The YMCA, in partnership with schools and families, is working to improve the educational readiness, engagement and outcomes for the county’s children, according to a press release from the Y.
Statistics show that a large number of children from low-income environments reach kindergarten unprepared and that they continue to fall behind in school without the proper interventions.
As a Title 1 School, 65 percent of Leesburg Elementary School’s students are receiving a free and/or reduced lunch, the release states. One in four children from low-income families are left home alone unsupervised and don’t have the opportunity for homework help at home.
This program is meant to intervene in supplying the help kids might need to bridge the achievement gap found between those of different socioeconomic levels.
To meet this need, the YMCA received three grants from component funds of the Kosciusko County Community Foundation: $2,500 from the Kosciusko REMC Operation Round Up Fund; $3,276 from the Lilly Unrestricted Endowment Fund; and $2,724 from the Dekko Enhancement Fund. The Old National Bank Foundation also awarded the YMCA $3,000 in support of the program.
The students who need help will be identified by their teachers. It is hoped that 60 students will be impacted by this program by the end of the school-year, the release states. The program will be led by certified teachers. Progress for each student will be tracked through test scores, reading ability, homework scores and homework completion.
Starting Oct. 3, the children will meet Monday through Thursday after school for about 1-1/2 to two hours a day. Children will be split into groups for tutoring and homework help. Contact Tonya Douglass at 574-269-9622, Ext. 221, for more information about the program.
