From Mary Nell McPherson, executive director of the educational nonprofit Freedom School Partners:

During the holiday season, children are the focus of stories about giving and getting, wanting and needing. While presents under the tree are a treat, we can give a life-changing gift to children, and honestly, to ourselves, by supporting students' educational success and helping guide them along a path to successful adulthood.

From preschoolers to pre-teens to pre-engineering majors, students need to be engaged beyond their classrooms and campuses. Yet many children in our community do not have a safe, enriching place to be after the bell rings at the end of the day or during holiday or summer breaks. Recent research from The Foundation For The Carolinas found that only 10 percent of children in our community actually attend summer programs and only 18 percent participate in beneficial afterschool activities.

Afterschool and summer programs extend the investment we are already making in our public schools. More time engaged in learning translates to higher retention and less repetition for our teachers. Increased time with responsible adult role-models has shown dramatic effects in behavior in schools, also. The Wallace Foundation, which focuses on opportunities for disadvantaged children, says: "If we are to take advantage of all the resources a community has to offer that could benefit children, it is high time we recognize that schools can't do it alone. That means new ways of working."

Children growing into their full potential will benefit us all. Investing in children's academic success makes good business sense, avoiding the costs of dropouts and juvenile crime, and creating an educated workforce. Fostering academic achievement, cultivating a strong work ethic and nurturing the positive dreams of adolescents prepares young people for productive adulthood. This is the generation that we will count on to face economic, political, social and environmental challenges ahead.

Each summer and during the school year, Freedom School Partners aims to serve as one link in this vital chain of support by offering children a place to learn and to discover ideas and dreams for their future. Our scholars are elementary and middle school students from low-income families who experience a curriculum rich in literacy and culture each day; their mentors are college students who are trained to serve as both teachers and role models.

Marian Wright Edelman, president and founder of Children's Defense Fund, says that growing up in the throes of segregation, her hope would have been lost if it were not for "the stable, caring, attentive adults in our family, school, congregation, civic and political life who struggled with and for us against the obstacles we faced and provided us positive alternatives and the sense of possibility we needed."

This holiday season I invite you to join together in providing that sense of possibility to children across Charlotte-Mecklenburg. Consider how your family, your faith community, your work place or your neighborhood can work to ensure that all children have the opportunity to succeed and contribute to our community. Your gift will endure, shaping a future for our city, our country and our world.