About Kimberly Warren
Kimberly's Story
Certified Grant Writer/Trainer, Owner of The American Grant Writing Firm, Inc. which has created 440 new 501©3’s in 44 states, CEO of MidCity Excellence (MCE) Community Learning Center and Asst. Pastor of Faith Family Worship Center) has an ideology in life that embraces perseverance, courage and joy. She is the 2nd of seven children from Rev. James and Cozetta Foster and has been happily married for 30 years to Rev. R. Robert Warren, MS Ed. (Senior Pastor of Faith Family Worship Center & Carden Park Music Director).
A passion for at-risk youth
After receiving a Psychology Bachelor’s degree (MWSU), and a Master’s in Education and Certification in Grant Writing (NWMSU), Ms. Warren and her spouse founded the MidCity Excellence Community Learning Center in 2001. It is a 501©3 non-profit mission on the former the historic campus of St. Peter-St. Paul cathedral, school campus, convent, and the Gov. Willard Hall Mansion all located on 20th & Messanie. While this 54-block inner city neighborhood has often been called a “slum and blighted area”, Kimberly and Pastor Warren see the possibilities as an endless “gold mine” and often say something “good comes from the ‘hood”! Mrs. Warren was instrumental in securing the 4 historic properties in which the center resides and clearing the mortgage in full within the first 13 months of business and ministry.
Never giving up
Indeed, MCE attracts hard-to-reach, disenfranchised families and engages them in enrichment education, creative/performing arts initiative, counseling and social justice/racial reconciliation solutions. MCE has engaged and empowered over 1,700 youth and hundreds of adults in culturally sensitive programs, attracting residents from 8 different counties. Community programs that operate under this non-profit include: “Inspire” Family Counseling, the MLK Solutions Summit, S.T.E.A.M. Super Science Experiments and Explosions, MCE Youth Choir & Dance Troupe, Sons of Thunder Stomp & Trash Can Band, and the MCE Book Club. Kimberly’s passion is to inspire impoverished youth to graduate from high school, empower adults to discover their life’s purpose and to encourage make positive contributions to their family, city, state, nation and world.
Fighting the good fight!
Kimberly, a certified grant writer, whom simultaneously operates the American Grant Writing Services/Firm, an entity that has created almost 411 new non-profits in 44 different states and has provided professional development, grant/non-profit management training and consultation for a plethora of international clients (from Liberia, Portugal, Togo, Cameroon, South Sudan, etc.). For the past 5 years, Ms. Warren has been selected to act as a grant reviewer for grants funded by the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment of the Arts.
A woman of many talents
Mrs. Warren formerly served as the sole television host for Trinity Broadcasting Network’s (TBN) - “Joy in our Town”, which aired for 8 years to over 2.3 million viewers in Missouri and Kansas; acted as an adjunct professor of education at Missouri Western State University, and was the grant writer and director of the 21st Century Schools for the Superintendent of Stewartsville C-2 Public School District.Other accolades include: 1) YWCA’s first “Woman of the Year” in the Workplace 2002; 2) State of Missouri’s Community Continuing Education Award, 3) Black Archives Hall of Fame- Inductee 2015 with her spouse and 2018; 4) The Mayor’s People of the Year: Distinguished Citizens Award; and 5) MLK, Jr. “Drum Major for Justice Award” at MWSU 2019.