Every summer, low-income students in Delaware (and across the country) lose the equivalent of 3 months of learning. In the meantime, their affluent peers have access to rigorous academic, sports, arts, and tech activities, camps and programs. For this reason, summer is the most unequal time of the year, accounting for up to two-thirds of the academic achievement gap between low income and high income students. So, at the exact time that our children need the most, they are being provided with the least.

SummerCollab is addressing this inequity. Every summer, the campers that are farthest behind academically are making major gains in literacy. The overwhelming majority (80%) show growth in reading comprehension skills. Campers also show growth in both their leadership and personal skills.

The summer of 2022 allowed us to expand our camps to include campers as young as 1st grade. We were able to continue with fully in-person programming through our ongoing relationship with Colonial School District. Programs were run  at three locations:

The Tyler’s Camp staff team provided an exciting summer experience for 205 campers this year.  Literacy and social emotional learning were woven in their daily enrichment activities that included art, photography/videography, athletics, STEM, dance, cooking, and music. Allowing campers to choose the activities that excited them the most is truly what made this summer special.  As Tyler’s Camp looks to future summers, we are preparing to embrace camper choice by expanding their options and implementing a “Try It Out” Day where all campers can experience their options before making their choice.

With your support, we can continue to DO MORE - we can reach more youth and have a greater impact on their academic and life success.