C&I, Author at Firewall Centers

Firewall Centers receives $50,000 grant from The Jim Moran Foundation to expand its program at Crystal Lake Middle School

DAVIE, Fla. (September 29, 2015) – Firewall Centers was awarded a generous $50,000 grant from The Jim Moran Foundation to double the number of students served to 40 at Crystal Lake Middle School.

Firewall’s THINK Leadership program at Crystal Lake provides at-risk students with after-school mentoring, tutoring and leadership development. Daily, these students are given a safe and structured environment, practical academic help and mentors who instill positive values to guide their decision-making. As a result, they begin to take ownership over every area of their lives and gain confidence in their abilities to reach their goals.

“With the many challenges facing our youth today, it’s so important to reach out and provide them with positive role models and engaging educational experiences,” Jan Moran, chairman and president of The Jim Moran Foundation, said. “We are happy to partner with Firewall Centers to help prepare these students for success in school and life.”

“As we work with parents and schools to impact underserved students, we believe that Firewall’s approach of walking through life with students ultimately helps them see that with the right help and their own hard work, they can break the cycle of poverty and reach their greatest potential,” Executive Director Andy Fernandez said, “And this new partnership with The Jim Moran Foundation will allow us to significantly grow our impact in Broward County, as we provide these essential services to so many more students.”

Through this grant as well as additional support from like-minded donors, Firewall will be able to transform the lives of more than 400 students at eight locations during the 2015-2016 school year.

About The Jim Moran Foundation

Founded by automotive pioneer Jim Moran, the mission of The Jim Moran Foundation is to improve the quality of life for the youth and families of Florida through the support of innovative programs and opportunities that meet the ever-changing needs of the community. The Foundation has invested nearly $60 million in education, elder care, family strengthening, after school and youth transitional living initiatives since its inception in 2000 – with efforts currently focused in Broward, Palm Beach and Duval counties. Through a long-term Grant Agreement, The Foundation’s significant funders are JM Family Enterprises, Inc., and its subsidiaries, including Southeast Toyota Distributors, LLC. It is located at 100 Jim Moran Blvd., Deerfield Beach, Fla. 33442. To learn more, visitwww.jimmoranfoundation.org or call (954) 429-2122.

Walmart supports expansion of Firewall Centers programs with $10,000 grant

DAVIE, Fla. (Sept. 16th, 2015) – The local Walmart Stores in Broward County along with the Walmart Foundation granted Firewall Centers with $10,000 to support Firewall’s T.H.I.N.K. Leadership program, which equips low-income students with the educational means to rise and become leaders in their communities.

The grant was provided through a partnership of 14 Broward County Walmart stores that wanted to make an impact in the neighborhoods where they live and work. “At Walmart, we operate globally but give back locally. We encourage our stores to partner with organizations like Firewall to provide support to the underserved in our communities,” said Walmart Market Manager, Evie Chitty.

The funds will be used to provide top-quality mentors who work with students each day after school to help them improve their grades and overall school performance. Firewall will also utilize the funds to provide its unique curriculum to students, which is designed to teach them leadership and service principles.

Additionally, Firewall will be able to provide the technology access and school supplies necessary for students to complete their homework assignments and projects as well as for mentors to track student progress.

With Walmart’s help, Firewall is able to continue changing the futures of at-risk South Florida students by providing them with the practical academic help, life skills, and positive role models they need to not only survive, but thrive.

To find out more about what the Walmart Foundation is doing to support our community, visit http://foundation.walmart.com/.

September 2015 Newsletter

The 2015-2016 school year is officially in full swing, and we are off to a great start! Our mentors have had a chance to get to know the kids they will be working with for the year. They are thrilled to see how enthusiastic their kids have been to excel in school, and we can’t wait to see how they continue to improve. What makes these changes take root in their lives is the way our mentors form long-lasting relationships with their students.

Center Spotlight: Crystal Lake Middle School

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Our first featured center for this school year is Crystal Lake. The center serves 52 students with 17 returning from last year. It’s incredible to see how each center develops its own unique personality during the school year. Crystal Lake’s area director, Wolkenzye, said “the Crystal Lake center is a really awesome group of kids.” The kids are not only respectful, but they are highly motivated to do their homework and often end up competing against each other to see who finishes first.

