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In November 2007, Breakthrough Miami, formerly Summerbridge Miami, received a grant of $3.25 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to expand its programs of academic enrichment and advancement for middle and high school students. The award was the largest of three Knight Foundation grants totaling more than $5.7 million to benefit public education initiatives in Miami-Dade County.
 In partnership with its current host and sponsor, Ransom Everglades School, and leadership of the Breakthrough National Collaborative, Breakthrough Miami has implemented a five-year growth plan funded by the Knight grant. The program will expand to up to seven different sites in Miami and serve 1000-plus students, more than triple its current capacity. In June 2008, Breakthrough Miami opened its first expansion site in partnership with Doctors Charter School in Miami Shores.
Breakthrough Miami, founded at Ransom Everglades School in 1991, was selected by the Breakthrough Collaborative to pilot the first phase of a national expansion effort that will advance the award-winning program to more than 10,000 students nationwide. An independent school in Coconut Grove, Ransom Everglades has a 103-year history of educational leadership and service in the Miami community. As host for Breakthrough Miami, the school has provided leadership and substantial in-kind contributions over the past 19 years.
Breakthrough Miami has a 19-year history of offering comprehensive, tuition-free programming based on a "students teaching students" model that includes a comprehensive academic summer institute and a school-year program with a Saturday Academy, after-school tutorials, year-round counseling, mentoring and advocacy for predominantly low-income students and their families.
The Knight Foundation focuses on projects with the potential to create transformational change and invests in journalism excellence in U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Since 1950 the foundation has contributed more than $159 million in grants in Miami-Dade and Ft. Lauderdale. For more information, visit www.knightfoundation.org. |
