Feel Good Friday - Children Rising

As kids in the United States prepare to go back to school, let’s learn about an organization that is helping them rise to their potential, Children Rising.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Oakland, California, the mission of Children Rising is “to nurture and equip children to rise above the challenges created by generations of poverty, violence and educational inequity.”

As explained in this short video, 70% of 2nd and 3rd graders in Oakland’s low income neighborhoods are behind in their reading and math skills. Children Rising mobilizes community support for these children by working with school teachers and principals to provide in-school one-on-one literacy and math tutoring for primary grade school students.

Their approach is structured to provide a circle of care to support the children and help them become confident, engaged students. This is done through three targeted programs. 

Succeeding by Reading helps children build foundational literacy skills by working with a dedicated volunteer tutor for the entire academic year. Path2Math focuses on building functional numeracy skills with the help of a dedicated tutor and personalized learning strategy. The final program, Family Bridge, provides wrap-around services to help families support their children with in-home learning experiences and tools.

In the 2022-2023 school year, there were 268 first through third graders enrolled in Succeeding by Reading, 123 second through fifth graders enrolled in Path2Math, and 20 families participating in Family Bridge. Visit this impact page to see the gains the students made in their reading and math skills.

If you’d like to help Children Rising connect children in need with a caring community, there are many ways to do so. Bay Area residents can volunteer as tutors, and all of us can make a donation and spread the word on social media by following Children Rising on Facebook or LinkedIn and subscribe to their YouTube channel.