Neighborhood Philanthropy: Leap Frog
Oxford is host to some wonderful non-profit organizations that provide for our community in so many ways. We want to provide a glimpse of these organizations each month. In 1989, St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Rector, Duncan Gray III, had a vision. He and other members of St. Peter’s visited a tutoring program in Clarksdale, MS, and brought the idea of starting a similar program back to church leaders. As a result, the program launched in the fall of 1990 with the hiring of its first Executive Director and Leap Frog began!
Leap Frog, though launched and supported by local churches, is not faith-based. It is an after-school literacy and enrichment program for first- through third-graders with tier 2 reading supports in the Oxford and Lafayette County schools. Leap Frog offers FREE services that prepare students for the future by utilizing resources in the Lafayette-Oxford-University (LOU) communities to offer diverse learning opportunities in reading for early elementary students to become confident lifelong learners. Program leaders consulted with the Barksdale Reading Institute at the University of Mississippi in 2017 to choose a formal curriculum.
Currently, 60 students attend four days a week from the LOU Community. Students begin the tutoring time with a snack, then move on to the Phonics Boost lesson. Working one-one-one with their volunteer tutor, each student completes one or more phonics lesson. Next, students read with their tutors following their phonics lesson. Tutors also read to their students, modeling reading fluency and inflection. They can choose reading materials from our large library. Since play is such an important part to a child’s development, the 60 minutes following tutoring and homework is for free play or special enrichment programs.
The Executive Director, a former Leap Frog volunteer, is Whitney Sweeney. She recently shared, “As a small non-profit, we are 100% privately funded. We are always looking to make community partners to help us get our name out there. We are always looking for donations from individuals or businesses. On our website we have a page that lets people donate either one-time or monthly. We also always need volunteers for programming. Each semester it takes about 250 volunteers to make things run smoothly.” You can find out more about how to volunteer, donate or become a community partner through their website.
Leap Frog’s annual fundraiser is coming up on May 6th. Whitney shared, “Our Annual fundraiser, Truckapalooza, is coming up on May 6th at the Lafayette Multipurpose Arena from 9-12. This year our presenting sponsor is Pi Beta Phi. This event consists of local businesses bringing out their trucks/construction vehicles/tractors/buses/etc. for children and families in the community to enjoy a family-friendly event and experience up close motor vehicles of all kinds.” Find out more here.
We are so grateful to Leap Frog and their commitment to serving the LOU Community’s children and focusing on their reading skills and seeing their growth through the program. As Whitney shared, “I love getting to see how excited the students get when it clicks and they get the lesson they have been working on. I love getting to see the volunteers become mentors for the students. I had a boss when I worked at Ole Miss that always would ask "What is your why?" and I can honestly say now that giving back to the LOU community and to the 60 students we have at Leap Frog each year fulfills "my why.” Please consider volunteering or becoming a Leap Frog sponsor or donor.
