Help us advance educational equity and reduce the opportunity gap in Greenwich.
Since our founding in 2014, we have touched the lives of over 130 Greenwich public school boys performing below – or barely maintaining – grade level upon Kindergarten entry to our program. Horizons at Brunswick provides engaging opportunities for students to develop the confidence, knowledge, and skills they need to build their own successful futures. Through a balance of academics, enrichment, swimming, recreational sports, and confidence-building strategies, the program helps each boy develop both academically and emotionally and cultivates in each a love of learning, skills for success, and inspiration to pursue his dreams.
But we need your help to further our community impact. And with your support, we know we can do more.
Serving under-resourced public school boys who need an extra leg-up academically, our program ensures each boy advances to the next grade level and, at the same time, becomes inspired by the joy of learning.
With the help of Greenwich public schools, we target boys performing below – or barely maintaining – grade level and qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Our program begins the summer following Kindergarten when summer learning has great impact.
Students attend our 6 week summer session and then 6 Saturdays during the school year over a nine year period. Building relationships between students, their families, and the Greenwich Public schools, we strive to provide access and opportunities for students to experience the joy of learning.
While other programs in our area define success as admission to private school or help with homework after school, our goal is to keep struggling students at or above grade level so they are ready for the next grade level each fall, and ultimately, attend Greenwich High School.
Our students come from primarily the four schools in Greenwich that receive federal Title One funding – Julian Curtiss, New Lebanon, Hamilton Avenue, and Western Middle School. With support from our donors, we have been able to expand our reach into other public schools in Greenwich, ensuring we are finding the students who will benefit from the access and opportunity that we offer.
Every 5 years, the Greenwich United Way conducts a Needs Assessment Survey indicating the most pressing areas of concerns in Greenwich with the hope that the community can use this information to develop impactful solutions. The most recent assessment, conducted in 2020, identified several areas of concern related to education including:
There is significant economic disparity within the Greenwich Public School district. Twenty percent of all Greenwich public school students qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. In some schools, more than half the student body qualifies. But in other district schools, this group makes up just 1% of the student body.
The "opportunity gap" draws attention to the conditions and obstacles that students face throughout their educational careers. The United Way Assessment cites, "English proficiency, community wealth, familial situations, and other factors contribute to or perpetuate lower educational aspirations, achievement, and attainment for certain groups of students... Data shows racial disparities within our public school system with average test scores for Black and Hispanic students lower in English, Math, and Science than their White counterparts."
Although interviewees recognized education as an area where persistent inequality in Greenwich presents some of its greatest challenges, they also cited it as an "area of opportunity in which unequal outcomes for Greenwich residents can be most effectively addressed."
With a nine-year commitment, each student attends:
• Daily High-Quality Curriculum focused on
Reading, Writing, STEAM and Arts
• Sessions with Reading Specialists and Math Interventionists
• Swimming and Water Skills Instruction
• 4:1 Student-Teacher Ratio
•
Sports, Chess, Art, Yoga/Mindfulness, Food Inspirations, Martial Arts
• Two Healthy Meals and Two Snacks Daily
• Full Bus Transportation
• Weekly Field Trips
• Curriculum Designed to Support Greenwich Public Schools' Academic Goals using Best Practices from the public schools and Brunswick School
• Six Family Education Saturdays during the School Year
• Continuing Academic Enrichment for Students
• STEAM Challenges
• Healthy Breakfast and Snacks
• Bilingual Educational Parent Workshops
• Weekly Tutoring Sessions with Manhattanville College Masters' Students
• Weekly Tutoring Sessions with Local High School Students
Reading Scores 2017 – 2024
Math Scores 2017 – 2024
Not only do students make significant gains in academics, but they also grow social and emotionally using the Yale RULER Mood Meter.
Grades 4-8th students self-reported increased positive self-esteem by the end of summer.
Salaries, Food and Beverage, Classroom Materials and Program Expenses, Field Trips, Transportation, Specials Teachers
Salaries, Classroom Materials and Program Expenses, Transportation, Food and Beverage
Outreach, Grant Writing, Appeals
With a long and strong commitment to the Greenwich Community, Brunswick School generously provides the use of its facilities and supportive infrastructure. All program expenses, including salaries, are funded by private philanthropy. To date, Horizons has relied upon annual contributions from the Brunswick and Greenwich communities in meeting its annual operating budget, which currently stands at $500,000.
We place the highest importance on good stewardship in order to increase our efficiency and ensure the trust of our generous Donors.
And now, we seek to place this extraordinarily successful program on a more advantageous and secure financial footing by endowing a Horizons at Brunswick fund to support staffing, program enhancements, outreach, and follow-up tutoring assistance.
Our endowment plans supply the flexible funding for our program, which enables us to build impact at the community and societal levels.
With a long and strong commitment to the Greenwich Community, Brunswick School generously provides the use of its facilities and supportive infrastructure. All program expenses, including salaries, are funded by private philanthropy.
Our goal is to build a $5 million endowment that would underwrite approximately one half of the Horizons annual operating budget moving forward. An anonymous donor has pledged $1,000,000 as a seed gift for our endowment.
