Before COVID arrived, 200 UPO "Foster Grandparents" (senior volunteers) were annually serving 6,000 socio-economically disadvantaged children in Washington, DC. They engaged in-person tutoring, mentoring, and social emotional support assisting students in classrooms. Proven outcomes were improved school readiness and K-12 success. During the pandemic, the switch to virtual learning changed our operation: We focused on computer literacy education for the Foster Grandparents.
The early literacy gap has widened during the pandemic. There's a huge emphasis on overcoming the academic and social emotional learning impacts of COVID. Computer-based learning in the classroom is now the norm. UPO's Foster Grandparents have been receiving intensified training in computer literacy training to help children learn.
Currently 125 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 additional 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 70 cents of every program dollar into local low-income DC communities. With a mission to Unite People with Opportunities, UPO's Foster Grandparents offer the right mix of nurturing, love, and wisdom, and gives much-needed attention to the socio-economically disadvantaged children they tutor and mentor.
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