Dear John,

I am thrilled to share some fantastic news with you! The Louisiana Kids Matter Campaign has been selected from nearly a dozen state applicants to receive a $1 million grant for the purpose of integrating high-impact tutoring into the school day during the 2023-24 academic year. The grant comes from the States Leading Recovery program at Accelerate, a national nonprofit organization working to make effective tutoring a standard feature of the American school day.

Accelerate’s States Leading Recovery program is designed to help states like Louisiana adopt evidence-based tutoring models and address academic gaps by ensuring students receive effective individualized instruction. In addition to the $1 million in funding, Accelerate will provide all States Leading Recovery grantees with implementation support. Louisiana’s new initiative will invest a total of $2 million in scaling high-impact tutoring, as all grantees were also required to match the $1 million grant with public or philanthropic funds. 

It’s the next step forward to delivering on our belief every child should have access to high dosage tutoring and our work with a multitude of stakeholders to ensure that belief becomes reality for all American children.

"I am incredibly grateful and excited for this partnership with Accelerate and the Louisiana Department of Education. Research shows tutoring is one of the best ways for students to recover from learning loss incurred during the pandemic. The million dollar grant that Accelerate is investing in our state will make a real difference for Louisiana's kids, and I can't wait to see the positive changes this program will bring for our students," said Kelli Bottger.

At 50CAN, we’ve seen over the past few years the incredible impact that tutoring can have on students, and as a result it's a core part of Believe in Better, our five promises to the country’s children. With this new partnership, we’re eager to learn new lessons on how advocates can partner with both government and other nonprofits to meet the needs of our students, so that these lessons can be applied across the country.

We’ll continue to provide updates throughout the year as the program and partnership advances. Together, we’ll create a brighter future for the children of Louisiana and the nation.