SEALKIDS

SEALKIDS, through its programs, supports the children of Naval Special Warfare—everyday kids living in extraordinary circumstances. Through an encompassing approach of academic testing, tutoring, therapy, advocacy, and enrichment we foster the success and well-being of the child, critically reducing family stresses and ultimately keeping today’s Navy SEAL in the fight.

As one of our country’s most elite military units, Navy SEALs are courageous and strong, and so are their families. However, even our bravest and strongest individuals need support, and it can be difficult to ask for that help. SEALKIDS has a deep and personal understanding of life in the NSW community and can help families to navigate both stated and unspoken barriers to a child’s success. Families in the Naval Special Warfare community, whether retired or active duty, have made great sacrifices for our country. SEALKIDS seeks to lessen the burden of their service by helping to ensure long term academic success for their children.

SEALKIDS works to serve the needs of these children through our five programs:

• The Academic Support Program provides personalized and individual educational assistance, whether a child needs help in all subjects or just one. We provide the appropriate help to improve academic performance for each child.

• The Specialized Needs Program provides interventions and therapies for children with learning disabilities and special needs. We assist with therapies that are not covered, or not fully covered by Tricare (the federally funded insurance program available to members of the US Armed Forces and their dependents). These are services and curriculums specifically for children with unique needs.

• The Testing and Evaluation Program is devoted to finding the root cause of a child’s learning difficulties. This knowledge allows interventions to be targeted and help the child more effectively overcome difficulties.

• The Advocacy Program provides education advocates in cases when parents need help navigating school systems, insurance companies, treatment providers, and even the judicial system. Advocates help parents ensure that their child’s needs are met.

• The Enrichment Program is designed to leverage the positive aspects of being a child in the Navy SEAL community through leadership and adventure opportunities to create a positive transformational impact.

We offer these programs through three grant cycles each year that align with academic semesters (Spring, Summer, Fall). Families seeking our support reach out through our website to begin the process. Once we have their information, they are paired with one of our Family Advocates who works to determine and implement an individualized plan to best meet their needs. By working with over 150 exceptional service providers to serve each child where they live, we have a strong track record of helping children address their educational difficulties, helping these students reach their full potential and reducing stress for a Naval Special Warfare family. In 2019, 100% of SEALKIDS' participant children showed increased academic performance in at least one measure.

The SEALKIDS staff and board are a capable group of individuals that strive to adhere to the SEALKIDS values of honor, commitment, courage, excellence, and empathy. Every staff and board member is highly dedicated to serving the NSW Community.
• The Executive Director of SEALKIDS, Dr. Gretchen McIntosh is responsible for day-to-day operations, consistent achievement of program and financial objectives and the implementation of sustainability practices in efforts to fulfill the mission. She brings extensive experience navigating organizational and legislative policy initiatives and ensures ongoing programmatic excellence.
• Our Program Director, Suzanne Vogel, founded SEALKIDS together with her children in 2011 and is responsible for leading educational policy implementation. She works with advocates and service providers to effectively tackle the academic challenges of the children of Naval Special Warfare. She is responsible for data collection and works closely with the SEALKIDS Family Advocates to determine the pathway to service for each child.
• The SEALKIDS Family Advocates serve as points of contact for the families and service providers. The advocates assist the families by connecting the family with a skilled service provider that matches their child’s individual needs. Advocates assist the families and service providers with the grant application process and are the point of communication and accountability for everyone involved with the grant process. Advocate Alma Fowler is based on the West Coast and Advocate Lori Camper serves families on the East Coast.
• SEALKIDS Service Providers are experts in their fields. They implement pre and post-assessment, develop individualized service plans, and capture objective measurements to show progress toward skill mastery for each student. Service Providers are located in the child’s hometown, allowing partnership with the student’s teacher and school.

In 2020, our most impactful year to date, 80% of grants were awarded to students with one or more diagnosed learning disabilities. A total of 606 grants were awarded in 2020 to 311 participants, providing thousands of hours of services to children in 15 different states and Guam. Distribution across our programs was as follows: 61% in Academic Support, 4% in Advocacy, 27% in Specialized Needs, and 8% in Testing and Evaluation. In 2020, 100% of children showed improvement in at least one academic measure.

SEALKIDS' goal is to expand our services in order to serve every child in the Naval Special Warfare community that needs our help.