Speak Up for Kids of Palm Beach County, Inc. is the exclusive 501(c)(3) fundraising arm for the Guardian ad Litem Program of Palm Beach County, Florida. 

We champion best-interest child advocacy through the recruitment, training and retention of court-appointed volunteer child advocates. Through effective advocacy the cycles of abuse, violence, and crime are being broken one child at a time, and children’s futures are being rewritten. 

These “guardian angels” are committed solely to each child’s emotional, educational, and physical well-being throughout dependency court proceedings as the only 100% objective voice,  serving as ‘the eyes and ears of the dependency court’.

OUR TARGETED INITIATIVES 

#1 Therapeutic Court 
An award-winning pilot, the first of its kind in the US, to serve the most complex cases in our county through a round-table team approach. Every agency involved in a child’s case is represented and held accountable every week in a single meeting with Judge oversight. In its first year, TC achieved 11 adoptions across the 20 most  

#2 Early Childhood Court 
Child victims of abuse enter the system at every age. ECC is targeting the best interests of infant and toddler child victims and their families working toward safe, permanent placement of these young ones faster. 

#3 Foster Palm Beach
Dependency numbers continue to rise, and safe housing for our children remains in short supply. In 2018, we extended our impact efforts by creating Foster Palm Beach to recruit more foster families locally––a natural extension of our efforts to
Speak Up for Kids.

For more information you can call 561-408-7779 or email info@speakupforkidspbc.org

In 1988, the Broward Cultural Division completed its Cultural Master Plan. One recommendation was to improve business involvement in the arts by starting a Broward County Affiliate of the very successful national program, Business Volunteers for the Arts® (BVA). With leadership from the Cultural Arts Task Force of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce and the Broward Cultural Affairs Council (BCAC) this recommendation was realized in July 1988, when BVA/Broward was incorporated as a non-profit organization in Florida. With the receipt of 501(C)(3) status from the IRS BVA/Broward, Inc. began operations in January of 1989.

By 1991, a Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts (VLA) program was established, followed by the ArtServe Business Center (ABC), which was made possible by a three-year, $150,00 National Endowment for the Arts grant award. The three programs, BVA, VLA and ABC, were merged in 1993 under the umbrella of ArtServe.

ArtServe is now centrally located in Fort Lauderdale, sharing its 25,000 sq. ft. venue  with a Broward County branch library. This multi-purpose facility provides low-cost space where artists, non-profits and the public can hold classes, workshops, performances, meetings, events, and conduct business.

Available spaces include:

• Multi-purpose Auditorium
• Main Art Gallery
• Dance Studio
• Artist Studios and Art Class Space
• Private Gallery Exhibition Spaces
• Affordable offices and suites for artists and non-profits
• Flex space for workshops, presentations and training
• Board and Meeting Rooms
• Gift Shop

The Business Center features nearly 20 private office suites which rent for low rates, thereby allowing cultural non-profits and organizations that support non-profits to minimize their administrative overhead, and put more resources back into building their organization. The facilities are provided at low rates to artists and nonprofit organizations.

ArtServe’s scope of services has expanded and numerous programs have been added to meet the demands of the South Florida arts community. Through private and public funding, ArtServe has developed a series of programs aimed at strengthening and assisting local artists and nonprofit cultural groups in their business-related and marketing efforts.

ArtServe has become a national model for other arts incubators and artist-support groups.

For more information you can call (954) 462-8190 or email information@artserve.org

PROPEL – People Reaching Out to Provide Education and Leadership – was founded in 2004 by a small group of Boca Raton businessmen and community leaders to support the educational achievement and leadership development of the area’s less fortunate youth. Boca Raton boasts a median household income of $71,468, which is:

• 35% greater than Palm Beach County as a whole and
• 51% greater than that of Florida

However, over 90% of our youth come from households with an average family size of 6+ and an average income of less than $29,244 –just 41% of the City’s average.

Most of our kids live in the most economically depressed areas in and around Palm Beach County, virtually all residing in Section 8 housing throughout the area.

Since the beginning of the 2015-16 school year, Propel has grown in size tremendously. Propel is now serving an average of 80 students weekly and currently holds a waitlist for those that have taken interest in THE HUB. To support this growing interest, we have moved into a more sizable location and are bringing in more resources. Propel has moved from a 800 sq. ft. office, serving an average of 20 students a day in 2014 to a 8,000 sq. ft. facility where PROPEL’s HUB has expanded to include an educational center with classrooms, meeting rooms, a full commercial kitchen, and a computer lab. PROPEL was granted two passenger vans, filling a critical need at our organization- transportation of our youth to and from the center so they can participate in our programming. Over the past five years, we have given out $130,000 in college scholarships. This past year we have connected over 20 of our student leaders with employment opportunities.

For more information call (561) 955-8553 or email info@propelyourfuture.org