Founded in the fall of 2012 by a math teacher working in the Mountain Valley School District in Saguache, Colorado
This teacher recognized a majority of students were struggling academically, but were not receiving the support they needed due to both their limited financial backgrounds and insufficient options available for structured and intentional out-of-school activities.
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The teacher began providing these services pro-bono during her after-school hours, coordinating with other caring teachers and service providers in the community. She began receiving seed money through local county government grants and envisioned a short-term future when these impromptu efforts would become a coordinated, sustainable, grant-funded program designed to benefit all children and families served by MVSD.
The original vision quickly evolved and grew to include academic interventions offered during the school day and a more formalized after-school program, as well as increased staffing and a wrap-around support focused to reduce the students’ probability of engagement in high-risk activities. Soon thereafter, AAI was awarded an AmeriCorps grant to expand its services to more schools; that funding was re-secured for a second year with continued expansion operating under the auspices of MVSD.
In 2016, AAI was granted nonprofit status and secured enough funding to continue to grow its academic, after-school, and outdoor programs over the following years. This expansion has included services for more communities in the San Luis and Arkansas Valleys, programs for homeschoolers, and increased partnering with local organizations to enhance efforts such as outdoor programming.
