Page 8
C AREERS Special
Edition
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
April 21, 2021
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
PhoTo CourTesy of e ugene P avlov P hoTograPhy and f amily b uilding b loCks
Summer academic and enrichment programs to support children and families are being formulated to help mitigate the negative impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic
and address learning inequities.
Making Up for Lost School Time
Grants to support
grass roots programs
The Oregon Community Foundation
has laid out plans to administer $40 million
of state-funded grants for community orga-
nizations to provide summer enrichment
activities for K-12 aged students, such as
day camps and outdoor programs as well
as $1.2 million earmarked for parent-child
summer programming for families with
young children.
The move announced last week is part
of a substantial investment by the State of
Oregon to address learning inequities and
help mitigate the negative impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on Oregon children
and families.
“The pandemic has caused widespread
learning loss and social-emotional setbacks
with youth, while also amplifying learning
disparities across racial and socioeconom-
ic lines,” says Lisa Bermudez of Bend
Science Station. “The expertise, training
and connections of OCF will help orga-
nizations to successfully re-engage youth,
particularly marginalized youth, and make
up for lost learning this summer.”
OCF will administer grants for two dif-
ferent allocations of state-funding for sum-
mer educational and enrichment programs:
The K-12 Summer Learning Grants
will prioritize community-based programs
for underserved youth and families that
have been disproportionately impacted by
COVID-19. The grants will be available
to public and nonprofit organizations that
provide community-based programming
including: Support enrichment programs
for learning outside of the classroom, sup-
port arts, sports, mentoring, workforce
development, science, museum education
and many other indoor and outdoor activ-
ities.
A priority to programs that serve K-12
aged youth from communities of col-
or, youth from low-income families, and
youth living in under-resourced rural com-
munities.
“National and local data shows that this
programming helps build a sense of be-
longing, develop critical social emotional
skills, and promote greater school atten-
dance and engagement,” says Belle Can-
tor, the Oregon Community Foundation’s
senior program officer for education. “The
trauma of school disruption as well as liv-
ing with an elevated level of anxiety and
uncertainty can have long-term negative
impacts on children. This is magnified for
children who already experience racial in-
equity.”
OCF will accept, review, and award
grants on a rolling basis throughout the
spring to ensure programs have funds in
hand to begin planning and implementa-
tion. OCF will seek the advice of a diverse,
community-based advisory committee
throughout the granting process to ensure
that the program is meeting community
priorities.
The Early Childhood Summer Support
Grants will support enrichment programs
for learning by providing services for ap-
proximately 600 children (from birth to 5
years of age) and families. These grants
will help deliver 12 weeks of parent-child
summer programming, including group
classes and activities that offer social and
learning opportunities for young children
and their parents, play groups and kinder-
garten readiness programs.
Application forms and more informa-
tion can be found on the OCF website at
oregoncf.org/grants-and-scholarships/
grants/k-12-summer-learning-grant-pro-
gram