Aaliyah

This is Aaliyah. She just started her second year at Firewalland is in seventh grade. She is a shining example through her academics and her respect for her mentors. When she started t Firewall, her grades tended to go up and down, but now her grades are consistently high. Her site supervisor, Whitney, said “she is always willing to listen and help out the mentors and other students with their work.”

Youseline

Meet Youseline. She is a first-year mentor at our Crystal Lake center, and she is studying human development and family studies at Nova in hopes of becoming a teacher. The thing she loves most about being a mentor is that it allows her to counteract the negativity that her students are exposed to on a daily basis. Being a mentor lets her be a positive role model for her students and give them hope for the future.

Firewall Upgrades Technology

For this school year, we now provide each of our mentors with a tablet equipped with our very own app that allows the mentors to streamline the process of tracking student grades and progress. This allows our mentors to spend more time focusing on their students, rather than on filling out paperwork. Another improvement is the addition of fingerprint technology at each of our centers, which allows us to speed up the check-in and check-out process and better ensure the students’ safety.

Firewall Centers Receives Third Year of Funding for School is Cool Program at Bair and Plantation Middle Schools

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. (August 24, 2015) – Firewall Centers receives $50,000 from the Community Foundation of Broward (CFB) and $50,000 in matching support from the Children’s Services Council of Broward (CSC) to support its School is Cool programs at Bair Middle School and Plantation Middle School.

With approximately 1.2 million students dropping out of high school each year (7,000 a day), these funds will continue to make a huge impact. The Community Foundation of Broward recognizes that the middle school years are critical in academic, personal, and social development. Therefore, Firewall Centers is a key component of their “School is Cool” initiative, which is a community-wide effort to increase high school graduation rates to 90 percent in the coming years by focusing on middle school success.

“As we work with parents and schools to impact underserved students, we believe that walking through life with students starting in middle school ultimately helps them see that with the right help and their own hard work, they can break the cycle of poverty and reach their greatest potential,” said Executive Director Andy Fernandez. “And this continued partnership with the Community Foundation of Broward and the Children’s Services Council makes School is Cool a possibility for our kids and their families.”

The program equips low-income students with the educational means to rise and become leaders in their communities, and funds will be used to provide top-quality mentors who work with students each day after school to help them improve their attendance, behavior, and course performance (ABC’s), to provide its unique curriculum to students designed to teach them leadership and service principles, and to provide the technology access and school supplies necessary for students to complete their homework assignments and projects. For more information on School is Cool, click here.

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ABOUT FIREWALL CENTERS

Firewall was established in 2003 in response to the death of a thirteen year old girl who overdosed on drugs while left unsupervised during after-school hours. Ever since, the agency has been operating daily after-school tutoring and mentoring centers for at-risk students that instill character values and promote academic success, supporting them as they strive toward their greatest potential. For the 2015/2016 school year, Firewall’s T.H.I.N.K. (Take charge, Have a plan, Involve the right people, Never quit, Keep giving back) Leadership program has eight Centers and will serve 450 Broward county students. The program’s overarching objective is to improve performance outcomes among at-risk students as related to their school attendance, behavior, and course performance, thus helping them to ultimately achieve self-sufficiency as they pursue their life goals. You can learn more about Firewall Centers and how you can get involved atwww.firewallcenters.org or follow them at www.facebook.com/firewallcenters

ABOUT THE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF BROWARD

Founded in 1984, the Community Foundation of Broward provides leadership on community solutions, and fosters philanthropy that connects people who care with causes that matter. With more than 450 charitable Funds representing $173 million, it has distributed $72 million during the past 30 years to create positive change. The Foundation convenes citizens around critical issues, and builds the capacity of our community. For Good. For Ever. For more information about the Community Foundation of Broward, visit cfbroward.org or call 954.761.9503.

