Support UPO's Foster Grandparents Program

The White House asked our “Foster Grandparents” — senior volunteers who mentor children — to participate in the annual Easter Egg Roll. Our team helped children navigate the Rose Garden during the event, especially children with special needs. What a glorious day!

Then the White House staff invited our Foster Grandparents to return. President Biden’s team didn’t just want to offer thanks — they also asked for our seniors’ advice on how to improve inclusion in federal programs for children, seniors, and others. Our Foster Grandparents’ wisdom led to a spirited discussion that will spark ongoing engagement with the White House.

While all of this excitement is happening, we continue to train seniors in computer literacy thanks to people like you with generous hearts. Our seniors want to be the best possible mentors for children in Title 1 schools — the kids who need the most help in literacy, math, motor skills, and social-emotional skills.

Your support gives our seniors a skill set that enhances their lives and helps them shape our future, because that’s what children are!

“This class has given me new skills so I can help the children. I have always enjoyed technology but I never had the opportunity to learn in an environment geared toward people my age. The teacher strengthened my computer skills for volunteer service and for life.”

– UPO Foster Grandma Sarah Burton, age 78, who has mentored children for 7 years

Our “Foster Grandparents” — senior volunteers who mentor children — want to be the best possible educators. That’s why UPO’s Foster Grandparent Program is committed to providing every volunteer with the training they need to support children in Title 1 schools — the kids who need the most help in literacy, math, motor skills, and social-emotional skills.

The DC Public Schools Empowerment Literacy Initiative is a comprehensive 3-year commitment to close the digital divide and empower every young learner. It will ensure that students in grades 3-12 have equitable access to technology and our Foster Grandparents will help to meet this goal. Over the past year, we provided a laptop and computer literacy training to 125 Foster Grandparents; the project is a well-documented success.

We also see the value of computer literacy for seniors, especially for access to healthcare and family. And research shows that volunteering improves their health and reduces feelings of depression and isolation (see americorps.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2019/volunteering-helps-keep-seniors-healthy-new-study-suggests).

As a result, we want to provide computer literacy to all of our current Foster Grandparents and all future ones by making computer literacy a permanent part of our training for new volunteers. Your support will give our seniors a skill set that enhances their lives and enables them to give the highest-quality support to children so they can learn and RISE!

Your generous gifts from the heart are “very well-spent,” says UPO Foster Grandma Cassandra Gentry. See what she means in her emotional video: https://youtu.be/0JwbNWnDTDg

She is one of our devoted “Foster Grandparents” — senior volunteers who mentor children in literacy, math, motor skills, and social and emotional skills. Throughout the pandemic, our computer literacy training for Foster Grandparents was crucial for Ms. Gentry and her students, who have such a close bond.

With your help, we are building the skill sets of seniors so they can be the best possible mentors for the students who need the most help. (We work in Tier 1 schools, which have the lowest student achievement rates.)

To ensure that we’re making a difference, we measured the computer literacy of the latest 100 Foster Grandparent trainees before and after their UPO course. (See attached chart)

Our approach, with small classes and patient instructors, is working!

As a result, our Foster Grandparents are becoming more essential to the teachers in each school. Our seniors also became familiar with the specific computer software that supports daily classroom goals, so teachers have another reason to smile!

WHAT’S NEXT

UPO is committed to providing computer literacy for all 200 of our Foster Grandparents because the value is clear: In every DC Public School we enter, the principal asks for more Foster Grandparents!

One way we are expanding our reach into more DCPS classes is through a connection with Reading Partners, a national nonprofit committed to improving literacy. This effort is designed to meet the schools’ commitment to offering virtual learning alongside in-person classes.

With your continued generous support, we can continue to hold 3-day, 10-week, and targeted courses to help our “computer-literate Foster Grandparent team” reach 200 members! You ensure that they are equipped with love, wisdom, and the enhanced skills they need to mentor and tutor the students they care for so much!

 Give from your heart. See the difference you make.

103 Computer Literate FGP during past year!

 Thanks to your generous contributions to the Little by Little Campaign in April 22, we exceeded our fund raising goal of $5,625, raising $6,082. We were able to train 28 Foster Grandparents, who successfully completed the 10-week computer literacy course and received their certifications at the Graduation Ceremony on June 24, 2022. See the Graduation picture attached of 22 proud Foster Grandparents. Unfortunately 6 graduates were unable to attend the Graduation. Thank you so much!

