Letter From the Director
When Victory For Youth was conceived 13 years ago, we saw the difficulties our youth and there families were having and the amount of resources that were available but unknown to them. With little more than a vision, we initiated a path of reaching out to over 260 agencies, organizations and corporate sponsors in order to create a coalition that would bring HOPE and opportunities to these kids and their families.
Now We can comfortably say almost 13 years later, that TOGETHER we have created an unprecedented program. The formula for this success is the ability of organizations, corporate sponsors, clients, volunteers to actively participate in Victory For Youth. Thank you for believing in this vision!
It is my pleasure to inform you that we are preparing for Victory For Youth our newest Program Job Placement Program for the disadvantage population thru our Printing Services and job training programs with our clients.
The following is a brief recap of the last 13 years' outreach results:
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Victory Day 2000 - 2004 has outreached to 142,860 youth and their families over the past three years.
- Over 67,000 youth and their families attended Victory Day.
- Department of Juvenile Justice outreached to over 12,388 youth with education and prevention.
- Over 3,577 Social Security cards were requested.
- Over 8,700 young people inquired about health check-ups from the Social Security Administration.
- Approximately 9,700 families were provided Kid Care health insurance information.
- 1,600 young people received guidance and advice on educational opportunities.
- Over 3,900 faith-based contacts were made.
- 1,655 youth volunteered their time and received community service credits from DCPS
- Over 3,800 young people received advice and information about adult education, career information, including referrals to computer
education and business schools.
- More than 1,230 women and their families received breast feeding, WIC and nutrition service and information.
- 477 young people signed Department of Health abstinence contracts.
- 566 donors gave blood to the Community Blood Center of South Florida.
- 77 families received information on foster care parenting opportunities.
- The events were widely covered by the media: radio, TV and print.
- 2004 Emergency Calling Card over 375,000 were distributed thru all Dade County schools. 37 lives were assisted.
- 2005 Victory For youth Provided Mental Health services to the Workforce Job Placement Program in the City of Homestead for
at risk youth.
- 2006 Victory Provided Job Training and Awareness program with State Attorney's office ”Identity Theft", American Red Cross
"Hurricane Training”, United Health Care "Health Awareness”. Social Security Administration "S.S. Benefits” Over 1000 AARP participants.
- 2007-2009 Community Outreach with the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
- 2010 The for Real Team program mentors in the public schools and in the community.
- 2011 Job Placements, Training , Program to the disadvantage population, Victory became a provider for the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Florida Department of Education.
….and this is just the tip of the iceberg… for instance, research conducted by Miami-Dade County Dept. of Health indicates that a pregnant female anywhere between the ages of 10-19 costs our taxpayers $ 3,400.00 per year for health services! Thanks to Victory Day, 477 youth have willingly signed the "Abstinence Contract". Remarkably, this automatically translates into $139,740.00 savings for our County. All these accomplishments have been possible through the collaboration of all state and local agencies, sponsors and volunteers making it a true victory for our community.
Rolando Gonzalez
Executive Director
Victory for Youth (501c3)