Through the support and sponsorship of Lotus Endowment Fund, Inc., the Lotus House Women’s Shelter is expanding with an exciting new initiative, the Children’s Village at Lotus Village—an innovative and holistic neighborhood children’s education and resource center that will provide deep therapeutic and educational supports, enriching and diverse programming, and a wide range of social services for the children and families of Lotus House and the Overtown community.
The Need for Expansion
The pandemic has exacerbated and laid bare so many needs and gaps in services within the greater Overtown area, a neighborhood with some of the highest economic, health, and social disparities in Miami-Dade County. The children and youth of Lotus House and the surrounding community struggle with access to quality educational and extracurricular resources, preventive and routine healthcare, and mental health services. The absence of these important assets propels a cycle of poverty, violence, and homelessness.
Investing in our community’s children is essential to eliminating these inequities and breaking this cycle. The Children’s Village will provide vital supportive services that will empower our children and youth to live fulfilling, healthy, and happy lives.
A Central Resource for Children and Families
The Children’s Village will provide these life-changing resources through an innovative collective impact model, creating a shared home for over ten nonprofit organizations that serve children and youth in Overtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. With a diverse family of nonprofit groups working together in shared mission, the Children’s Village will serve as a central resource haven, offering our community:
An essential expansion to the Children’s Services Therapeutic Program of Lotus House, providing evidence-based, trauma-informed therapies to heal children and families, and service-driven research to deepen our understanding of the special needs of children impacted by poverty, violence, and homelessness and develop effective therapeutic interventions.
Legal services needed to obtain vital public benefits, prevent wrongful evictions, ensure access to healthcare and education, and protect consumers, among other services supporting children and families.
Barrier-free access to basic healthcare such as immunizations and back to school check-ups, eye care, and dental services, as well as specialty services.
Diverse enrichment, social, and civic programming, including science, technology, literacy, the creative arts and social and emotional learning for children and youth of all ages.
After-school activities, tutoring, homework assistance, and academic support throughout the school year, including field trips and college tours.
A variety of enriching summer camp programs for students of all ages.
A world-class preschool for children ages 3-5, with a specific expertise in supporting young children with special needs and disabilities.
Visual arts and digital media training and educational programming.
A comprehensive system of care and support for LGBTQ youth and their families.
Mindfulness training for parents, educators, and caretakers who support children to reduce stress and anxiety, improve focus, promote emotional regulation and impulse control, teach empathy and compassion, and create a sense of wellbeing for these adults.
A beautiful and accessible playground for children of all abilities to play in a safe and engaging environment.
Community events such as back-to-school drives, communal Thanksgiving dinners, and holiday toy giveaways.
Through the Children’s Village, Lotus House deepens its work to end and prevent homelessness through a scalable new national model that heals, empowers and uplifts children, youth and families in need, serving as a beacon of light and hope, and uplifting our community.
Amplified Impact
The collective impact model pioneered by the Children’s Village will create opportunities for unprecedented collaboration and enhanced service delivery for our community’s most vulnerable residents. The co-location of a diverse group of organizations under a single roof will promote cooperation, resource sharing, greater inter-community communication, and create new channels to connect local children and families to the services they need.
Participating organizations include:
Alliance for LGBTQ Youth
Arts for Learning
Children’s Bereavement Center
Easterseals South Florida
in collaboration with Barry University
Girl Power Rocks
Legal Services of Greater Miami
Lotus House
Mindful Kids Miami
Nana’s Restart
Overtown Optimist Club
Overtown Children and Youth Coalition
Urgent, Inc.
Together, we amplify our collective impact in uplifting these very special children and youth, allowing them to learn, grow, thrive and blossom into who they are meant to be. The Children’s Village will establish a new national model for neighborhood children’s resource centers to truly end and prevent the cycle of poverty, violence, and homelessness by putting our children first and investing in their future.
Join Us In Planting Seeds of Change and Become a Founder Today!
We invite you to join our capital campaign for the construction, development, furnishing, outfitting, and launch of the Children’s Village at Lotus Village and become an official “Founder” of the Children’s Village. Donor and naming opportunities come in all shapes and sizes and can be spread over five years, allowing you to tailor your giving in ways that best suit your philanthropic, tax and estate goals. Gifts in the form of appreciated stock are welcome and may provide extra tax advantages for donors. As always, we are available and happy to meet to discuss how you can make a difference in the lives of thousands of children in need and create a lasting legacy of love in the Children’s Village.
Please contact Constance Collins (constance@lotusendowment.org, 305-613-1573) or Carly Grimm (carly@lotusendowment.org, 407-782-2954) for more information.
Or, Donate Now!