 Over the course of the training classes during the past year, during which 103 Foster Grandparents have graduated, it has become evident that smaller class sizes of 8 to 10 will increase the graduation rates.  The program is committed to providing computer literacy for all 200 of our Foster Grandparents. 

 Additionally, we will offer refresher courses and courses to address specific areas:

• Foster Grandparent service within the classrooms demands a familiarity with classroom computer software that supports daily classroom goals. 
• Those that serve with online programs which specifically target reading skills requires another level of training to improve their ability to navigate between teacher and student screens as well as input progress notes and reports related to the online platforms.  
• Another target or refresher course will specifically target skills related to managing medical needs, social security administration interface, shopping, and online dangers such as scams, keeping information secure and password management.

 Our goals over the next 3 months is to offer and successfully complete:

• A 10-week full basic computer literacy training for 25 more Foster Grandparents at a cost of $5,625
• 3-day targeted mini training for Grandparents of basic literacy refresher, supporting student computer academic software,  internet navigation, scams and social security on-line services for 20 students at a cost $2,000   
• 15 @ $150 Targeted mini 5-day trainings – medical care management, social security, online academic enrichment program software for 15 students at a cost of $2,250.

 We are pleased to announce that we will have another great opportunity to make your dollars go further: GlobalGiving’s September 22 Little by Little Matching Campaign will be running from Monday September 12, 2022, at 12:00am EDT until Friday September, 2022, at midnight EDT.

• During the Little by Little Campaign, GlobalGiving will match your donation of up to $50 with a 50% Match, i.e. an additional $25!
• The Little by Little Campaign is a month and a half a way but you can benefit from the match being offered by starting early and starting a  recurring donation of $50 for 4 month any time between August 12, 2022 and August 16, 2022.
• Your September payment, between September 12, 2022 and September 16, 2022 will earn the Little by Little match of $25 and after your fourth payment of $50, between November 12, 2022 and November 16, 2022 you will earn a bonus match of $50,  i.e. a total of $275!

Your continued generous support of our program will help our UPO’s computer literate Foster Grandparents team reach 200 members, equipped with the enhanced skills they need to mentor and tutor the DCPS students they work with efficiently and with love and care.

In this new world of COVID variants continually coming and going students in DC Public School (DCPS) have had to become savvy and are doing more and more computer based learning online, whether working from home or in class when it has been safe for them to do so.

During the summer of 2021 we launched an intensified training program for UPO Foster Grandparents in computer literacy and social-emotional development to enable them to more  effectively  mentor children who need the most help with social-emotional skills, math, reading, and physical development. Thanks to your generous support we have now successfully trained 75 Foster Grandparents who are now comfortably able to work online with the students who need their help.

These trained Foster Grandparents have acquired a skill they never dreamt they would have and are excited about their ability to communicate with the young students in this way. One Foster Grandparent remarked “I am so grateful for this class, I can be a part of a world I had no way to enter. Thank you…not only can I work with my students in a new way but I can see my doctor too.” Another Foster said, “I love learning … with my eyesight failing, this computer training] will allow me to support the Foster Grandparent program and myself from home." The training program provides computer lab space for those who need more assistance or have unreliable internet service.

During the next three months our goal is for 25 more Foster Grandparents to complete the computer literacy training program, which will give us 100 fully trained Foster Grandparents ready to help teachers and their students when schools re-open for the 2022-23 academic year, by mentoring each child based on their individual needs.  Additionally through our partnership with Reading Partners online and in class components Foster Grandparent will provide valuable educational support during the summer. 

We are pleased to announce that we have another great opportunity to make your dollars go further:

GlobalGiving’s April 22 Little by Little Matching Campaign will be running from Monday April 4, 2022, at 12:00am EDT until Friday April 8, 2022, at midnight EDT.

• During the Little by Little Campaign, GlobalGiving will match your donation of up to $50 with a 50% Match, i.e. an additional $25! 
• Special Bonus: a $50 donation made during the Little by Little Campaign, followed by 3 more recurring donations of $50, will earn the 50% Campaign Match, plus a $50 Bonus Match, i.e. a total of $275!

The cost of training each Foster Grandparent to become fully computer literate is $225. The cost of training 25 FGP will be $5,625, which will be our Campaign Goal.

Please help us raise $5,625 to meet our Campaign Goal of training 25 additional  Foster Grandparents, which will help our UPO’s computer literate Foster Grandparents team reach 100 members,equiped with the skills they need to mentor and tutor the DCPS students they work with efficiently and with love and care.