To help our community recover from Hurricanes Helene and Milton through Season of Sharing and the Suncoast Disaster Recovery Fund, click here

Sarasota's summer learning programs critical amid major crises in learning and housing

Categories: Stories of Impact, EMPOWERMENT AND SUCCESS: Career Development & Advancement, EMPOWERMENT AND SUCCESS: Lifelong Connections, EMPOWERMENT AND SUCCESS: Scholarship Opportunities, Empowerment and Success,

by Saundra Amrhein

Sarasota parent Zac Cox turned to the great outdoors for a classroom when the pandemic forced the closure of schools.

His two small kids – cut off from friends and wrestling with online learning – needed more, so he loaded them into the car and took them on road trips to national parks.

But even Cox couldn’t shield them from all that came next: the loss of his job and their child care to the pandemic, followed by a major housing crisis and skyrocketing rents.

Read more