When Deborah Kneeland Keegan founded For Kids Only 30 years ago, not even she could have forecast the success that her after-school program would attain and the national model it would become for other programs of this kind.
Keegan was a pioneer in understanding the crucial need for comprehensive after-school activities that would enhance what a child has learned during the school day.
And from FKO’s modest beginnings has grown a program that now serves 1,500 school-age children in six communities including Revere.
This afternoon the For Kids Only Afterschool will realize another milestone when it breaks ground on a new home for Youth in Motion at 85 Broadway. The two-story, state-of-the-art, health-and-fitness facility will serve 120 children and include a nutrition café, a halfcourt gym, a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Lab, a yoga/dance studio, and other innovations.
Mayor Dan Rizzo has called the new building “a gateway to Broadway†and we agree with the mayor description. The FKO Youth in Motion facility will be one of the first things that people driving into Revere will see and what could be more welcoming than a beautiful new facility for children and families.
Deborah Kneeland Keegan introduced For Kids Only Afterschool in 1998 and 17 years later, the program continues to grow and prosper and with this new health and fitness center planned for Broadway, the future looks even brighter.
Thank you, Deborah, for your vision, your dedication to our schoolchildren, and your commitment to the future of Revere.