Testimony of Robyn Lingo
For Love of Children (FLOC)
To the City Council Committee on Education
OSSE & SBE Performance Oversight Hearing March 5, 2015
Chairman Grosso and members of the Committee on Education:
Last week, FLOC held the 9th Annual Recognition Event and Empower Awards at the Woman’s National Democratic Club. The event was well attended with a great mix of students, families, and volunteers from both the Neighborhood Tutoring Program (NTP) and the Scholars program.
The day was cloudy and gray, but once we arrived at Tubman Elementary School I felt like everything had brightened up. The blue and green hallways were covered by colorful drawings and art pieces made by students. In a few minutes, the kids got out of class and walked down the hallway with their teachers.
As anyone that works with students will tell you, it’s not always about what you teach them, but the things that they teach you. This spring, FLOC staff has been working hard enrolling and placing more students and tutors into our programs for the spring semester.
On Wednesday, December 18th, FLOC held a College Night for our Scholars Program at George Washington University. The program was divided into two blocks: a college fair for the first hour, followed by age-specific workshops and roundtable discussions.
This year the Scholars program is implementing a new advising model to ensure that all students are prepared for middle school, high school, college and beyond. Students meet with an advisor four times a year and submit their transcript and quarterly grades to inform these conversations.
Last month, we all took a trip to Butler’s Orchard, courtesy of The Meltzer Group. The trip was a lot of fun! Before we departed FLOC on our way to the pumpkin patch, the families were excited to spend time getting to know each other as they waited for the bus.
Early on a bright and sunny October 14th, 25 Middle School students from the FLOC Scholars Program boarded a bus headed for the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).
Fall has finally arrived. After what felt like an endless summer, a series of gray and rainy days have left us with cool nights and increasingly colorful trees. At FLOC, everything kicks into high gear in the fall.
This quote began to have meaning for me when I started volunteering at FLOC in September 2012. I was a recent college graduate, finishing up my very first internship in DC, and yearning for an opportunity to give back in this community.
