About Serving Our Children

                            Our Mission

Serving Our Children is dedicated to the concept that all students, regardless of income or socioeconomic status, should have access to a quality education.  We believe a quality education is a civil right.  All students are capable of significant achievement, and a first class education is the key to unlocking the American dream and obtaining economic security.  To this end, our goal is to ensure that parents have access to as many school choice options as possible.  Specifically, parents should have access to quality traditional public schools, quality charter schools, and quality private schools.  Serving Our Children is especially focused on ensuring that low income D.C. families have access to scholarships to enable them to send their children to private schools as one option of school choice. 

                           The Opportunity Scholarship Program

The Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) offers scholarships – sometimes called vouchers – to low income children in the District of Columbia to attend a participating D.C. private school of their choice. It is funded under the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results (SOAR) Act, and is the only federally funded voucher program in the country. The program was enacted by Congress as part of a three-sector approach to improve educational outcomes in the District of Columbia. The SOAR Act dedicates equal funds to support traditional public schools, public charter schools, and opportunity scholarships. The OSP is a critical component of ensuring that low income families have the same opportunities as more affluent families, to choose between public schools, charter schools, and quality private schools. Currently, 93 percent of participating children are African-American and Hispanic, and the average income for participating families is less than $22,000 per year. This program has offered a lifeline for thousands of low-income families in the District who believe that a private school is or was the best option for their children.

                            What We Do

Serving Our Children administers the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). The OSP provides scholarships to underserved families residing in the District of Columbia. 

   Over 42,701 D.C. children have applied to the OSP since we started in SY 2004-05. 
Over 11,177 students have been awarded an OSP scholarship since SY 2004-05
1,852 OSP students enrolled in participating schools for SY 2021-2022   
45.4% of OSP students received SNAP and/or TANF benefits for SY 2021-2022
 $21,830 was the average annual household income for families using the scholarship for SY 2021-2022
64.5% of OSP enrolled students resided in Ward 4, 7, and 8 during SY 2021-2022

                            Our History

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) was created in 2003 with bi-partisan support, in response to the growing need for access to quality educational options for D.C. families. It is the only federally funded initiative to provide scholarships for grades K-12 for low-income children to attend a private school. The program began as part of a city-wide effort to improve all of the District’s educational sectors – public, public charter and private – in an effort to expand quality educational options and experiences for District families. 


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