Heading back to school is a financial burden for many PAL families, especially those with more than 1 child. Many of the Harlem Center parents struggle to provide their children with the required school supplies necessary for academic success. We intend to provide our participants with backpacks and other school supplies, helping them to approach their new classrooms prepared and confident.

Despite Harlem's up and coming status there are still many families that live below the poverty line, many of them attend PAL programming. For many families struggling to keep a home and food, meeting the demands of a school supply list, which sometimes total 30 items, can be unrealistic, leaving many children in need of even basic items such as notebooks.

PAL's Harlem Center intends to host a Family Day to culminate our summer programming. As a show of support and well-wishes for our participants for the upcoming school year we would like to provide them all with backpacks and supplies such as notebooks, pencils, crayons, etc.

By providing 150 children with school supplies we hope to not only to equip them with tools but with the self-confidence they need to be successful and competitive in the classroom. So many of our families struggle to grasp and meet the Common Core Standards, we hope to lighten their burdens by making school supplies one less thing for them to worry about, thereby redirecting our children's thoughts totally toward their studies, increasing their chances for better grades and a better life.
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