Martin Luther King Center

Summer is right around the corner and that means staff from Spring Forward and the Martin Luther King Center are busy planning to welcome hundreds of Rock Island-Milan School District students for summer camp. Together, the two organizations have built the largest summer enrichment camp program in the region.

When community based organizations work together, our community wins! In 2015, the Doris and Victor Day Foundation encouraged Spring Forward, the King Center, and other community partners to address summer learning loss, aka “the summer slide”, in the community. 

The two organizations quickly mobilized by adding teachers and carving out time for reading at their existing summer camps. As time went on, both organizations started to plan academics and enrichment together. “The King Center had a really fun summer camp for years before we ever did,” Spring Forward Executive Director Dan McNeil said. “We knew we wanted to model our camps in a similar way and they taught us a lot.”  

Adding academic components to summer camp required a new way of thinking and planning.  Neither organization wanted summer camp to become summer school. King Center Executive Director Jerry Jones stated, “We wondered how we were going to pull kids away from other activities for reading, and that came down to scheduling. It was finding the right time, and the right amount of time for reading, play, trips, and other camp activities.” 

What started as a summer partnership has turned into much more. The King Center opens its doors for Spring Forward to host family events and Spring Forward provides books at the center’s annual Thanksgiving dinner and holiday gift giveaway. The two organizations have also partnered on grant projects focused on lifting up Rock Island’s youth.  

When asked to summarize the relationship with Spring Forward, MLK Center Executive Director, Jerry Jones said, “Working with Spring Forward has been one of the most satisfying professional experiences and partnerships for the King Center because our values align so closely together. We have the opportunity to impact kids in comprehensive qualitative ways that steepen their upward trajectory. Spring Forward is not in the business of just providing a service in a fashion they see fit. They display true belief in the astronomical potential of the kids they serve and in doing so, inspire them and us.”