Convening Partners
As a backbone organization for education in our community, Evolve502 convenes and organizes partner organizations and agencies (government, education, social service, business, and foundation) to identify and address gaps along the cradle-to-career pathway to student achievement.
We work in collaboration with Jefferson County Public Schools and bring community solutions to better link students and families to resources, ensuring they have the tools they need from cradle to career.
Through our collaborative efforts, we are creating more touchpoints and more hours of learning and engagement for students and families.
Get involved
Evolve502 is committed to using innovation and collaboration to increase education opportunities for our youth. What began during the pandemic as a way to connect students to in-person supports, has now been scaled up to year-round effort to provide students and family academic and enrichment supports beyond the school day. Our goal is for every student and family to have the resources and supports they need to succeed.
Expanded Summer Learning Opportunities
Summer is a great time to engage students in enrichment and learning opportunities. According to the Wallace Foundation, “During the summer, low-income students lose ground compared to their wealthier peers. But summer can also be a time to help level the playing field through high-quality, summer learning programs that research shows produce measurable benefits in math, reading, and social and emotional learning.”
Summer is a critical learning time to keep students engaged, elevating learning while allowing students to explore new talents. With input from community partners and lessons learned from past efforts, Evolve502, JCPS and partners developed a robust summer learning experience, Summer Backpack League, reaching more than 12,000 students in 2023. Evolve502’s role was in developing a community component to the program. In all, Evolve502 supported the establishment of more than 50 community-based backpack sites to work alongside the 11 JCPS school sites. Each sites offering academic curriculum and enrichment activities during the summer. Teachers, college student staff, mental health supports, enrichment programs, and other learning experiences were deployed throughout the community as part of the effort.
Learn more about Summer 2025:
- Community site information
- Apply to be a Leadership Counselor (open to college students only)
Community Learning Hub Tutoring Initiative
Evolve502 and partners are focusing on creating out-of-school time opportunities to assist in reading improvement.
The Community Learning Hub Tutoring Initiative capitalizes on the untapped out-of-school time hours that students are still in structured environments, such as after school programs, to focus on improving reading skills. During the 2023-2024 school year, Evolve502 established 35 tutoring sites across the city at partner organizations. More than 750 students were served. Additionally, Evolve502 hired local college students who were then trained by I Would Rather Be Reading in their Trauma Informed Reading Mentors curriculum, a comprehensive literacy intervention program. These tutors work with students in 20–30-minute small tutoring groups with a 1:3 tutor to student ratio, with at least two sessions per week.
Community and Family Nights
In 2024, Evolve502 piloted our Community and Family Nights, an event series aimed at bringing the community together and learning how to engage with local resources and child enrichment programs. Families attend each session, learning about a service provider or resource, while their children engage in an educational enrichment activity. Free dinner is served at each event. In addition to Evolve502, organizations who present sessions include: JCPS, Office of Safe and Healthy Neighborhoods, Everybody Counts, YMCA Early Learning, NCFL Neighborhoods, and I would Rather Be Reading.
Join Our Effort
Evolve502 will continue to coordinate connection points between these providers and JCPS to ensure more intentional collaboration and support for the benefit. If you or your organization are interested in joining or supporting our initiatives, please email Dr. Charles Davis at charlesd@evolve502.org.