“We love all the nooks and crannies of this old building and we love the gym. We call coming to DUCK ‘coming to church.’”
This 66,000 square foot facility affords much more than space. The designated historical landmark gives a sense of solidity and constancy in the often very changing world of DUCK kids.
The full size gymnasium got a marvelous facelift in 2006 through generous grants awarded to DUCK from the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority and Phoenix Thunderbirds Charities.
Historic First Presbyterian Church and its congregation is commended for responding to the call of the neighborhood in creating Downtown Urban Community Kids as a separate and independent 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non profit corporation in 1996. In The New Times issue of 9/16/99, it was reported that of the 310 churches and religion-based organizations in the 10 Phoenix zip codes with the highest crime rates, less than a handful provided any type of after-school programs. DUCK was featured as a successful after-school ministry in this same article. We continue to act on the belief that successful adulthood can be achieved by breaking at-risk life cycles that include poverty, abuse, illiteracy, drugs, teen pregnancies, gangs and violence.
