Ways to Give

Supporting Excellence: Giving to Jumoke

On test after test, Jumoke Academy Charter Schools students have kept pace with or outperformed their peers from more affluent suburbs. Their success continues to demonstrate that America’s “achievement gap” need not exist. And unlike many public charter schools, Jumoke Academy has thrived solely on its financial allocation from the state, which itself is set at approximately 68 percent of what urban school districts receive. Jumoke has truly done more with less.

Yet, our financial well-being has come under stress in recent years. We just entered our fourth year without an increase in funding from the state during a time when the cost of living continues to increase in Connecticut and to raise our own costs. Without other resources, we won’t be able to continue providing children in our community the education, character, and social skills necessary to make our society a better place.

We also think about the future. Tomorrow’s students will need to do more than ace a math exam or pass a reading test. They will need to adapt to an interconnected world and a global economy. Educating children for this era involves the kind of academic and extracurricular enrichment generally only available to students in wealthier suburbs. Accordingly, we want to provide courses in foreign languages and engineering, and to see our children partake in afterschool clubs such as robotics or drama or debate. We aspire to offer more athletic programs than our current offerings of cross-country and basketball. And, of course, we dream of serving more students, of replicating our success in partnership with Hartford Public Schools so that every Hartford student has the opportunity to attend an excellent school.

At Jumoke, we often say, One voice! One sound! Excellence! The idea is that together, many voices will combine to make one sound, revealing one true identity. Your gift will contribute innumerably to our character and to our excellence. Thank you.