ABOUT THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES COUNCIL OF BROWARD

The Children’s Services Council of Broward is an independent taxing authority which was established by a public referendum on September 5, 2000, which, through Public Act, Chapter 2000-461 of the laws of Florida, authorized the Council to levy up to 0.5 mills of property taxes. The role of the Council is to provide the leadership, advocacy and resources necessary to enhance children’s lives and empower them to become responsible, productive adults through collaborative planning and funding of a continuum of quality care. Follow them on Twitter at @CSCBroward and on Facebook. For more information about the Children’s Services Council of Broward County, please visit www.cscbroward.org.

Firewall students at Bair Middle School

Firewall student with his mentor at Plantation Middle School

PNC Bank Continues Support of Firewall Centers with Grant

DAVIE, Fla. – In June of 2015, Firewall Centers was awarded a $10,000 grant by the PNC Foundation to impact the lives of low-income middle and high school students.

The funds will be used to continue Firewall’s after-school program that benefits the education and empowerment of at-risk youth in the South Florida community, a demographic that sees a graduation rate of only 68% in Broward County.

PNC first began its support of Firewall Centers during the 2014-2015 school year. In addition to financial support, PNC staff members will continue to volunteer their time to speak with Firewall students about personal finance development within the Centers.

This grant will support the T.H.I.N.K. Leadership Programs that Firewall offers at eight different middle and high schools in Broward County. The programs provide after-school mentoring and tutoring to at-risk and low-income students to help them better prepare for the future.

With PNC’s help, Firewall will be able to further its vision and the development of the students’ future academic success.

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-PNC Bank-

About the PNC Foundation
PNC and the PNC Foundation have long histories of strengthening and enriching the lives of their neighbors in communities in which they live and work. For decades, they have provided resources to seed ideas, foster development initiatives and encourage leadership in nonprofit organizations where imagination and determination are at work enhancing people’s lives every day. The PNC Foundation supports a variety of nonprofit organizations with a special emphasis on those that work to achieve sustainability and touch a diverse population.

August 2015 Newsletter

With August winding down, we hope that you and your family have enjoyed a wonderful summer together. We are eagerly awaiting the start of the new school year and cannot wait to start working with our wonderful Firewall students again!

Our mentors are trained and ready for action!

Our training for our mentors took place on August 17-18. We are overjoyed to welcome back nine mentors from last year, and we loved meeting all of the new members joining the Firewall family. The mentors learned about the history ofFirewall and the ins and outs of day-to-day mentor tasks. They also learned which centers they are assigned to and participated in team-building activities to get to know each other. We can’t wait to see the many ways they will impact their students’ lives this school year! Check out our Facebook album here to see more pictures from training.

We have a new $10,000 grant from PNC Bank!

This past month, Firewall received a generous grant of $10,000 from PNC Bank. This grant is a continuation of the incredible support we have received from PNC in the last year, and we are excited to continue our relationship during the new school year.

Support like PNC’s is vital for us to keep our centers running and allows us to continue changing the lives of at-risk students in our community.

This grant allows us to provide Firewall students with resources they need to succeed throughout the school year. From basic school supplies like notebooks and pens to the computer access that we provide, we do our best to prepare our students for anything that school throws their way.

Our Lauderhill 6-12 STEM MED center is open!

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our new center at Lauderhill 6-12 STEM-MED Magnet School. The Lauderhill center will be our eighth center to open, and we are eagerly looking forward to working with a new group of students and serving the Lauderhill community. The center will start of with a group of 40-45 middle school students. We will continue working with the students as they progress into high school over the next few years, which will transition Lauderhill into a center that serves both middle and high school students. We can’t wait to see the transformations that will take place.

July 2015 Newsletter

We hope you had an amazing Fourth of July weekend with your family and friends! This year, Firewall will be in eight schools and we couldn’t be more excited to see more and more lives changed as we grow!

WE HAVE RECEIVED A $25,000 GRANT FROM AT&T!

We are so excited to announce that we have received a generous $25,000 grant from AT&T to expand our T.H.I.N.K. LeadershipHigh School program!

