Project Footsteps

To inspire, empower, and prepare youth and community to be agents of change, social leaders, and volunteers.

Project Footsteps (PF) works to keep its microscope on possibility and potential; our children and our community. PF realizes that as a community the very degree of our investments in young people will predict the very ability of our young people to thrive and be resilient. PF understands that every day creates a new opportunity for us to tell the children in our lives and in our communities that they’re important, irreplaceable, and valuable. We must challenge them to think critically about themselves and their relationship to their community. We must teach them to develop strategies to either join at the table or create their own. More importantly, to have a direct impact on bettering their communities, their schools and their world.

In 2009 forty PF staff and volunteers conducted over fifty-five program experiences that inspired, empowered and prepared 1,800 young people from all across the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs to have a direct impact in their community. Though PF has a unique position to accomplish this work, we understand that it is imperative to sustainability that we identify and successfully present entry points for community members to take part in what should be natural; caring for our children.

Originally from the south side of Chicago, Kyle Rucker founded Project Footsetps in August of 2005, in his sophomore year at the University of Minnesota. Till this day, the reasoning behind initiating this effort remains consistently basic; our young people must take ownership of bettering their communities, themselves and their worlds. In the spring of 2006 Mike Jackson, from Welch, MN, currently Director of Business and Operations for PF, joined the team as PF’s first contracted program facilitator. Since then Kyle and Mike have built PF into an organization that reaches nearly 2,000 participants annually.

In 2006 Mike and Kyle decided that not only will PF empower and prepare young people to be agents of change and social leaders, but PF will also exemplify resourcefulness by intentionally engaging more volunteer commitments, in-kind services, and donations. PF has been able to provide quality and life changing program experiences to over 4,000 young people throughout the Twin Cities on a very humble budget.