The benefit of summer programs is well-documented, and support for public funding to back these opportunities is high. When the school year ends, children in high-poverty environments struggle not only with basic needs like healthy food and safe places to spend their days, but with losing precious time during the summer months to continue their learning.

The cumulative effect is a crisis in the making: by fifth grade, summer learning loss can leave low-income students two-and-a-half to three years behind their peers. The National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) promotes and supports key public investments that improve conditions for summer programs, and enable access to these programs by students who benefit most.

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