Community Learning Hubs in Sacred Places

In response to COVID-19, school districts across the country were conducting classes fully or partially on-line during the 2020-2021 school year. Many families with resources had paid instructors to supervise their children in “pods”, while parents with flexible jobs could supervise children themselves. However, children whose parents did not have the resources or flexibility for these options – including disproportionately large numbers of minority students – could not equally benefit from virtual schooling. Educators believed the different learning outcomes that would result from different access to technology and adult supervision during remote learning would exacerbate existing education gaps.

When it became clear that many districts would require some amount of virtual schooling in the fall, Partners for Sacred Places and project partner LoftySpot, began contacting sacred places to find sites that have the physical capacity to safely host groups of children for remote learning. Both parties realized that the underutilized space in sacred places could be a solution to the problem of providing safe learning environments during social distancing. We called this program Community Learning Hubs in Sacred Places.

All Hubs adhered to current CDC safety guidelines, including:

• Social distancing
• Consistent cohorts
• Hand hygiene
• Face coverings for all children and staff except during meal times
• Disinfection of frequently touched surfaces

Three Hubs were created through this project.

Trinity Lutheran Church
2300 S 18th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19145

Life in Christ Ministries
3012 W 3rd St.
Chester, PA

Faith Immanuel Lutheran Church
65 Penn Blvd
East Lansdowne, PA

See local media coverage of this initiative on 6ABC, CBS3 and FOX29.