We stopped by the United Way HQ recently to meet with Kelsey Boire, Ignite Academy Community Coordinator, to present her with our continuing support for Ignite Academy.
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Ignite Academy is the first community-designed Cradle to Career solution from ProsperUs. Aimed to bolster literacy and math competencies, the program operates after school four days a week, targeting students from grades 2-7. The participating schools are in priority neighbourhoods with the highest rates of childhood poverty: West Windsor, Downtown Windsor, and Leamington.
Children in priority neighbourhoods are farther behind in reading, writing, and math than their peers in more affluent neighbourhoods. Compounding the issue, these families frequently grapple with economic hardships, including low income, food, and housing insecurities, among other socioeconomic barriers.
Neighbourhood residents, front-line service providers, and subject matter experts collaboratively created Ignite Academy to address some of these concerns. Adopting a human-centred design approach, residents pinpointed the obstacles hindering their children’s foundational education. This collaborative effort then carved out a new model for after school programming, which resulted in the creation of Ignite Academy.