Our Mission The focus of the Fireflies program is literacy and learning skills for students in grades K through 5, with particular emphasis on preventing the summer slide. A significant proportion of elementary school students in Central Oregon fail to meet state standards for reading and math achievement during their elementary school years. Students from economically disadvantaged families fail to meet these standards in an even higher proportion. There is strong evidence that attacking the summer slide can be one of the most effective measures to reduce the achievement gap in elementary school.

Our Work The Fireflies Program currently consists of 3 elements: the summer book bag program, little school libraries, and SPARKY! The Book Trailer. Fireflies provides a book bag to elementary school students who need a assistance to maintain their reading, math and study skills over the summer. Fireflies has placed little libraries at 4 elementary school campuses in Bend and Redmond, providing students with ready access to books in their neighborhoods. During the summer, SPARKY! visits schools, parks and other events distributing free books. Fireflies is a social justice outreach program founded and managed entirely by UUFCO’s Fireflies Team.

History and Impact The Fireflies Summer Book Bag program began in 2017 serving 180 students at 1 school. In June 2022, we served 646 students at 5 schools: 2 in Bend, 1 in La Pine and 2 in Redmond. In the 6 years of the program, we've provided book bags to 2,593 students (containing nearly 13,000 NEW books)!