The Freedom school is a five week daily summer program that offers intensive reading and values education for students grades 1-6.  The school also boosts the capacity of local college aged community leaders by hiring them as “Servant Leader Interns” to work in the school and providing them with a week long training in Tennessee. After a lengthy application process Metanoia received approval to host our first Freedom School from the National Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) in the summer of 2006.  In 2008 we will expand the Freedom School to encompass another campus at Mary Ford Elementary (that will allow us to serve 100 students during the summer, previously we served 50).

     The school meets daily for seven hours a day over the course of five weeks in Metanoia’s space at St. Matthew Baptist Church and at Mary Ford Elementary.  CDF provides an Integrated Reading Curriculum that incorporates a high energy summer camp atmosphere with constant reading activities for students.  Five weeks of lesson plans are developed to help staff and children reflect on the themes I Can Make a Difference in My: Self, Family, Community, Country, and World. 

Studies have shown that students who do not read during the summer months loose as much as 1/3 of their previous grade level's learning.  The Freedom School is an attempt to mitigate that trend in our own community where adult leaders often have to work multiple jobs and have few opportunities to read to their children.  You can be a part of the Freedom School by making individual contributions to Metanoia.  Most Individual contributions that come to Metanoia go to fund this program.

			CDF Freedom School Rocks!!