What we are able to do together
The pandemic hit our neighborhood kids especially hard. For the first time since Urban Ventures’ founding, the achievement gap is widening. This breaks my heart.
According to a study by McKinsey & Company, learning loss from the pandemic is up to three times worse among students of color. After decades of progress in creating a more equal education system, we are seeing a once-in-a-generation setback. If left unaddressed, the negative impact of learning loss will ripple for years. Students who don’t graduate high school will often earn less than half of a college graduate, continuing the cycle of poverty we see time and time again in our community.
As a supporter of the work we do, you know Urban Ventures has been on the forefront of providing greater academic opportunities to the kids in our neighborhood. While we are seeing troubling signs in our city, the results in our programs are far more encouraging.
Our Cornwell Early Learning Center recently received a four-star Parent Aware rating, the highest possible rating, indicating the center goes above and beyond to provide excellent early childhood education. The Reading Plus program is providing systematic literacy intervention to help students make great gains in reading ability. On average, for every month in the program a student advances two months in reading ability. This fall, 42 new college freshmen joined the hundreds of scholars attending partner colleges and universities with full-tuition scholarships through our Act Six program.
What we are doing is working. And with all our community has been through in recent years, what we are doing is necessary. Unless we work hard to push back against the losses of recent years, we will see many of our gains dissolve.
Your support is crucial during this important time. You make it possible for us to respond to the growing needs of our community. Our long-term, big, audacious goal is to send every child in our neighborhood to college or another form of postsecondary education. It’s a huge task, but we see evidence that what we are doing is working. That evidence encourages us to continually double-down.
You are invited to double-down with us. The journey to our long-term goal includes many short-term goals. This holiday season, with the help of people like you, we’ve set a goal to raise $1 million so we can add capacity to serve more kids and their families through our important programs.
The truth is that we cannot do what we do without you. Nearly 80% of our annual funding need must come from the generosity of our financial partners. For nearly 30 years, Urban Ventures has been an example of people coming together to transform a city. When we all pull in the same direction truly incredible progress is made.
On behalf of the 75 Urban Ventures team members and the over 2,000 neighbors we have had the privilege to serve this year, I want to thank you for your past support and humbly ask that you consider making another gift (or your very first gift) to us this holiday season.
The kids in our city are worth the investment. I see the impact of your generosity in them every single day.
Please donate today so we can transform our community tomorrow.
With deep gratitude,
Dave
President & CEO, Urban Ventures
