The Issue: Poverty Often Puts Kids Behind in School

According to Horton’s Kids, an organization that serves children from low-income backgrounds, approximately 98 percent of the households in the neighborhoods it serves live on incomes of less than $10,000 a year. Additionally, all of its schools qualify as “in need of improvement” under the No Child Left Behind Act, and many of the students have fallen two or three grade levels behind.

The Campaign: Provide Books and Literacy Resources for Kids

If this Grassroots campaign raises $500, then Horton’s Kids can fund books and literacy resources for 80 local children participating in its tutoring program. Each additional $25 raised will fund books and literacy resources for four more children. Three times a week, more than 125 participating students aged 5–19 travel to congressional office buildings and the U.S. Department of Education headquarters to work one-on-one with Horton’s Kids’ volunteer tutors, with the goal to reach their target DCPS literacy and math standards.

You can follow the progress of this and other Grassroots campaigns at the Groupon Grassroots website.