About:
Kids-U was co-founded in 2002 by Diana Baker and Paula DeGroat under the name Dallas Community Lighthouse as an after-school tutoring program for students in kindergarten through 8th grade. The purpose of the organization was to address the crisis of children in Dallas County not completing their education. Within the first year we expanded to meet the growing needs of our students and their families to include summer programming, monthly community dinners, Neighborhood Crime Watch programs, adult education, and many other family and community building programs, focusing on the whole child. In 2018 Kids-U was serving over 400 students at 12 sites in DFW Metroplex. Due to the pandemic, we lost several of our sites and are currently serving 6 locations and have a goal by the end of 2024 to be operating 12 sites, once again. Help us reach our goal to open 6 new sites by the end of 2024 and support the Kids-U mission: To improve the lives of children living in under-resourced communities by focusing on educational, personal, social, and environmental issues. Problem:
Under-resourced students were struggling before the pandemic; middle and high school students were three to four years behind students from high-income families. DISD Superintendent portrays that due to the pandemic this gap has now increased by a shocking 30% in reading and 50% in math. The pandemic devastated underprivileged children’s well-being and their families and disrupted children’s daily lives, posing greater risks to health, well-being, and development. Students who cannot keep up with their peers by the 8th grade are at the greatest risk for dropping out of high school, teenage pregnancy, and incarceration. Solution:
Kids-U programming is vital to the underprivileged students in the DFW area, as we aim to address the problem of learning loss and academic achievement by offering an approach which addresses four major areas consisting of: the individual student, the school, the family, and the community. There is a massive need for Kids-U programming to expand throughout the DFW metroplex and reach as many children as possible. By focusing on the whole child, we are on the path to closing the achievement gap between lower income students and higher income students. Donations and volunteers are critical for Kids-U to support our 6 current sites as well as to expand the number of sites we are operating to 12. With the generous help of our community through fundraising and grants we are planning on opening 6 new Kids-U sites by the end of 2024! In addition to this, our goal is to increase the reach of our programs by including pre-K, high school, and Kids-U Lite Programs. This expansion will allow us to increase our impact on students in impoverished areas and expand the number of sites and students we are currently serving.
