Danbury Grassroots Academy Carefully Builds Upon Past Success

DANBURY, CT — The Danbury Grassroots Academy is probably the highest-performing area school that you've never heard of.

The program leaves the "Three R's" to the traditional schools, but instead provides a structured after-school environment that emphasizes education, character, tennis, and health. The program operates out of a newly expanded 2,500 square foot Main Street office and on Danbury’s public tennis courts at Rogers Park.

Although tuition is free, admission into the Academy is needs-based, and all students must be Danbury residents and participants in their school's reduced-fee lunch program. Once past that first vetting, the Academy will review letters of recommendation from teachers, examine students' report cards, assess individual needs, and interview both the students and their parents or guardians. Despite the name, the Grassroots Academy does not take the place of public or private schools.

In operation since 2006, with an enrollment now capped at only 50-60 students, DGA opens its doors when conventional Danbury schools close theirs, such as after 3 p.m. during the school year and all day long in the summer. Students enroll in the Academy as early as halfway through second grade, and typically stick with it through their senior year in high school.

Higher learning institutions who have graduated DGA alumni include Boston College, University of Pittsburgh, University of Vermont, Syracuse University and Vassar, among many others.

Lauren Bailey is the director of the Danbury Grassroots Academy, having founded the operation with her husband in 2006. She's had no choice but to keep the operation as lean as possible (The operating budget is about $250,000), employing just two full-timers and one part-time employee, including herself. The bulk of the heavy lifting is done by 40 to 45 volunteers whose numbers vary by season. They are clearly driven, but from many different directions.

"Some are former teachers, some are National Honor Society students who are getting their volunteer hours, and some are people who want to just give back," Bailey said. "There is no way we would run the program without them. Some come two days a week for 2.5 hours a day, some come one day a week, some do much more. Some mentor kids one on one."

DGA began as a modest after-school tennis program, a means to introduce younger children to the sport, "trying," as Bailey told Patch, "to keep kids healthy and busy and out of trouble." When some of their older students found they couldn't play high school tennis (a DGA requirement) because they couldn't keep their grades up, Bailey decided to re-focus some of their resources. The operation is now fully focused on that crucial aspect, reviewing report cards, and helping the students with their studies.

"We have some kids who are strong students but who may be a little behind in math and reading, and we are helping them to maximize their potential, whatever that means for them," Bailey said.

The relationship is fully a two-way street. In addition to regularly referring candidates to DGA's admissions office, all the elementary, middle and high schools and parent-teacher organizations have access to DGA's online portals.

For the middle school-aged students, it's all about getting them into the right high school.

"That could be Abbot Tech, where they can learn a trade and maybe not be on a path for college, or they could be on a path to Danbury High School or Immaculate and be college-bound. It varies with the kid," Bailey said. "We aren't looking for high achievers, we are looking for kids who can take everything we are providing for them and their families and run with it."

DGA may not be looking for high-achievers, but they are pulling out all the stops to create them. The program has amped up its science-technology-engineering-math activities with coding and robotics workshops, facilitated by contributions from ASML, the Netherlands-based electronics manufacturer with facilities in nearby Wilton. The ASML Foundation funds education projects around the world, and they are particularly keen on the intersection of technology and diversity, so DGA really hit the sweet spot, to borrow a tennis analogy.

"ASML Foundation is strongly linked to ASML, so we aim to offer kids more experiences in technology that are reflective of the innovative, high-tech business and multinational workforce of ASML, said Christel Keizer, ASML Foundation. "While we funded materials for DGA to teach the children about robots and coding, it is great to see that ASML engineers stepped in to help these kids discover the first steps to - hopefully for some of them - a future in tech!”

Danbury Grassroots Academy students on field trip to ASML Measurement Lab

Danbury Grassroots Academy is funded entirely by private donations, local, regional and national grants, and the work of organizations such as ASML. Keeping that fund-raising and grant-writing pipeline primed, as well as just keeping all the plates spinning in the day-to-day operation, is an immense workload.

The hard work, and its results, have paid off in the form of longer wait lists. "Meteoric growth" is a scary notion when you're sitting atop the meteor, or in its path.

"Should we franchise it? Take in another town? I just don't know," Bailey said. It's all she can do now to handle the ten additional students DGA took on this past year. "We're totally knocked out at 60. I don't know where we go in five years. We'll see where we are in the next two to three years. We are still trying to raise funds to stay in business."