Launched in 2016, The Riverside Freedom School is committed to providing the following to all young scholars, at absolutely no cost to participants. Because of your generosity, fifty children from neighborhoods surrounding Riverside attended for free, and a surplus was raised to support 2017’s class of Freedom School scholars.
Riverside’s Freedom School offers scholars:
– Personalized academic coaching utilizing Children’s Defense Fund reading enrichment modules.
– Support and love from a host of inter-generational camp mentors.
– Two nutritious meals and a snack every day.
– Daily fun afternoon activities promoting learning and physical activities.
Freedom School curriculum is rooted in the Civil Rights Movement and based on the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964, organized by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO). The Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools program was created in 1995 and has since served more than 135,000 scholars.
Based on a Philliber Research Associates evaluation of the Freedom School program, scholars who attend Freedom School programs score significantly higher on standardized reading achievement tests than children who attend other summer enrichment programs. African American middle school boys made the greatest gains of all.