MentorKids Stories & Updates
Press releases, MentorMoments, announcements, reflections, and real-life updates from across our Promise Neighborhoods.
The Charro Foundation Awards Grant to MentorKids USA
A grant from The Charro Foundation will help MentorKids USA continue providing mentorship, academic support, leadership development, and enrichment opportunities for K–12 students in the Paiute Promise Neighborhood.
Phoenix, AZ – MentorKids USA is honored to announce it has received a generous grant from The Charro Foundation in support of youth leadership and development programs within its Paiute Promise Neighborhood in South Scottsdale.
Established in 2018, the Paiute Promise Neighborhood provides year-round support for local youth through after-school programming, summer enrichment opportunities, mentorship, academic support, and leadership development. Currently serving 60 K–12 students, Paiute creates opportunities for young people to build the skills, confidence, and relationships needed for long term success.
"We are deeply grateful to The Charro Foundation for investing in the lives of students and families in South Scottsdale," said Aaron Parrott, Executive Director of MentorKids USA. "Support from community partners like The Charro Foundation helps ensure that young people have access to meaningful opportunities that strengthen academic achievement, leadership development, and long-term success."
MentorKids USA currently serves more than 600 K–12 youth annually through six Promise Neighborhoods across the Phoenix metropolitan area. Through comprehensive, no-cost youth development programs, MentorKids supports students academically, socially, and personally from elementary school through high school graduation.
For more information about MentorKids USA and its programs, visit www.mentorkidsusa.org.
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
MentorKids USA received a generous summer reading grant from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation in support of its no-cost Summer Enrichment Program. The funding will help provide literacy materials, educational resources, and reading-focused activities for more than 300 students across six Promise Neighborhoods, strengthening reading skills and supporting academic engagement during the summer months.
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.
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]
Be Like Orv: How One Man's Faith at 78 Built Something That Outlasted Him
"At 78, Orv Krieger answered God’s call to found MentorKids, stepping out in faith when many would have stepped back. Now, 25 years later, we honor his legacy, celebrate the lives impacted through mentoring, and embrace our future through the Promise Neighborhood model—empowering young leaders to create lasting change in their communities."
In my office, I have the picture of the man who founded MentorKids 25 years ago, Orv Krieger. I did not know Orv personally (he passed away in 2003, two years before I joined MentorKids) but I keep his picture to remind me of a few important things.
First, we stand on the shoulders of giants who have gone before us.
While Orv spearheaded the founding of the organization in 1997, he did it in collaboration with many of his friends, business partners, and family members. Since then, so many amazing people and groups have come around the ministry as board members, staff members, financial supporters, prayer partners, volunteers, ministry partners, and business partners. During this special 25th year celebration, we wish to honor the people and groups God has used to build, sustain, and grow MentorKids over the years.
Second, MentorKids does not belong to me.
In fact, it didn’t belong to Orv either. At age 78, at the tail end of his successful business career, God touched Orv’s heart in a powerful way.
Orv felt a passion to reach young people in an effort to keep them out of prison so that they could live healthy, productive lives and live out their full, God-given potential through one-on-one mentoring. Fueled by this passion and calling, Orv founded Phoenix MatchPoint, which was renamed MentorKids USA in 2004. Orv knew, and I remind myself every day, that our calling comes from God and this ministry belongs to God. As we honor those who came before us, we also want to celebrate the new calling God has given MentorKids to impact lives through the Promise Neighborhood model.
Third, when God calls, we can step out in faith.
Orv was 78 when he founded MatchPoint. 78! Think about that. He could have made many excuses to NOT start a nonprofit. He could have spent his time with his wife, Mary, visiting his 12 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, golfing, or, quite frankly, doing whatever he wanted.
But God called him...and he stepped forward in faith at age 78. Today, 25 years later, we sense a strong and clear calling to move forward with the Promise Neighborhood model of building up young leaders who are equipped to impact their own neighborhoods, creating a cycle of positive sustainable change within struggling neighborhoods.
As we turn 25 years old, we invite you to join us as we honor the past, celebrate the present, and step forward in faith toward an exciting and powerful future. Throughout the year we will have several hands-on and “out of the box” opportunities to engage in new ways with MentorKids. We encourage you (and ourselves) to “be like Orv” and step out in faith as, together, we change the world: One Child, One Family, One Neighborhood at a time.
Aaron Parrott, Executive Director