Camden Children's Defense Fund (CDF) Freedom School

Jun. 2014 - Present

Introduction

The Camden Dream Center started the Children's Defense Fund Freedom School summer program in the summer of 2018. We introduced two new components of the program: STEM and essential skills. Additionally, we piloted a STEM-based curriculum (JV InvenTeams Lemelson-MIT) for an after-school program in two Camden City School District (CCSD) middle schools. Our success resulted in CCSD engaging CDC to run a middle school after-school program for the 2018/19 school year.

The digital divide and digital literacy are still economic wedge issues of the 21st Century, where children from poor communities and girls, in particular, are at a significant disadvantage. We are all about “vision to see and courage to be,” focusing our efforts on closing the digital skills gap within socioeconomically diverse, high-poverty, and underrepresented communities.

Our mission is to empower families by providing educational training in 21st-century learning and skills development, which improves the quality of life for people living in impoverished communities.

Challenges

  • Studies have shown that students who do not engage in reading during the summer have fallen behind by three months in literacy proficiency when they resume school in the fall.

  • Camden is the 8th largest city in NJ, with 40% (2015) living in poverty, 33% (2015) have no high school diploma, and 91% (2010) of Camden's residents are African American and Hispanic.

  • The CDF report on the state of children in New Jersey indicated that 80% of Blacks, 79% of Hispanics, and 52% of White 8th-grade public school students could not read at grade level in 2015.

Summary & Methods

Deliver a well-rounded summer enrichment program consisting of the Camden Dream CDF Freedom School program, Camden Dream Center STEM enrichment program, and essential skills. The reading literacy skills were based on the CDF integrated reading curriculum, while the STEM curricula are based on content that results in individual student assessment instead of group progress tracking.

Solution & Metrics

  • 95% of the participants were able to maintain or perform above grade level.

  • Over 450 K-8 students have participated in the Camden Dream CDF Freedom School summer program since 2014, and 160 of the participants were introduced to the STEM Enrichment Program during the last three summers, enhancing the program's well-roundedness.

  • About 25% of the participants are returning scholars over the last seven summers.

Tunde A. Onitiri