Welcome to “It Takes a Village” Project

Operated by Elon’s Center for Access and Success, the “It Takes a Village” Project (Village Project) is a pre-K through 5th  grade program offered at no cost to families. We provide tutoring and specialized learning services as well as a two-week summer day camp for students attending Title I schools in the Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS).

Through partnerships with The Oak Foundation, Elon University, ABSS principals and teachers, and volunteers, our primary focus is on children in the community who are struggling in school in an effort to improve their academic attainment. Our design focuses heavily on academic outcomes, instructional materials, attendance, quality of instructors, parental involvement and other enriching opportunities.

Our primary emphasis began as an effort to aid students in developing stronger reading and writing skills. However, we have expanded to also help students with math, science, music and other studies. In addition, parents are required to take part in the classes in order to learn themselves and also to encourage their children at home. It also helps foster a community spirit, the idea that everyone is in this together.

For many families, we have become an indispensable resource and the springboard to education opportunities for their children. We’re seeing the benefits of our work as ABSS students graduate from the Project to Elon Academy and the Odyssey Program. We are ABSS students’ best avenue to learning and ultimately college and successful careers. Since our inception, more than 9,000 students have participated in the Project and the interest continues to grow.

There’s no more important gift that we give to our children than an education. That education changes their life forever and their children’s lives. And I truly believe that if you can read and do mathematics, you can be anything.  It truly is a privilege to witness the learning that’s impacting the lives of these young students as they begin to realize their potential. It’s profound to see those moments when things start to click and when children can read the words, do the math program and you see a door start to open and the future start to unfold. Elon President Connie Ledoux Book.

Program Overview

The Project recognized from the outset that each of our partners is an equal member contributing to the wholeness of the project. To that end, the Project is designed to:

  • Underscore the function institutions of higher education must undertake in helping to support K-5 public school partners.
  • Focus on the importance of community and the role universities can play in bridging the gap between institutions of higher learning and entities such as the local public libraries.
  • Involve the children’s public school teachers and parents as vital stakeholders in the tutoring process. Struggling students’ classroom teachers are included to ensure instructional congruence between the tutoring and the tutees’ classroom instruction.
  • Offer supervising teachers a sense of trust, independence, and respect that encourages teachers to be creative in their lesson planning with university tutors, and to be student-centered in their lesson planning and delivery.