On Thursday, March 11, 2010, United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) received news that it will be the recipient of the prestigious federal Learn and Serve America/Summer of Service multi-year (3 years) grant totaling $450,000 for Fun in the Sun (FITS).

Out of more than 200 competitive applications, UWSBC was one of 17 schools and organizations nationwide selected to receive this award. Half of the grant will go to Fun  in the Sun-Summer of Service programming and the remaining half will go directly to qualified FITS students through a $500 Summer Of Service Educational Award (college bond) to be earmarked for their higher education.
 

According to the Corporation of National and Community Service, “this accomplishment is very significant. Competition for Learn and Serve America grants overall was quite challenging.”
 

Learn and Serve America is a national service program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The goal of Learn and Serve America is to engage students, educators, and community residents of all ages and backgrounds in service and service-learning to enhance education, civic participation, and communities. The Summer of Service program is a new initiative that was established under the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in April 2009.

Since 1997, FITS has been the only long-term, results-focused, comprehensive, safe, nocost, out-of-home, summer education and behavior improvement partnership for Santa Barbara's most impoverished, underserved and academically challenged children (ages 6-18) and their families. FITS runs 5 days a week for 7 weeks beginning in late June and ending in early August at 4 different sites in Santa Barbara County (from Goleta to Carpinteria).
 

FITS offers an integrated series of planned educational, artistic, relational, and recreational activities with 40+ public and private service partner organizations, and hundreds of volunteers and mentors to FITS participants. Through these activities, FITS strengthens learning skills and gives children the connectedness, the life skills, and the self-respect they need to produce long-term internal, behavioral, and academic improvements and resist self-defeating behaviors. To do this, FITS focuses on helping the children develop in three main areas: 1) reading achievement and reading enjoyment; 2) positive self-identity and self-control; and 3) positive perceptions and relations with family and community.
 

Fun in the Sun-Summer of Service will support a collaborative effort to establish a service-learning program within the seven-week FITS program that will run from June 21 through August 6 at each FITS site. FITS-SOS will engage middle school students in community-based service-learning projects that are intensive, structured, supervised, and address environmental and/or disaster preparedness issues. These projects will be designed to produce identifiable improvements to the community. This opportunity willprovide youth, particularly those from disadvantaged circumstances, with service-learningexperiences that motivate them to become more civically engaged and inspire them to pursue a higher education career.
 

UWSBC will be the lead agency and will partner with Santa Barbara County Parks Department. FITS and its collaborative partners will provide transportation, ensure that education and enrichment activities are aligned with school standards, and provide additional learning and reflection opportunities for participants. Get more information about FITS-SOS now.