The overarching goal of the 21st CCLC program is to provide students—particularly students who attend schools in need of improvement—with academic enrichment opportunities and support services to help them meet state and local standards in the core content areas.
Literacy is a powerful foundation for change in a community. Kingdom Partners is working with schools, non-profits and faith communities to help urban students get the literacy tools they need to excel now and in the future.
Literacy Partners
21st Century Community Learning Centers provide students with opportunities for academic enrichment, youth development and family support during non-school hours.
Kingdom Partners will be applying for two 21st Century Community Learning Center Grants to expand literacy in our community. Learn about 2 of our Learning Centers at Battle Academy and Brown Academy.
Dr. Joyce Hardaway
Executive Director
Madysen McEntire
1st Grade
Joscyln Shabazz
Site Coordinator
Gabby Stoneking
1st Grade
Reanee Jackson
2nd Grade
Adams Diomande
4th Grade
Ruth Auls
4th Grade
Tabi Upton
5th Grade
Sam Patton
Music
Terry Hanner
Martial Arts
Charlie Newton
Art
Kendall Davis
Office Support/Teacher Assistance
Susan Spurgeon
Office Support/Teacher Assistance
Heber at Gutierrez
Splash Art Helper
The Brown Academy Literacy Program has entered into its second year at Brown Academy with sixteen of the seventeen First Century United Methodist Church cohort of volunteers returning; thirteen as full-time tutors and three as subs if the tutors need to be absent. As was the case in 2023-2024, each tutor works with either four kindergarteners or first-graders twice a week for a total of @ one-half hour of individual instruction each week per student. Tutors receive specific instructions from the students’ teachers with reference to the level of instruction needed for each student. The students’ abilities are similar to those demonstrated in the previous year; some will be coded for special education; others will make significant progress and a few others will be in the program because they need personal interaction with a caring adult.
The volunteer tutors from First Centenary who have contributed so significantly to the education of Brown Academy Kindergartners and First Graders for the past two years are: Mandy Coley, Helen Collins, Melinda Craft, Annabell Harr, Jennifer McDaniel, Marla McDaniel, Eric Rodgers, Mike Sayne, Mary Sieger, Rick Sieger, Lee Stout & Lydia Weathersby. Laura Ashline, Nicola Crisp and Patsi Walker have served as subs.
The teachers have reported to us that the students who are in the program are responding very well to the attention they get from the tutors and that their improved attitudes are contagious. We anticipated this result on the basis of last year’s program review. The academic growth of the students measured by I-Ready tests given to kindergartners and Benchmark tests administered to first graders will mirror their abilities much the same as was the case last year. We anticipate that all of the students will show growth depending on their abilities; some of the less capable students will grow at a rate less than what is expected by the average student, others will grow at a rate that significantly exceeds the average student in their grade level. We shall, once again, complete a statistical analysis at the end of the year to determine if our expectations were met.
The principal and teachers view this program as an important supplement to the children’s instruction.
Dr. Dan Baker
Dr. Dan Baker
First-Centenary UMC
Daytime literacy Program
bakerde@epbfi.com
Undergraduate and Master’s Degrees from Indiana University, Master’s from University of North Carolina/Charlotte, Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Florida.
Retired as Professor of Educational Administration and Supervision after thirty-one years of
Service at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Served as Director of Student Teaching at UTC and of the Governor’s School for Prospective Teachers. Served as President and Executive Secretary of the Tennessee Association of Colleges for Teacher Education for eleven years and as a liaison between that organization and the Tennessee Board of Education and State Department of Education.
Served as program leader for Beyond the Bars, a re-entry program sponsored by the First Centenary United Methodist Church. Lay Minister for FCUMC. Former member of the Advisory Board for the Chattanooga Regional Homeless Coalition. Former member of the Tennessee Re-Entry Coalition. Coordinator of the FCUMC Literacy Program, a tutoring initiative for kindergartners and first-graders.