Side by Side, a faith-based nonprofit organization that works to strengthen public schools in Laurel, Md., offers the following programs:

Family Academy

Side by Side founded the first parent academy in Prince George’s County, called the Family Academy. Families from seven elementary schools are invited once a month during the school year to enjoy a free supper, with parents attending workshops in English and in Spanish and school children participating in enrichment activities. Child care is provided for preschoolers ages 2 to 5.

The seven elementary schools are Bond Mill, Deerfield Run, James H. Harrison, Laurel, Montpelier, Oaklands and Scotchtown Hills. Parents from other schools are also welcome to attend.

The final Family Academy of the 2011-2012 school year was May 10. The academies will resume next fall. To see the types of parent workshops and children’s activities offered during the past year, click here.

Side by Side also offers a new “Great Start” program for parents of kindergarten and prekindergarten students during the fall. For the coming school year, the workshop evenings, with supper and children’s activities, will begin in September 2012 at six elementary schools. There will be six sessions at each school, and a reunion session in spring 2013, with workshops on behavior management, helping children become strong readers and fun ways to help children learn math.

The program was piloted at four schools in October 2011: Deerfield Run, Laurel, Montpelier and Oaklands. Each school had three evenings on consecutive weeks. Seventy parents and 87 children attended — approximately 14% of those schools’ kindergarten families. See video below.

Homework Club and Tutoring

Side by Side operates an Almost Home after-school homework club at Laurel Park Apartments, partnering with Southern Management Corp. Elementary children from the Laurel Park and Laurelton Court complexes come three days a week to enjoy a snack, receive help on their homework from retired teachers and other adult volunteers, and participate in reading and enrichment activities. Many of the students would go home to empty apartments otherwise. Participation is restricted to children residing in those communities.

In addition to Almost Home, Side by Side has launched a community tutoring program. During the school year, volunteers work with elementary-age children who need extra help with reading and math. For more information on being a volunteer tutor or on being a tutored student, click here.

Spanish translation

Side by Side provides Spanish language services to local schools, translating flyers and other documents and interpreting at back-to-school-nights and parent-teacher conferences.

The video above shows what happened when Side by Side’s executive editor dressed up like Cookie Monster and delivered cookies to seven schools. Why did he dress up like Cookie Monster? You’ll just have to watch the video.