Overview

In July 2020, Safe Passage acquired the Super Stars Literacy Program previously operated by the non-profit organization of the same name. Safe Passages has been dedicated to serving Oakland’s students and their families for over two decades. We implement a continuum of services birth through college and career serving over 4200 students and families each year. We offer a robust menu of services that support academic success and social-emotional development for children of color. We implement successful literacy, academic support, and enrichment programs preschool through 12 grades at many schools in Oakland and Alameda County.

COVID-19 dramatically changed our world, including the way we support learning. Since shelter in place in March, Safe Passages reorganized our service delivery model to meet the pressing and urgent needs of our families and children. With unprecedented rates of unemployment, the financial fallout of this pandemic particularly impacts low-wage, hourly employees who tend to have less job security than salaried workers and, due to the nature of their work, tend to have less money in savings.

For this reason, as we roll out the Super Stars Literacy program this school year, we will equally focus on ensuring that students and their families have basic needs met, including food security and mental health supports. The Safe Passages Super Stars Literacy program includes:

  1. Food distributions through partnerships with the Alameda County Food Bank and school partners and hundreds of community volunteers.
  2. Computer training for families to support virtual learning.
  3. Support for families in their own languages to complete forms for EDD Unemployment Insurance, Undocumented Residence Unemployment programs, CalFresh, and other non-governmental financial support services.
  4. Continued development and training of the Super Stars Literacy AmeriCorps team in best practice virtual learning techniques, lesson planning, and teacher collaboration. Our staff is experienced in the development and implementation of services across many virtual platforms, including but not limited to, Google Classroom, Zoom, Seasaw, and Youtube. Our staff has successfully collaborated with teachers and administrators to deliver virtual literacy and other academic interventions during the regular day and after school.
  5. Implementation of a site-specific COVID-19 protection plan that ensures all SSL staff is properly trained and has the right equipment to start face to face interventions at school sites once schools reopen.

Who We Serve

This year, Safe Passages will implement the expanded Safe Passages Super Stars Literacy model at six partnering schools in Oakland, Emeryville and Union City, and will serve approximately 200 children and their families and recruit and train 18 AmeriCorps Members to serve as academic tutors.

Oakland Unified School District schools:
Bridges at Melrose Elementary School
Esperanza Elementary School
Laurel Elementary School

Emery Unified School District:
Anna Yates TK-8th School

New Haven Unified School District:
Searles Elementary School
Guy Emanuele Elementary School

Our Goals

The Safe Passages Super Stars Literacy Program, and with all of our School based K-12 programs, are designed to improve the following youth development outcomes and indicators:

  1. Positive, connectivity with school, peers and adults.
  2.  Youth build a sense of mastery and accomplishment of new skills.
  3. Youth will increase sense of self and self-esteem and will improve their communication and social skills.
  4. Youth improve their academic performance, with a special emphasis on early literacy and family literacy.
  5. Increase family Involvement with children’s school.