Summerbridge New Orleans:
A Breakthrough Collaborative Program

      Dedicated to educational equity and excellence for all children, Summerbridge New Orleans aims to foster the love of learning and strengthen core academic skills, helping at-risk students reach their full potential and placing them on the path towards college.

     Established in 1990 as a direct result of well-documented poor conditions of Orleans Parish public schools, Summerbridge (SBNOLA) continues to respond to the ongoing need for high-quality supplementary educational services for children. SBNOLA prepares low-income, high potential public middle school students for rigorous academic experiences and inspires bright high school and college students to become educators and advocates for education.

     Our Students Teaching Students at the Isidore Newman School, is a tuition-free, year-round program that pairs public middle schoolers with enthusiastic young teachers. Upon acceptance, students are required to make a consecutive three-year commitment, which includes an academically-rigorous full-day, six-week summer program and a school-year component. In addition to refining core academic skills, students are encouraged to explore enrichment interests, attend field trips and engage in college preparatory activities.

     Breakthrough Collaborative was founded as Summerbridge in 1978 at University High School in San Francisco. In 1990, Isidore Newman School became the second school to host a Summerbridge program. Today, Summerbridge New Orleans, a non-profit organization, is one of 34 Breakthrough Collaborative programs throughout the United States and in Hong Kong. The Breakthrough Collaborative is consistently featured as a Top Ten Internship by the Princeton Review. Annually the organization serves more than 2,500 middle school students and trains over 700 college and high school students to be effective teachers.