Better Basics

21st Century Community Learning Centers serves pre-k-12th-grade students in Fairfield City schools, Tarrant and Selma, AL. Our goal is to advance learning and curiosity in a nurturing environment during out-of-school hours for a gamut of students residing in an under-resourced community. During the 2022-23 academic year, we reached 238 pre-K and elementary students and 139 middle and high-school students. The HOPE 2023 summer program served 151 prek and elementary students.

Our book distribution projects put thousands of quality books in children's hands in underserved neighborhoods. Dolly Parton's Imagination Library distributes free, high-interest, age-appropriate books each month to 10,000 children aged birth through five - distributing over 100,00 books per year. Better Basics manages and funds DPIL for Jefferson and Walker counties, AL.Better Basics Reads mobilizes hundreds of volunteers in single-day events to read to over 13,000 students. Sites include elementary classrooms in each school system we serve. Each child receives a copy of the book read. Book Nooks by Better Basics are mini-libraries placed in underserved neighborhoods and stocked with free children's books for kids to keep. We install and keep these 29 structures supplied across Central Alabama. Books for Birmingham is a community-wide book distribution program operating year-round. Through partnerships with grassroots organizations, we put at least 5000 quality new books into the hands of children most at risk.

Reading Intervention helps elementary students grow phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension skills in groups of three to four. RI positions students to reach grade level on state testing. Trained, certified teachers met three times per week over 20 weeks with 374 kindergarten through fourth-grade students. We extended students' reading enjoyment and skill by gifting the cohort with 3668 quality children's books. For 2022-23, our RI students advanced 1.37 grade levels on average, with many advancing multiple grade levels.Mathematics Intervention helps elementary-school students grow mathematical-reasoning skills foundational to future success in STEM fields in groups of three to four students. Trained, certified teachers met three times per week over 20 weeks with 322 first through third-grade students. We extended students' reading enjoyment and skill by gifting the cohort with 3438 quality children's books. For 2022-23, Math concepts mastered by our MI students grew by 43.3 percentage points.