Hello, Breakthrough Community, 

I hope that you and your family are healthy and safe. We at Breakthrough are thinking about all of you in our community as we grapple with the uncertainty of the current moment, and I wanted to give you an update on the latest from our team. Read on for our current COVID-19 response and how you can help.

Please stay with us as we continue evolving our efforts to both achieve our mission and respond to our students’ emerging academic, social emotional, and other needs. We couldn’t do this without you and would be most grateful for your support at this time. We hope that you will consider making a gift today.

 

Breakthrough Response to COVID-19

Our team has a comprehensive plan in place to support students and families in many new ways as we navigate the reality of the COVID-19 era. Please check out our website for more details and regular updates. Below are some recent highlights of our amazing staff’s highly flexible and supportive approach!

Community Zoom Calls: Each week we are offering time for students, teachers, and staff to connect as a community. See a glimpse of the 33 kids who dialed in for Tuesday’s call!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly Resource Emails & 1 on 1 Calls: We’re sending out up to the minute resources to ensure students and families have access to not only educational services but physical and mental healthcare, daily food, emergency financial supports, reliable technology and more. We are now issuing a survey to assess how needs are evolving so that we can tailor our response going forward.

 

Virtual SAT Prep Course: For the first time in organizational history, we’re developing an online course! SAT Prep will keep our high schoolers solidly on their path to college, getting them ready for tests this spring or next fall. See the six sessions that will be included in the course below. This new offering will go live on or before April 10!

• SAT 101
• Grammar & Syntax
• Math Strategies Part I
• Navigating Reading Comprehension Part I
• Math Strategies Part II
• Navigating Reading Comprehension Part II

How You Can Help

Thanks to the many of you who have reached out asking how you can assist us in this time – we appreciate it more than you know. The following are our initial needs, which we will keep updated on our COVID-19 webpage.

• Make an unrestricted donation: Unrestricted dollars can become scarce in uncertain times and are crucial to an organization’s ability to be nimble. We’re already seeing and predicting needs in many new areas for Breakthrough including: virtual learning supports (online platforms, curriculum, tutoring), remote work tools (computers, printers, videoconferencing), emergency grants to college students, lost revenue from fundraising events, cleaning supplies, increased staff time to accommodate loss of volunteers and to adapt to new COVID restrictions.
• Attend or serve as a host for the Breakthrough (Virtual!) Gala: See details on the gala.
• Donate cleaning supplies: We are working to secure CDC-approved supplies for when we re-open, but every additional bit helps to keep our staff and students safe!
• Share resources: If you visit our resources page and see anything that we may have missed in your area of knowledge/expertise, please let us know!