By Mikaela E Houghton | Manager, Affiliate Growth and Development
From our community to yours, hello!
Inspired, hopeful, and energized are all words that come to mind when reflecting on the generosity of supporters like you, who share our commitment to helping families develop, practice, and maintain the home-based literacy routines essential for academic success.
As you may know, RAR is now in the second year of advancing a bold strategy for growth to serve 200,000 children annually by the end of 2022. In addition to adding innovative new features to our current program offerings, we will continue to prioritize engaging under-resourced communities and low-income families while also strengthening the effectiveness of our programs through an increased focus on racial equity.
This summer has been a summer like no other. With data from our partners like EdTrust and New America (below), stories, and input from the field, we keep learning more about the issues facing the communities we serve and how best to serve those benefiting from our Affiliates. Although these data points share a small story of how the pandemic has affected the families we serve we know that there is much more we will learn in the months and years ahead.
- More than 60% of parents worry that their child will fall behind when they start kindergarten.
- For families below poverty level, 69% reported barriers existed to their child accessing online supports, such as their computer runs too slow, while 61% said their internet was too slow
- 66% of Hispanic parents survived, and 56% of Black parents survived commented tech-related disruptions in learning – further widening the racial gap in the United States
Throughout our learnings, we have proudly discovered how to continue to provide resources families need, including social-emotional supports, materials in Spanish and English, and resources to support students and their families who will be entering school for the first time this fall. Your recent donation not only supported our mission through our classic model but also Super Summer Learning Adventures. Formed from research from the field, like those above - this summer, we aim to serve 40,000 students by developing and reinforcing early learning skills through investigation, critical thinking, imagination, and meaningful family experiences with this offering. Families have been equipped with bilingual reading materials, a bilingual family guide with six weeks of daily learning activities, a reading journal, access to a digital book library, and other hands-on learning materials. This program supports families in preparing their children for the school year ahead and offers optional program enhancements, including a family guide to supporting social-emotional growth in children and other items like cozy stuffed animals and a sturdy backpack to start the new school year.
As we navigate the shifts in our education system, we look forward to a continued collective effort that empowers families and creates successful learning environments for all children. Your support of our mission has helped us tremendously– and from all of us, thank you!
Raising A Reader
By Mikaela Houghton | Manager, Affiliate Growth and Development
By Mikaela Houghton | Manager, Affiliate Growth and Development
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