OUR PROGRAMS

Our Program Focus

At the Russell Education Foundation, we provide a safe environment for our students to learn, grow, and thrive. We currently have two pillars of services to help children become better prepared to face the real world. These are our Education and Life Skills pillars.

Education Pillar

Our Education program is designed to help underserved students to close the achievement gap. We provide tutoring and academic enrichment to over 1,000 students annually at our eleven after school centers. In this program, kindergarten through 5th grade students are guided by certified teachers in small groups for additional academic and enrichment support in English Language Arts, Mathematics, Cultural Arts, Physical Fitness and Science Projects. With project based techniques, our teachers make learning fun! And the results have been amazing.

REF hosts an eight-week summer program designed to maintain and/or increase students’ knowledge and motivation, with the understanding that children’s scholastic levels can decrease during long vacations. REF provides daily physical activities, creative arts, community service, character-building and regular field trips to venues where children can be exposed to different types of environments and experiences.

Over 80% of parents in communities of concentrated poverty agree that afterschool programs helps them keep their jobs.

11.3 million kids are alone and unsupervised from 3 to 6 p.m.

For every $1 invested in afterschool programs, $9 is saved by improving kids’ academic performance.

For every child in an afterschool program in a community of concentrated poverty, two are waiting to get in.

Source: After School Alliance

Life Skills Pillar

In addition to providing academic services, REF provides mentoring sessions that teach students much-needed Life Skills. Community volunteers, such as political leaders, educators, pro athletes, board members, and business leaders visit the centers and share their knowledge of a life skill topic. Volunteers talk about their educational backgrounds and share personal experiences to inspire and showcase different career paths.

Social Behavior

Goal Setting

Personal Safety

Current events, like voting and environmental issues

Social Skills Building

Social-emotional learning is utilized daily during the school year and the summer. Components related to social skills building is interwoven throughout the overall program design and follow the Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS) curriculum. Social skills activities are presented interactively, creatively and in a way to promote positive self-esteem, pro-social peer relationships, and good citizenship.

Corliss Russell Pageant

Each year in December, REF students and staff prepare for a theatrical production for the parents at the Hollywood Central Performing Arts Center. In addition to learning scripts and choreography, students help design the set, inclusive of props and the stage backdrop. Check the events section for updates on the next REF production.

© 2017 – 2024 Russell Education Foundation. All Rights Reserved.