Author: C&I

DAVIE, Fla. (May 3rd, 2015) –On Saturday, May 2^nd, over 315 Firewall students, their mentors, staff, and volunteers engaged in service projects throughout Broward County as a part of the Serve-A-Thon. This annual event is intended to show all students who attend the after-school program the importance of giving back to their community.

“I used to feel that you only serve others when someone asks for it. Now I think that you need to look for service opportunities rather than having it look for you. Serve because you can, not because you have to,” said Julia Edrnest, Bair Middle School Center student.

Firewall students from Pompano Beach Middle, Blanche Ely High, and Crystal Lake Middle cleaned up the outside landscape, disinfected the playground, and were able to tour the facility at Broward’s Children Center where they service children with extreme and fragile physical conditions.  Firewall students from the Indian Ridge Middle Center served at ARC Broward’s Recycling Center. The 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 day care center, 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.

“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 Richardson, Pompano Beach Middle School Center student.

Amongst the students were volunteers from Regent Bank, who for the past two years have been the headlining sponsor for Serve-A-Thon. Regent Bank not only met their fundraising goal in a one month period, but surpassed it. Their support was invaluable to the success of the Serve-A-Thon.

Firewall Centers was able to provide its students with the opportunity to serve because of the Leadership Broward Foundation, who organized and facilitated the entire Serve-A-Thon event and all related service projects.

Once the service projects were complete, all the students gathered at Davie Pine Island Park for lunch, games, and dance contests.

We are honored to announce that we are the recipients of the Doyle Award for Nonprofit Excellence, an award that spotlights 1 nonprofit per month and the the impact it is making in the community. Our Board of Directors put in hours of hard work to ensure the transformation of students’ lives in Broward County.

As seen in Sun Sentinel, Broward Society:

Firewall Centers’ mission is to instill character values, promote academic success and establishes long-term relationships with middle and high school students through afterschool programming.

Firewall serves 350 low-income middle and high school students at Broward County Public Schools. More than 90 percent of students receive free/reduced lunch at school and come from minority families, with many being supported by single parents.

Firewall’s low 10:1 student-to-staff ratio ensures that students receive the individual attention they need to succeed. Center staff consists of college students that tutor, mentor and coach children, connecting with them in ways that others cannot.

The centers are located within public schools, providing accountability to students by working together with their teachers, parents and counselors. Firewall is not just a program – it’s a family.
Board members are actively involved in building Firewall’s capacity, each bringing unique experiences, qualities and capabilities to the table. One-hundred percent of members financially support Firewall and attend board meetings at least six times annually. Board members also speak to Firewall students on a quarterly basis. Annually, the board evaluates its performance and composition, determining how to best strengthen Firewall as a whole.

“As we work with parents and schools to impact underserved students, we find that it’s not only important to give kids a safe place to hang out, but a place where they’re expected to perform to the best of their ability,” said Andy Fernandez, president and executive director. “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.”

For more information on Firewall Center, call 954-252-0838 or visit http://2zm.dbb.myftpupload.com

DAVIE, Fla. (April 2nd, 2015) – On Saturday, May 2^nd, Firewall Centers’ students, together with their mentors and volunteers will participate in service projects across the community. Through local business and individual sponsors, Firewall Centers plans to fundraise $100,000 during Serve-A-Thon to grow their reach to additional students in Broward County Public Schools.

“We are proud to host this event for a second year not only because it is a tool to provide much-needed funding for Firewall students and their mentoring and leadership development, but also because it is a hands-on opportunity for us to impact our community and intentionally give back to the places we call home,” said Andy Fernandez, founder of Firewall Centers.

The second-year headline sponsor, Regent Bank, raises money in their local branches by sharing Firewall’s vision and the difference that it makes on students’ lives to their customers throughout Broward and Palm Beach County. Their support is critical to the Serve-A-Thon success.

The Leadership Broward Foundation is assisting Firewall Centers in the overall organization and facilitation of the event to ensure that at-risk students in Broward County receive the help they need.

Serve-A-Thon will provide Firewall students, their mentors, staff, and volunteers the opportunity to give back to others at various service project locations including Broward Children’s Center, Hope South Florida, ARC Broward, and Davie Pine Island Park. Service activities will include landscaping, mulching, improving a butterfly garden, and helping to disinfect playground equipment for needy children.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Feb. 13^th, 2015) – Firewall Centers was awarded ‘Collective Impact for Youth’ at the Fifth Annual South Florida Community Care Network Non-Profit Academy Awards.

