A community in peril
Many students have lost hope because they cannot read at grade level. In fact, the average student reads well below grade level. Our role is to fix this problem-one child at a time, one neighborhood at a time.
Our program began in the 64130 zip code in the urban core of Kansas City, MO. Referred to as the ‘murder factory’ by a January 2009 article in the Kansas City Star; one-quarter of the 26,000 residents live below the poverty level. We have now expanded into the greater Kansas City area. We have entered the Latino & African-American neighborhoods. We continue to increase our capacity & target all students in the Kansas City school district, as well as neighborhood charter schools. In 2010-2011 we expanded the existing program in the Hickman Mills area.
Our Customers, Our Neighbors
The majority of our students live in low income households with single parent families. Over 80% of our students receive free or reduced lunches. Many of our parents have lost hope in an educational system that failed them as children. Turnover in school district leadership and parental struggles at home remain problematic.
We overcome these barriers and keep our children on an education track for success by:
- Providing supplementary education to get students back on the
- appropriate reading level
- Creating caring tutoring relationships that provide academic motivation
- and life lessons
- Occupying our students’ non-school time through participation in fun,
- educational activities
- Serving as a neighborhood family day care provider within the neighborhood
- at no cost
Each of our site locations are just minutes away from the schools and the neighborhoods of the children we serve.
We provide our own buses to pick the children up from school and bring them to our sites. Parents are responsible for picking up their child by 6:00 pm. Transportation for all activities within the program is provided by our buses. By creating a neighborhood program for each school, the parents are relieved of the pressure of transporting children to several locations. Also, we allow children from K – 8th grade to come to a single site, so those who have several children have a single stop.
Our program is open to all students, regardless of family income. Our students are not required to pass a reading level. We employ teachers who speak multiple languages to work with parents that do not speak English as a first language. We try our best to accommodate all of our applicants. We do not turn any students away unless our program or site capacity has been met.