New Report Highlights Impact of Rhode Island Education Collective Summer Grants in Supporting Hundreds of Public-School Students
Providence, RI – A new report from Rhode Island Education Collective details the impact of $44,000 in grants awarded to seven summer enrichment programs this past summer, benefiting over 600 elementary and secondary public-school students statewide. As the report shares, these grants supported increased staff, personalized instruction for struggling learners, and initiatives aimed at student well-being in communities where learning was disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Program leaders credited the funds with fostering successful student outcomes in specialized language skills courses, STEM lessons, and enrichment experiences, and participating students reported feeling an increased sense of belonging and improvement in their academic skills across core subjects.
“Summer programs serve as a bridge that helps students transition between school years, reinforce learning while also making it enjoyable,” said Collective Founder & CEO Victor Capellan. “We were intentional in funding programs that effectively demonstrated a robust academic component, addressed the needs of multilingual and differently abled students, and proposed strategies to combat summer learning loss.”
The grants, which were awarded through an RFP process and ranged from $3,000 to $8,000, supported programs in Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Woonsocket, Warwick, Johnston, and Newport. Among the grantees is Camp RYSE, a five-week summer education program for refugee youth in Providence and surrounding areas, which provides 50+ hours of literacy and STEM lessons and 60+ hours of enrichment and fosters a safe and inclusive learning environment for participants.
“When compared to other youth-serving or summer education programs, Camp RYSE is unique in that our programming is designed around the needs of multilingual learners,” said Camp RYSE Executive Director Sunni Ryan. “Not only is our curriculum developed to strengthen literacy skills, but we also purposefully cultivate a uniquely inclusive environment, ensuring Halal food options, accommodating prayer time, and prioritizing the hiring of staff from within the refugee community who bring cultural understanding and language skills."
Ryan says the supplemental funding provided by the Collective played a critical role for Camp RYSE. “Rhode Island Education Collective appeared like a miracle in the final days before Camp RYSE began and rescued our vision for the summer’s programming,” Ryan said. “To put it simply, receiving funding from Rhode Island Education Collective was critical for Camp RYSE 2024 to operate sustainably without a deficit. It allowed us to fund two counselor positions, increasing our staffing capacity and enabling us to meet our goal of serving 30% more refugee youth –growing from 70 students in 2023 to more than 90 in 2024.”
Students spoke highly of their Camp RYSE experience. “These 5 weeks have taught me a lot about being successful, about being happy... I even want to be staff [one day]!” said Shams, age 10. And Care, age 6, shared, “I don’t want to go home! I would never skip this school–I love it!”
Parents also gave the program high marks. “It was a great opportunity for my kids to be able to attend Camp RYSE summer camp,” The Fahim family said. “You've provided such wonderful services and education to our children. They will remember your efforts forever and we as a parents will be indebted to your kindness and efforts forever.”
A mile away from Camp RYSE, 50 high school students participating in DownCity Design (DCD), another organization supported by the Collective, spent the summer exploring career pathways at an architectural design and fabrication program. Teenagers collaborated on designing a service project for a community client such as a local non-profit or community group. Over the course of the program, they observed the site of their project, interviewed key stakeholders, and imagined possible design solutions with drawings and scale models.
“Our teen participants learned academic and life skills like working as part of a team, communicating ideas both visually and verbally, and solving problems creatively,” said DownCity Design Founder and Executive Director, Adrienne Gagnon.
Gagnon says this year’s DCD participants created a mobile produce stand for Garden Time, welcoming signage for Cabral Park in Providence, and an outdoor seating area and 60ft floor mural for Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, transforming a pocket park along the bike path in Olneyville.
“Thanks to Rhode Island Education Collective funding, DCD was able to hire amazing staff and educators with expertise in both youth development and design fields,” Gagnon said. “In addition to our typical classroom experience, we were able to offer field trips to get our teen participants exploring the world around them. We offered career exploration field trips to local design and fabrication studios like Pneuhaus, HB Design/Build, Union Studios, KITE Architecture, Sarah Rainwater, Steel Yard, and The Avenue Concept. We were also able to host fun community building excursions like trips to Osamequin Farm, Roger Williams Park, Scarborough Beach, Lincoln Woods, and the RISD Museum.”
Many students shared the summer programs felt like a positive space to build relationships and try new things. One participant noted: “DCD helped me get out of my comfort zone and made me talk to others more. I noticed I'm now more comfortable talking with people I don’t know.” Another shared: “The DCD Summer Studio Program impacted me by showing me so many things I needed and never knew existed, it made the impossible feel possible.”
Other summer enrichment programs supported by the Collective this past summer included:
Connecting for Children and Families' Stay Connected Summer Program, which helped at-risk students in Woonsocket successfully navigate from middle to high school.
East Bay Community Action Program’s 2024 Summer Learning Academy, which offered rigorous and personalized instruction for rising first through fifth graders to mitigate summer learning loss and the impact of COVID-19 on learning.
Greater Providence YMCA’s Expanded Multilingual Learning Summer Camp, which reduced summer learning loss for economically disadvantaged and Multilingual Learning students.
Johnston Public Schools’ Summer of Peace and Love, which supported the academic needs and emotional well-being of elementary-aged MLL learners and students with disabilities.
Progreso Latino's Youth Aspire Summer Program for newcomer students which aimed to 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.