Aspire Afterschool Learning

Aspire was founded in 1994 as Greenbrier Learning Center, a grassroots effort to provide afterschool learning programs for elementary school students in South Arlington. At that time, the community was welcoming a lot of new immigrants and refugees, and was looking for opportunities to support them and other historically underserved members of the community. Throughout Aspire’s history, we have harnessed deep community connections, taken a student/family-centered approach, and expanded and evolved our holistic programming to meet community needs, deepen our programming, and support more students. Even as we have grown, we have maintained highly personalized programming that is achieving real results for children in South Arlington who are most impacted by the opportunity gap.

Aspire expands learning opportunities to help historically underserved 3rd through 8th grade students in South Arlington fulfill their potential through afterschool and summer learning programs. Aspire is committed to closing the opportunity gap and offers our programs at no cost to families. Our Learning ROCKS afterschool and summer programs provide high-quality educational support. During the school year, students participate in at least 30 minutes of dedicated reading activities, a social-emotional lesson, and a lesson on topics like literacy, STEAM, culture & current events, health, and nutrition. They also receive homework support; individualized tutoring and support with foundational skills, phonics, and math; and a hot meal. We use evidence-based methods to ensure that each student receives personalized support based on their goals, needs, and learning styles. We build a deeply supportive environment that prioritizes students' well-being and mental health. Our summer camp themes and curriculum build upon the afterschool programming, reinforce concepts from the school curriculum, and emphasize experiential learning opportunities that focus on skills like problem-solving, inquiry, reasoning, and collaboration. Programming includes hands-on learning projects, a daily hot meal, educational field trips, and opportunities for unstructured play. Aspire also works with schools to provide in-school support during the day. We also provide parent support, connecting families to local resources and organizing workshops on topics that help parents support their children’s learning.