Do you want to help make a difference this summer? Summerbridge is a 6-week, tuition-free academic enrichment program designed to prepare middle school students from underrepresented communities for the next grade level and enable them to enroll and succeed in Louisville’s best high schools.

We have been in Louisville since 1992 and have served over 1600 students.  Middle school students are selected for our program based on academic promise, motivation, and financial need. The dual mission of Summerbridge revolves around our unique “students-teaching-students” approach to education. During the summer, middle school students receive instruction in a variety of academic subjects from a diverse faculty who are recruited from colleges and universities. Our students leave our program with a greater sense of self-confidence and the ability to work with peers from diverse cultural backgrounds.

To measure our success, we test our students on the first day and the last week of school in math and language arts.  This past summer, 88% of our students increased their math score and 66% increased their language arts score.  In just 6 weeks. What this does not measure is the growth in social and emotional confidence that shows up during the weeks of learning and playing together:  Just One Example.  One of the girls in our 2018 class was quiet and angry about having to be in “school” during the summer.  She was also in the process of being adopted by her foster parents, so a lot going on in her life.  About 4 weeks in, she was doing a stand-up comedy routine at our Talent Show.  This program is transformative for everyone involved.

We are a small non-profit that is filling a huge need in our community.  Very few summer programs exist for children who do not have the financial resources or transportation to attend any summer programming.  And national research has shown that these students can be up to 2.5 years behind their more privileged peers when they begin middle school.  For the past 10 years, Sacred Heart has allowed us to use one of their school buildings during the summer and this allows us to save tremendously on costs.  While we can only serve 50 students, we hope to expand that number in 2019 due to a promising contract with JCPS (we may also be housed in a JCPS school for 2019).  At this time, we are looking for board members who can help us grow our organization with expertise in either business, marketing, or fund raising and have a passion for children.

Please contact Kate Lindsay at (502) 767-6663 or at katelindsay@summerbridgelouisville.org if you are interested in joining us!  (Website is summerbridgelouisville.org).