Apr 13, 2018 -

Former Football Player Helps Children in Foster Care

A former Fresno State Football player is now running a group home and foster care agency for children in California.

Kevin Jordan went through a lot of adversity in his time at Fresno State – not getting to play the game he loved and overcoming injuries. The things he learned from that adversity helped him later in life. “I had to suck it up. Take the punches and blows day in and day out,” Jordan said.

He made it to the NFL by playing with the Green Bay Packers but he suffered a micro fracture and lost all of the cartilage in his knee. His career was cut short because of a wrong diagnosis and other future injuries. “They never had an injury like this before ever. I’m their first one. Guinea pigged me,” Jordan said.

After playing football, Kevin wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps so he became a youth counselor at a juvenile hall. After a little while, he realized he wanted to have a bigger impact on people. When he made that career change, his joy changed.  “I started being happy again. That’s when I learned I found my passion,” said Jordan.

That passion led to the creation of KYJO, a group home and foster care agency. It’s an acronym for Keeping Youth Journeying Onwards. Jordan opened up five group homes over time where everything is focused on the kids. “If they are never given that opportunity, how do you know if that change is possible?” Jordan said.

KYJO gives the kids opportunities to change with fun activities and challenges like summer olympics.. Taylor Ashby, development coordinator, said, “They learn about sportsmanship. It’s not just physical, they do mental games, writing where they want to be in five years.”

Jordan says he plans for KYJO to continue to do more events and help more kids in the future.  

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