Kingdom Kare CEO Barbara Palmer with her team and elected officials, including County Executive Steuart Pittman, Senator Pam Beidle and Delegate Sandy Bartlett, both Local Development Council members, and Councilwoman Sarah Lacey, who represents the district.
Arundel Community Development Services is dedicated to serving the community by providing local non-profit and community based organizations with support to improve the quality of life for low and moderate income residents. Through its management of the County’s Local Development Council and Community Support Grant programs, ACDS invests and stewards public funds, while supporting Anne Arundel County in its mission to be “The Best Place – For All.”
Kingdom Kare is one community non-profit ACDS has had the opportunity to partner with and support. Their mission, as stated by their President/CEO, Barbara Palmer, “has always been to serve the children and youth of Anne Arundel County and to provide the much needed resources to remove the barriers to help them realize that nothing can stop them.”
In attendance at the opening of the new Center was County Executive Steuart Pittman, who praised the County’s Local Development Council and Community Support Grant programs for their contributions to Kingdom Kare’s undertaking. He further expressed his gratitude for being able to aid a faith-based organization in their pursuit of taking care of the needs in the community.
Their efforts to empower children and their families in the community for the past decade have not gone unnoticed, and helped them generate over $1,000,000 to develop a new Family Support Center. ACDS was able to help bring the project to the finish line by providing $216,844 in Local Development Council and Community Support Grant funds to fill critical operating gaps and make the dream of creating a Family Support Center a reality.
This new center will be a hub of education, community, and support as it lends its helping hands to teen parents making their way in the world. Kingdom Kare will serve families mostly living in the Meade High School district and provide services such as financial literacy education, free child care, a space for young parents to work on earning their high school diplomas, counselling, and ensuring healthcare to young mothers through their partnership with John’s Hopkins. That is only to name a few of the many resources that the Family Support Center will provide to the community. Through this new Center, Kingdom Kare will be able to ensure that children and their families will not just get by, but thrive.
Teen Parent Alternative Program Hub, where young parents will study to earn their high school diplomas with the help of teachers from Anne Arundel Schools.
Auxiliary room where infants and toddlers will be cared for by accredited child care providers while their parents finish school.