Illinois Lottery has announced it has partnered with the Boys & Girls Club to help support students across the state whose access to learning has been impacted by COVID-19.
Across the state, students have struggled to acclimatise to online learning due to a lack of contact with teachers, the digital divide and economic struggle due to the pandemic.
This school year, the Boys & Girls Club in partnership with the Illinois Lottery aims to help address these factors and to support the learning process to ensure students can catch up with their learning targets.
The lottery has committed its support to the Boys & Girls Clubs’ Hour Initiative, which helps students achieve academic success by providing them with access to homework help, tutoring and high-yield learning activities.
“Every Boys and Girls Club in the State shares the goal to close and eliminate any opportunity gap and embrace the ability to offset educational disparities throughout underrepresented communities. Clubs fill these voids with emotional supports, mentorship and educational opportunities at the Clubs,” said W. Bryan Soady, Executive Director of the Illinois Alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs.
“We are so proud to partner with the Illinois Lottery on the Power Hour initiative as students head back to school. We want to provide them with even greater resources while aiding and encouraging them in the learning process throughout this school year.”
The lottery’s main goal is to raise funds for the Illinois Common School Fund, maintaining its financial backing of education in the state. This partnership is the lottery’s latest move to support students in the state, for which it has raised over $21bn since its inception in 1974.
“The Illinois Lottery truly admires the efforts that the Boys & Girls Clubs throughout the state have undertaken to help kids academically impacted by the pandemic,” added Harold Mays, Acting Director of Illinois Lottery.
“We are committed to supporting education in every corner of Illinois, and we are proud to help provide access to much-needed resources to support the next generation and to aid and impact communities across the entire state.”
