Joining us today is Kimberly Perry, the Development Director at VIP Mentoring. Kimberly N. Perry, Esq. is known for putting children first in her fight for equality. For more than 20 years she has been dedicated to working with young people in hopes of providing them with the tools to build a support system that will follow them throughout their lives. Born, raised and educated in the City of Detroit and beginning as a peer tutor in middle school, Kimberly has always been eager to help and give anything she has that can be a benefit to others.
As a sophomore at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Kimberly served in her first adult mentoring experience when she spent a summer as a camp counselor for the ages 7-18 sports camp. She knew she had a passion for working with students in the capacity of relationship-building, and after graduation, Kimberly went to work for the VIP Mentoring Program, a service dedicated to mentoring the most at risk youth in hopes of breaking the cycle of recidivism.
Kimberly began with VIP Mentoring in January 2000, at a time when truancy was being targeted in Wayne County. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm then Michigan Attorney General, launched her response to the enormous amount of missed days by students through her 2000 for 2000 Michigan's Mentoring initiative. Some of our most vulnerable students were being supported through mentoring and continue many of those relationships today.
Kimberly has a passion for justice, fairness and the law and continued to follow her helping nature with the desire to understand more about the law and law process. So in 2005, she entered Thomas Cooley Law with a focus on Administrative Law while continuing her full time position with VIP Mentoring as Asst. Program Director. While in law school Kimberly worked tirelessly alongside the rest of the management team of VIP and more than 30 Metro-Detroit churches is providing thousands of hours of mentoring support to children with incarcerated parents. And after interning with the Wayne County Prosecutors Office and passing the Michigan State Bar, Kimberly felt her talent was best served in the capacity of mentoring and support to our Metro Detroit children.
As the Development Director at VIP Mentoring, Kimberly facilitated the first annual fundraiser in 2012 raising close to $300,000 with a 25% jump in 2013 money raised. She is also facilitating the new Career and College Readiness program launched in Detroit Central and Denby High Schools to expose middle school and high school students to numerous businesses and colleges as early as possible. Kimberly's thoughts have always been that Metro Detroit is full of children who have been forgotten and she will not be one to forget them. She is here to make sure they are always remembered.
