Supporting students to overcome educational inequities in the Greater Philadelphia area

Our Model

Each Horizons site operates a tuition free six-week summer academic and enrichment program for students who attend Philadelphia public and charter schools. Each day is filled with academic instruction, enrichment activities, swimming lessons, and social-emotional support. 

Summer Program
Horizons programming helps students to grow in their reading, math and social-emotional skills through the following program components:

  • Literacy & Math Instruction                                                                                     
    • Our students spend a significant portion of their day on literacy skill-building and math skill-building through classroom instruction, small group work, and both reading and math specialist interventions. Class sizes are small with a 5:1 student to teacher ratio.
  • Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM)
    • Core academic blocks are complemented by electives such as art, science, technology, and coding.
  • Mental Wellbeing and Social-emotional Learning (SEL)
    • Each site uses trauma-informed practices, explicit SEL curricular tools, and counseling support to bolster mental health.  
  • Experiential Learning
    • Our students participate in one off-campus field trip per week, offering opportunities for hands-on learning that reinforces classroom instruction and expands students’ understanding of their community. 
  • Swimming
    • All Horizons students learn to swim with the goal of achieving proficiency by their 8th grade year. Swimming is not only fun, but also builds an important, life-saving skill. The need for water safety and swimming instruction is particularly acute in Black and brown communities, for which the youth drowning rate is often 2-3 times higher than the national average. According to research conducted by the USA Swimming Foundation and the University of Memphis, 60-70% of African-American and Latino children cannot swim, and only 13% of children who come from a non-swimming home learn to swim in their lifetime.

School Year Programming
Our four host sites hold school-year programs from September to May that range from afterschool programming 1-3 times a week –including literacy support, enrichment, and counseling– and/or quarterly Saturday sessions with activities, counseling, service opportunities, academic enrichment, and family engagement. These programs support students' needs throughout the school year and allow families to build strong relationships with Horizons staff, promoting trusting relationships and stronger academic outcomes.