The summer of 2022 has arrived with refreshing joy and possibilities — but also with a heavy air of fear.

The hot season has long brought out the best and the worst of the fellowship that brings neighborhoods together and the violence and neglect that endangers children and families.

“Summer has always been my favorite season,” said Kansas City Health Director and Kansas City school board member Dr. Marvia Jones. But her work in trying to bring down violence has taught her “to dread it."

Community groups like LINC are rallying neighborhoods, offering programs and gathering resources to help families and young people engage in positive educational and recreational activities.

It is particularly critical that communities “help them learn and grow and play this summer,” Jones said.

The pandemic, said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, has raised the stakes.

“This summer is so important to help young people reconnect with friends, peers and educators after such a difficult year,” he said.

Jones and Cardona issued their appeals in video statements that echo campaigns across Kansas City and the nation to rebuild and expand programs and efforts that combat the dip in academic skills and the increase in victimization by violence that disproportionately impact children in low-income and minority communities.

Some of the resources available to families include:

• LINC is back providing summer school programming with its partner school districts, and also hosting Caring Communities Day in Kansas City June 11 to bring neighborhoods together at a fair that will include opportunities to get help with rent and utility bills, receive other relief, learn of resources and receive books for children.

• The City of Kansas City Health Department has created a webpage with information on summer camps and programs for area families.

• The website InPlay provides an interactive, sortable list of area programs for families this summer.

• The Kansas City Public Library is offering programs and prizes for families with its summer reading program, Art Starts at Your Library.

• The Mid-Continent Library is offering programs and prizes for families with its summer reading program, Oceans of Possibilities.

• The National Summer Learning Association provides a nationwide database of summer programs around National Summer Learning Week in July.

• Attendance Works, a national program that has been working with the Hickman Mills School District and LINC, is providing strategies for educators and families to promote summer learning with a program it calls R.E.A.L. — Routines, Engagement, Access to resources and Learning.

This summer will be a test to see if the community can recover and build on programming and services that declined significantly during the pandemic summers.

A new report by Edge Research for the Afterschool Alliance found that participation in summer programs took a dive during the pandemic after family participation had risen steadily between 2008 and 2019.

Even at the peak in 2019, the report said, although 12.6 million students participated in structured summer programs, another 13.9 million students are estimated to have wanted to participate but were unable to.

That’s why the local and national leaders are putting out the call for stronger, inclusive summer experiences.

“There’s no better way to ensure (students) will be ready to return to the classroom this fall,” said Cardona, the U.S. Secretary of Education.

“Your city is behind you,” Jones, Kansas City’s health director, said. “And we know everyone can come together to get this done.”

By Joe Roberston/LINC Writer