Learning Bridge screens and trains community volunteers to tutor foster care and unhoused youth. Volunteers do not have to be educators – just committed adults who will show up each week for a student. Tutors assist students with homework or work with students on subjects that are challenging to them. The program serves students in K-12th grade in Travis, Hays, Williamson, Bastrop, and Bell counties of Texas and is free to foster and kinship families.
History
The idea for Learning Bridge came from our founder’s search for a tutor for her foster daughter. While she found many organizations in central Texas to help kids in foster care, she discovered that no organization existed to address the unique educational needs of kids in foster care.
Sadly, only half of youth in foster care graduate from high school and shortly after emancipation, 25-46% of foster youth become homeless. Due to many factors, kids in foster care are often one to two grade levels behind in school. (Source: endhomelessness.org)
After a needs assessment and surveys of foster parents, Connect for Success launched as a pilot program at Foster Village in August 2020. Based on its early success, Learning Bridge launched as a standalone nonprofit in February 2021 and became a 501c3 organization in June 2021.
Need
There are over 10,000 youth in foster care in Texas. These children have been abused and neglected and often have trauma that lasts a lifetime. While these kids face many challenges, early interventions can make all the difference in providing youth with the resources to overcome hardship. Education, in particular, is one avenue which extra support can make a monumental difference in the lives of these children.
Learning Bridge gives students and caregivers a survey when they enter the program. Students, with the help of caregivers when needed, rate themselves on grades, school participation, school enjoyment, homework completion, and their ability to ask for help. We administer an identical survey at the end of the year to assess progress.
