For Youth
- Curricula and Activity Guides: Pre-K to 12th Grade
- Interactive Student Journals & Worksheets
- Workshops & Retreats (Virtual or In-Person)
- Prevention & At-Risk Youth Workshops
At kid-grit, our mission is to equip educators, students, and families with the knowledge and tools to build confidence, character, resilience, and self-care.
Our robust offerings are focused on 21st-century skills (curiosity, critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication) and anchored in themes that include human and emotional intelligence, wellness, self-awareness, digital literacy, and mastery of learning.
Keep up with kid-grit news! Learn more about our latest announcements, programs and conference appearances.
Join us for free, one hour versions of our most popular professional development topics. Space is limited! LEARN MORE
Two kindred spirits grew up in the same neighborhood on the streets of New York City in the late 70s and 80s. A time when kids created their own after school programs, when kids played in parks, when street lights told time, when city buses and subways were traveled by kids all alone, when fire hydrants were their swimming pools, when the parks they played in were filled with kids from all backgrounds and when kids often were taking care of their own parents. Julia and Jeffrey’s journeys during childhood took them to neighboring and rival high schools in the same area of Brooklyn. They shared close mutual friends through their childhood but were never in the same room nor on the same street corner at the same time. Despite their proximity and similar experiences as youth, Julia and Jeffrey never had a direct connection until 30 years later.
Their common bonds started in their youth with their troubled upbringing. When finally connected as adults, they had found their calling together at exactly the perfect time. Similar lifework and passions, fueled by their shared challenges of broken homes and parents with addictions during their adolescence, ignited the creation of kid-grit. A soulful company that designs 21st-century learning and growth mindset curricula and professional development to motivate and inspire both students and educators worldwide.
Julia and Jeffrey offer a wealth of knowledge in youth development and the holistic approach to building young people from the inside out. Not only do they share an authentic experience of growing up with resilient mindsets, but they have also been digging their heels into the ground in the youth space for over 30 years combined. Their experience includes leading organizations, developing staff, coaching youth and adults, and building positive relationships and partnerships with community-based organizations. Julia, an award-winning educator possessing a strong NYC theatrical background, has been a dynamic facilitator of activity-based workshops for over 20 years. Jeffrey, a seasoned entrepreneur, has created and led startup enterprises in both public and private sectors, including a youth mentoring non-profit, a holistic life coaching business, and online distribution companies realizing annualized revenues of $53M. They have each built successful and trackable programs from the ground up, focusing on a range of topics from academic enrichment and school support systems, leadership programs, first-generation college-bound programs, sports and arts programs, life skills programs and youth development programs that are threaded in all of the above. They are already a reputable and expert dynamic duo that has been speaking to audiences across the U.S. since 2016. Between the two, they offer an array of professional and life skill sets that deepen the effectiveness of the company’s mission. Driven by their aligned pasts and the impact of their childhood and driven by their love for youth, what has developed over the past 5 years has become their combined legacy. This passion project is driven by love.
