Richmond Unite - We Need Your Vote!

Higher Achievement is excited to be in the second round of the Richmond Unite effort to raise dollars for organizations that directly improve the future of Richmond youth. In order to continue moving through the process, we need your help!

We must receive 500 votes by September 8th. You can cast one vote once a day, every day! Votes can be cast by anyone anywhere in the world, so please forward to friends and family far and wide!

Here’s how it works:

• Visit www.richmondunite.org/vote-now


• The first time you visit the site, you must register to vote by providing your email address and a password.


• You will receive a confirmation email then you will be able to login to the Richmond Unite website.


• Select the Higher Achievement logo amidst the logos on the page. It will open our profile.


• Click VOTE!

By receiving 500 votes by September 8th, we’ll receive critical local funds and recognition to propel our work.

21st CCLLC Summer Institute

Throughout the 21st CCLC Summer Institute this week there has been lots of discussion around the convergence of afterschool programs and extended learning initiatives, in parallel with the government's efforts to address ESEA. There are several key issues that remain at the core of these discussions:

• The need for schools and community-based organizations to effectively partner so students can experience more learning but not more of the same.


• The need to leverage the power of communities to bring additional talented, caring, and committed adults into our schools and supporting our youth


• The need to ensure that afterschool or extended supports meet the needs and demands of individual students and don't force families and youth into programs they don't want or need.


• The need to look creatively at funding sources, both public and private, so that schools and CBOs can weave together dollars and programs that reach every student


• The need to continue driving school improvement through high-quality support programs, and ensuring that student performance data is shared with all partners toward that end.

Follow us at @higherachieve for more thoughts and dispatches from the conference.

Rachel Gwaltney, Chief of Programs

One Thousand Dollar Grant from First Book for our Scholars

We’re excited to share that First Book has provided Higher Achievement with a $1000 grant to buy books for our Washington, DC area centers. Among other things, we were able to get two sets of Encyclopedia Britannicas to be used as a prizes for our Olympics of the Mind competition later this summer.

First Book is an outstanding non-profit that is addressing the illiteracy among children in low-income families. To date, First Book has distributed more than 80 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving these children – and it continues to do so at a rate of 18,000 books a day.

First Book is uniquely positioned to become a leader in providing digital resources so that children in need don’t miss out. No matter how formats and technologies change, children from low-income families will still need access to rich and varied content. First Book is helping guide the publishing industry as it evolves so that all children can benefit from new technologies and flourish as readers.

President Truman said, "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."We believe all children deserve an education that will transform them into the leaders of tomorrow. Our thanks to First Book for sharing this vision and for partnering with us to make it a reality!