DC Charity Spotlight: Heads Up

WISH LIST $100: snacks for 100 kindergartners for 1 day; $500: 1 year's transportation costs for a college student tutor traveling to metro-inaccessible sites; $1000: tuition for 1 student in the 6-week summer program

Heads Up provides after-school and summer academic programs to disadvantaged youth attending some of the most underserved schools in the country. Almost half of the children live in poverty, and most live in single parent families plagued by other risk factors as well. The goal is to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by promoting a new cycle ... of learning and leadership. Every day, for three-and-a-half hours a day, and then six hours a day for six weeks in the summer, Heads Up tutors - local college students who are trained and supervised by the staff - guide their charges through reading, homework assistance, and writing activities. In the summer there are also community-based projects and trips. It's an intense commitment that really pays off. Reading proficiency improves dramatically, youngsters develop a love of learning and get tuned in, and turned on, to college though early exposure to college students. This year, free of charge, Heads Up will serve 700 students with the help of 200 undergraduate tutors. They will grow together in extraordinary ways.

Robin Minter,

Executive Director 25 E Street NW, Suite 300 Washington, DC 20001 202-544-4468