OneAZ Community Foundation Awards Grant to MentorKids USA

Phoenix, AZ – MentorKids USA is honored to announce it has received a generous grant from OneAZ Community Foundation in support of its iLEAD My Generation Program – an innovative four-year high school leadership and mentoring initiative.

The iLEAD My Generation program (Leadership, Exploration, Academics, and Discovery) equips high school students in underserved communities with critical job training, academic support, and leadership development. A defining feature of the program is its paid mentorship model, where participants serve as assistant teachers and role models for younger children in MentorKids’ afterschool and summer programs. Through this hands-on experience, students build real-world skills, confidence, and a strong sense of purpose.

“We are incredibly grateful to the OneAZ Community Foundation for this generous investment in the lives of the youth we serve,” said Aaron Parrott, Executive Director of MentorKids USA. “This funding allows us to deepen our impact and expand opportunities for students to grow into confident, capable leaders within their families and communities.”

Currently serving students in South Phoenix, North Phoenix (Palomino), South Scottsdale (Paiute), and the Maryvale Promise Neighborhoods, iLEAD is transforming the trajectory of teens at high risk of becoming disconnected—those who are neither in school nor working. The program consistently demonstrates strong outcomes in school attendance, academic achievement, leadership development, and high school graduation.

Support from the OneAZ Community Foundation will help sustain and expand iLEAD My Generation, ensuring more students are empowered to graduate high school and take meaningful next steps toward college, careers, and lifelong success.

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

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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]

$25K Grant Helps MentorKids Teens Lead the Way

MentorKids USA has been awarded a $25,000 grant from Thunderbirds Charities to expand its iLEAD My Generation program—a four-year leadership and mentoring initiative for high school students in underserved Arizona neighborhoods. This investment helps equip teens with academic support, paid mentoring opportunities, and real-world job training to become confident leaders in their communities.

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Learn more about Thunderbirds Charities and their commitment to youth development in Arizona.

Celebrate the Class of 2025 – Leave a Message That Matters

Graduation season is here—and for our MentorKids high school seniors, it marks the start of something big.

These students have grown into leaders—many of them starting in elementary school with us, staying the course, and stepping into mentorship roles themselves. They’ve invested in their communities, persevered through challenges, and built something meaningful. Now, as they prepare to graduate, we want to send them off with the love and support of the entire MentorKids family.

📝 Share Your Words of Wisdom

We’ve created a space where you can leave a personal message for our graduates. It could be a bit of advice, a verse, a favorite quote, or simply a “We’re so proud of you!” Whether it’s signed or anonymous, your message will be shared with our grads as a reminder that their community is cheering them on.

Let them know they are seen, celebrated, and supported—today and always.

Thanks for being part of this journey. Your words mean more than you know.

Introducing Our Fresh New Look for iLEAD and iLEAD Launch

We’re excited to unveil the updated branding for our iLEAD and iLEAD Launch programs! These refreshed logos represent the growth, momentum, and leadership we see in our students every day. With a bold, modern design and a color palette aligned with our mission, this new look reflects the energy and purpose behind our high school leadership pathway.

iLEAD equips students to grow as leaders marked by confidence, character, and compassion—and now, our updated branding reflects that same bold and purposeful vision. As mentors become role models and students rise to lead their peers, this refreshed look visually represents the transformative journey our youth are taking—made possible by your support.

You’ll start to see the new branding across our website, printed materials, apparel, and more. We’re grateful to everyone who shared their input during this process, and we look forward to what’s ahead as we continue building leaders who build leaders.

Be Like Orv: How One Man's Faith at 78 Built Something That Outlasted Him

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

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