The upcoming 2020-2021 school year will be different for every student across the globe. For youth on Hawaii Island, part of this difference will be the decreased amount of face-to-face education they would have with their teachers. Due to the pandemic, our youth would have reduced school days, hybrid classes that require to meet online, or simply receive "take-home" packets to work by themselves. For many families, this solution causes several worries. 

Learning online and working on schoolwork at home would be the safest solution, unfortunately, it is difficult to accomplish for many families. Access to a computer, stable internet or even homework help is limited for many low-income households. Recent surveys from the DOE revealed that in SY 2019-2020, the two months lost due to the pandemic negatively affected many student's education. With less time physically in school, youth from low-income households risk losing more opportunities to learn and fully grasp their education.

To provide academic support Boys & Girls Club of the Big Island proposes to establish a "Mobile Outreach Youth Support Program" where we offer tutoring services to our youth in the areas of Ocean View, Pahala, greater Kaʻu region, Puna, Pahoa, Keaʻau, Hilo, Kealakehe, and UluWini-Kona.

Our goal is to assist first responders' children, teachers' children, identified homeless, and poverty-level minority youth that:

• Are unable to independently conduct the “take-home” weekly homework packets that are issued by public schools
• Do not have the family support network at home that can assist children with homework assignments and required educational lessons
• That are not equipped with the utility infrastructure at their residence (i.e. electricity, internet connectivity, computer access, printing capability, video bandwidth) to participate in distance learning school hosted activities
• Do not have access to a conducive space and study furniture to conduct school work activities while at-home on mandatory off-campus rotation
• Have barriers in securing the transportation needed to pick up weekly homework materials and to drop off completed school assignments
• Are living with caregivers that do not speak English
• And for children that are not English first-language speakers

BGCBI Academic Tutors would visit our youth's homes and provide an hour of homework help and resources to youths throughout the entire academic school year. Youths and tutors would be properly distanced to accommodate health and safety protocols by conducting the tutoring from the comfort of our pop-up learning tent.

Our Team of full-time academic support tutors will conduct youth engagement support activities 5-days a week (M-F) throughout the DOE academic school year, each day driving BGCBI’s mobile outreach vehicles direct to the childʻs identified community and home area location where academic support services and social-emotional resources will be provided. Each vehicle and Team will be properly trained and equipped with the necessary tools to clean and sanitize all materials used after every tutoring session to prevent the risk of contamination. BGCBI will ensure that the youth and our staff feel safe during the entirety of the tutoring session.

We at BGCBI understand education is a large contributor to the success of an individual. We want to ensure that all our youths on the Big Island all the support they need to reach academic success.

This petition will be used to determine the need for such a program within Hawaii Island. By signing this petition, you recognize and support the establishment of such a program to be a positive impact on our youth's education.