Napa Valley is recognized the world over for its award-winning wines, but little is known about its low-income, mostly agricultural, communities where the need is great; especially for year-round student academic support and enrichment opportunities.
To address this need, Aim High – a nonprofit offering free summer learning programs to middle schools in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than thirty years – opened a campus at Silverado Middle School in rural Napa, a community where only 15 percent of third grade English Language Learners read at or above grade level. The Napa program currently serves 120 students, but has a waiting list of at least 60 children.
But in spite of the urgent need for these enrichment programs, as summer draws near, Aim High Napa, along with dozens of providers across the state serving students in low-resource inner-city and rural areas, are bracing for longer waiting lists and fewer spaces for children. This is a result of state policies that are out of pace with the cost, need and demand.
It is in these communities where both private and public investments can make a significant impact on educational inequities, and in the lives of children who otherwise wouldn’t have access to critical summer and after school resources. Funding sources such as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants ($1.2 billion) support expanded learning activities for more than 1.6 million predominantly economically disadvantaged children across the country.
In addition, California’s After School Educational and Safety program supports 4,000 summer learning and after school programs serving more than 400,000 students daily.
This summer, Aim High – along with a coalition of statewide organizations – is working with the Partnership for Child and Youth (PCY), a nonprofit that advocates for expanded learning programs, to raise awareness about the significant impact of these programs in high-need areas. They are calling on state legislators and congressional leaders to preserve summer learning and after-school programs by securing proper funding, while respectfully reminding them that in so doing they are looking out not just for the communities they serve, but also for the state’s future.
President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to eliminate the 21st Century Community Learning Centers’ grants from the federal budget, which also fund summer and after-school programming nationwide, could leave children and youth without access to vital programs that support their personal and academic development, and keep them safe during the summer months and after-school hours.
But, President Trump’s actions targeting expanded learning aren’t the only challenge. In California, a lack of comprehensive support from state leaders undermines the work that’s taken place over the last 20 years to help communities close the learning gap for children.
Recent increases in California’s state minimum wage (47 percent) and the cost of living (21 percent) have placed a severe financial burden on 4,000 programs that serve nearly half a million students daily on a budget that hasn’t increased since 2006. Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Chico) recently authored Senate Bill 78 to address this gap in funding, but the bill is pending approval and support by legislators.
We need all of our state partners on board. We can’t afford to lose the investments that California has made to build this expanded learning network, which provides opportunities for kids to learn and gain skills, and supports working families by keeping their children safe and engaged. Now is not the time to be penny-wise and pound-foolish on programs that have a long-term impact on our youth and communities.
Over the last three years, PCY has launched numerous statewide campaigns that – despite generating resounding support from cities, school districts, and law enforcement agencies from across the state – have yet to secure the full backing of the legislature, the governor, and labor.
Given California’s current state budget it’s a real challenge for districts to provide summer learning programs. This work matters now more than ever for kids in low-resource communities and from immigrant families. It’s critical that they have safe and nurturing summer opportunities, but providers can’t do it alone. We need political will.
Alec Lee, Director
Aim High
This editorial originally appeared in the Napa Valley Register.
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