This grant will give us the opportunity to serve about 80 students every day at Blanche Ely and Western High Schools. They will receive mentoring, tutoring and “success plans” that individualize each student’s future track as they transition from middle school into high school, and eventually college/career. The students in this program are provided with the support system they need to move out of poverty and on to a successful future.

Students are even provided with in-house internship opportunities and scholarships, interactive job readiness classes, and college/career guidance.

Read more about this grant and the future impact it will have online.

FROM NOW UNTIL AUGUST 10TH, WE ARE COLLECTING SCHOOL SUPPLIES FOR FIREWALL STUDENTS!

Supplies that are donated support the students not just for the first couple weeks of school, but for the ENTIRE school year.

GET INVOLVED WITHIN YOUR COMMUNITY TODAY!

FOUR EASY STEPS TO SUPPLY FIREWALL STUDENTS:

Supplies that are donated support the students not just for the first couple weeks of school, but for the ENTIRE school year.

Step 1) Read how to organize your supply drive

Step 2) Print supply lists here

Step 3) Grab a friend and go shopping

Step 4) Drop off collected supplies at:

Firewall Centers Main Office

Monday–Friday 9-5 p.m

13451 SW 7th Pl. Davie, Fl 33325

We’re still hiring mentors for this school year!

We hope you are enjoying your summer and any vacations you may get!

Sincerely,

Firewall Centers

June 2015 Newsletter

Everyone from our firewall family, mentors, volunteers and donors made this year a successful one!

One of our volunteers expressed to their Center how much this year meant to them: “I’ve loved working with you all every Tuesday. It always made my week and kept me going… knowing that I had you guys to look forward to.”

We would like to take a moment to truly thank each Firewall mentor that dedicated their time to the 350 Firewall students.

From the moment the students come after school to sign in at the Center, they are greeted with a smile or hug from their mentor. Not only are they role models to the 10 students they are oversee, but these Firewall mentors also push these students to make the best grades they are capable of.

“Firewall is a place of love, healing and transformation not only for the students, but for everyone who walks through its doors. I am so grateful for the time I spent here. The most important lesson I learned is to never quit, no matter the situation, because anything is possible if you believe,” said Jen, Firewall mentor pictured below.

Firewall mentor, Jen, checking Firewall student assignments

Monday through Thursday, mentors are check the students’ homework assignments and helping them with any difficult subject areas. The bonds the students form with their mentors made it hard to say goodbye at the end of this year.

If you or anyone you know is interested in making an impact in students’ lives during the 2015-2016 school year, don’t hesitate tovisit our website and apply.

On Tuesday, May 19th, we had our annual awards ceremony! It was incredible to see all of our students, parents, staff, supporters, and volunteers gathered together to celebrate at Firewall’s annual award’s ceremony.

At the event hosted by Eric Yutzy of Channel 10 News, students graduating from Middle and High School were recognized for their amazing accomplishment!

Guest speaker, Ginger Martin, talked about her climb to the top ofMount Kilimanjaro and shared with the audience of the difficulty in reaching her goal. The students were silent as Ginger told them that no matter how slow they feel that they are going, they are taking steps towards their goals and will get there.

Several raffles were done during the night and lucky students won prizes if their name was drawn. All seven Centers were recognized and took the stage, receiving their certificate along the way.

The Firewall parents that were in attendance were recognized for all the effort they put into the lives of their children. Without their support, Firewall would not be successful. We would like to thank these parents again for the important role they play in the lives of these students.

Thank you to all our supporters that have helped grow Firewall this year and for next year. Stay tuned this summer for more updates on what the Firewall staff is up to!

Sincerely,

Firewall Centers

AT&T Grant Supports Firewall Centers – Help At-Risk Youth Succeed

DAVIE, Fla. (June 4^th, 2015) – Firewall Centers was awarded a generous $25,000.00 grant from AT&T to expand its T.H.I.N.K. Leadership High School program, which provides low-income students with resources to improve their academic success and increase readiness for college and career.

