OpenDoors helps at-risk kids, living below poverty level, with a support network of local families who provide mentoring as well as transportation to sports and extracurricular activities, tutoring, and school events. This network advocates for OpenDoors kids in the their schools and helps them gain access to school resources so they can graduate high school and flourish. These kids not only become part of our families, we become part of theirs and our community gets stronger.
We only pay for what we can’t accomplish through outside scholarships, donated goods and pro bono services. Donations to OpenDoors fund tutoring, tuition, transportation, sports fees and equipment, music lessons, field trips, emergency funds and more.
We invest in kids so they invest in themselves.
Common Questions
At risk for what?
Dropping out of school; illiteracy; incarceration; pregnancy; violence; poor self-esteem; poor physical and mental health.
Why private school?
Most OpenDoors kids attend public school. However, there are kids who, because of learning differences or stressful home situations, benefit from attending private boarding schools.
Transportation?
OpenDoors volunteers provide transportation to tutoring and extracurricular activities. This gets the kids out of their neighborhoods and to hockey practice, piano lessons, and, for the ones who are struggling in school, tutoring. Sometimes, OpenDoors gets car donations. We give the cars to people who could not afford to buy their own, who need reliable transportation to get to work. A study of welfare recipients in the state of Tennessee found that those who were given access to their own vehicles were more likely to become employed and leave welfare altogether within 18 – 24 months and stay off, while those without a car tended to stay on welfare longer (see Richards and Bruce, Centre for Business and Economic Research, University of Tennessee, June 2004).
