YouthBridge Grant Expands Kerengende’s Reach

YouthBridge Community Foundation of Greater St. Louis seeks every opportunity to strengthen organizations serving youth in need. This August, during Black Philanthropy Month, we highlight the Kerengende Foundation—recent recipient of a YouthBridge Child Welfare Capacity Building Grant. Designed to help nonprofits build, strengthen, and sustain their organizations, the grant will fund intended website upgrades for Kerengende. Planned improvements include a redesigned donor page, updated graphics and language to better represent boys, improved navigation for families, and a safe exit button that instantly redirects the user to an innocuous landing page to view with the Kerengende services — a critical safety feature if an abuser is nearby. These enhancements will help Kerengende extend its healing and prevention programs to more families in need.

Healing for Survivors and Families

Kerengende provides case management, therapy with its licensed clinical social worker, or funding for up to ten sessions with another therapist. Recognizing that parents and caregivers often struggle with guilt and uncertainty, the Foundation created the Non-Offending Parent & Caregiver Support Group, offering guidance and emotional support essential to a child’s and family’s recovery. “Child molesters thrive in a culture of silence,” says Kerengende’s LCSW Hannah Rosenthal. Education empowers families to create safer communities, while healing resources address the trauma survivors face—two inseparable parts of the mission.

Prevention through Education

Kerengende partners with local schools to offer Safe Touch workshops for K–3 students, using certified curriculum and interactive puppet-led lessons to teach body safety and boundaries. Students take home activity books to reinforce learning with parents or guardians. Additional programs include Healthy Relationships workshops for teens and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention classes for adults.

A Mission Rooted in Courage

Founded in 2019 by Amber Clayborne after her daughter’s experience with sexual abuse, Kerengende addresses the lack of affordable, high-quality treatment and support programs. Its mission is to help survivors and their families through a community of healing, resources, and education—combining programs for both healing and prevention. Amber shared, “We are extremely thankful for the opportunity to partner with YouthBridge. The funding is appreciated, but the relationships and resources YouthBridge provides are equally important.”