Until COVID-19, and its variants 200 UPO Foster Grandparents were annually serving 6,000 socio-economically disadvantaged children in Washington, DC. Engaged in-person tutoring, mentoring, and social emotional support assisting students in learning programs, proven outcomes were improved school readiness and K-12 success. The Pandemic over the past 2 years, with the periodic closing of schools and the switch to virtual learning has changed the programs operation.
DC Public Schools will be back to in-person learning in 2022-23. Virtual learning affected elementary students in Wards 7 and 8 academically, the early literacy gap has widened. Emphasis has been placed on overcoming the academic and social emotional learning impacts of COVID-19. Computer-based learning in the classroom is now the norm. UPO's Foster Grandparents have been receiving intensified training in computer literacy training during the past 8 months.
Currently 75 Foster Grandparents are computer literate and our goal is for 25 more to be trained during the next 3 months. Your generous support to meet our remaining project goal of $5,625 will help us cover the cost of computer literacy training. Having 100 computer literate Foster Grandparents in the classrooms will strengthen academic achievement and close early literacy and social emotional development gaps of elementary students in Wards 7 & 8.
In addition to the impact on the quality of the education of the elementary school students this program improves the long-term health and well-being of senior volunteers and circulates seventy cents of every program dollar into the local low-income DC communities. With a mission to Unite People with Opportunities, UPO's Foster Grandparents offer the right mix of academic acumen and nurturing, and give much-needed attention to the socio-economically disadvantaged children they tutor and mentor.
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