Youth Odyssey Founder, Kim Cox
Youth Odyssey has been making a difference in the lives of at-risk youth here in the Coastal Bend for the past 19 years; and 2017 makes it our 20th. We have come a long way from an attorney who wanted to get kids active in something other than breaking the law. When we started we maybe saw a dozen or so kids in a year and it was hard to find youth willing to participate in the program. Now we service near 1,000 youth a year and have partnerships with local schools, businesses, and other charitable organizations.
Just this year we were able to secure a spot on the Coastal Bend Day of Giving, even though it has been going on for eight years, and we have finally partnered up with the Charity League of Corpus Christi. They are going to help us raise funds to renovate and expand our ropes course.
Youth Odyssey Trip Circa 1998
Over the years we have changed up the format of Youth Odyssey and are still continuing to do so. At the start, in 1997, Youth Odyssey was aiming to get youth involved in outdoor activities and stewardship. Our founder, Kim Cox, would take youth on archaeological digs in Goliad and to his ranch for rock climbing and rappelling. He was even able to take them to Belize and be a part of an Aztec ruin archaeological dig and work side by side with trained professionals to make new discoveries. It wasn’t until later that we introduced the life skills programming and started to create partnerships with the local schools.
With each year came new programs and more youth to participate. Gaining more and more momentum with each camping trip and behavioral improvement both in and out of school. The Youth Odyssey participants started to show improvement in test scores as well, so much so that when the Corpus Christi Independent School District had to do major budget cuts over a period of a few years, Youth Odyssey was the only after school program they kept, because they believe in what we are doing and see the changes we are having in those who participate.
Living Local Summer Camp 2016
Though Youth Odyssey has grown a lot over the years, we are still a small (yet mighty) organization that is constantly looking to see where else we can make an impact. Due to this drive, in 2016, we secured another partnership with the Tuloso-Midway Independent School District and have been discussing expanding our programs into Flour Bluff Independent School District as well. Last year was our first camp-season where we not only filled each camp but, all four camps had waiting lists! Because of this demand and knowing we’ll have event more youth interested due to our growth, we are working to establish more summer camps in 2017. Possibly doubling up on some camps or creating completely new ones, either way we will be able to accommodate and impact a greater number of youth.
Thanksgiving Mentor Trip 2016
Also in 2017, Youth Odyssey is reformatting our youth mentor program so we can continue to foster growth within our mentors. This new and improved programming will focus on creating better leadership skills through understanding different personality types and how to best handle difficult situations. We utilize role playing and various scenarios to evaluate and discuss the different ways to overcome any challenge. We are also in the process of creating monthly, mentor only, meet ups where we can focus on different things like college preparation, and letting them know what other resources are available to them in the community. We plan to run portable team challenges with them that are geared towards more mature participants so they can learn to work with their peers in stressful situations.
Youth Odyssey was the only after school program they kept, because they believe in what we are doing and see the changes we are having in those who participate.
2016 was an amazing year of growth for Youth Odyssey, probably our most successful year to date, but with the new ideas we are aiming to implement, the completion of the ropes course renovations, and our upcoming Birthday Fiesta, 2017 looks to be an even more impressive year for Youth Odyssey and hopefully it’s a sign for years to come! So bring on 2017, we’re ready and the youth of the Coastal Bend are waiting!
