Heads Up Headlines
May 2007
Dear Friend,
This is an exciting week for Heads Up! We are celebrating AmeriCorps Week, which marks a historic milestone as the 500,000th member joins the national service program.
At Heads Up — the largest AmeriCorps program in the nation's capitol — we have seen the power of service. Since our founding in 1996, hundreds upon hundreds of college students have served as tutors for children in low-income neighborhoods.
A new national study confirms what I already know from firsthand evidence — the AmeriCorps service experience is transformative for young adults. The report shows that AmeriCorps alumni volunteer more, are more civically engaged, and choose public service careers at higher rates than peers who didn’t serve in the program.
Thank you to each of Heads Up's tutors. Your service has a remarkable impact on the D.C. community, and will echo across the nation for many years to come.
Warmly,
Darin McKeever
Executive Director
Report Card
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Feature
Heads Up Tutors Spruce Up School and Receive Presidential Awards
On April 21, Heads Up staff and tutors gathered at Browne Junior High School to participate in a D.C. public school beautification project for National & Global Youth Service Day, the largest service event in the world.
Approximately 200 volunteers from Heads Up and other service organizations worked in teams to pick up garbage, plant flowers and trees, and paint 
motivational murals in the hallways of the school.
At the end of the day, David Eisner, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, presented the presidential service award to 13 Heads Up AmeriCorps members.
“I was thrilled to see our tutors being honored,” said George Gray, Jr., Heads Up director of college programs. “Each of our AmeriCorps members makes an incredible commitment to helping low-income children for one year. Many of them pass up better- paid internships and jobs so they can give back to the community.”
What We're Reading
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Salsa Stories Fifth-grade students at Heads Up’s LaSalle Elementary School site recently read Salsa Stories. The students loved this collection of tales featuring Latin American foods and recipes. After reading the book, students learned how to make their own salsa and enjoyed eating it together. The kids had a great time pairing this creative activity with the colorful stories in the book. |
Learners and Leaders
Heads Up Student Wins College Scholarship
Danielle Fuller, Heads Up student at Amidon Elementary School in Southwest D.C., was announced as a winner of the prestigious “10 Who are 10” award. The award recognizes the achievements of 10-year-old children from the D.C. public school system. Danielle was chosen along with nine other children from around the city for her success in the classroom and her creative essay on the theme “If I Were Mayor for a Single Day.” Each winner receives a $2,500 college scholarship.
Hard Work Pays Off for Charter Heads Up Tutor
It has been almost ten years, but Mary Beth Salomone has no trouble remembering the faces in her Heads Up classroom. “I remember getting attached to some of the kids. I remember the parents and their openness to us. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is really, really hard.’"
Now the senior policy manager at the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies, she tells us that her experience as a tutor helped to launch a career as an advocate.
Mary Beth tutored children at Birney Elementary starting in 1996, Heads Up’s first year, and continued until 1998. It wasn’t easy to build a structured after-school program for kids in Southeast D.C. — the most underserved part of the city. But Mary Beth says this challenge made her realize she could make things better for children and families. "I figured out exactly what I wanted to do. The truth is Heads Up gave me my start in everything.”
To learn more about what other former Heads Up tutors are doing or share your story, visit Former Tutors: Where Are They Now?
How You Can Help
Arithmetic for Success: Matching Gifts Double Your Impact
You’re concerned about education in the D.C. area, and you’re committed to helping low-income kids get ahead in school. You may even be planning to take the next step and make a gift to Heads Up in support of quality education programs for kids in need. But did you know you can double the impact of your gift by asking your employer to match it?
Many companies – large and small – will match employee’s charitable donations. To find out if your employer will join you to support Heads Up, ask at work or search the Matching Gifts Clearing House. The database lists over 7,500 companies that will double or even triple employee’s gifts.
For more information on giving to Heads Up, visit http://www.headsup-dc.org/support/index.php.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. To view a list of ways you can help, visit http://www.headsup-dc.org/support/index.php.
Special thanks to our generous funders.
