Rhode Island Education Collective Awards $44,000 in Grants to Support Summer Learning Programs
Rhode Island Education Collective members award grant to high school campers at Woonsocket’s Connecting for Children and Families.
Rhode Island Education Collective Awards $44,000 in Grants to Support Summer Learning Programs Across the State
(Providence, RI) – Rhode Island Education Collective announced the recent disbursement of $44,000 in grants to seven summer youth programs, which will benefit hundreds of K-12 students and college-aged students across our state. The funds were awarded to programs that demonstrated a strong, rigorous academic component and supported both multilingual learners and differently abled students. Following an RFP process and the review of more than 30 applications, seven programs were selected by the Collective. Last week, members of the Collective boarded a school bus to personally deliver grants to students and educators, traveling from Woonsocket to Newport.
“We wanted to support the kinds of programs that will give students an opportunity to continue their learning during the summer,” said Victor Capellan, the Collective’s founder and CEO. “That’s what the Collective is about, supporting partnerships between schools and community organizations that are doing great things on behalf of children.”
The Collective’s leadership team met with representatives from Connecting for Children and Families (CCF), Progreso Latino, DownCity Design, Refugee Youth Solidarity through Education, Greater Providence YMCA, Johnston Public Schools, and East Bay Community Action Program.
CCF Executive Director Erin Spaulding shared that the funds were critical to keeping their summer program open to Woonsocket high school students: “We lost funding for this program, so this funding came at an amazing time. A lot of nonprofits are losing Rescue Plan dollars and we’re still seeing the long-term impacts of COVID on summer learning loss. Keeping young people engaged, safe, and not regressing academically is our main goal. All our programs are free. In our high school program, we focus on skill development, social/emotional development, there’s a whole career readiness component to all of this. We go on field trips on Fridays, they’re in cooking class, they’re learning about themselves, art classes, you name it, we’re doing it, to keep young people engaged and active over the summer.”
Capellan says the initiative is a pathway to fostering meaningful relationships with stakeholders in the education community. “We’re focused on supporting and connecting with students, with teachers, with families, and with community partners.”
About Rhode Island Education Collective
Rhode Island Education Collective is a newly established non-profit whose mission is to ensure that every child in our state can go to a great public school. It brings together students, families, educators, and community members who are passionate about improving our education system to collaborate on solutions that will have a lasting positive impact.
The Collective is eager to bring more people who care about Rhode Island’s schools into the conversation. To get involved and learn more, follow the Collective on Instagram and X and sign up to receive information about future events.
Johnston Public Schools $8,000.00
The Summer of Peace & Love initiative benefits students ages 3-22 in the MLL (Multilingual Learning) Summer Elementary Program and Extended School Year Program for students with disabilities. It provides students academic support in their areas of need while improving their emotional well-being and building healthy relationships with others.
Greater PVD YMCA $8,000.00
The Greater Providence YMCA’s Providence Youth Services summer program aims to reduce summer learning loss for economically disadvantaged and Multilingual Learning students. The program provides targeted literacy and math interventions integrated with engaging enrichment activities.
DownCity Design $7,000.00
Through this intensive six-week program, 50 Providence County teens ages 14-18, practice their math, science and engineering skills, discover potential career pathways in RI’s thriving design, construction, and advanced manufacturing industries, and practice work readiness skills.
Refugee Youth Solidarity through Education $6,000.00
This program provides 50+ hours of direct literacy and STEM instruction, 60+ hours of enrichment activities (art, dance, sports, and swimming), and at least two educational field trips to refugee children who have entered the school system at a disadvantage, due to disrupted schooling, language barriers, and the emotional toll of displacement.
East Bay CAP $5,000.00
The six-week expanded summer teaching and learning environment allows for rigorous and personalized instruction for rising 1st through 5th grade students to eliminate summer learning loss and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on student learning. The program targets struggling learners and multilingual learners attending the Pell Elementary School in Newport, embedding literacy and numeracy in daily activities along with experiential and enrichment activities.
Progreso Latino $7,000.00
The Youth Aspire Summer Program is designed for middle and high-school Latino and immigrant students in the Blackstone Valley, particularly those learning English as a foreign language. The program provides a six-week summer program to help students develop English language skills, expose youth to new and interesting environments through field trips, and offer hands-on entrepreneurial arts and crafts and leadership activities that emphasize cultural roots and self-efficacy.
Connecting for Children and Families $3,000
Connecting for Children and Families provides much-needed summer programming to students entering high school in the fall and for students who have been involved in out-of-school time (OST) programs during the school year. This program combines academic, social, and emotional learning. It provides a safe, inclusive space for students of all abilities and cultural experiences to build trusting relationships with one another and with staff. Programs offered include Teen Cooking, Keeping it Reel, and Creative Crafts, among others.
The Collective is eager to bring more people who care about Rhode Island’s schools into the conversation. To get involved and learn more, follow the Collective on Instagram and X and sign up to receive information about future events.
