Every $1 invested in a quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) program yields an estimated $7 return to society. Children who complete quality ECE programs do better academically and are less likely to dropout, be arrested, repeat grades, or require special education.
Poverty is leading indicator of school failure. So Jumpstart's programs are centered in low-income neighborhoods with limited access to quality ECE programs .
More than 50% of children from low-income neighborhoods start first grade up to two years behind their middle and high-income peers. When children start behind, they are more likely to stay behind.
Jumpstart's high-quality curriculum is based on the latest ECE research, designed to build language and literacy skills critical for a lifetime of learning.
2010-2011 impact: over 1 million hours of service nationwide to 9,000 children from 3,450 Corps members/volunteers in 15 states, plus District of Columbia.
Your support today can make a difference tomorrow!*
I'm ran the 2012 Boston Marathon with Jumpstart for early childhood education, and with your help, we raised money to help power dreams.
All children have dreams of what they want to be when they grow up--an astronaut, a doctor, a firefighter. Without a quality early education, however, children start school behind and never catch up, their dreams out of reach.
More than 50% of children from low-income neighborhoods start first grade up to two years behind their middle and high-income peers. When people talk about an achievement gap in America, this is where it starts. Jumpstart is a charity working to close that gap, and I'm part of their marathon team. Jumpstart intervenes early by serving children in preschool, a critical age that can affect future school success. Every invested in quality early childhood education program yields an estimated return to society. Children who complete quality early childhood education programs do better academically and are less likely to dropout, be arrested, repeat grades, or require special education.
Through this online fundraiser, we helped Jumpstart distribute books, classroom supplies and their proven program to Jumpstart children in Boston. Your support can STILL help change the educational opportunities of tens of thousands of children.
Thank you for supporting Jumpstart children in Boston and nationwide. If you didn't donate before my run, you can still make a donation here.
Sincerely,
David A. Colarusso
See supporting research.
One of the main reasons I support Jumpstart is that a small change early in life has big consequences down the road. So I hesitate to say "this is what your money buys...." What it really buys is a better life for Jumpstart students, their families, their communities, and our country. That being said, here's a near-term breakdown of what a given amount of money can do right now.
†† Dollar equivalencies adapted from my teammate Jeannie Hannigan's framing.$1: For half the price of a ride on the T, you can buy a book for a child in the Jumpstart program. Some of these children have no books in their home at all, so even this small donation makes a a HUGE difference.
$20: For the price of a week's worth of lattes, you can buy a whole take home library for a child in need. That's every book in Jumpstart proven curriculum PLUS information for their parents on how to read constructively with their children.
$60: For the price of a nice dinner, you can buy a set of Core Storybooks for an entire Jumpstart classroom. In Jumpstart, every child in the classroom reads a different book each week in groups of 3 or 4 for the duration of the program. That's a whole lot of books you'll be putting in those little hands!
$100: If you want to help expand the Jumpstart curriculum, this is the mark you want to hit. underwrites 40 brand new storybooks, hand selected by Jumpstart's early childhood education experts to enrich the classroom experience.
$500: A Jumpstart team goes through a good deal of song and poem charts, markers, gluesticks, glitter, construction paper, play-doh, stickers, and all sorts of other fun materials over the course of a year. A donation of $500 can support ALL of these materials for a Jumpstart team.
$1,000: For less than the rent of a tiny square studio apartment in Back Bay, you can support an ENTIRE JUMPSTART CLASSROOM for a year. That means your donation will cover all materials in Jumpstart's proven curriculum for a whole classroom, and also you're a champ for helping me attain 1/4th of my total goal.
$2,500: A donation of this amount sponsors an entire preschool in a low-income neighborhood by providing all of the materials to deliver Jumpstart?s award-winning program. All I really have to say about that is WOW. You will make a huge impact on an entire community if you choose to be so generous AND you will help me with more than half of my total goal.