“We are growing and our goal is to set up Firewalls in the lives of all the at-risk kids here in Broward County, so we are just getting started,” said Andy Fernandez, Firewall Centers’ founder, at the Broward 2-1-1 Academy Awards.

Firewall Centers currently has seven locations across Broward County, two of which are funded by the Children’s Service Council (CSC) of Broward County and the Community Foundation of Broward (CFB). These Centers mentor and tutor students every day, most of which come from minority, low-income, and/or single-parent households. With the help received from these two organizations, Firewall Centers has been able to increase its impact on Broward County students.

“Anybody who knows the Children’s Services Council knows we’re all about collective impact on behalf of youth,” said Cindy Arenberg Seltzer, CSC President and CEO of Broward County.

A current initiative focused on Middle School student success in order to raise graduation rates was developed by CFB and is played out by the key services that Firewall Centers provides. The Community Foundation of Broward’s funding for the ‘School is Cool’ initiative has been matched by CSC for the past two school years and supports the Bair and Plantation Middle School Firewall Centers.

This collaborative effort has impacted the lives of over 120 students by focusing on improving their performance in the areas of school attendance, behavior, and course performance (ABC’s).

To find out more about the Community Foundation of Broward’s ‘School is Cool’ initiative, visit www.cfbroward.org.

POMPANO BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 2^nd, 2015) – Firewall Centers was awarded $10,000 through the Sun Sentinel Children’s Fund, a McCormick Foundation fund, to expand its reach in the Pompano Beach area.

Firewall has operated a Center within Pompano Beach Middle since the 2011-2012 school year, and neighboring Crystal Lake Middle opening this past school year, where staff has worked closely with students beginning in their sixth grade year. The relationships built in these centers don’t end in eighth grade, but are carried over to the near-by newly opened Blanche Ely High School Firewall Center. This long-term approach has proven to be the key to empowering at-risk students towards the pathway to self-sufficiency and success.

“Firewall has helped me in improve in all aspects; I have grown to learn more good studying habits and to be more social with others around me,” said 9^thgrade Blanche Ely High student, Rhoven.

Last school year, the Sun-Sentinel Children’s Fund, a McCormick Foundation fund, supported the Pompano Beach Middle School Firewall Center as a part of their support of local nonprofits that deliver well-rounded education programs for kids with the support from the public and matching Foundation funds.

“By reading more, practicing, doing problems, and working with others at Firewall, I’m able to earn better grades,” said Nitaisa, a sixth grader at Pompano Beach Middle.

With this funding and through other generous supporters, Firewall is able to mentor 400 at-risk students every day.  To find out more about the Sun Sentinel Children’s Fund visit http://sunsentinelchildrensfund.org/

OAKLAND PARK, Fla. (Jan. 21st, 2015) – Firewall Centers was nominated as a finalist for the fifth annual South Florida Community Care Network Non-Profit Academy Awards for its collective work with others to overall positively and significantly impact youth in Broward County.

Winners will be announced at the Non-Profit Academy Awards on Friday, Feb. 13^th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino at 11:00 a.m. The recipient of this award is a shining example of the power that best practices, shared information, collective efforts, and accountability and transparency have in transforming the lives of youth.

Firewall Centers was chosen as one of three nominees for the Children’s Service Council Collective Impact for Youth Award because of its collaboration with the Community Foundation of Broward (CFB) as a part of its “School is Cool” initiative that focuses on middle school student success in order to raise graduation rates from 75.3% to 90% by 2020.

Firewall staff shared some of its program’s best practices with CFB and other key stakeholders to develop an outcome criteria now being used by nonprofit agencies to effectively demonstrate measurable and significant benefits for youth. Specifically, outcomes are focused on improving student performance in the areas of school attendance, behavior, and course performance (ABC’s).

At the 2014 Academy Awards, Firewall Centers was named Non-Profit Organization of the Year Rising Star by 2-1-1 Broward, displaying that although it is “young and small,” the organizations’ “potential for growth and impact is high.”

2-11 Borward is the first call for help for Broward County residents and the gateway to health and human services in our community. Last year, 2-11 Broward connected nearly 101,000 Broward County callers with over 4,000 different programs that were available to help them.