Raising $1000 for LitLab

 Since  I co-founded LitLab in 2014 we have run several successful EdTech programs, reaching 10,000+ low-income and emergent bilingual families. Our overarching goal is to influence parent engagement in early learning, so all children start school strong. We target at risk families to decrease 3rd grade illiteracy rates from 78% to 20% or less, positioning parents as empowered agents directing their children’s learning. We believe that through reading, talking, singing, and imaginative play in their home language, parents can become their children’s key to academic success.

The problem we solve is that children who don’t reach literacy proficiency by 3rd grade are 13x more likely to drop out of high school, perpetuating the poverty cycle and the entrenched opportunity gap. COVID-19 exacerbates existing knowledge loss trends known as ‘summer slide’. For low-income and emergent bilingual families, those most likely to have children already behind in school and the groups hardest hit by the health/economic impacts of this pandemic, learning loss on top of the heightened instability brought on by overcrowded housing, poor nutrition, other health concerns, and job loss threatens to have an overwhelming impact on mental health. Up to 75,000 Americans are projected to die “deaths of despair” if the necessary support services aren’t provided (www.wellbeingtrust.org).

Kidappolis is LitLab’s mobile app created to keep children, especially those in crisis, on target for early reading and math success while aiding family stability to foster healthier, more available parents and caregivers able to support children’s learning. Children well prepared for school retain confidence and a sense of well-being throughout the school year, despite disruption. But with COVID-19, the world has changed. Kidappolis has become a vital home learning tool for children without home internet/computers. Adults access kidappolis from any mobile phone/device, receiving SMS/text messages about skill growth, COVID-19 safety, family services, emergency resources, and virtual events, all by location to target families with local support. Those receiving these messages stabilize. Local resources improve overall family wellness, so children can grow successful and healthy.