The CDF Freedom Schools® Model
Through the CDF Freedom Schools model, we empower youth to excel and believe in their ability to make a difference in themselves, their families, communities, country and world with hope, education and action.
Rooted in the Mississippi Freedom Summer project of 1964, the CDF Freedom Schools program is a six-week summer literacy and cultural enrichment program designed to serve children and youth in grades K–12 in communities where quality academic enrichment programming is limited, too expensive, or non-existent. By partnering with schools, faith and community-based organizations, municipalities, colleges and universities, and juvenile detention facilities, we are able to offer this program in these communities at no-cost.
The CDF Freedom Schools program enhances children’s motivation to read and makes them feel good about learning. At the same time, the program connects families to the right resources in their communities. Freedom School students engage in a research-based, multicultural Integrated Reading Curriculum that supports them and their families through five essential components:
- High quality academic enrichment
- Parent and family development
- Civic engagement and social action
- Intergenerational servant leadership development
- Nutrition, health and mental health
Students also receive two nutritious meals and a snack daily, as well as a book each week to build their home libraries.
We believe in an intergenerational leadership model. That’s why our program is staffed primarily by college students and recent college graduates, with a 10:1 child to adult ratio. As a result, many children and youth make significant gains in reading achievement and don’t experience any summer learning loss.
California CDF Freedom School Sites 2019
Community Coalition
Alma Isidoro
Los Angeles, California 90044
(323) 806-9347
alma.isid@gmail.com
LA County Office of Education (LACOE)
Ebony Nichols
(310) 404-6520
Nicholson_Ebony@lacoe.edu
Operation Secret Smile – Perris 5th Street SDA Church
Stacey Forde
Perris, California 92570
(951) 212-8518
operationsecretsmile@gmail.co,
Open Door United Methodist Church
Tiara Phalon
Richmond, California 94805
(510) 992-3586
darlingtiara87@gmail.com
Lincoln Families
Ocie Parks
Oakland, California 94607
(510) 407-0676
ocieparks@lincolnfamilies.org
PasadenaLEARNs After School Program
Courtney Linsey
Pasadena, California 91109
(909) 973-4616
Linsey.courtney@pusd.us
Third Baptist Church of San Francisco
Whitney White
San Francisco, California 94103
d.getwhitit@gmail.com
Roberts Family Development Center
Elliot Davis
Sacramento, California 95815
(916) 646-6631
elliotd_rfdc@yahoo.com
Success in Challenges, Inc.
Vicki Olivares
Long Beach, California 90807
(323) 448-7590
vickiolivares@gmail.com
Bayside MLK Junior Academy – The Hannah Project
Phillip Logan
Sausalito, California 94965
(415) 887-9740
pndlogan@gmail.com
Our Impact Nationally
Since 1995, more than 150,000 children (K–12) have had the CDF Freedom Schools® experience, and more than 17,000 young adults and child advocates have been trained on the delivery of the CDF Freedom Schools model, which has expanded to 182 program sites nation-wide.
2017 Data: Children Served by State
2017 Data: Children Served by Race/Ethnicity
The CDF Freedom Schools® program has made a statistically-significant and practically-significant positive impact on students in several ways. In 2017, almost all students either improved (56.2 percent) or maintained (27.8 percent) their reading skills over the course of the six-week program, and avoided the two-month summer learning loss suffered by children not participating in summer enrichment. Students reading below grade level at the beginning of the summer experienced the greatest gains.