Once kids start happily singing “Schooooooool’s Out for Summer,” many lose a little bit of what they learned and access to free meals. A young program in Baltimore will counter that summer slide.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake is kicking off the Baltimore City Super Summer initiative today with the Family League of Baltimore. Families will have options for summer learning resources and get access to meals. The program is being spearheaded by the Family League of Baltimore, which develops programs to address education and hunger needs to benefit Baltimore children and families. The organization started focusing on summer programs three years ago.
Family League education initiatives senior director Julia Baez says Baltimore is home to 86,000 school-age children but the city only has 20,000 summer learning slots. Without summer learning programs, teachers spend months bringing kids up to speed. The other issue is that over 46,000 students have access to free and reduced lunches during the school year but participation drops to 52% during the summer. Parents also get food for the weekends through the school pantry, but that also ends with the school year. The Super Summer program is funded through various public and private sources.
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