Education is a lot like compound interest. You do way better if you get a good start (and vice versa). Apparently some states “use third grade academic performance data to predict the number of prison beds they will need in the following decade.” That’s depressing, but it makes sense and tells us a lot about how important the first few years of school are. If children are already behind at such an early age, how will they ever catch up? BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life) is a Boston, MA based non-profit that has some answers. They aim “to transform the academic achievements, self-confidence, and life trajectories of children living in under-resourced, urban communities.” This is done through after-school and summer educational experiences that are designed to help kids catch up during the time that they’re not in school (apparently the lack of summer learning opportunities explains “2/3 of the academic achievement gap between children from low-income communities and their higher-income peers”).
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Almost all of are here (in the United States) because of immigration. Whether it was you, your parents, your grandparents, or a passenger on The Mayflower, someone in your family decided that he or she wanted a better life and left a lot behind to come here. How long you’ve been here doesn’t really matter. What does matter is what you’re going to do while you’re here; however, being new to the country brings a lot of challenge. Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians is a Philadelphia, PA based non-profit that “connects newly arrived individuals from around the world with the economic opportunities that they need to succeed.” The Center has been around for a decade now, and in that time they’ve helped more than 8,000 people from well over 100 countries.
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It’s extremely important to surround yourself with ambitious people. Unfortunately, that much easier said than done. Where do you find people who can challenge you? Even if you go to a great college or have impressive parents, it can be hard to find the right kind of people to push you. It gets even harder if you come from a low-income community. That’s why iMentor “builds mentoring relationships that empower students in low-income communities to graduate high school, succeed in college, and achieve their ambitions.” They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that was founded in 1999 and has connected well over 10,000 students with mentors.
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I haven’t had someone read a book to me in years. The last time that I can remember was my Senior year in high school. We had our annual K-12 holiday assembly, and one of the school’s most beloved teachers read us ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. That’s a great story to be read no matter how old you are. In fact, “reading aloud with children is the single most important activity for helping them become successful readers.” That’s why when you read with a child… Everybody Wins!. Everybody Wins! is a Wellesley, MA based non-profit (with affiliates all across the country) that is aiming to “help bridge the literacy gap.”
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Growing up I had a really good friend who was a bad kid. We got along great, but he always found a way to get into trouble. When we were about seven, my Mom told me a secret about him. She told me that he went to “children’s jail” where he only got bread and water. I wasn’t all that gullible, but I believed it because it was totally believable. I was scared straight. What I’ve learned since is that kids don’t go to jail for “being bad,” but there is a cycle of incarceration in some of our communities that starts at a very early ages. Recidivism rates tell us that a young person who incarcerated for the first time is highly likely to be incarcerated again. Friends of Island Academy is a New York, NY based non-profit “center for youth development dedicated to breaking cycles of incarceration.” They work with “adolescents who attend school on Rikers Island every year” to “guide their trajectory to becoming economically independent young adults, connected to their communities in positive way.”
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I did a lot of my most valuable learning outside of school. I attended plenty of camps and after school activities, but I also dug holes in my backyard searching for historical artifacts and learned to build websites on my own. Not only were the out of school activities more fun, but many of them helped me develop skills that I still use today. School shouldn’t be the only educational outlet for children, which is why non-profits like Edventure More are so important. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they “inspire the playful pursuit of enrichment for the next generation” through summer camps, enrichment programming, motivational tutoring, and mentoring.
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Many job seekers fail to realize how important it is to write well. With so much communication happening over e-mail, your ability to express your ideas clearly and forcefully through the written word will have a direct effect on your career outcomes (and that’s why you need to spend a lot of time on writing great cover letters). While writing is something that most of us work on throughout our lives, the most important development happens in our early years. That’s why 826 National works with 8 centers across the country that “offer a variety of inventive programs that provide under-resourced students, ages 6-18, with opportunities to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills.” The San Francisco, CA based non-profit “provides strategic leadership, administration, and other resources to ensure the success of its network of eight writing and tutoring centers.” The centers are located in Ann Arbor, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC, and together they’ve serve about 30,0000 students each year.
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One of the most underrated life moments is when you learn how to read. Even though it’s more of a progression than a single point in time, I remember (almost) exactly where I was when I became a reader. My family was headed to Florida on an Amtrak train (we thought it would be fun, and it was… kind of), and I had a Super Mario comic book. Somewhere in North or South Carolina I went from stumbling through it to reading it. From that point on I was a reader and I had the ability to educate myself. Teaching kids not only to read but to love reading is one of the most important things that we as a society can do, which is why I love non-profits like The Literacy Lab. They don’t appear to be very big, but the Washington, DC based organization is aiming “to provide high-quality, individualized reading remediation to low-income students in order to increase their literacy skills, leading to increased academic success and greater opportunities in life.”
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I actually kind of liked taking standardized tests during my high school years, but now I’m glad that they’re 10 years in my past. While I imagine that the tests haven’t changed all that much in the past decade (beyond the SAT adding a section), test prep has. There are a ton of companies that have developed technology and systems for improving student performance on standardized tests. One of the big ones is Revolution Prep. They’re based in Santa Monica, CA, and they’ve grown at a 211% rate over the past three-years to $18.8 million in revenue. This growth has been fueled by a “vision to transform education and provide the highest quality instruction to all students regardless of their ability to pay.” It’s pretty clear that Revolution Prep isn’t just about teaching students how to beat the test–they want to turn their students into better learners and thinkers.
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I was lucky to go to a school that committed significant resources to both sports and arts. Though I certainly wasn’t a standout in either area, I’m convinced that I was a better student because of both. It’s that connection that drives what the Sports & Arts in Schools Foundation does. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit that aims to “bridge the academic performance gap among under-achieving students by extending the school day and year with wholesome, skill-building activities designed to improve New York City children’s academic performance, health and wellness, attitude towards school, self-confidence, character and values, and opportunity for lifelong employment.” The organization was founded in 1992, and it now serves more than 50,000 students across more than 300 public schools.
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Which do you think is preppier, rowing or squash? I’ve never seriously participated in either sport, but I grew up in Connecticut, so I had plenty of friends who did. Both sports have reputations for being easier ways for privileged kids to get into college. It makes sense. Access to rowing shells and squash courts is expensive, so most people never get exposed to either sport. That means the few who do participate in squash and rowing have a lot less competition when getting recruited for spots on college teams. We’ve seen non-profit organizations like StreetSquash, Surf City Squash, and SquashBusters open up squash to a new crowd and use it to promote academic achievement. Today I learned about an organization that is doing something similar for rowing. They’re called Row New York, and they’re based in New York, NY. They aim “to empower young people from New York City’s under-resourced communities to pursue excellence in all facets of their lives, through a unique combination of competitive rowing and individualized academic support.” It’s an awesome idea, and it’s already making a serious impact.
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