UpSpring
P.O. Box 23300
Cincinnati, OH 45223
UpSpring Summer 360°
UpSpring Summer 360° is an academic and enrichment summer day camp that provides local children experiencing homelessness with holistic programming to support math and literacy skills, critical thinking, nutrition, fitness, and social-emotional learning. Through trauma-informed care, our program team integrates a variety of experiences, educational lessons, and exploratory opportunities to ensure that students have a well-rounded summer and prevent the "summer slide".The summer program was UpSpring’s primary initiative when founded in 1998; this program has continued to grow each year and we are looking forward to our 26th year of camp for homeless youth. We expect to serve over 120 local children during the upcoming summer. All the students we work with are currently experiencing homelessness or living in transition. We anticipate seeing improvements in math and literacy skills, feelings of well-being, and increased enrichment opportunities. This camp empowers children to better their lives, therefore bettering our entire region.
Program Goals:
Goals of the program include:
#1: Improve math and literacy skills: Have 70% of campers retain or increase their skill level in literacy and/or math.
#2: Improve well-being: Have campers improve overall in at least three well-being measures, such as health, hope, self-esteem, stability, belonging, and comfort.
#3: Expand enrichment opportunities: Introduce each camper to one or more new life experience(s) throughout the summer.
Program Results:
Goals of the program include:
#1: Improve math and literacy skills: 80% of campers retain or increase their skill level in literacy; 76% retained or improved math skills.
#2: Improve well-being: 95% of campers retained or increased their social-emotional skills. There were three areas of greatest improvement.
#3: Expand enrichment opportunities: All campers were introduced to one or more new life experience(s) throughout the summer.
"UpSpring Summer 360° is a positive force for children and their families, as well as the community at large. Findings show the camp’s positive effects on children’s wellbeing, both when it comes to academic readiness and social-emotional learning. Attendance was stable, speaking to the strength of the program. Our own observations were exceedingly positive as well: Children were excited to be at the camp, connecting well with teachers and staff, and actively participating in the numerous activities that were planned for them." -- Dr. Heidi Kloos, University of Cincinnati.
Website:
http://www.upspring.org Amount: $25,000
Date: January 2023
