KIDS RANK

Kids Rank improves the mental health of military children by supporting their social and emotional wellbeing. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) articulate the extensive need for Social-Emotional Supports for students experiencing family transitions -- like military connected students. Research shows that socialization with other military children and social emotional skills, such as self-efficacy and relationship skills can serve as protective factors for military children. Kids Rank provides precisely those protective elements with the aim of supporting military children to grow up to be confident, compassionate adults who positively impact their communities

When implemented effectively Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) can lead to many positive measurable short- and long-term improvements in the lives of children such as increased self-confidence and engagement in school as well as reduction in behavior issues and absences.

In 2021 Kids Rank completed its program evaluation for the 2021-2022 program year with recommendations for both programmatic and strategic initiatives. We developed the following goals as measurable indicators in achieving our larger organizational strategy:

1. Quadruple the number of Prides offered by: Adding program staff;
Strengthening operational infrastructure; and increasing marketing and recruiting efforts.
2. Maintain the positive impacts students now experience by: Codifying
curriculum; Training staff; then monitoring; then re-training - all in rapid succession; and
Assessing impact early and often - and adjusting accordingly.
3. Further develop the mental health program arm to become a comprehensive resource for military children and families in need of professional support
4. Supporting the organization through fundraising by: Building out internal
fundraising capacity; Expanding board of directors; and Growing network of individual and
organizational supporters.

Kids Rank is led by founder Kelcey Liverpool, a former military spouse and mother of two military children with 20 years of experience working in the military community, who understands the culture and needs of the population she serves. We have a dedicated and diverse team of board and staff representing both military and civilian populations.

Over the last 10 years Kids Rank has taken then time to build a strong framework in preparation for expansion including solid relationships with the local military command, school districts, funding partners, community partners and families. We have also leveraged our partnerships into networking and fundraising capabilities that will allow us to develop and sustain the growth and operations we seek in alignment with our strategic goals.

Since 2012 Kids Rank has served nearly 900 military and veteran children and more nearly 4000 members of military families, including families of active duty and veteran parents or caregivers from all branches of service. According to our 2021-2022 evaluation, 97% of Kids Rank Members responded that it is mostly or completely important to them to be a member of Kids Rank. 94% mostly or completely agreed that being in Kids Rank helps them build skills, leadership, and a commitment to service, feeling belonging to Kids Rank is important, They also agreed with the statement “Members of Kids Rank care about each other,” with 87% of Kids Rank Members mostly or completely agreeing. These responses suggest a very strong shared emotional connection between members, which is not only a key element for continuing with a community but is also central to Kids Rank Members’ own social-emotional development.

In late 2019 Kids Rank assembled a board led Mental Health Committee to address how its core social and emotional priorities are integrated into curriculum, trainings and outreach. An early accomplishment resulting from this committee is Foundations, a conversation series concentrating holistically on their mental health. Foundations guided the learning of best practices, procedures, understanding of military culture and how it affects military youth within the mainstream civilian settings differently from that of a civilian youth and find the gaps in services that need to be filled. It created an opportunity to partner and collaborate with other organizations and agencies such as the Military Child Education Coalition, USO and Sesame Street to teach, share and learn.

Since the implementation of our initial strategy, we have grown from 3 to 10 prides, with 2 more scheduled to be added in fall 2023, keeping us ahead of pace with our growth goal of quadrupling our prides and increasing our overall membership from nearly 100 students when we started to 225. We hit 225 enrollees in program year 22-23 and are on track to exceed that in 23-24. Our execution of a full program evaluation has enabled us to not only maintain good practices and programming, but to seek and implement feedback from nearly 200 members and stakeholders to continually improve overall program quality.

Due to the tremendous support of individual donors and the development of a tiered fundraising strategy, we've also been able to increase our budget from $350,000 to $525,000, adding 2 additional full time administrative staff and 2 full-time program leaders supporting the overall stability and continuity of quality programming and operations.

In alignment with our strategic plan, we have grown from with board and key stakeholders to determine the necessary resources and partners needed for growth. The larger goal is to become a national organization at military installations without direct youth programming, providing consistency and stability for children during each transition.