FAMILY LEARNING INSTITUTE

Adult volunteer tutors, trained by professional teachers, provide one-on-one instruction to 2nd-5th grade students from economically disadvantaged households once per week. This is preceded or followed by group math game activities.

"Brain Boot Camp" addresses backsliding during summer months ("summer learning loss"), a common problem among students from low-income households. This four-hour, once-a-week program for students grades 1 -8 has succeeded, based on pre- and post-tests, in ensuring kids maintain skills over the summer. FLI also offers "Super U" for 6th graders about to enter middle school; it lets them know what to expect, gives them coping strategies, and takes them on excursions onto the U of M campus (with U of M student mentors) to get their sights set on college.

The common denominator of FLI's outreach programs is their goal of overcoming barriers to access to FLI's core program, like transportation, parental work schedules, and lack of institutional trust. FLI has brought modified versions of its Reading and Writing Program to Parkridge Community Center in Ypsilanti, and is currently in discussions with WISD, AAPS, and YCS to help run afterschool, on-site, co-curricular programs at its elementary schools.