Ten years ago, two college students came up with a simple idea. These students believed that universities could provide crucial resources to combat illiteracy and school failure among children at the earliest point of intervention – preschool. And Jumpstart was born.

Now in 17 cities, Jumpstart pairs highly-trained college students with preschool children struggling in Head Start and other early learning programs for one-to-one tutoring in school readiness skills. Jumpstart’s strategy is to provide a high- quality, comprehensive program that focuses on the development of the child, his/her family, and the college student serving as an AmeriCorps member. Through these 3 program areas – school success, family involvement and future teachers, Jumpstart works to create an environment of life-long learning for children. It is working: in 2003 Jumpstart trained and supervised 200 Corps members to work with children over a 12-month period, spending over 600 hours teaching 700 children. Pre- and post-year evaluations show statistically significant gains for Jumpstart- participating children, bringing them in line with the skills of non-Jumpstart participants. No child should be left behind, and Jumpstart is working to ensure that this is true for needy students in Massachusetts. If you believe in the power of education, and the promise of collaboration, please help.