Over 20 Years of Expanding Horizons
Growing Up Together
When you’re a Horizons student, you’re a Horizons student for life! What our Students Say They Like Best about Horizons Being welcomed by staff when our bus pulls in. Calling our teachers by their first name (“Mr. Chris”). Eating our lunch together family style. Learning to swim. Acknowledging our accomplishments in assembly. Being a “buddy reader” for younger kids. Showing our parents what we can do on parents’ night. Going on field trips. Getting better at reading and math. Becoming a leader. Growing up together.
“I would never leave my friends and teachers... I think that Horizons is my heart.” – 4th Grade Horizons Student
Inspiring Minds
We believe all children, regardless of income, should have the opportunity to realize their potential. Horizons programs help make that happen. All across the country, low-income students discover the joy of learning, skills for success, and inspiration to achieve their dreams. Students begin their Horizons journey as early as pre-Kindergarten and return year after year through high school – it’s a long-term and deep engagement with students who come to us with a broad range of academic ability. Given this opportunity, Horizons students thrive.
HORIZONS BY THE NUMBERS
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Weeks of average gain in literacy each summer for students below grade level
In the project-based Horizons approach, kids “learn by doing.” They become inspired as they explore music, theater, art, swimming, and other activities that cultivate creativity and leadership. And it works – once a student is enrolled in Horizons, anything seems possible.
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Percentage of Horizons students and families who continue year after year
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Percentage of Horizons high school students who graduate
Inspiring Teachers “Being a part of Horizons to me is being part of a family. When I think of Horizons, I don’t think of the teaching. I think of how the teachers and students are learning and exploring together. I think of the relationships we build with our students and with our families. I think of the partnerships we have with the public schools, how our students continue their journey...” – Horizons Teacher
Building Community
Excellent teachers are the core of every Horizons program. Each Horizons classroom is led by a professional teacher, with public and private educators working together to provide a low student-to-teacher ratio of 5:1. We’ve found that happy, inspired teachers make for happy, inspired students. In fact, Horizons graduates often return as Horizons teaching assistants, and many pursue careers in education.
In their words: A Horizons Teacher Chris Guidarelli teaches at PS 307 during the school year, and in summer teaches in the Horizons program at Brooklyn Friends School, where he’s also the Horizons middle school coordinator. “We see the way the world treats our students; I see the way that society treats them… I know Horizons treats them differently. Horizons treats them with respect and recognizes them for the people that they are. Because of Horizons, I have seen my students learn to swim, learn to read sheet music, learn to computer engineer, keep up on their studies after school and throughout summer – to me, that is equity. I have learned that enrichment is for all children, and when given those enrichment opportunities, our children will meet the expectations set for them and actually go way beyond them. This isn’t just something cute for kids to do in the summer, it is something they need and deserve.”
Horizons is first and foremost a community. We make a long-term commitment to our students and their families. Beyond offering a great summer experience, Horizons opens students to a sustainable community of learning where they can build ongoing relationships with their teachers and peers year after year. It becomes a cornerstone of their lives. By creating new partnerships between public schools, private schools, higher-education institutions, and families, this community of learning helps guide students onto a path of success.
OVER 20 YEARS OF EXPANDING HORIZONS
‘95-98 GOING NATIONAL
U Horizons National forms to bring Horizons to new communities, and two new programs are added.
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“More and more research is suggesting that, far from being simply encoded in the genes, much of personality is a flexible and dynamic thing that changes over the life span and is shaped by experience.” – Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
Transforming Lives
Through Horizons, students develop a love of learning... …and that ignites all kinds of new possibilities. Better grades. Graduating from high school. College. Career. Leadership. Right from the start, Horizons students begin to grasp that these once-distant goals are actually attainable. A love of learning becomes a way of life.
“If you ever get the chance to be involved with this program, in any way, do it! Because it changes you and it changes all the people around you, by you being there.”
