’t think much of the question at the time. 

I gave my usual answer of “Sure. If we had the right partner, location, staff, and funding...and if the neighborhood residents were on board...I’d love to.”  Little did I know that less than 4 months later we would be launching a summer program in Maryvale!!! 

Through a series of meetings, conversations, and prayers we were introduced to an amazing church partner (Unidos en una Vision) in the heart of a Maryvale neighborhood that has the highest poverty rate in the entire Cartwright School District (which serves Maryvale). Unidos en una Vision Church moved onto its new Maryvale campus near 67th Avenue and Indian School Road (west Phoenix) in October of 2021. It has a vision to reach the local neighborhood through youth and family programs. They were looking for the right partner to kick things off.   

We hit it off immediately and decided to take one step at a time, asking God to confirm this decision by opening doors (or closing them). God provided summer program funding through a grant from the First Baptist Church Foundation and our Annual Golf Event (more details on that below). 

The church mobilized its congregation to provide staff. Our team designed the summer program and trained the staff in record time. Church leadership recruited kids in partnership with the local school (Heatherbrae Elementary School) and neighborhood residents. The result? A summer program in Maryvale for 50 children in grades K – 6th lasting from June 20th to July 14th.

  It’s happening!!! The seeds of a new Promise Neighborhood are being planted! 

25 years ago, our founder, Orv Krieger, said “yes” to God at age 75 and started MentorKids. 25 years later, we seek to say “yes” to God every day as He invites us into deeper relationships with kids, families, and (new) neighborhoods. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how God moves you to engage more deeply in the work He is doing through MentorKids. Thanks for being part of it.

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Until next time -

Aaron Parrott, Executive Director