Mission & Vision
Our Mission is to Strengthen Lives, Secure Futures.
Our Vision is to bring Hope for a Better Tomorrow by transforming the lives of those under-served as they Reach New Heights.
About the U.B. Kinsey Educational & Community Center
U.B. Kinsey Educational & Community Center honors Ulysses Bradshaw Kinsey, a longtime Palm Beach County educator, activist, and member of Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. The Center is a tribute to Mr. Kinsey. His rich legacy is in the Historic Northwest Community of West Palm Beach, one of the city’s most disadvantaged, under-served neighborhoods.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, families that reside in high poverty, high crime, and underserved communities are affected by the social determinants, which manifest in a wide range of health and quality-of-life outcomes.
In the beginning…
Thanks to the generosity of the Jacobs Family Foundation, U.B. Kinsey Educational & Community Center was built to acknowledge and respond to the needs of the Northwest Community and surrounding neighborhoods by combining – under one roof – a comprehensive source of programs and services intended to serve the underserved. The center’s goal targets the exposures contributing to the desolation that grips the entire community.
The Center contains seven (7) classrooms, a conference room, a multi-purpose room to host meetings and community events, and a fully equipped kitchen. It features a lighted dome to symbolize a beacon of hope – a light shining in this underprivileged – high-poverty neighborhood.
Tabernacle Learning Center, Inc. operates the U.B. Kinsey Educational & Community Center
Ulysses Bradshaw, U.B. Kinsey
Ulysses Bradshaw, U.B. Kinsey (1914-2005), namesake of this education and community center, was born the third of ten children in Fort White, in northern Florida. His father sold the family farm and bought a grocery store in West Palm Beach in about 1930. Kinsey graduated from the all-black Industrial High School, where Principal Clarence Walker inspired him to reach high. Although Kinsey hoped to become a lawyer, the University of Florida accepted only whites; Kinsey graduated in 1941 from Florida A&M University.
Kinsey’s first teaching position was at his alma mater, Industrial High School. During his first year, the Palm Beach County School Board raised the pay of the white teachers. Kinsey joined the newly established Palm Beach County Teachers Association for black teachers, challenging school officials. When they were denied, they organized and won a class-action lawsuit with the help of future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.
Industrial High School was renamed Palmview Elementary in 1950, with Kinsey appointed principal. In response to the segregation of his youth, Kinsey was a stickler for respect and insisted on being called Mr. Kinsey. He arrived at the county warehouse early each year to secure new books and supplies for Palmview instead of just accepting the leftovers the all-black schools usually received.
When Kinsey retired, the Palm Beach County Commission designated the week of September 16-22, 1989, as Ulysses B. Kinsey Week. Soon after, Palmview Elementary was renamed U. B. Kinsey Elementary School.
Source: Palm Beach County History Online