SOAR Learning Center has announced it has received a $25,000 matching gift from the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. Following a successful fundraising campaign, The Community Foundation of Sarasota County generously matched dollar-for-dollar individual campaign donations up to $25,000. The combined grand total of $50,000 will directly fund the expansion of the SOAR Learning Center’s current facility from a 930 sq. ft.  building to a 3000 sq. ft. facility and campus.  The new Jacquelyn P. Paulk Campus, named after its founder and director, will contain four classrooms, a library, kitchen, multi-purpose homework/media room, an enclosed courtyard with an outdoor classroom and open activity areas. The target date for opening the center’s doors is Spring 2019.

SOAR Learning Center has also received a $100,000 grant from Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation. This award will fund expanded operations and programs in this critical first year of operation in the new SOAR Newtown Facility. The grant serves as foundational support to a program that has been changing educational outcomes for Sarasota children for two decades.

The SOAR program targets at-risk children early in their educational journey with a program model that is designed to assess the core reading and math needs of each child. The program was created in partnership with the Sarasota School District with an educational curriculum that supports their success to—and through—high school.

SOAR Learning Center