In Broward County, only 68% of low-income students graduate. Firewall targets these youth, as its High School Centers are located in impoverished areas with high incarnation rates and need for revitalization. Through mentoring, tutoring, and “Success Plans” that individualize each student’s future track as they transition from middle school, into high school, and eventually college/career, the students in this program are provided with the support system they need to move out of poverty and on to a pathway towards self-sufficiency.

Upon admission, Firewall staff begins daily communication with parents and school staff to best support student success. To remain in the T.H.I.N.K. Leadership program, students commit to attend Monday through Thursday after-school and to participate in all program activities. In addition to mentoring, tutoring, and Success Plans, the program instills character values and leadership principles in students through an integrated curriculum, service responsibility requirements, and point-based incentive system. Students are even provided with in-house internship opportunities and scholarships, interactive job readiness classes, and college/career guidance.

In 2012, AT&T chose Firewall Centers as 1 out of only 47 recipients of its Aspire grant. The Aspire initiative supported organizations like Firewall who stood out from thousands of others across the nation when it came to equipping students with the skills they need to succeed as well as in their ability to use data to demonstrate the effectiveness and results of its program. Specifically, these results are measured through student improvement in the areas of school attendance, behavior, and course performance (ABC’s). This past year, 95% of Firewall students received at least 100 hours of program services over the course of the school year, 92% maintained and/or improved their GPA in core academic subjects, and 100% were promoted to the next grade level and/or graduated.

Through this $25,000.00 grant from AT&T as well as additional support from like-minded donors, Firewall will be able to transform the lives of 450 at-risk students during the upcoming 2015/16 school year.

To find out more about what the AT&T Foundation is doing to support our community, visit http://about.att.com/csr.

May 2015 Newsletter

Lots of exciting things have been taking place within Firewall and this community we serve! Our students were able to serve and give back on May 2 at our second annual SERVE-A-THON.

“I will always remember seeing the smiling faces on the children that live at Broward Children’s Center. It made me want to serve others more to see them happy,” said Laila, Pompano Beach Middle School Center student.

Firewall students from Pompano Beach Middle, Blanche Ely High, and Crystal Lake Middle served at Broward Children’s Center where they landscaped, mulched, and beautified the grounds including the playground. Students had fun serving, but after receiving a tour of the facility, they realized how much they have to be thankful forrelative to the children at the Center who have extreme and fragile physical conditions.

Firewall’s Indian Ridge Middle Center went to ARC Broward’s Recycling Center, where they also serve children with disabilities and other life challenges. Our students cleaned up used monitors, took apart and separated computer parts, and sorted through large bins of technology.

At Hope South Florida’s God’s Little Lambs Daycare Center, students from Plantation Middle and Bair Middle Centers planted trees and shrubs around the property and replaced old mulch in the playground area to be used for children of homeless families.

Western High Center students served at Davie Pine Island Park, repainting the parking lots and landscaping around the office space.

After the students finished serving, we all met at Davie Pine Island Park for food, fun, and dance contests! Pictured above is the Firewall staff and the Leadership Broward team that organized and facilitated Serve-A-Thon.

Serve-A-Thon 2015 was only a success because of you. Thank you for all your support! A special thank you to our headlining sponsor,Regent Bank.

Doyle Award for Nonprofit Excellence

We are delighted to announce that we received the Doyle Award for Nonprofit Excellence that spotlights local nonprofits and the people behind them that make South Florida a great place to live. You can read the article at Sun Sentinel.

Firewall Awards Ceremony 2015

You are invited to join us on Tuesday, May 19^th at 6:00 p.m. as we celebrate the end of a successful school year! We will be having our annual awards ceremony at Calvary Plantation, featuring our host Eric Yutzy of Channel 10.

It will be an evening of raffles, special student awards, and even a time for students

to receive their gift card incentives for good performance during the school year.

Bring a friend and come ready to see all of our Firewall students, mentors, staff, and volunteers gathered in one space! Our guest speaker, Ginger Martin of American National Bank, recently climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and will be talking to us a bit about her experience in helping to raise awareness and funds for women and children who are victims of human trafficking. You don’t want to miss this!

We look forward to seeing you at the awards ceremony and hope you have a great rest of your week!

Sincerely,

Firewall Centers