Horizons at San Francisco Friends School

Organization Background

In 2014, a new affiliate of the national Horizons enrichment program opened at the San Francisco Friends School, a K-8th grade Quaker school located in the Mission District. Horizons at San Francisco Friends School is a public/private partnership offering a summer program that addresses the achievement and opportunity gaps of low-income children in the Mission neighborhood through their elementary school careers. The heart of Horizons summer is an exemplary academic program that supports a cohort of students in reading, writing, math, and science, paired with swimming lessons, field trips, sports, and enrichment activities in the performing and visual arts. The program also includes a year-round component featuring family events, enrichment activities and regular visits to and communication with students’ schools and teachers. The program launched four years ago with one class of 12 Kindergarten students, and a grade will be added each summer until the program includes K-8th grade. The primary goal of Horizons is to reverse the trend of summer learning loss that adversely impacts the long-term success of low-income students. The student/teacher ratio at Horizons is 5:1.