High-quality summer camps and educational support for children. Financial education for caregivers.

Summer Care began in 2005 to assist low-income, working families with childcare. The program has evolved to its current form, impacting youth education goals and adult financial stability. Children attend one of our carefully selected summer camps in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Manatee, Sarasota, or DeSoto counties. Summer Care’s objectives are:

To address summer learning loss disparities of ALICE children
To provide accessible, no-cost, enriching summer camps/childcare during the summer for ALICE families
To provide reading support during the summer camps/childcare
To provide financial resources to the parents/caregivers

Every child at participating summer camps receives a Summer Bridge Activity book. This award-winning curriculum reinforces basic skills and prepares children for the next school year.

This past summer, UWS partnered with 13 partners at 27 sites across Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and invested $450,000 in youth scholarships.

1,882 children received daily academic activities with the Summer Bridge Book curriculum. Pre- and post-test scores across all grades and sites showed that 87% of students maintained or grew their academic skills.

634 children received scholarships to high-quality summer programs.

402 caregivers whose children attended Summer Care received financial education resources.

Students spent a collective 24,180 hours working in Bridge Books and an additional 6,336 hours working with tutors.

264 children received the support of a tutor during the summer, with 91% of students with a pre/post assessment increasing their literacy skills and 97% maintaining or growing over the summer.