Grace Place for Children and Families provides pathways out of poverty, educating students, families

Exactly 20 years ago, in two borrowed rooms from a Golden Gate church outside Naples, Florida, the seeds of a small group’s dream broke ground.

The realized dream of that homework club sustained by a handful of volunteers to help children in the Golden Gate community has – two decades later – grown quite literally into a sprawling success, defined by inspiration, opportunity and, greatest of all, hope.

Today, that organization is Grace Place for Children and Families. As a non-profit family learning center, Grace Place puts faith into action by providing pathways out of poverty by educating children and families.

Driven by an insistence that “Education changes everything,” Grace Place helps over 1,100 individuals build language, literacy and life skills through a comprehensive family literacy model each year. Currently, 23 countries are represented at Grace Place, accounting for seven different languages.

Following an extensive career as a teacher in New York, Colleen Kneitel chose to "retire" in Florida. As the saying goes, though, once a teacher – always a teacher.

“I got here and, as a purpose-driven person, I was searching for purpose and meaning,” said Kneitel, now a teacher at Grace Place. “I’m thrilled by the idea of making a difference in children’s lives. When I learned of Grace Place’s motto being to educate children and families and give them advances out of poverty, it sounded like a perfect opportunity for me to give my heart and soul to what I love…teaching kids. It became a perfect fit.”

Kneitel is now about to celebrate her one-year anniversary with Grace Place for Children and Families.

“Even when you just show up to the campus and see all the innovative designs coming off the original church, you can’t help but see how the place just grew, from a seed of hope and faith and opportunity,” Kneitel said. “To see that now branch out into a community where children who wouldn’t normally have this kind of opportunity now do.”

“As a non-profit family literacy center, our mission is to put faith into action and provide pathways out of poverty by educating students and families,” said Stacy Vaughn, development/fundraising, Grace Place for Children and Families.

Among the features of Grace Place is the nationally recognized Bright Beginnings program. The MO with this two-generation program is to prepare children for kindergarten, while a parent must also stay and learn numbers, letters and the English language. In addition, parents enjoy citizenship classes and are taught such things as digital and financial literacy.

Grace Place’s Bright Beginnings program started after teachers noticed a trend among students they had been working with. When kids reached middle and/or high school, they were dropping out to make money for the family.

“Parents were saying, ‘You cost me money, now you’ve got to make me money,’” said Vaughn. “The only way you’re going to change your pathway is if you couple hard work, which describes all of our parents, with education. Many just don’t understand until they get to Grace Place that you’ve got to have education in our country. You’ve got to be able to read, write and speak in English.”

According to Vaughn, the only way to change those patterns and create strong partners in education is to get the whole family to understand that, while hard work is great, if one cannot speak English in this country, hard work alone is never going to get one to reach the next level up.

“Our families are our bussers, servers, landscapers, maintenance crews and housekeepers,” said Vaughn. “They’re looking for a way to change their pathway for their families.”

There are five area elementary schools which Grace Place serves in the area, Vaughn said of the 4-square-mile Golden Gate area, home to 35,000. Most families rent one bedroom, which is what many entire families call ‘home’.

An after-school program welcomes kids from those five elementary schools in Golden Gate.

“First and foremost, we focus on making sure they are or have been fed, because you cannot learn if you’re hungry,” said Vaughn. “We make sure that their homework is done. We want them to love education and learning. If they go back to school with their homework done, they’re more likely to get that positive reinforcement and, from that, gain confidence.”

Grace Place teachers also have a presence in middle and high schools to work with their students there, on that level. The focus is on making sure the kids are fed and that homework is done and ready to go. Grace Place also features a college planner that works with their high school students, the goal being to expose kids to different opportunities.

On Tuesday of this week, roughly a dozen students were selected to visit Tiburón Golf Club, site of this week’s Chubb Classic on PGA TOUR Champions. Kids were invited based on their level of program participation, a high school GPA of 3.0 (or higher) and being genuinely vested in their personal and professional growth.

“It’s an opportunity and our students understand it’s a privilege,” Vaughn said.

