Investing in Kids! (INK!) has cultivated academic success for St. Johns County students and teachers since 1994

Davidson Realty has been lucky to lend support to families and kids throughout Northeast Florida since 2012, through their corporate giving program, Davidson Cares. Through fundraisers, events, raffles, grants and community activities, they’ve raised more than $871,000 to help provide vital programs to kids in need. One of their major fundraisers is the Jim Davidson’s Annual Clay Day, a sport shooting fundraiser named in honor of the late Jim Davidson. Every October, for the past nine years, Clay Day invites individuals and teams to participate in two sport shooting events, beginner skeet and sporting clay. Money raised from the event goes directly to local youth-based nonprofit organizations. One of their recipients is Investing In Kids (INK!), an education nonprofit that supports St. Johns County School District and works to improve access to education for every child. Since 1994, INK! has provided the tools and resources that both students and teachers need for academic success. They support more than 3,200 teachers and 50,000 students countywide, and all their programs and resources are available to students and teachers at no cost – thanks to partners like Davidson Realty.

INK! provides three student-facing, innovative programs that ensure every kid has an opportunity to thrive academically. The first is Take Stock in Children, established in 1995, which provides mentorship and college scholarships to deserving, low-income youth in order to help them escape the cycle of poverty. Take Stock in Children offers individualized support, volunteer mentors, college and career coaching and tuition scholarships to help students graduate high school. Since the program’s inception, over 39,000 students have received this life-changing support. Their second program, FLY! (Five Learning Years), provides early literacy intervention to children entering VPK, kindergarten and first grade. For over 10 years, FLY! has successfully helped students improve their literacy by 78-100 percent on average, lowered the literacy gap to 6 percent or lower, and seen 98 percent of FLY! students demonstrate significant growth after the completion of the program. Their third program, PIVOT, offers coaching and tutoring to students at the Gaines Alternative School in St. Johns County, helping middle and high school students learn coping mechanisms and strategies to deal with issues like interpersonal conflict, poor school performance and gang violence. Coaches and tutors work with students to use healthy tactics and techniques to meet their academic obligations and communicate with their teachers — inspiring them to thrive both at school and in their community.

And INK! doesn’t stop there! They have programs that support teachers, such as Cash for Classrooms, which funds projects like STEAM resources, math teaching tools, classroom libraries, hands-on learning experiences and supplies for science experiments. Their Tools 4 Schools helps teachers get needed resources without spending their own hard-earned money. Every year on average, more than 90 percent of teachers spend $610 of their own money on school supplies. With Tools 4 Schools, teachers get the resources they need throughout the year. Teachers can order supplies that are then delivered right to their schools. And lastly, their annual Teacher of the Year gala honors extraordinary educators countywide. “INK! makes a huge difference in our childrens’ education and success, and provides resources and programming to the community and teachers that make a real impact,” shares Sherry Davidson, President of Davidson Cares and Davidson Realty. “We’re honored, year after year, to support all that they do.”

To learn more about INK!, visit ink-stjohns.org, and to continue helping make a difference, donate here. The tenth annual Davidson Cares Clay Day will be held October 16, 2025.