To the Moon is an out-of-school Arts and Education program which is operated out of Erie Elementary Charter School and funded by the City of Chicago, providing a safe and nurturing environment for children and youth in need, at no cost to families. Participants engage with art, peers, social supports, and receive healthy meals, school tutoring, and community enrichment programming.

Most parents of the To the Moon students started back to work recently and they reported that the program is enormous support for their family. The parents have shown great interest in the program to the point that they have been actively involved with classes such as art, yoga, and dance. Incorporating activities which include the entire family has been a positive experience that adds to the value and impact of the program. Future plans include the expansion of the program to schools so that others will be able to benefit from the positive impact of dynamic programming for students.

In 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, To the Moon adopted new means of communicating and providing services to the students and their parents. The use of technology has amplified our creativity which has allowed us the privilege of providing uninterrupted services to the students and families. For example, through various websites, the students created their own app for the cellphone in which they produced their own content such as music and pictures. The students also created artwork pieces as they learned about graphic design. Activities such as these are assisting the students in developing new technical skills which can be used by them now and in the near future. In fact, this new means of using technology has piqued the interest of many of the students which might lead to their future aspirations to explore even more the field of technology as a career possibility.

We are very proud to share this: One of our students, Jeremy – a talented and very young Youtuber –  shared with us one of his most recent creations, which was simply amazing! We are very proud to see the impact of our program and art tutoring on our student’s life. Jeremy saved all of his artwork created on our after-school program, to use as a one-of-a-kind gift.