Little Lights Urban Ministries

Our goal is to deliver high-quality and intensive after-school and summer programs with academics and enrichment, one-to-one mentoring, and arts-based programs to the communities that we serve.

Little Lights has always focused our programming on youth living in public housing because of the extreme levels of poverty present in these communities. This poverty has only been amplified by the ongoing health crisis. Little Lights' school year and summer programming target at-risk students who live in three DC public housing communities: Potomac Gardens (Ward 6), Hopkins (Ward 6), and Benning Terrace (Ward 7). Because we are focused on the students in these three communities, the target population of our programming does not change between the school year and summer.

We serve over 120 students across these communities. All students living in DC public housing live well below the federal poverty line. In 2021, $26,500 marks the poverty line for a family of four. In contrast, families of four living in our three focus public housing neighborhoods struggle to exist on an average of $14,000 each year, a number that makes almost all of our students’ families eligible for both Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Welfare or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits and qualifies them as “at-risk.”

Living at such an extreme level of poverty can profoundly affect students’ development (physically, academically, and emotionally), which is why Little Lights seeks to positively intervene.

The overall goal of our academic programs, which typically include (1) Homework Club (2) Reading & Math Heroes (3) Saturday Program/Reading Warriors and (4) Summer Lights, is to close the achievement gap and provide a place of emotional and social growth for students who live in Potomac Gardens (Ward 6), Hopkins (Ward 6), and Benning Terrace (Ward 7).

There is no quick or easy fix in solving the achievement gap. Closing the gap is a collaborative effort. One that involves individuals, community groups, foundations, and non-profit organizations like us.

Homework Club is an after-school enrichment and homework assistance program for students that takes place four days per week at each of our program sites. Students also receive a free hot meal and snacks each day.
Reading and Math Heroes is a weekly literacy and math program for students in grades K-8 where volunteers are recruited to provide one-to-one tutoring assistance for students.
Saturday Program/Reading Warriors is a drop-in program where students ages 4-14 receive a free lunch, have outlets for wholesome play, and read assigned books at their instructional level with caring volunteers.
Additionally, we offer Social Emotional Learning sessions twice a week, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. These are character-building sessions that promote positive youth development throughout the school year.

Summer Lights Summer Camp Programming
Our program is designed to prevent youth from engaging in at-risk behaviors during the summer months but also to develop them academically, cognitively, and emotionally by exposing them to different social environments. Summer Lights will take place from 11 am to 5 pm, on Mondays to Fridays, for 5 consecutive weeks.

Summer Lights programming is built to provide the following:
Academic Time: Academic station curriculum includes: (1) Individualized Literacy Work Stations (2) Differentiated Math Skill Building Centers (3) Guided Reading - Fluency/Comprehension Skill Building and (4) Reading/Math Adaptive Practice.

Healthy Meals: We partner with the Capital Area Food Bank and DC Central Kitchen to provide daily free lunches for our students. In 2020, we are providing 1,800 meals during Summer Lights.
Opening/Closing Assembly: Opening and Closing Assembly is time to get all of our campers together for chants, songs, and competitive games.
Enrichment Stations: Students will rotate through four stations where they express themselves creatively and participate in character development sessions.
Exploratory Activities/Field Trips: Three field trips will promote added learning in science and art, as well as active outdoor play.

The College and Career program is a brand new program at Little Lights that will support middle and high school students as they prepare for adulthood. This program provides students with access to an ongoing support system that contends with the obstacles that keep many low-income students stuck in a cycle of poverty and under-achievement.

Since 1995, Little Lights has offered academic programming to vulnerable students in the Potomac Gardens (Ward 6) community. We began offering academic programming to students at Hopkins (Ward 6) public housing in 2013 and for students at Benning Terrace (Ward 7) public housing in 2017. Little Lights academic programs serve over 130 students across these three communities.

Little Lights is unique because of the long-lasting relationships and trust we have developed with residents in the communities we serve over the past 26 years. Instead of being an outside organization, we are woven into the fabric of the neighborhood, which positions us to strengthen children and families so they can thrive and lead successful lives.

Little Lights consistently communicates and works with community members and resident council presidents in each of the public housing communities that we serve. We hire community residents as staff members to work within our academic and supply distribution programs. When planning and implementing programs we seek feedback from our staff, the community leaders, and the students and parents we serve.

We also hire community residents as staff members to work within our academic and supply distribution programs. Working day-to-day with residents from the communities we serve allows us to understand the views of the community. When planning and implementing programs we seek feedback from our staff, the community leaders, and the students and parents we serve.

Our out-of-school and summer programs aim to level the academic playing field for disadvantaged youth. We focus on individualized academic plans, social-emotional learning, and physically place our sites where our students live, which leads to active engagement with parents and students.

Our programming is successful because we (1) partner with DCPS to align our work with their school day, (2) create individualized lesson plans for each student, and (3) assess student performance.

To ensure our Out-of-School Time and Summer Learning programs are achieving their intended results, we use a mixed-method evaluation approach that includes both qualitative and quantitative data collection tools.

History: In 1995 Steven Park, a Korean-American and Little Lights’ Founder, met a middle school student named Darrell. During their conversation, Steve realized Darrell was not able to read a Dr. Seuss book, and felt both heartbroken and compelled to help. Soon after, Steve started Little Lights, a makeshift tutoring center in the back of his parents’ Tae Kwon Do studio. Over the next few years, Little Lights shifted locations to Potomac Gardens public housing in Southeast, DC, began offering a summer camp and daily homework help. Since then, our organization has touched the lives of more than 1,600 at-risk students and 7,000 volunteers in DC through daily tutoring, mentoring relationships, and Summer Lights day camp.

Organizational Timeline:
1995: Steve Park launches a summer camp for children ages 5 to 14 in Northwest, DC.
1999: Reading Heroes, a supplementary literacy tutoring program, begins.
2003: Math Heroes, offering supplementary math tutoring, begins.
2005: The Little Lights Center, our main headquarters, is donated to Little Lights.
2009: First gain use of program space in public housing to start aftercare for middle schoolers.
2013: The Hopkins Center opens, located in Hopkins public housing.
2016: The 1430 Center opens, serving additional students on-site in Hopkins public housing.
2017: Little Lights expands youth programs east of the Anacostia River, opening the Hilltop Center to work with students living in Benning Terrace public housing.

Milestones and Accomplishments:
Steve and Mary Park, Little Lights’ Executive Director and Deputy Director, named the recipient of the Council of Korean Americans Embrace Unity Award in November 2020.
Steve Park accepted the 2020 Nannie Helen Burroughs Humanitarian Award at the DC Courts' First Annual African American Impact Awards ceremony in February of 2020.
Steve Park received Georgetown University’s John Thompson, Jr. Legacy of a Dream Award in January of 2018.
Little Lights was named the 2016 Board Leadership Award winner by the Center For Nonprofit Advancement.
Little Lights was made Catalogue for Philanthropy’s list of best small nonprofits for the following years: 2008-2009, 2011-2012, 2015-2016, 2019-2020.