Dear valued friends and partners,

After 11 years of working in partnership with the Chicago Public Schools, we have made the difficult decision to close Pitch In programming, effective at the end of our fiscal year, on 6/30/24.

Due to your unending support and dedication over those years, Pitch In has been able to serve nearly 600 4th-8th grade students and their wonderful families across five elementary schools in North Lawndale, Humboldt Park, and Englewood. We are proud that our graduating classes of 8th grade students, including the cohorts graduating this June, have continually proved that with mentorship, access to experiences both near and far, and consistent presence, they could achieve enrollment and persistence in some of the city’s best high schools and eventually colleges. We have heard countless stories about Pitch In paving new paths for our students, and we will be forever proud of our work together.

As many of you are aware, operating and funding a successful nonprofit organization has its challenges, and Pitch In has not been immune, particularly after the pandemic. After evaluating our options, we determined closing our doors was the only path forward. Our team has continued to do all they can to make sure our valued school partners are left with resources, materials, and connections that continue to support their dreams for their middle school students.

It took a village to make our programs so successful. A special thank you to our students and their families for welcoming and teaching us so much, our school partners for trusting us to provide resources and support to their communities, our current and former team members who led our students with love and compassion, and every partner, donor, and volunteer who made our work possible since 2013. We’d also like to thank our dedicated Board of Directors, who put in their time, expertise and so much more to ensure Pitch In thrived. We’d especially like to thank the Founders, Sarah and Kerry Wood, for their exceptional leadership and vision that brought Pitch In to life, and for the seen and unseen hard work it took to truly leave their legacy on our city.

We plan to stay closely connected to organizations making an important impact in the Chicago Public Schools, and encourage each of you to seek out ways to support Chicago’s most disinvested communities. We hope to partner with you in those endeavors in the future.

With gratitude,
The Pitch In Board of Directors

If you’d like to learn more about other organizations making a difference for middle school students in Chicago, we encourage you to get to know:

● A Better Chicago
● High Jump
● Dream On Education
● Project One Ten
● Youth Guidance
● Project: Vision