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Davidson College, in partnership with the Brenda H. Tapia Family Foundation, and in memory of a lifelong educator and leader, has announced the naming of The Brenda Tapia CDF (Children’s Defense Fund) Freedom Schools®, housed at the Ada Jenkins Center. An anonymous donor has made a generous gift to create an enrichment fund in support of The Brenda Tapia CDF Freedom Schools®. Former students, alums, loved ones and all members of the Davidson community are encouraged to add their support to this fund.

“The work of the Brenda H. Tapia Foundation carries on so many parts of Brenda’s legacy, just as this new partnership does,” said Boris (Bo) Henderson ’01, the foundation’s board chair and a former Love of Learning counselor-mentor. “She spent her whole life fighting for justice, equality and education and working to find ‘diamonds in the rough,’ as she would say, who had the potential to change the world. The connection to Freedom Schools speaks to her commitment to education, and Davidson College is where she perfected and grew her ministry. Inspired by her Love of Learning work, we also intend to look for opportunities to ‘add a little Brenda’ to the existing program.”

Rooted in the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project of 1964, the CDF Freedom Schools program is a literacy and cultural enrichment program designed to serve children and youth in grades K–12 in communities where quality academic enrichment programming is limited, too expensive or nonexistent. The six-week summer program in Davidson was started in 2005 by the college. The program enrolls 50 youth each year, and six Davidson students support the program as servant leader interns. Participant outcomes show the program consistently supports learning gains, compared to the all-too-common learning loss that can occur during the summer.