The Children’s Defense Fund’s (CDF) Freedom Schools® program is a free six-week long summer enrichment program with 3 hours of reading per day. 

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The program helps children fall in love with reading, increases their self-esteem, cultivates positive attitudes toward learning, and reduces summer learning loss—one of the major challenges affecting poor and working-class children. With the help of a researched-based curriculum that is based on culturally responsive books that reflect their own images and caring and supportive college students that serve as teachers, Freedom Schools successfully address summer reading loss and a related decrease in students’ motivation to read.

 

In addition to offering high-quality academic enrichment, CDF Freedom Schools supports children and families in the areas of parent and family involvement, civic engagement and social action, intergenerational leadership development, and health -- physical, mental, and nutritional. With the support of caring adults and communities we will aid our children’s successful journey into adulthood.