SAGA INNOVATIONS HIGH-DOSAGE, HIGH-IMPACT TUTORING ORGANIZATION AMONG FOUR NONPROFITS TO RECEIVE SUPPORT FROM “CHICAGO BEYOND”
CHICAGO – A new, privately held organization, Chicago Beyond, launched today and announced their commitment to support SAGA Innovations with the goal of improving the lives of Chicago’s young people.
SAGA Innovations, a nonprofit working in Chicago Public Schools, is designed to provide highly targeted and personalized math tutoring, during the school day, to students in the 9th and 10th grade who need it most. SAGA Innovations currently serves 800 students in Chicago and its tutorials have been shown to close the black-white achievement gap by roughly one-third in nine months. Chicago Beyond has invested in the expansion of SAGA that will double the organization’s capacity to serve almost 1,600 students over the next two years, while studying how to scale the program without sacrificing its quality.
Chicago Beyond’s support of SAGA Innovations is part of their effort to invest in and expand programs with the capacity and willingness to serve a significant number of young people immediately. Each investment will be rigorously evaluated to learn from and share results with the public and philanthropic community at large.
These investments will help amplify impact in two areas that are flip sides of the same coin – youth violence and educational attainment. “As an educator, I have seen firsthand the extraordinary potential that lies within Chicago’s kids,” said Chicago Beyond Managing Director Liz Dozier. “Chicago Beyond believes that by investing in and measuring proven programs and new ideas, we can learn and do more for the future of our youth. Our investment in SAGA Innovations will not only help us reach more children, but also generate critical lessons on how to take effective programs to scale here in our city and beyond.”
SAGA Innovations is currently recruiting the tutors who will be hired in a highly competitive process to serve in Chicago high schools in the new school year. Tutors receive a stipend, healthcare and other benefits, and will work for 10 months as part of teams in five Chicago high schools, receiving daily supervision, feedback and support from their Site Director. SAGA also has programs it runs in New York City, and consults in the Netherlands as well. For more information, www.sagainnovations.org.