In their words: A Horizons Graduate As a Horizons student, Kevin Thompson learned to swim, and eventually became a state champion diver, earning a scholarship to the University of Connecticut. After obtaining his master’s degree, Kevin became a teacher and is now the director of the high school program at Horizons at New Canaan Country School. “I thank all of the generous donors and the Horizons program for helping to make me who I am today – learning to overcome hardships and believing that I deserved to have a different kind of life than the one that seems inevitable for at-risk youth growing up in poverty. I continue to spread the messages Horizons taught me many years ago: to encourage creativity, to instill discipline, and to cherish those who put in effort, hard work and perseverance. Horizons inspires children to reach for the stars. Horizons changes lives. And I can say – from the bottom of my heart – it changed mine forever.”
– Horizons Graduate
‘99-07 BUILDING FOR GROWTH
U Continual growth builds a broader foundation. UÊBy 2007, there are 13 Horizons programs at independent schools across 9 states.
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Investing in the Future
Every donation matters… …and every dollar is accountable. Because every contribution is a tangible investment in the future. Across the country, Horizons runs entirely on contributions, grants, and donations, including in-kind donations from our affiliate locations – all told, over $17 million each year. Horizons National, based in Westport, Connecticut, works to ensure that our network and its programs continue to thrive. Here’s where Horizons National funding comes from, and here’s how we invest it...
INCOME
EXPENDITURES
Individual Board Annual Board Challenge Foundation/Corporate Other
Affiliate Support Evaluation Expansion G&A Fundraising
‘08-15 EXPANDING HORIZONS
U Horizons programs expand to serve thousands of students, pre-K through high school. U New college and university sites spur growth – by 2015, there are 45 Horizons programs. U Horizons Atlanta launches under Horizons’ new community growth model, building greater collective impact.
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What’s ahead Our ability to serve more students is limited only by the resources available. By adding 5-10 new programs each year, we expect to double our reach over the next few years. Along with our students and their families, our affiliates and their teachers, our supporters and their communities, we look forward to growing together.
Horizons is a transformational, community-centered program proven to close the opportunity and achievement gaps for low-income children. A national network of locally vested programs, Horizons offers a high-quality learning experience outside of the traditional school year that supports academic achievement and healthy youth development.
HORIZONS NATIONAL 120 Post Road West Suite 202 Westport, CT 06880 203.594.7040 www.horizonsnational.org
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Our Communities The Horizons network is coast-to-coast — over 50 sites in 17 states — and expanding rapidly. You’ll find the most up-to-date list of our affiliates at www.horizonsnational.org.
California San Francisco Friends School (San Francisco) Colorado Colorado Academy (Denver) Connecticut Brunswick School (Greenwich) The Ethel Walker School (Simsbury) Foote School (New Haven) Greens Farms Academy (Westport) New Canaan Country School (New Canaan) Norwalk Community College (Norwalk) Sacred Heart University (Fairfield) Western Connecticut State University (Danbury) Georgia Atlanta International School (Atlanta) Atlanta Technical College (Atlanta) Bethesda Academy (Savannah) Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta) Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta) Georgia State University (Atlanta) Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School (Atlanta) Kennesaw State University (Atlanta) Savannah Country Day School (Savannah) St. Andrew’s School (Savannah) Woodward Academy (Atlanta) Indiana Butler University (Indianapolis) St. Richard’s Episcopal School (Indianapolis)
Maryland The Gunston School (Centreville) Radcliffe Creek School (Chestertown) The Salisbury School (Salisbury) Salisbury University (Salisbury) Washington College (Chestertown)
Pennsylvania The Episcopal Academy (Newtown Square) Lancaster Country Day School (Lancaster)
Massachusetts Dedham Country Day School (Dedham) Lexington Montessori School (Lexington)
Texas Trinity Episcopal School (Austin)
Mississippi The University of Mississippi (Oxford) New Jersey Philip’s Academy Charter School (Newark) The Rumson Country Day School (Rumson) New Mexico Bosque School (Albuquerque) New York Brooklyn Friends School (Brooklyn) The Harley School (Rochester) Monroe Community College (Rochester) Saint David’s School (Manhattan) University of Rochester, Warner School of Education (Rochester) North Carolina The Oakwood School (Greenville)
Tennessee University School of Nashville (Nashville)
Virginia Chesapeake Bay Academy (Virginia Beach) Norfolk Collegiate School (Norfolk) Portsmouth Catholic Regional School (Portsmouth) Greater Washington, DC Maret School (Washington, DC) Norwood School (Bethesda, MD) St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School (Washington, DC)