Tag: distance learning

Thankful For An Impactful 2021 And Aiming For More In 2022

While 2021 started off grimly in the throes of the pandemic, the situation slowly improved over the months and it was great to see most kids being able to attend school this fall. The year had its challenges, but we at Meemli are thrilled that we were able to continue executing on our mission to advance education equity.

 

Rising To The Challenge

In the second year of the pandemic, Meemli had to adjust to a new landscape:

• Students did not go to classrooms in most public schools until the fall, and schools and teachers were overwhelmed with distance learning transitioning to hybrid and in-person learning to provide students with the individual support they need – Meemli helped fill this gap! Meemli worked with nonprofit partners to help provide engaging learning programs to middle school students in underserved communities.
• While pandemic relief understandably attracted most of the  charitable funding, Meemli is thankful for :
  • The generous support from the community (and a grant from the State) that helped us continue to provide the programs.
  • For our small but great team of a few staff and volunteers, dedicated to our mission and sharing the work in delivering programs.
  • For the many volunteer mentors who continued to sign up to guide the students in these programs.
• With the support of our team, donors and community volunteers, Meemli was able to offer programs that engaged middle school students and advanced their learning. Our programs included:
  • An intro to computing and careers
  • A hands-on environmental science program where kids got to do experiments at home
  • Critical skill building in reading comprehension.
• All the programs we did this year were successful and popular with the students:
  • We were thrilled to learn that 100% of them would do another program with us!
  • It was equally important to learn that our mentors found the programs rewarding too and many have signed up to volunteer for other programs.

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“The best thing about the program was that I got to learn about technology and spend time with my mentor.”

“What I enjoyed the most was doing fun experiments at home.”

 “Thank you for running this awesome organization! I’m enjoying my time with my student and he’s doing great.”

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Planning To Grow

Meemli’s programs have proven to be successful and we are excited to continue to advance education equity in the next year too.

We hope to:

• Build capacity to expand our existing programs to serve more students
• Create new programs in other topics to support students’ academic goals
• Offer summer programs for students who typically miss out on summer enrichment

Our program enrollment has increased 100% each year since we were established in 2019, even with the 2020-21 pandemic challenges, and we hope to continue that trend. Of course it is only possible with the continued support of the community and corporate partners!

How You Can Help

Meemli relies on the power of the community to advance education equity – and that is each and everyone of you! There are many ways you can make a difference for Meemli from donating to volunteering as a mentor or sharing your business skills to help the Meemli team deliver programs. We hope you will include Meemli in your giving back plans – you may find our Founder/CEO Usha Sekar’s post on charitable giving helpful!

We are deeply grateful to all our well-wishers for supporting Meemli in so many ways in making an impact, and wish you all a happy holiday season!

 

2020 And Beyond: Working For Education Equity

In January of 2020, I wrote this post about how as a nonprofit Meemli was geared up to focus on our mission of improving equity in education. As the year winds down, I’m writing about what we were actually able to accomplish in this year of global disruption.

At the beginning of the year, COVID wasn’t on our horizon, but now it has markedly changed our lives and the educational landscape, with distance learning, hybrid learning and other options substituting for onsite, in-school education.

The closures due to COVID-19 and the resultant remote learning has been hard for most children (and their parents). But, the pandemic has disproportionately impacted low-income families with higher rates of infections, job loss, and food and shelter insecurity. When schools went virtual, the digital divide and educational inequities for their children became glaringly apparent. With reduced access to teachers and academic support, underserved students are likely to have a 30% or more learning loss this year.

What We Accomplished This Year

I’m so proud that Meemli’s small, dedicated team of mostly volunteers (and almost-volunteers) have stepped up to the challenge of helping over 200 underserved students with one-on-one academic support. As a nonprofit focused on education equity, I’m excited to report that we have made tremendous progress, even in this unquestionably difficult year:

• We partnered with nonprofits that serve low-income families and provided remote academic mentoring.

• We enabled teachers to engage students struggling with distance learning by giving them free use of our unique collaborative learning space.

• We offered topical programs during a tumultuous summer, including short courses on science (climate change) and reading with understanding (social justice) to engage students stuck at home.

• We bridged the pandemic isolation and the generation gap by connecting middle schoolers with retirees on Meemli’s safe platform to co-create mini-memoirs.

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“When the pandemic unexpectedly disconnected Sunday Friends from the youth we serve, Meemli helped us to start closing the gap. Through Meemli, we can ensure our kids receive the support and guidance they need as they navigate distance learning and home instability, flexibly interacting with mentors in a virtual, safe, and thought-provoking environment.

—Sunday Friends, a nonprofit that serves low-income, vulnerable families in San Jose, CA

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Looking Ahead

With continued demand for our offerings, we aim to scale to support ten times as many students and develop critical new programs in core subjects, including academic support in Algebra. Research shows that students who do not complete Algebra 1 have only a 20% chance of graduating from high school.

While many worthy organizations are focused on feeding and sheltering those in need, we believe that supporting the educational needs—and future success—of underserved students is also critical. And of course, we need the support of our sponsors and the community to make that possible.

