ABOUT US
Program History and Partners
Kerus Global Education was established in 2000 as a division of the International Foundation, a faith-based 501-c3 located in Arlington, Virginia. Co-founders Marcia L. Ball, Ed.D., and Jennie A. Cerullo, Ph.D., former professors at James Madison University and Azusa Pacific University, are internationally recognized educators in the field of character-based education and HIV/AIDS prevention. The two met in 1995 while collaborating on the educational component for CrossRoads, a program of Campus Crusade for Christ International. By the time they completed their work with CrossRoads in 2004, they had taught in 40 countries and the program had reached more than 27,000 professionals and 2.2 million students in 51 nations and it is still growing. Drs. Ball and Cerullo were the primary authors of all the educational and training curricula for CrossRoads and trained over 100 professionals around the world through a 100-hour program, 50 of these instructors are Africans who now serve as instructors for CrossRoads conferences in their homeland.
Kerus created the ChangeMakers program for The Medical Institute located in Austin, TX. The ChangeMakers interactive educational seminars bring together educational, medical and civic community leaders and parents with a unified goal of empowering youth to make wise choices regarding risky behaviors. To date, 38 seminars have been conducted in eight U.S. states. In 2004, Kerus created ChangeMakers for Educators, a program targeting school districts interested in promoting character education and eliminating the twin epidemics of sexually transmitted infections and non-marital pregnancy. These programs are offered as a joint project of Kerus and the Medical Institute.
In 2004 Kerus published, It Takes Courage!, a resource guide of information and activities for adults working with youth. This program launched a series of educational projects under the It Takes Courage! (ITC!) umbrella…and by 2005 the ITC! portfolio expanded to the ITC! Youth Curriculum and ITC! Youth Curriculum Training Program. In 2006 the ITC! Drama Series: Magogo’s Village was launched in Mozambique; and the ITC! Pastors Vision Conference was launched in Swaziland. To date ITC! program affiliates have already trained 1500 pastors and youth pastors who are reaching over 30,000 youth with the ITC! curriculum.
Kerus draws assistance from an international faculty of professionals-physicians, university professors and teachers with extensive international training experience.
