Family Connections used the grant to expand our Young Scholars Program, which provides tutoring, resources, referrals, and monthly workshops during the school year to families with children in kindergarten through 5th grade. We created a 4-week program at both of our sites infused with enrichment activities to bridge the summer gap when achievement delays and learning loss are at their highest.

Students engaged in programming consistent with our regular school-year programs, such as STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), literacy, language arts, tutoring, social/emotional development and wellness. Examples of the STEM activities were building a marble maze, a “gravity-defying” (balancing) frog, and a “car on a roll” made from cardboard, straws, and foam wheels. These projects were designed for kids to practice skills like engineering, critical thinking and experimentation. The fun and learning continued beyond the classroom with multiple great field trips to destinations like CuriOdyssey, Hidden Villa, La Petite Playhouse, The Tech Interactive, and local parks and libraries.

Our summer program was also an opportunity to pilot our new caregiver volunteer partial drop-off model. Caregivers were asked to volunteer at least once a week, rather than requiring them to help out every day that their child attended class, as in the past. This model—which was in response to participant feedback—was very successful in reducing participation barriers for parents and caregivers while still providing opportunities for them to build skills and confidence by facilitating activities for small groups of children. We share the experience of one of our parent volunteers later in this newsletter.