What You Can Do

There are many ways you can make a difference.

1.  Donate.
   • Donations of any amount will have an impact with $25 helping enroll a student in a program and $50,000 going towards creating a new program. You can donate here.
   • Make your donation grow – donate through your company’s matching program for employee giving
   • Suggest that your company consider sponsoring a Meemli program for a local school.
2. Volunteer.
   • A lot of our programs rely on mentors to provide academic support. Volunteer to mentor a student (sign up here). You can make it more impactful by bringing in coworkers/friends and recommending your company or group sponsor a mentoring program in a local school.
   • Volunteering your communication, teaching, business or technical skills will help Meemli support more students (get in touch).
   • To truly achieve education equity every community has to do its part and Meemli is working hard to increase community engagement. Volunteer to start a mentoring program in a local school or youth organization that needs it (contact us to learn how).
3. Share.
   • Let others know what Meemli can do for students (or what they can do for students with Meemli). Use the share buttons on this post! Have ideas for Meemli? Send them to us – we’d love to hear from you!

Finally, heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported Meemli and the education cause – and also to everyone who helped, in any way they can, the millions who need support with food, shelter and so much more in these difficult times. We look forward to working together to make next year easier and better!

 

Rising To The Challenge Of The COVID-19 Impact On Education

Well, 2020 definitely turned out to be more surprising and harsher than any of us could have imagined. The pandemic has disrupted lives globally, and here in the first month of the second half of the year, we, especially in the US, are not out of the woods yet. The COVID-19 impact on education has been tough to handle, for kids, parents, educators and administrators, with most schools closed and distance learning not being as smooth as they hoped. But as always, with challenges come opportunities to make a difference and we are rising to the challenge!

We at Meemli (also dealing with the challenges of staying safe during the pandemic), know we are uniquely positioned to lessen the negative  COVID-19 impact on education as we already have solutions in place. We have been working with accessible high quality student-engaged online learning for years, a little ahead of our time, but now we’re working hard to bring that experience to as many students as we can.

 

What We Do

Meemli knows that “learning is easier with a little help” and to improve education equity we make sure we can offer it to all students wherever they are – which we accomplish by using technology, the expertise of educators and the power of community.

• • We have an online learning space (platform) that safely and easily connects students to those who can help them – teachers and mentors.
  • Our platform was built with the specific purpose of supporting the interactions of young (middle to high school students) in a safe, private manner to deliver engaging and effective learning experiences.
  • This platform allows us to create and offer courses and programs connecting students to high quality teachers and trusted mentors to fill various learning needs.

What We Have Done So Far

Since schools shut down this spring, we have been using our online learning platform and related services to help in the following ways:

• • Remote Schooling. Provided middle school students with a highly engaging distance learning experience in science, and their teacher an easier and more effective way to deliver live teaching.
  • Mentoring. Connected young students with limited knowledge of computers to trusted mentors who guide them in a program providing a introduction to computing and careers.
  • Summer – Reading. Offered a free summer reading program (in support of Black Lives Matter) guiding middle school students through understanding the need for racial justice through reading a related book and small group discussions led by an experienced educator.
  • Summer – Science. Offered a summer science program helping middle schoolers enjoy a fun, collaborative learning experience on how climate change affects the oceans around us led by an innovative science educator.
  • Summer – Community. Provided an opportunity to young middle school students to sharpen their writing skills as well as build empathy and understanding by connecting with isolated retirees to reduce their loneliness, hear their stories and share a memoir.

How We Can Help Now

Distance learning is here to stay. Even when schools are back to being fully onsite, there are benefits to connect students in learning together with the support of various helpful sources. As we are facing the opening of the schools for the 2020-2021 school year, we can leverage our online learning platform to help in these meaningful and impactful ways:

• • For teachers looking to improve student engagement for distance learning:
    • The free use of our platform, with training and support, in providing a highly interactive learning space which can add to existing tools.
  • For schools and nonprofits working to provide supplemental academic support to their students:
    • Free access to trusted adults in professional careers who connect remotely to students and offer guidance and support in their schoolwork or learning enrichment.
  • For parents of students needing extra academic support:
    • One-on-one (or optional small group) coaching in core subjects.

Why Choose Us

Bringing about equity in education is a big task, and during the pandemic, the inequalities have become even more marked with the dependence on remote schooling and the lack of resources in low-income families. There are many solution options to fit different needs and preferences.

Meemli’s unique position:

• • Experienced in interactive, collaborative online learning for middle and high school students
  • Offers platform for teachers to enhance distance learning, or in-class collaboration
  • Helps students who need some extra support through its supplemental programs
  • Partners with organizations to provide trusted mentoring programs to students
  • Includes high quality student-centered educators and team
  • Is a nonprofit focused on education equity offering many free and affordable solutions

If you would like to know more about any of these options to help lessen Covid’s negative impact on education or just need some help for a middle/high school student and want to know what we can do, just drop us a line here – we will respond!

Meemli is committed to doing the best we can to share our tools, expertise and services to help as many students as we can to during the pandemic and beyond . Reach out to us and help us help you!