First Financial Federal Credit Union continually seeks out opportunities to give back to the community. One of these opportunities, a $50,000 grant provided to the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster in October 2018 to fund their Power Hour Program, is really paying off for its recipients.
The Power Hour program provides tutors and conducts individual academic tracking to help elementary students complete homework and extra credit work, identify areas in need of improvement, and prepare for upcoming tests. Students from five of the participating schools are boasting a passing rate between 80% and 100% for math and 90% to 100% for language arts. Students attending these schools saw much better grades in the second quarter of this school year than they did in the first quarter, a testament to the Power Hour program. One of the participating schools saw their language arts passing rate increase from 28% to 90% in just one quarter! In addition to driving significant academic performance gains among the Power Hour participants, the program provides the children with a safe place where they can build skills and confidence.
Because of the grant given by First Financial, the program was able to accomplish several important goals. BGCW used First Financial’s grant funds to hire education students from McDaniel College as tutors, providing a higher level of assistance and mentoring to the program’s beneficiaries. It also enabled the program to provide more targeted and regular analysis of the students’ progress and school performance to identify areas of greater need and to create and implement programs for individualized instruction and assistance for each student.
First Financial Youth Outreach Manager Cindy Jones said, “For us at First Financial, this grant to benefit the Power Hour was a natural fit and something we knew we had to do for these kids, but seeing the actual outcome of this grant is stunning. Of course, the program gives these kids a safe place to go after school and have a snack and do their homework, but it’s so much more than that. The children are getting quality, individualized attention and seeing real results at school. We genuinely believe that this program is changing the course of their lives forever, and to be a part of that is both humbling and thrilling.”
Students from the Boys and Girls Club of Westminster share a laugh during Power Hour.