The Children's Coalition, Inc.

As The Children’s Coalition management, volunteers, supporters, and children finish up the move into the organizations new offices, we got a little help from our friends at the West Palm 100, a local social and civic organization comprised of your professionals.

The new facility will house TCCI’s administrative offices and multimedia labs designed specifically for the programming our organization offers to under -privileged children ages 6 to 18. The new address is 907 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach 33401, located 10 blocks northeast of our old location at 529 Clematis Street, in the heart of downtown.

The offices were decrepit before one of our board members, along with a few other key players, build out the walls, electricity, and installed key infrastructure that was needed after the property was neglected for years. Finally, we were ready for the finishing touch: freshly painted walls.

The paint was donated by Home Depot and some of the members from the West Palm 100. So one Saturday morning, this wonderful group of volunteers donated their time to paint 7 rooms in under 5 hours. There were 15+ hot, sweating, dirty, and paint-sopped friends laying down two coats, everyone working together towards the same goal: to get to the beach.

The next week, those who participated in the paint job and a few others who couldn’t make it met at John Bull in West Palm Beach for happy hour to celebrate our service.

The management and children who are served by TCCI are extremely grateful for the gift of time and energy these young individuals put forward to a passionate that has kept our community and this organization humming for 16 years: service.

About the West Palm 100: West Palm 100 a 501c3 social and civic organization comprised of young professionals that are dedicated to supporting West Palm Beach’s children, families and neighborhoods through the donation of time, money and people power. We support several local service oriented organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Hispanic Human Resources Council, Paint Your Heart Out, Wheels for Kids, Girls and Boys Town and American Cancer Society in West Palm Beach. We also have a very active social calendar with popular monthly happy hours at various West Palm Beach establishments. Membership in West Palm 100 will provide a variety of networking, social and service opportunities. There will be several member-only events throughout the year and members will receive reduced prices to all West Palm 100 events and be the first to know of upcoming volunteer and networking opportunities.

Please visit http://www.westpalm100.org for more information on upcoming and calender events and how to become a WP 100 member.

TCCI kids with Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

April 29, 2009 – The Children’s Coalition Inc. (TCCI) this month took seven students to the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee. Five students served as pages or messengers in the Senate. Two others, along with TCCI Executive Director Carlton Cartwright, filmed a video on state officials’ priorities for Florida’s future.

Senate President Jeff Atwater (R-Palm Beach Gardens) sponsored TCCI’s two pages and three messengers. Acting as pages were Tarrie Johnson-Mack, 18, and Mackeyia Swavy, 15. Acting as messengers were Malcolm Ndoine, 15, Janie Ndoine, 13, and N’equanshanae Brock, 12, all of West Palm Beach.

Delbert Clarke, 17, and Trevor Barber, 17, worked on the film crew. They interviewed Governor Charlie Crist, Department of Corrections Secretary Walter A. McNeil, Department of Children and Families Secretary George H. Sheldon, Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Frank Peterman Jr., Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara J. Pariente, and almost a dozen senators and representatives.

The 15- to 30-minute video will be produced next month and TCCI hopes to air it on local governmental and educational cable channels, Cartwright said.

The trip was made from March 28 through April 5.

Shape Club advisor Robert Decker, TCCI Executive Director Carlton Cartwright, Shape Vice-President Alejandra Garcia, Shape Co-President Patrick Johnson, and Shape Co-President Joesey Mathews pose at check presentation.

The Shape Club of John I. Leonard High School has donated $2,000 to The Children’s Coalition. The club is designed to educate, engage, and empower high school students through philanthropic activities including fund raising, community service and advocacy.

“We are thrilled that these students picked our program for this donation,” said Carlton Cartwright, executive director of The Children’s Coalition. “This donation and these students will make an impact in the community. We thank and congratulate them.”

Children's Coalition Founder and CEO Carlton Cartwright with other award winners.

Oct. 27, 2009 – The Bank of America Charitable Foundation donated $5,000 to the Children’s Coalition as part of its Neighborhood Excellence Initiative program.

Carlton Cartwright, founder and CEO of the Children’s Coalition, was named one of five “Local Heros.” Each will receive $5,000 towards his or her charity.

Two other charities were named “Neighborhood Builders” and were awarded $200,000. They were Adopt-A-Family of the Palm Beaches in Lake Worth and Communities in Schools of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach.

Other Local Heros were:

• Jose F. Arrascue, M.D., for Palm Beach County Medical Society Services.

• Sharon Gill for Oasis Compassion Agency.

• Lorraine Herdeen for Florence Fuller Child Development Centers.

• Nancy Hurd for Achievement Center for Children and Families Foundation.

The Bank of America Foundation donated more than $20.8 million to charities in Palm Beach and Broward counties, Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa.

“Nonprofit and community leaders are instrumental in providing critical neighborhood services, and Bank of America is proud to support their work through the Neighborhood Excellence Initiative and other lending, investing and community development programs that align with our overall corporate social responsibility efforts,” said Mike Fields, Florida president at Bank of America. “Not only does this program recognize some of the truly stand-out organizations and leaders in Florida, but it also offers valuable unrestricted financial support and professional development opportunities critical to the long-term success of our communities.”

“We greatly appreciate the donation and the recognition from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation,” Children’s Coalition CEO Cartwright said. “This will go a long way towards sustaining our efforts to bring educational opportunities to children who desperately need them.”

“We also congratulate the other charities who received awards and the foundation for sponsoring this wonderful program. It will have an impact in the communities we serve,” Cartwright said.

Welcome to the new TCCI website! We’re building out our online presence with the help of our board members and key volunteers. We have a lot of catching up to do, but we’re in it for the long haul. So be patient and check back often for new updates on our activities, programs, services, and ways you can get involved to help us promote arts and culture to the youth of Palm Beach County.

Some functionalities of the website that are currently up and running:

• The TCCI Twitter and Facebook accounts – connect with us and support our message and voice
• The Paypal donate button – making private donations and collections easier. Please remmember that Paypal takes a small fee for their service. A rule of thumb should you decide you would like to cover that cost to us is to add 1.5% to the total of your gift amount.
• Pages: you’ll find useful information about TCCI, our programs, our key management and more through the navigation panel at the top of the page
• Blog: We’ll be posting regularly to our blog to keep our supporters, partners, and friends up to date on TCCI’s activities

Thank you to everyone who has supported us throughout the years – we wouldn’t be where we are today without you.

With love and respect,

The Children’s Coalition, Inc.

Make suggestions of give us some feedback on the new website!