The Problem
Purposeful Youth Detroit was founded by Nikkia Matthews; a licensed therapist, social worker and lifelong mentor, with a passion to improve the lives and self-concept of at-risk young girls. Purposeful YOUth Detroit’s mission is to empower, educate and inspire youth to identify their purpose and develop into productive and audacious leaders of the national and global community. The organization carries out its mission by providing young girls, ages 6-16, with individual and group mentoring; access to a rigorous curriculum on self-esteem, leadership, confidence, etiquette, entrepreneurship and community involvement. Once a year, a group about 20 - 30 girls are selected to join our 10 month program and meet twice a month on Saturdays to engage in the curriculum. We gather a team of trained volunteer mentors to carry out the curriculum lessons, develop a long-lasting mentor relationship with the girls (both inside and outside of planned sessions) and assist families in connecting to needed resources. Once every 2 months, the girls go out in the community, face to face with those in need, as we initiate our community service projects. This project we will be doing in the spring and will be a community potluck to feed the homeless of Detroit.
