About Us
Mission & Vision
Aspire’s mission is to expand learning opportunities that help historically underserved students fulfill their potential through afterschool and summer learning programs that support and connect families, schools, and communities. Aspire envisions an Arlington where all children have the support they need from family, school, and community so they can succeed as learners and thrive as healthy and happy individuals.
Read about our values here.
Read more about our commitment to our students and families here.
Aspire's high-quality, holistic afterschool and summer programs:
Serve young people in grades 3rd through 8th most impacted by the opportunity gap during the critical transition years in preparation for middle and high school at no cost to their families.
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Strengthen students' literacy, math, and foundational skills through evidence-based and experiential learning opportunities that accelerate achievement.
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Create a seamless connection between schools, afterschool, and home.
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Partner with families to support their child’s learning and development.
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Demonstrate results; 90% of our students improve their reading each year.
Closing the opportunity gap
In 2025, building on the momentum from our past strategic plan, Aspire once again convened students, families, staff, board, and community partners to design a five-year strategic roadmap rooted in our values and responsive to today’s challenges. We made sure that this roadmap would focus on what we were hearing from our community, while also leaving room for flexibility to respond to new and changing needs over the next five years.
As a result, we have an ambitious plan to increase student achievement, expand our holistic programming, strengthen strategic partnerships, and build a sustainable staffing model between 2025 and 2030.
We know that education is relational and holistic. Our strategic roadmap reflects this and provides a path forward that is innovative, student-centered, and rooted in equity, joy, connection, and excellence, ensuring every student has the opportunity to not just catch up, but fall in love with learning, dream big, and thrive.
Aspire's Theory of Change has never been more relevant:
Improving reading changes lives.
Reading proficiency in upper elementary is highly correlated with high school graduation.
In third grade, students transition from learning to read, to reading to learn. Students not reading well in elementary school are four times less likely to graduate high school on time. However, 90% of students in poverty who read proficiently in third grade graduate on time.
When students read on grade level they are able to keep up with academic content and stay on track to graduate from high school.
Aspire provides 30 minutes of daily reading intervention, robust math and STEM programming, and social-emotional lessons to ensure our students can build on school-day learning and have the tools to not just succeed in school, but fall in love with learning.
Young adults have the opportunity to fulfill their full potential, lead productive lives, and become all they Aspire to be.
Aspire's holistic programs go beyond academics, supporting the whole child by providing a safe, nurturing environment for students to learn, grow, and develop. This work strengthens the whole community and sets students up for long-term success.
Who We Serve
Aspire Afterschool Learning (formerly Greenbrier Learning Center) is deeply rooted in the South Arlington community it has been serving since 1994.
Aspire has three program sites near and along the Columbia Pike Corridor of South Arlington. Our program operates at the Arlington Mill Community Center and at two school-based locations with Title I elementary schools (Randolph and Drew Elementary Schools). These locations allow us to serve students equitably, close to where they live, reducing transportation barriers to families.
The students we serve overwhelmingly represent low-income households (94%), students of color (100%), and students from non-English speaking households (73%) with 10+ languages spoken in Aspire student’s households, including Tigrinya, Urdu, Amharic, Arabic, Spanish, and Creole-Haitian.
Learn more about each of our programs, transportation, and program hours.
Daily afterschool
program for 3rd through
5th grades
Middle school program
for 6th through 8th
grades
Six-week summer camp
for 3rd through 8th
grades
Aspire Values
Aspire is committed to providing a safe, welcoming place for our students to learn by living our values at every level of our organization.
Growth: We Aspire to support our students to empower them to reach their goals.
Connection: We Aspire to bring our community together to create a sense of belonging for our students and their families
Equity & Access: We Aspire to provide access to the students and families most impacted by the educational opportunity gap and treat Aspire students and families with dignity, fairness, and respect.
Excellence: We Aspire for excellence in our programs, from our students, and from our team.
Fun & Caring: We Aspire to approach every day with a nurturing spirit of playfulness and warmth.
How do I enroll my child?
Afterschool: Enrollment for our afterschool program is currently open, and typically opens in early spring.
Summer: Enrollment for our summer program typically opens in early spring.