Horizons at Foote Receives Surprise $10,000 NewAlliance Foundation High Impact Literacy Award

Posted on 5/11/2023

Horizons at Foote was presented on Thursday, May 4 with a surprise grant award of $10,000 from NewAlliance Foundation. The “Hi-5” High Impact Literacy Award is granted annually to an organization in the NewAlliance Foundation service area that embodies five attributes the Foundation wishes to honor in the field of literacy: vision, responsiveness, innovation, spirit and results. 

NewAlliance Foundation is an independent charitable foundation headquartered in the culturally and ethnically rich community of New Haven. Their mission is to advance literacy, build communities, and dismantle systems that perpetuate poverty and racism.

“At Horizons we work hard to create a love of learning by returning students to a place we're all familiar with: being engaged in storytelling and immersed in new worlds." explains Rashana Graham, Horizons at Foote Executive Director. "Thank you, NewAlliance, for seeing our vision and helping it come to fruition with the Hi-5 Award.”

Horizons’ supports literacy for K-8 students in various ways, including:

• As an evidence-based program, Horizons at Foote uses nationally recognized STAR data to assess students’ reading levels at the beginning and end of each summer. Students consistently demonstrate 2-4 months gains in literacy during their six weeks at Horizons.
  
  
• A full-time Reading Specialist develops individualized support strategies for students based on both test data and each students’ unique personality and learning style.
  
  
• Horizons at Foote provides educators with the freedom of teaching without a set curriculum. Allowing teachers and staff to curate their own current, multicultural instructional materials around the interests and literacy levels of Horizons students is essential to classroom success.
  
  
• Each week, students select 3-5 books from the “Horizons at Foote Book Fair” to build their home libraries, complete with cute & commemorative book plates for their names - a highlight of the summer for many!
  
  
• Outside the summer, Horizons partnered with the New Haven chapter of The Links to host a virtual book club, where students met weekly to recap & discuss themes. Fall 2023 will also bring the return of Saturday Academies, where students can get additional tutoring in reading & writing. 

“For almost ten years, Horizons scholars have returned to school excited to learn, with the viewpoint of what’s possible and finding a path to success.” Director of Programs at NewAlliance Foundation LaKisha Jordan states. “They'll graduate high school with life skills that prepare them to contribute to their communities and navigate the world. We are proud to recognize their commitment to literacy and the impact they are having on the lives of New Haven public school students.”