WINGS Provides Important Life Lessons
Life lessons to behave well, make good decisions
& build healthy relationships
What We Do
WINGS is an education program that teaches kids how to behave well, make good decisions and build healthy relationships. We do this by weaving a comprehensive social and emotional learning curriculum into a fresh and fun after school program. Kids get the life lessons they need to succeed and be happy and they get a safe place to call home after school.
Where It Started
Since its beginnings in Charleston, S.C., in 1996, WINGS has grown to serve more than 3,100 kids. The results-driven organization was founded by Ginny Deerin, a marketing and fundraising executive with the conviction that important life lessons were a missing piece of education.
Who We Are
Memminger Elementary School is the learning laboratory where WINGS strategies were developed and tested. A second site operates at Chicora School of Communications and a third site at North Charleston Elementary School. Now we have created a 5-year flight plan to make WINGS replication-ready. With a model that is innovative, effective and measurable, we can ensure that WINGS replicates results with the same quality and effectiveness we deliver at Memminger. Targeted investment to bring this model to scale will enable WINGS to reach many more kids for enduring impact that truly transforms lives.
Why It Works
Our field-tested life lessons education strategies, practices and materials have the power to strengthen the connection to school and diminish bad behavior – the two factors that educational research shows will determine whether kids succeed. Evaluations by researchers from Yale University, the Citadel and the University of South Carolina have found improvements in measures including absenteeism, tardiness and teacher evaluations of social development. “It’s as fundamental as math and science in terms of turning a child into a capable adult and productive citizen,” says Peter Salovey, Ph.D., Dean of Yale College and an expert in emotional intelligence.
How It’s Funded
Recognized in South Carolina as a well-managed, results-driven organization – 2007 winner of a Charleston Regional Business Journal’s innovation award, a Charleston Post and Courier’s public service award and the S.C. Association of Nonprofit Organization’s award for excellence in management – WINGS depends primarily on private investors who want to make a commitment to delivering impact in the long run. We also receive funds under the federal Education Department’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative.