The problem we discovered in Knoxville’s inner city area is lack of hope. The children are not hopeless—they just don’t have hope. Absentee fathers, generational poverty, crime, drugs, gangs and violence have taken a toll on these children. In fact, because this is a generational problem, their parents deal with many of the same issues having grown up in very similar circumstances. There are multitudes of at-risk children and youth residing in primarily single parent homes in the inner city area of Knoxville.

Knoxville Inner City Kids Outreach (KICKO) is a Para-church ministry founded in 1995, with a mission to “mobilize the message of Hope” to the at-risk children in our inner-city neighborhoods. This is done through a unique program called Sidewalk SONday School. Large trucks, outfitted to take the church into these communities allow us to share the Gospel with children at multiple locations each week. During two semesters per year, elementary age children hear a Biblical message each week designed to encourage them to make God honoring choices. Every week the children are brought to a point of decision encouraging them to follow God.

• Fulfilling the great commission to “go and tell.”
• Reaching out to the “least of these” with the message of Hope.
• Touching children and youth (some of our most vulnerable residents).
• Giving a biblical worldview to a generation.
• Training children and youth in the inner city to follow Christ!