For decades, the Matt & Lisa Allen Family Foundation has been serving underserved youth in the community.
The nonprofit recently gave $375,000 each to Barry University and the Crockett Foundation. The donations directly support the Crockett-Allen Family Scholars, a partnership serving motivated students, by providing resources such as SAT tutoring, financial literacy workshops and career readiness sessions.
“Today is a fun day because we get to give out money,” said Matt Allen, who is an alumnus of Barry University. “It means a lot to us because we have 53 children as part of the Crockett-Allen scholars who will get a full scholarship to any state school in Florida if they finish out the program.”
Fourteen-year-old Aren Browne is among the youth who will benefit from the gift. Through the Crockett Foundation, the Pompano Beach high schooler has gone on college trips and gotten internships.
“I never thought I would be here,” said Browne, whose mother is from Jamaica. “To think that [I], coming from an immigrant household, am able to be here and represent something larger than myself…it’s an amazing feeling.”
Crockett Foundation President Henri Crockett said he appreciates not only the funds, but the mentoring his organization gets from the Matt & Lisa Allen Family Foundation. He said the young people he works with never cease to amaze him.
“They go through the same things that a lot of other kids go through in bad neighborhoods, and they just get up every day and make a difference,” said Crockett, who spent years playing in the NFL.
Crockett said people can provide money or volunteer their time.
“We have to get kids prepared for the workforce,” said Crockett. “Donating your time is just as important as money.”
Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money contributed by the Matt & Lisa Allen Family Foundation.
