The 74 Million Features Service Learning App, Treedom.co

We were thrilled to be featured in one of our favorite education publications, The 74 Million, last month. The 74’s author, Tim Newcomb, interviewed our founder and CEO, Micheal Kadisha, to highlight new opportunities around service learning for kids.

The 74 summed up how over the past year, Treedom.co has pivoted from offering only in-person, physical community service experiences to including virtual ones as well. Addressing equity and access issues, Treedom now offers virtual projects and opportunities, and now is evolving to include virtual “missions” and mentorships. This shift makes for a more robust and rich service learning experience for kids far beyond the pandemic.

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For example, Treedom set up Los Angeles students in both district and charter high schools to support the YWCA’s Stand Against Racism Campaign by posting information and photos on social media and using the YWCA’s materials to help start conversations about racism; make cards for developmentally disabled individuals; connect with shut-in seniors; contact local legislators to advocate for causes they believe in; and bake cookies that they delivered to the homeless during the pandemic.

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The article, App That Matches Students With Community Service Takes a Virtual Pivot During Pandemic & Opens Up Fresh Opportunities, underscores how the Treedom platform can empower students of all ages to find service learning opportunities that align with their interests (and busy schedules), whether in person or virtually.

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By linking virtually, Kadisha says, Treedom extends the walls of the classroom. And those connections can happen anywhere.

And the feedback loop within Treedom offers that all-important moment of reflection where students are empowered to own their own learning experience. Used by 50,000 students across 50 schools in six states, Treedom continues to expand its reach and offerings by continually asking for feedback from its educators and students.

Many of you might have grown up talking about such social-emotional well-being in other ways: character development, character education, heath and wellness, emotional literacy, citizenship, or civic engagement. The field of SEL takes all of those notions into account with the goal of helping individual develop into empathetic, fair, and trustworthy individuals, which is quite in line with John Dewey’s original intent of the U.S. public education system.

“It really only takes one experience, one moment of exposure to plant a seed that can grow into a beautiful tree,” Kadisha says. “If we can plant those seeds from a young place and expose students to opportunities, then we are convinced as a company it can really be the difference for a student.”