As opposed to learning how to play golf, the students got into the swing of something far greater – learning how to live, work and thrive at both.

“Being here at the Chubb Classic is such an amazing opportunity for them,” Vaughn said. “They get to see up close and personal all the different jobs and careers here; golf course maintenance, food and beverage and all those working on the production of a Champions Tour event. It gives them ideas of what they could get into or move up into.”

“It’s just amazing to hear first-hand all the opportunities,” said Kneitel. “The students get to get their eyes and say, ‘Wow, I could do that, too.’ It’s likely something many of them would’ve never thought about or considered as something they, too, could do.”

“I think today was a great experience, especially if you want to get into a career of all the things that go on at a golf course," said Benhova Augustin, a Grace Place student. “Everything inside the club was very neat and clean. I just love how they can all manage all the different stuff and seem to really enjoy it.”

“Learning about the different careers that come with one thing, like a golf tournament, is really amazing," said Grace Place student, Jovania Dorcely. “I really like photography, so I got to meet with some of the people who take pictures for their career. It was really fun and makes me want to try something new.”

“It really opened my mind to a whole new world,” said Grace Place student, Yoselyn Montano. “I never knew there were so many different kinds of grasses or even that hospitality was even involved in the golfing area. So, it really opened my mind to a lot of new job possibilities or even a career.”

“Grace Place is one of our key charitable partners," said Sandy Diamond, Chubb Classic executive director. "They do a lot for us, and we want to do a lot for them. For the kids, this field trip is very special. Many of them wouldn’t otherwise even have an opportunity to come out to a facility like Tiburón. So, it’s awesome that our partners here at Tiburón – from the golf staff to food and beverage – chat with the kids and offer them real-life examples of what can lie ahead for them.”

Not only was this week’s Chubb Classic both a privilege and opportunity for the students, but the event went a step further and has earmarked 10 percent of ticket sales purchased through a link on the tournament’s website to go to Grace Place.

“What the Chubb Classic is doing with the ticket sales is a fabulous opportunity for us,” said Vaughn. “We can’t do what we do….helping students and families…without companies and organizations like Chubb. We’re just so, so thankful for their generosity.”

Grace Place is also credited for the Friday Food Bank, open to anyone in Collier County, regardless of being registered with Grace Place or not. Each week, hundreds are served.

“We have a great network of volunteers who come and set up our food pantry,” said Vaughn. “There’s no dignity in people just being handed a bag of food, so they will go through and select their own food.”

The statistics of Grace Place families are quite telling: 92 percent of students rely on free or reduced-price lunches, while 96 percent speak a language other than English at home. In addition, 73 percent of parents had less than a high school education in 2023.

“Our families are not looking for a handout, they’re just looking for a hand up,” Vaughn said. “They come to us with really strong work ethics. These are people working 14-16 hours a day. They’re learning that if you put that hard work ethic with education and the chance to learn English, anything can happen.”

Between the many programs offered for assistance, according to Kneitel, Grace Place exists for anything kids and families need help with. From passing tests, to having scholarship opportunities and understanding how to fill out financial aid forms, Grace Place isn’t only about enhancing their current education, but also to support it exist as a way for them to launch into their future.

“Sometimes, when I ask a student about his or her essay, the responses really reflect the challenges they face,” Kneitel noted. “Some have very significant issues at home, or in the neighborhoods they live in.”

By way of reading those essays her students write, it becomes glaringly evident that many of the students come from challenging positions, both past and present.

“Often, their responses come from an experience you would have never known had you not asked,” Kneitel said. “With all the obstacles and challenges many of these kids have had to deal with and/or overcome, many have an incredible face of courage, willingness and hope that there is a way out. Grace Place strives to provide them that way out.”

In 2023, 100 percent of 4-year-olds at Grace Place were developmentally ready for kindergarten and 100 percent of high school seniors graduated and were accepted to college; another set of equally telling statistics connected to the seed of a mutual dream that began in the room of church.

Today, like never before, Grace Place helps pave the way for those inspiring journeys to break the cycle of poverty, find that way out and blossom into something remarkable.

For more information about Grace Place for Children and Families, visit https://graceplacenaples.org.