150 Beyond Basics supporters gathered at the Detroit Athletic Club on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, for the annual Coming Together for Children event. The event, which raised $250,000, honored award recipients Jim Bauters; Curtis Blackwell II; Stuart Dow; and Carolynn Lynn, and acknowledged the support of schools and donors throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2020-21 school year, Beyond Basics pivoted to a virtual tutoring platform for 250 high school students in Detroit Public Schools Community District, with outcomes that were on par with in-person instruction, proving that whether live or in a remote setting, intensive tutoring unlocks the key to reading.

“Literacy gives a person the tools to become whatever they can be, and we owe all students that chance,” Stu Dow, who received the Literacy Chair award, said. “Without literacy, there is no narrowing of the gap” between those who succeed and those who struggle due to illiteracy, he said. “Reading opens up the world to children.”

Curtis Blackwell II, the founder of Sound Mind Sound Body, a college preparatory program that sends student-athletes to college, received the Partner of the Year award. Blackwell has observed firsthand the impact of Beyond Basics on his student-athletes. After tutoring 50 Sound Mind Sound Body students online last summer, Beyond Basics will tutor 100 participants this summer, also online.

“If students don’t have a solid academic foundation, they’re just a vehicle without gas,” Blackwell said. “Beyond Basics’ intimate, nurturing tutoring program fosters the growth the students need to be great student-athletes. The tutors build relationships with young kids. The kids want to work hard for them,” he said.

Beyond Basics CEO Pamela Good noted that she is building organizational capacity for the next school year when Beyond Basics tutors will serve an estimated 3,000 high school students in Detroit and the metropolitan area.

“We flattened the curve on COVID,” Good said. “Now it’s time to flatten the curve on illiteracy and pave the way to a brighter future for students who are falling behind. Literacy is the ‘vaccine’ that enables students to succeed in school and become adults who thrive.”