The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation Contributes $2.5 Million Toward
Summer Learning Opportunities for L.A.’s Youth
The Foundation Joins a City-Wide Collaboration That Will Support All School Aged Children in Low-Income Areas
Los Angeles, CA – The Broad Foundation is pleased to support the LA Education Recovery Fund’s summer initiative to help ensure that every elementary or middle school aged child in a low-income community in Los Angeles can attend a free, in-person summer enrichment program close to their home. Students from kindergarten to 12th grade have the opportunity to engage in various activities including sports, art, and exploration as well as receive academic support in-person with teachers committed to ensuring their holistic well-being and recovery.
The LA Education Recovery Fund resources are being disbursed to 59 non-profit organizations that are providing programs on approximately 500 sites throughout Los Angeles this summer. For the first time ever, LAUSD opened up all Title 1 (low-income) elementary and middle schools for summer enrichment programs, making it possible to serve students where they live. In addition to LAUSD, partnerships with After-School All-Stars, the YMCA, charter schools and several other community-based organizations have demonstrated an unprecedented coordination of commitments to our city’s most vulnerable students.
Since The Broad Foundation began active grantmaking nearly 20 years ago, it has been guided by a deep sense of responsibility to make the world a better place by increasing access to transformative educational opportunities. The foundation’s strategic approach has evolved to focus on Los Angeles with an emphasis on out-of-school enrichment opportunities which demonstrate a range of benefits for youth, including social-emotional wellbeing, improved physical health, and increases in academic achievement.
“While the time young people spend learning in classrooms is critical,” said The Broad Foundation President Gerun Riley “we also know that up to 80% of learning occurs outside the formal classroom– and disparities in access to quality out-of-school learning opportunities are enormous. After a year of social isolation, digital disconnection and academic learning loss, it is especially critical we work collectively to support our students with opportunities to learn and thrive.”
The L.A. Education Recovery Fund is a collective philanthropic effort, managed by Great Public Schools Now, focused on expanding quality programs that address the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on low-income students in Los Angeles. It is a multi-year initiative with an immediate focus on increasing access to summer enrichment programs by investing over $7 million in nonprofit organizations offering quality, in-person programming. GPSN has also collaborated with other efforts to provide summer activities for students across Los Angeles most impacted by the pandemic, including Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Earn, Learn, Play initiative, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, California Community Foundation, Greater LA Education Foundation, LA84 Foundation, and Play Equity Fund.
Following the initial focus on in-person summer enrichment programs, the L.A. Education Recovery Fund will turn to tutoring, college and career access, after-school programs and mental health supports during the school year to address the ongoing and exacerbated disparities in academic outcomes for Black and brown students and the social-emotional after-effects of a year of social isolation, family economic challenges, and disproportionate numbers of COVID-19 related deaths in low-income communities.
“The last 15 months and effects of the pandemic were incredibly challenging for our kids,” said Dr. Ana Ponce, the Executive Director of Great Public Schools Now, who manages the L.A. Education Recovery Fund. “There has never been a more important time to invest in our students. Funding these summer enrichment programs is a necessary initial step towards a long recovery effort for students in Los Angeles.”
A list of LA Education Recovery Fund grantees can be found here: List of Grantees
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