Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach

Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach (KICKO) is a "non-proft organization transforming the inner city by equipping and empowering its children to fully realize their potential and discover their God given destiny". The outreach program was started in 1995 by Bill and Janice Clark as a 501(c)3 non-profit ministry aka it is a tax-exempt non-profit organization. It is a family organization as their son Michael is also a big part of it. Throughout the week Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach hosts SONday School at Boys and Girls Clubs and apartments in inner city communities in the area. They also host relationship building visitations and an annual Back 2 School Community Block Party. According to Jamarcus, a former KICKO kid, the thing that made him want to go to a SONday School event for the first time was the promise of a snack at the end. In a video on KICKO's website, Jamarcus also says after that first time he does not remember ever missing a Saturday of SONday for five years. Jamarcus then went on to be apart of the organization's Junior Staff and has since graduated, but still continues to work with KICKO because of the impact it had on his life. Jamarcus says that part of the relationship building is that Mr. and Mrs. Clark would come and visit the kids at their apartments the day before a SONday and invite them one on one. Based off other kids in his community and how different their lives turned out from his, Jamarcus says that without KICKO, he's afraid his life would be a total wreck right now. He considers Mr. and Mrs. Clark to be his grandparents because of the relationship they formed with him and how they showed Jesus' love to him. There are other similar stories on the organization's website that show how much of an impact Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach is having in the lower income areas of Knoxville.