Low-tech edition
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Originally published 11:15 a.m., May 28, 2008
Updated 01:08 p.m., May 28, 2008
A $700,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation will finance Kansas University research to help the Boys & Girls Clubs of America bolster its after-school tutoring program.
Company representatives joined KU officials and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for the formal announcement at 1 p.m. today at Wal-Mart, 3300 Iowa St. About 100 people attended the ceremony.
The grant will finance work at KU’s Center for Research on Learning, which is developing a curriculum for the club’s “Power Hour” program.
The program engages club staffers, volunteers and members in homework assistance offered during after-school hours for children ages 6 to 18. The effort is designed to motivate and improve students’ homework skills, and to encourage them to feel good about their accomplishments.
Janet Murphy, executive director for the Boys & Girls Club in Lawrence, said she was unfamiliar with the amount of money being donated but was certain it would make a difference. Her organization’s national office will select five pilot sites for using the curriculum to be developed by the KU center, and Murphy fully expects the results to be positive.
In Lawrence, all 1,200 children and teens who participate in club programs each day take part in Power Hour.
“As they design these programs, and come up with new ideas for Power Hour, we can help them with their homework and help them be more academically successful,” Murphy said.
The grant announced today is in addition to another $1.2 million grant that Wal-Mart announced in March for the club’s “Power Hour” program.
— Business editor Mark Fagan can be reached at 832-7188.
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