For all children, educational success is driven by year-round learning. But for children in need, access to books or summer enrichment programs is often a challenge.
And without this access, children in low-income communities can experience profound summer learning loss, resulting in up to a three month achievement gap among students each summer, which over time can add up to as much as two years as students get older.
That's why your support of United Way has been so critical. One of the programs that you have made possible is our Summer Learning Collaborative, which prevents summer learning loss and increases children's reading skills by integrating literacy activities into existing summer camp programs in targeted communities of need.
This program has grown to 28 locations, in part because of Tocqueville Society members like Dick and Maxine Charlton, who once again generously co-chaired our annual Golf Tournament at Oyster Harbors, providing critical support to the Summer Learning Collaborative and other enrichment programs. We are so fortunate to have friends like Dick and Maxine, who recognize the critical needs in our community and reach out to help - year after year.
Read on to learn more about this program, and about how you can foster learning over the summer with your own children or grandchildren. Together, we are turning summer time into learning time for more than 3,000 children across the region, helping to reduce the achievement gap and create the kind of change that will help more children succeed.
Mike mdurkin@unitedwaymassbay.org
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