To support families and students with remote instruction and distance learning, Just Communities has created Learning Pods, a community-based learning model to provide support to Santa Barbara and Goleta’s most vulnerable students and families.
Through this project we are able to support local school districts, by providing families who are facing economic challenges, and are currently unable to access childcare, private tutoring, or assist with online learning. In the initial week of this project, we found students who were logging into their classrooms for the first time due to lack of connectivity.
Just Communities' Learning Pods equitably supports our most vulnerable students and their families by providing this opportunity at zero cost. Through a referral-based process we are able to work with community partners, such as Hospice of Santa Barbara, P.A.L., and other organizations to identify and support families most in need. Our Learning Pods also provide personalized support to students by keeping a 5:1 ratio per pod to enhance more individualized support for all students. We also have fantastic contracted volunteers that encourage and ensure that all students in our pods participate in physical education activities and have a safe and open space to do it.
During this time of financial uncertainty, we are offering our volunteers a living wage stipend for their labor and time, as they provide much needed support for students and their families.
We currently have a waiting list of over 50 students, with your help we can meet the demand and continue offering a living wage stipend to our volunteers like, Lilsy Hernandez Recinos, who is a mother of two boys who are participating in the Learning Pods and who attend Adams Elementary School in Santa Barbara Unified.
