Heads Up Headlines

December 2007

Dear Friend,

Happy Holidays! As the first semester of our after-school program winds down, our students are learning more than ever and Heads Up’s middle school program is in full swing (read more below).

As a supporter of Heads Up and as someone who knows the critical importance of early literacy, I know you’ll be thrilled to hear our most recent findings.  We’ve received early data that shows Heads Up students are making great progress in reading — our students are doing better in every literacy area tested as compared with their classmates who do not attend Heads Up. We are thrilled about these results!

Don’t forget to include Heads Up in your holiday giving this year. A donation of $50 today can make a big difference for kids in D.C.

Thanks for everything you do for Heads Up!

Best,

Robin Minter
Interim Executive Director

Report Card

A recent Washington Post article reported on gains in D.C. elementary school students’ reading and math scores. In a study of 11 urban school systems, D.C. fourth-grade reading scores rose more since 2005 than in nine of the other 10 cities, tying with Atlanta for the highest increase. Heads Up is doing our part to help elementary school students in D.C. improve their reading skills!

Features

 Heads Up Tutors Make a Difference in D.C.

Diana Pierzchala, a Heads Up AmeriCorps member and senior at George Washington University, was one of the many Heads Up tutors who participated in Make a Difference Day this year.

Seventy Heads Up AmeriCorps members participated in Make a Difference Day on October 27, a national day of service created by USA WEEKEND magazine. Thousands of volunteers participated across the country, and hundreds joined together in Washington, D.C. to improve their communities.

Heads Up AmeriCorps members worked alongside other volunteers at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, the volunteer site organized by SERVE D.C. All gathered at the downtown D.C. public library to make a difference in the community by helping to renovate two large circulation rooms. Volunteers pitched in by organizing, cleaning and cataloging books.

Mayor Adrian Fenty joined the group for part of the day, and congratulated them for their effort and devotion to helping their community.

“Make a Difference Day gives Heads Up’s AmeriCorps members the opportunity to see what a huge difference they can make. They were able to connect with other volunteer groups who are just as excited about changing the landscape of their communities,” George Gray Jr., Heads Up’s Director of College Programs, said of the event.

Heads Up Launches New Program for Older Youth at Hart Middle School

On October 1, Heads Up launched a new program at Hart Middle School in the Congress Heights neighborhood of Southeast D.C. In conjunction with Project My Time, an initiative of the D.C. Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation, Heads Up is providing academic support and leadership opportunities to teenagers. 

Project My Time selected Heads Up to serve as an “academic anchor” program at Hart. The Heads Up program combines homework help and tutoring with service-learning opportunities that build leadership skills. Trained college students provide intensive academic support and mentoring to Hart students during after-school hours.

In addition to academic help, approximately 15 Heads Up participants are planning a service-learning project to clean, organize and restore their school library. To put the project in context, students and tutors will take field trips to the Library of Congress and other libraries in the city.

Heads Up hired Kenneth Carroll, an icon in D.C.’s literacy and education community, to serve as site director for the program at Hart Middle School. He joins Heads Up after serving fourteen years as the founding executive director of D.C. Writers Corps.

“The students we work with at Hart are really excited about the opportunities that Heads Up can offer them,” Mr. Carroll said of the program he runs every day after school. He added, “I’m so impressed with the kids, and amazed at the strength of the families who support the program. The kids are writing and reading their own poetry and working together on projects – they’re doing great things.”

Hart students’ hard work in Heads Up will be on display soon — a group of students will read original poetry on nonviolence to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at his namesake public library in downtown D.C. on January 18, 2008 at 3 p.m. Heads Up participants will be joined by other students in the Project My Time program at Hart.

Expansion to serve older youth was one of the goals of Heads Up’s strategic direction, developed by the board in November 2006. “The success of our elementary school program in improving students’ literacy skills helped to inspire Heads Up’s decision to open a middle school program,” said Robin Minter, interim executive director. “ We can deepen our impact on students by helping them transition to new schools and face the challenges of adolescence.”

Several other providers offer safe and constructive activities through Project My Time. In addition to Heads Up, Hart students can participate in activities like African drumming and dance, creative writing, boxing, and martial arts.

Heads Up to Hire AmeriCorps VISTA members

This summer, Heads Up was approved to hire three AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members to help expand our capacity and work toward our organization’s goals. We are currently hiring for a College Program Expansion Manager, who will work with the college program department. Among other responsibilities, the VISTA member in this position will plan a service-learning curriculum, develop an effective tutor recruitment and management system and create an alumni network. If you or anyone you know is looking for a position to make a difference in the lives of D.C. kids, check out Heads Up’s job post on Idealist.org.

What We're Reading

The Legend of the Bluebonnet By Tomie dePaola Students at LaSalle Elementary School are reading The Legend of the Bluebonnet, a retelling of a Comanche Indian tale about Texas’s state flower. In the story, an orphaned Indian girl, She-Who-Is-Alone, is raised by her tribe during a time of drought and famine and makes a great sacrifice so that her people can regain harmony with nature. Her sacrifice leads to the origin of Texas’s state flower. Students love the story because it shows that the courage and strength of a child can make a difference. The children also loved the activity that accompanied this touching story – they made their own bluebonnet flowers out of tissue paper and pipe cleaners.

Learners and Leaders

Heads Up Heroes

The following story comes from a fifth grade student at Raymond Elementary School who has been with Heads Up for six years. The student’s teacher shared his moving essay about a special person in his life with Heads Up:

How You Can Help

Search the Internet for a Good Cause

You can raise money for Heads Up — simply by searching the internet! GoodSearch.com is a new search engine that donates half its revenue, about a penny per search, to charities designated by its users. The site is powered by Yahoo! and returns great search results. It doesn’t cost a thing for you to search GoodSearch.com, and it is free for organizations to sign on as designated charities.

To start earning money for Heads Up when you search the internet, just go to www.goodsearch.com and make sure to enter Heads Up as the charity you want to support!

About Heads Up

Heads Up provides rigorous after-school and summer programs to help children in underserved neighborhoods gain the skills they need to succeed in school. By enlisting college students as classroom tutors, we inspire a new generation of leaders to strengthen their communities.

Heads Up relies on individuals to achieve our goals: providing children with a quality education and giving college students life-changing opportunities to serve their community.

Special thanks to our generous funders.