Nashville, TN – April 30, 2020 – In light of COVID-19, Project Transformation Tennessee will pivot their summer day camp program in 2020 to offer virtual programming and in-person supply distribution. For the last several weeks, leaders have been listening to the needs of our communities, closely monitoring guidelines from local and federal leaders, and working diligently with our community partners to plan a response to the current public health emergency.
“Our summer may look different, but our mission hasn’t changed,” says Courtney Aldrich, Executive Director of Project Transformation Tennessee. “We are more determined than ever to harness the energy of our community to meet pressing needs during this crisis.”
Project Transformation Tennessee will provide 8-week virtual summer programming (June 1 – July 23) for children and youth in collaboration with Project Transformation National, the network of Project Transformation chapters, and community partners. They anticipate serving 700 children and youth, grades 1 – 8, during summer 2020.
This re-envisioned program will include: 1) distribution of supplies, food, books, and other fun and educational resources, and 2) engaging videos and interactive learning sessions focused on social-emotional learning, reading, and camp-like enrichment activities. In addition to our programs for children and youth, Project Transformation plans to coordinate daily and weekly vocational discernment experiences for college-age young adults across the state.
This pandemic continues to highlight and widen societal inequities, further marginalizing already vulnerable communities. Families with fewer financial resources are being impacted disproportionately as they struggle with food insecurity, unemployment, and insufficient digital access and learning opportunities for their children. This is why Project Transformation is prioritizing the distribution of food, books, fun and educational activities, art supplies, as well as virtual mentoring and peer-to-peer support focusing on social emotional interventions wherever possible.
Registration for the program begins on May 4. Project Transformation is currently accepting donations of new books and supplies to be distributed to children this summer. To learn more, please visit www.pttennessee.org or contact Taylor Davenport at davenport@pttennessee.org.
