3:38pm | The 2011 Long Beach Freedom School will hold their Annual Closing Ceremony event on Thursday, August 18th to mark the end of their summer program. This complimentary event will take place at the Barton Elementary School Auditorium, located at 1100 East Del Amo Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90807, and will recognize the art and academic achievements of the 2011 Long Beach Freedom School Scholars. Mayor Bob Foster will be featured as the Guest Speaker.
The event marks the end of a summer program that exposes Long Beach youth, ages six to fourteen, to various off-site field trips, learning activities, and guest readers. The theme for 2011 was “Freedom Riders to Freedom Schools”, paying homage to the onset of Freedom Schools during the Civil Rights Movement.
In 2005, the Long Beach Freedom School, a six-week enrichment program that is part of the national Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School’s Program, became the first Freedom School established in Southern California. The program targets inner-city youth who come from low and moderate-income homes and is specifically designed to enhance the youth’s interest in reading, develop positive attitudes toward learning, cultivate self-esteem and overall connect the needs of their families to local resources. The core belief of this instructional model is that all children are capable of achieving.
The Long Beach Freedom School is a significant entity of Success in Challenges, Inc. a Long Beach-based, 501 c3 nonprofit grassroots social service that boasts on its mission to support community youth and adults, more specifically specializing in reaching today’s youth.