Our Mission

Fueling generational change through advocacy, education, and relationships that uplift families!

As part of the East End, AKZ walks alongside our community, advocating, supporting, and building collective strength to break generational cycles and shape a future where every person feels empowered, connected, and confident in their ability to thrive. The foundational components of AKZ are listed below:

Providing comprehensive support from birth through K-12 education, and into a college, trade, or career.
Connecting the surrounding community of residents, organizations, and businesses to provide strong environments to support the success of every child and family we serve.
Measuring outcomes to ensure that progress is real and tangible. Results are the driving force for individual support and program development.
Closing the gap between support structures to be sure that every child and their family receive maximum opportunities to build on their capacity to learn and succeed.

Love Your Neighbor

Rooted in the East End. Driven By Hope. Powered By People.

AKZ’s Love Your Neighbor Initiative is like the front porch to everything we do. It’s block by block, house by house, meeting neighbors, hosting meetings, partnering with people who live in the neighborhood to say, “We’ve got this. We’re responsible for this place. We’re going to take care of it and we’re going to take care of each other.”

Every neighborhood has its own unique assets and challenges. Through monthly neighborhood meetings, yearly action projects, listening sessions, and the work of our Director of Community Engagement and Community Connections Coordinator, AKZ works to bring neighbors and community stakeholders together to create positive and sustainable change built on the passions and dreams of the people who live here.

Strong Starts

Strong Families. Strong Learners. Strong Starts.

Investing in young children is one of the best things a community can do. Early childhood programs help break generational cycles, close gaps for families, and set kids up for success as they grow. At AKZ, we believe that a child's first and most important teachers are their families. AKZ Strong Starts is an early learning program for East End families, centered on meaningful interaction and engagement between a child and their grown up. Strong Starts classes focus on strengthening bonds between caregivers and their children, teaching them about developmental milestones and empowering them to become their child's best advocate. AKZ walks alongside families and their children to ensure 100% of Strong Starts graduates enter kindergarten ready to learn!

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Afterschool & Summer Enrichment

Learning Beyond the School Day.

AKZ works closely with South Heights teachers to give students extra support when they need it most. Our staff and volunteers help kids with tutoring during the school day and offer fun, enriching activities after school and in the summer. We focus on boosting reading and math skills, building strong social-emotional skills, and giving kids new experiences through field trips, college visits, and community service-learning projects. At AKZ, learning continues beyond the classroom, opening doors, expanding possibilities and helping every child thrive.

Teens

From Classroom to Community.

AKZ’s Teen Program is designed to help young people develop the academic, social, and life skills they need to succeed beyond high school. Through leadership development, mentoring, and hands-on experiences, teens strengthen communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and healthy decision-making. The program also introduces students to career exploration, job-readiness training, and opportunities to practice real-world skills such as teamwork, responsibility, and professional behavior. With college visits, community service-learning projects, and supportive adult relationships, AKZ helps teens build the confidence and competencies they need for their next steps in school, work, and life.

Gain

Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin' By World

Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’-By World (GAIN) is a program designed to help people who are seeking financial stability and self-reliance by investigating their own situation and building resources to help improve their overall quality of life. It’s not just about where they are now, but about what it’s going to take to build the life they want. GAIN helps participants investigate the realities and conditions of their communities that have an impact on them, the “hidden rules” for getting ahead, skills that will give them confidence and motivation to get ahead, how to build resources and connections, and ways to deal with change and create stability.

Family Advocates

Let's Figure This Out Together

You’ve all heard that old saying, “Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.” But nobody ever talks about what happens when his fishing pole breaks. Or when he has no idea how to cook the fish. Or what to do when the pond dries up. Or when his kids are running circles around him and he’s standing there with a bucket full of fish and no idea what to do with it. Families need more than one skill, they need support systems, connections, and someone to say, “I’m here. Let’s figure this out together.” When that happens, stability spreads, one family teaches another, and then another and that’s how generational cycles are broken.

At the heart of what we do are our AKZ Family Advocates. Family Advocates focus on building strong, trusting relationships with every child and family we serve. They provide personalized support through social and life-skills lessons, help teens and adults with job applications and résumés, connect families to mental health services, partner with community organizations to ensure families have access to the resources they need, they walk alongside families as they set short- and long-term goals and, offer support during court hearings and other challenging moments. When families gain skills, knowledge, and confidence, children thrive.