Update on the Rising Together Campaign and School Year

As August wraps up and we look forward to welcoming students back for the new school year, we wanted to provide a quick update to our network about our plans for this school year. 

When our AmeriCorps grant was cut as the result of federal funding cuts in April, we thought we would have to cut 1 in 3 of our students. Then, our community stood up and rallied behind Aspire.We received generous donations from supporters like you in response to our Rising Together Campaign. Aspire was featured in news coverage, including The Washington Post, CNN, and NBC4. Our students organized a lemonade stand to raise funds. And over 15 of our community partners signed on to a letter of support for Aspire.

Because of the incredible support we received, we were able to finish the 2024-2025 school year serving 140 students, serve a record 140 students during the summer, and we plan to serve 120 students this school year – far more than we could’ve imagined back on April 28th when we got the devastating news about the AmeriCorps cuts. We are in the process of hiring new staff members, almost all of whom are former AmeriCorps members, who will help us operate 7 classrooms.

All of this is amazing news, but as of now, we still have one empty classroom that we are not able to staff due to the federal funding cuts. This comes at a time when we already have a heartbreaking 73 students on our waitlist who want to attend Aspire, but for whom we do not have the space.

We know how important Aspire’s support is to students with nowhere else to go, and we will continue working to open our remaining classroom and serve students through robust, enriching learning opportunities. 

You can read through our annual report of the 2024-2025 program year, which features highlights from students, stories from parents, and photos from classrooms. Aspire has faced many challenges in the past few months, but our students have shown amazing growth and we are proud of everything they have accomplished. 

We have been truly blown away by the amount of love, support, and care that our supporters have shown for our students. Thank you for being part of this community.

Please reach out to Paula Fynboh with questions.

Media Contact: 

Paula Fynboh, Executive Director, paula@aspireafterschool.org, 202-813-2140