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The Gus Bus
The Gus Bus brings free academic enrichment to children in Harrisonburg neighborhoods by taking mobile-classroom vehicles to areas where families might have financial or transportation barriers.
The little blue and green bus provides neighborhood stops, after-school enrichment, in-home tutoring, and summer day camps.
In 2003, local educators discovered that half of Harrisonburg’s pre-school kids were not ready to start Kindergarten, so Pat Kennedy designed the Gus Bus for neighborhood-based literacy programs for kids. The educators discovered that older siblings of pre-school students also needed enrichment and academic support, so they added a second Gus Bus vehicle.
The Gus Bus now is awarded funds from the federal grant program, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, and is administered by the Virgina Department of Education.
Programs
The Gus Bus makes weekly one-hour visits to local neighborhoods where students can borrow library books and participate in literacy-based enrichment activities. The neighborhood bus stops continue through summer break. On Mondays through Thursdays from 3:30pm-6pm, students can stay after school to participate in free academic enrichment.
Local partnerships
Working with James Madison University, the Gus Bus pairs students with volunteer JMU students to provide one-on-one in-home tutoring for two hours per week to provide academic support.
The Gus Bus also partners with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank to bring shelf-stable foods and fresh produce to their neighborhood stops on a regular basis. According to the James Madison University website, despite limitations due to the pandemic, during the 2020-2021 School Year, the Gus Bus helped distribute over 700 shelf-stable food bags and over 250 boxes of fresh produce to families. Also, during COVID-19 related school closures, the Gus Bus delivered over 300 books and nearly 600 learning kits for families to read or complete at home with support of Gus Bus instructors leading over GoogleMeet.