HYPE Freedom School

HYPE Freedom School eliminates summer learning loss through literacy and provides positive youth development services to youth in the Sunnyside/South Park and surrounding Houston areas. The organization offers summer literacy programs, expanded learning opportunities, and empowerment sessions, along with counseling and family support services. Partnering with local organizations and churches, HYPE Freedom School delivers programming in communities lacking out-of-school-time activities and provides mental health counseling for families involved in their summer programs at no cost. Each scholar receives books to build or start their home libraries. The six-week summer literacy and cultural enrichment program focuses on social justice and employs strength-based, trauma-informed approaches to counter summer learning loss and build resilience. As the first and oldest sponsoring organization for the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom Schools in Texas, HYPE Freedom School provides year-round engagement for families, including monthly family empowerment seminars and weekly sessions during the summer. The organization offers job readiness opportunities for college students and other college-age adults and hosts the Black Impact Houston alliance to support and strengthen Black-led nonprofits in Houston. HYPE Freedom School provides a high-quality literacy enrichment program to prevent summer and COVID learning loss, using a research-informed framework for summer learning and school-year support services. The organization offers culturally affirming, literacy-based programming for students, volunteer opportunities primarily for college students and recent graduates, and hosts the Birdies for Charity fundraising program through the Texas Children’s Houston Open. Additionally, HYPE Freedom School provides educational enrichment activities outside normal school hours and parent empowerment seminars on topics like financial education, racial and social injustice, and healthy boundaries.