Operation Shoestring Expands Reach, Receives Major Grant Awards, Cites Program Successes

 

When our afterschool program year begins on August 24th, Operation Shoestring will be providing afterschool academic enrichment services to a projected 100 additional children, 1st-5th grade, in our central Jackson service community thanks to a new partnership with Brown Elementary School. This will be an expansion of the Project Rise afterschool programming we already operate for around 200 pre-K – 8th graders in partnership with Galloway Elementary and Rowan Middle Schools.

“Our afterschool and summer programming includes not only fun, hands-on learning experiences for our kids that are aimed at empowering them to reach their own best potential, but also valuable social support services for their families, including parent engagement meetings and connecting families with needed healthcare, employment, and other resources, so the impact is magnified,” said Robert Langford, Executive Director of Operation Shoestring.

“Research has shown that consistent participation in high-quality afterschool and summer programs like ours helps close the achievement gap between students from lower- and higher-income families,” Langford said. “When that gap shrinks, all of us benefit—no matter what neighborhood you live in. We’re all connected, and the folks who support our work here at Operation Shoestring are investing in that truth in a real, substantive way.”

Our reach will also be extending to include more area high school students through Project Rise: Beyond Graduation, a collaboration with the Jackson Public Schools District and Alignment Jackson to further the community-wide effort to pave the way to college- and career- readiness for Jackson high school students through the JPS Career Academies of Jackson model.

Made possible thanks to a three-year $225,000 grant award from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, Project Rise: Beyond Graduation will bolster the effectiveness of the JPS Career Academies by helping to fund two new district-level positions—Director of Career Academies and Lead Academy Coach, and to provide additional targeted programming support for the academy at Lanier High School, where Operation Shoestring has operated afterschool and other programming in partnership with the school and community on-and-off since our founding in 1968.

This three-year $225,000 grant award brings Operation Shoestring’s total major grant awards this fiscal year to just over $1.5 million, including another three-year $330,000 Kellogg Foundation grant and a five-year $950,000 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, both aimed at supporting Project Rise afterschool and summer programming.

Langford cites Operation Shoestring’s positive track record as a contributing factor to the nonprofit’s expansion and grant support. Out of 130 1st-5th graders in our Project Rise afterschool program in partnership with Galloway last year, 95% were promoted to the next grade level, 88% demonstrated academic growth, and an impressive 96% of 3rd graders passed the Third-Grade Reading Summative Assessment, otherwise known as the 3rd Grade Reading Gate test.

“Our partnership with Operation Shoestring has been a real benefit to the Galloway Elementary scholars who have received the advantage of afterschool hours devoted to supporting their academic growth and development from the school day. When schools, community organizations and parents all work together in the best interests of our children, great things happen and our collaborative FOCUS on student achievement and success occurs,” said Dr. Erica Bradley, Principal at Galloway Elementary.