Parent to Parent: Leadership Learning Center

WSVN -- The Leadership Learning Center at St. John Bosco's in Little Havana is packed everyday after school. Sixty kids, from kindergarten to eighth grade, attend the program that teaches them to find their own potential.

Mirta Fuentes: "That's why our name is the Leadership Learning Center. Everyone here has leadership qualities. We just need to learn how to exercise them in a positive way."

The kids are involved in all kinds of projects, learning how to recycle.

Charlie Ortega: "If you like don't recycle, reuse and reduce, we can pollute the environment, so the earth will be no use to us."

Organizing donated clothes, and today they are even preparing a bare patch of ground for a butterfly garden. But it's not just about community projects. These kids also focus on schoolwork. Daily tutoring from certified Miami-Dade teachers makes all the difference.

Ada Armas, volunteer: "You can see their grades have also improved tremendously. They care about their grades now."

Lleana Franco says it's made a huge difference for her son Carlos.

Lleana Franco: "He wasn't used to doing his homework, and he had to get into the habit of becoming more responsible and getting good social skills."

Seventh grader Gricelda Ramos says for her, the center makes doing homework easier.

Gricelda Ramos: "I don't have access to a printer, so I can easily get projects done here, and if I'm running out of school supplies, there's a supply closet, and I can re-stock."

The center is funded through donations.

Mirta Fuentes: "We live off donations of everyone's generosity, and even in these hard times that we're living right now, we find the generosity of people here. People shine like stars because people do care."

Miami Heat players Dwyane Wade and Alonzo Mouring are big supporters, and that's a valuable lesson in sharing and caring for these future leaders.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Dr. Valerie Goode
www.drvaleriegoode.com

Leadership Learning Center
Mirta Fuentes
Mfuentes@sjbmiami.org