While children of means easily find enriching summer programs to tap into, disadvantaged youth often go begging for the same quality, “out-of-school-time” activities ? and this deficiency, research indicates, hurts them academically.
“A key part of our work is raising awareness of the impact of summer on the achievement gap and promoting best practices and proven strategies for helping close that gap … during a time of year when a lot of resources are shut off for kids,” said Ron Fairchild, executive director of the Center for Summer Learning of Johns Hopkins University.
The 16-year-old, Baltimore-based nonprofit specializes in nationwide advocacy, lobbying and support of summer learning programs for high-poverty communities. The 18-employee group raises this awareness in Washington, D.C., and in statehouses and local jurisdictions in all 50 states, promoting “more public funding at the federal, state and local levels for targeted summer programs for disadvantaged youth,” Fairchild said.
“They are a wonderful advocate for summer learning and the impact that can have on children from low-income communities,” said Carole Y. Prest, chief strategy officer for Building Educated Leaders for Life, a local provider. “They?re actively engaged in helping organizations like us.”
Originally started as an inner-city tutoring effort by Johns Hopkins University undergraduate students, the center now supports summer learning providers across the country through training, evaluation and professional development services ? some of which are done at its annual conference of about 400 providers.
It also serves as a clearinghouse for best practices, research-based approaches and model curricula in the field; and it offers a certificate program that has trained more than 2,000 summer learning professionals, who, according to Fairchild, now reach more than 2 million disadvantaged youth each summer.
“They are an outstanding clearinghouse for summer programs in terms of resources and research,” said Monica Logan, director of youth programs for Baltimore?s Parks and People Foundation.
