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Friday’s Carolinas Freedom School Jubilee in Charlotte brings at-risk students and program supporters together for a celebration of summer literacy with skits and songs.

Charlotte is hosting the ultimate pep rally for summer learning.

The Carolinas Freedom School Jubilee on July 16 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame Crown Ballroom will bring together 1,200 at-risk students from the Carolinas with program supporters to acknowledge its mission.

“Charlotte still believes in public education,” said Mary Nell McPherson, executive director of Charlotte-based Freedom School Partners, the jubilee’s sponsor. “We haven’t given up like some other cities.”

The jubilee, which starts at 12 p.m., is a fundraiser for the non-profit organization, which started in 2004 in the Seigle Avenue-Piedmont Courts community. The program, part of the Children’s Defense Fund’s Freedom School network launched by children’s advocate and Bennettsville, S.C., native Marian Wright Edelman, serves 600 Charlotte students at 10 sites.

“Freedom School Partners plays such a vital role in the Charlotte community by cultivating the minds of underprivileged youth,” said Mayor Anthony Foxx, a guest speaker at the jubilee.

“Those are the children we cannot leave behind, and I’m so proud to see Freedom Schools leading the way to improve their educational aptitude. I’m honored to be a part of the Jubilee.”
Students from North and South Carolina will perform Harambee, a celebration that includes chants, songs and fellowship among participants.

“It’s a celebration of children and the importance of summer learning,” McPherson said. “It’s wonderful when children see they’re part of something bigger than their own Freedom School.”

With college interns working as instructors and mentors, Freedom School scholars participate in an eight-week program that promotes social, cultural and historical awareness. The curriculum is designed to boost academic achievement over the summer while reducing dropout rates. According to a 2009 study commissioned by UNC-Charlotte’s Institute for Social Capital, nearly 90 percent of Freedom School participants maintained or increased their reading levels over summer break.

“Preventing learning loss is the biggest reason for the achievement gap between low-income students and middle-income students,” McPherson said. “It’s not so much what happens during the school year, it’s what happens during the summer.”

Freedom School Partners is funded by church, corporate and foundation grants. The NASCAR Foundation, Bank of America, Wachovia and Duke Energy are major corporate sponsors.
On the Net:
www.freedomschoolpartners.org

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