Mayor Bowser Awards Inaugural My Afterschool DC Grant to Rocketship DC

by Candice Bobo, Rocketship DC Executive Director

I am proud to announce that Mayor Bowser has awarded Rocketship DC a My Afterschool DC grant to support our afterschool programming at Rocketship Rise Academy! Rocketship DC will receive a multi-year grant of $750K over two years, with a third year of funding highly probable ($375K), to expand access to our high-quality afterschool program at Rocketship Rise in Ward 8.

The program will offer High-Impact Tutoring (HIT) in both reading and math in partnership with Northstar Tutoring and emphasize Creative Youth Development (CYD) in partnership with Project Create. The CYD activities, specializing both visual and theatrical arts, will provide enrichment, social-emotional development, art therapy, and co-curricular field trips for participating Rocketeers.

“My Afterschool DC recognizes that one way we can help students and families is by making engaging afterschool programs free and accessible,” said Mayor Bowser. “When students have great programming during school and after school, we know that benefits their learning and social and emotional well-being, it keeps them safe, and it gives kids one more reason to be excited about coming to school.”

This award recognizes the incredible work of our schools to truly serve as community schools – taking care of our students, families, and neighborhoods both inside and outside of the classroom.

“By eliminating waitlists for out-of-school time programming at 18 priority schools and helping to close the gap in access at three more, these incredible organizations are truly delivering on what we set out to accomplish with My Afterschool DC,” said Paul Kihn, Deputy Mayor for Education.

Special thanks to our Director of Development, Knox Phillips, who led proposal development; Rocketship Rise Principal, Shawn Ellison and Business Operations Manager, Rakeisha Heckstall; and our Director of Strategic Partnerships, Tamika Joyner-Lewis, for their vital contributions with program design.

Published on January 31, 2024