About
What We Do
Mission:
Discovering You is a faith-based nonprofit, dedicated to providing the tools needed to build stronger familial foundations, guiding lives toward success, and providing youth with a healthy way of living.
Vision:
Families and youth will have the confidence and tools needed to live enriching lives, put back into their local communities, and succeed in the world.
How We Started
Discovering You was founded in 2019 due to seeing the rise of out-of-home placements and foster care rates as a result of a lack of resources and tools provided to families who needed the support that a typical family may have. Discovering You’s goal is to lower the foster care rate by providing families with these tools, knowledge, and resources. In addition to building stronger familial foundations, Discovering You values providing programming to youth that will cause their eyes to be open to possibilities beyond what they currently see in their daily life, offer learning opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t be able to experience, and give them the tools they need to lead thriving lives.
“Discovering You!” is a community outreach program dedicated to building stronger family foundations, guiding lives in the right direction, giving our youth a different way of life through positivism and direction, and providing education and assistance for those who may have fewer resources than others. By offering social services, mentoring/counseling, tutoring, and classes, we hope to show those living in or below the middle-class population that we all may need help and assistance from others at some point in life. With the right help, we are able to achieve our goals and strive for more than we could possibly dream of.
Our services will give our families and youth the confidence needed to take into their daily lives and out into the world. We show everyone who we come in contact with and who may come into our doors the love of God through the gifts He has entrusted us with. “Discovering You!” is divided into two programs, Discovering Your Vision! - Family Program and Discovering Your Way! - Youth Program to better serve our community.
Who We Are
Meet our executive staff:
Kayla D. Thomas, M.A.
President/Executive Director
Kayla is considered to be well-rounded with professional experience in teaching, social services, foster care, behavioral management, and youth programs. She has obtained her B.A. in Sociology in 2014, A.S. in American Sign Language in 2015, and M.A. in Applied Sociology: Non-Profit Leadership in 2017.
Kayla founded her first nonprofit, Signing for the Lord in 2011 in Oklahoma City, OK. Through this organization, she taught children American Sign Language, provided mentorship and tutoring, and traveled with the youth around Oklahoma, performing ASL as a form of praise and worship at various conventions, churches, and youth events. After moving to Phoenix, AZ in 2017, Kayla founded Discovering You, beginning with providing after-school programming to youth and offering case management referral services to their families.
Kayla devotes her time and efforts to building others up spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and educationally. She believes that every individual has their own strengths in various areas and if everyone worked together by utilizing their strengths, we could all create a strong collaborative unit by filling in where others lack and building up each others' weaknesses.