Earlier this week, Homer announced a partnership with Dollar General and Horizons National to bring summer literacy opportunities to low income students. 

What is Horizons National?

The Horizons National Summer Enrichment Program is a network of community-centered academic summer programs that puts low-income public school students of varying abilities on the path to success. Horizons’ mission is to close the achievement gap by providing underserved children access to high-quality academics in an engaging summer program.  It has been well documented that gaps between middle and low income students grow more pronounced over the summer months, when upper income children may attend enrichment programs or summer camps while their lower income peers do not have access to the same costly educational opportunities. As a result, low-income students tend to fall further behind in reading and math during the summer months, while their more economically advantaged peers keep pace or even jump ahead.  This phenomenon, known as “summer slide,” is a major contributor to the achievement gap between middle and low income students and one of the most urgent educational issues in our country.

Summer learning loss leaves low-income students as much as three years behind their higher income peers by the time they reach fifth grade. In contrast, Horizons students gain an average of two to three months in reading and math skills during the six-week summer program, keeping them at grade level or above.

We are so excited to work with Horizons to make a positive impact in several communities!