San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and State Superintendent Tom Torlakson launched the Summer Matters 2012 campaign on Monday in an effort to further bolster summertime learning across California youth.
Lee said that the program, first implemented last year, will continue to address the “summer learning loss” that leads to children falling behind during the summer months.
The San Francisco Department of Children, Youth & Their Families will leverage public and private resources to enhance summer program offerings for low-income children and youth.
“The 21st century economy is going to demand higher skills,” Lee said. “We’ve got to create hope… to meld the goals of business and economy with education in the 21st century,” Lee said.
San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Carlos Garcia said the launch was a collaborative effort organized by the Partnership for Children, a Bay Area-based nonprofit.
“We’re out there to provide opportunities for students that, quite frankly, the state is too cheap to fund,” Garcia said.
To help young people have a chance at employment, the city of San Francisco also launched an initiative to create 5,000 summer jobs and paid internships for city youth through its San Francisco Summer Jobs+ program, paying participants a summer stipend of $2,500 and encouraging pathways to employment.
Hannah Albarazi, Bay City News
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