The MJH Golf Classic provides funding to programs that enhance learning opportunities for children that will improve their educational level and self esteem so they can become positive and contributing members of our society.
Tutor-a-Bull is a unique public / private partnership between the MJH Golf Classic, the USF College of Education and the Hillsborough County Public Schools, designed to provide one-on-one tutoring for middle and high school students in the Hillsborough County Public Schools by USF College of Education students. The USF tutors are a select group of students (primarily from the College’s Suncoast Area Teacher Training (SCATT) Honors Program). Tutor-a-Bull started in 2007 at the Joshua House, a shelter for neglected and abused children. It was so successful, the partners decided to pilot the program in local schools. In 2011-12, 400 students in 20 schools received over 22,000 hours of tutoring from 140 USF COEDU students.
Stipends are provided to all USF tutors participating in the program. It is a win-win for everyone! The middle and high school students get the personalized attention they need and, as a result, have demonstrated learning gains and improved self-esteem. The tutors gain hands-on teaching experience. It is having an positive impact on all involved parties and on our community. Studies show students who do well in school are less likely to be involved in crime, which is a benefit to the community and a goal of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, a key partner in this effort.
In 1992, a group of concerned citizens, including Dottie Berger MacKinnon, Bob Thomas, Olin Mott, Jim Zimmerman, Laurence Hall, Greg Johnson, Alberto de Alejos, and others dreamed of a safe haven for the abused, neglected and abandoned children in their Tampa Bay community. After dedicated planning and development their dream was realized in the creation of Joshua House.
Joshua House is a safe haven for these abused, abandoned, and neglected children, offering a therapeutic residential group care program that provides a protected, nurturing, family-like environment for children six – seventeen. These children have been removed from their homes due to crisis and many have been through multiple foster homes.
Hundreds of children have passed through Joshua House since it opened. Each story of abuse and neglect is as unique as the child. With five homes on 11 acres, Joshua House promotes growth, stability, and support specific to each child’s need. Keeping sibling groups together is just one of the many ways Joshua House makes a difference.
Friends of Joshua House Foundation Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization of concerned individuals that have dedicated themselves to developing resources to improve the quality of life for the children of Joshua House. Acting as the fundraising arm of this fine program, Friends of Joshua House Foundation raises resources, develops solutions and supports Hillsborough County’s most vulnerable citizens…its children.
A Kid’s Place, a licensed, residential group care provider, is a unique, state of the art, 60-bed facility for abused, neglected, or abandoned children. A Kid’s Place has five 3,200 square foot homes, located on five acres in Brandon, Fl. We currently utilize a live-in house parent model which provides the children with consistency and simulates family living. Together with our community partners, A Kid’s Place offers:
· Coordination of services
· On-site Therapy services
· Targeted Case Management to support children and their families
· On-site Dental services
· Educational Services
· On-site Pre-Kindergarten and Toddler Programs
We are able to provide these services often without having to take the children off-site and are the first residential facility in Hillsborough County to be able to provide this level of service on-site. At A Kid’s Place, our goal for each child is to provide an enriching experience that will instill hope, encourage growth, and provide opportunities for success.
Mission: Our mission is to protect and care for neglected and abused children who have been removed from their homes. A Kid’s Place provides comfort and safety in a stable and nurturing environment at a critical time.
The MJH Golf Classic also supports a variety of charitable initiatives that benefit children within the community.
· Brandon High School Electric Car Program
· Restoration of an educational Bat Tower facility in Temple Terrace, Florida that is home to 750,000 bats.
