Open Doors Academy

Open Doors Academy seeks to provide best-in-class services to its scholars, alumni and their families. Focusing on growing its footprint throughout Greater Cleveland, while advancing its reputation as a national leader in out-of-school education, ODA serves as a foundation of education, investing in the life-long learning of its staff, scholars, and families. ODA is a youth development model committed to breaking the cycle of multi-generational poverty. We work to protect, inspire, nurture, and challenge adolescents to reach their full potential.

At Open Doors Academy, we believe that education is the key to helping kids break the cycle of poverty. Poverty and all the things that fuel it work against our children's success, both in and out of the classroom. We recognize that schools and teachers are working hard, but the traditional school day - 8am to 3pm, late August through May - is not sufficient to address these issues for so many of these kids. They just need more. So, ODA has developed a unique model of out-of-school time programming.

Open Doors Academy believes that by building supportive relationships, strong social networks, and skills training with access to knowledge, experience and opportunities, youth will develop a sense of autonomy, purpose, and personal empowerment which in turn leads them to contribute to the common good. ODA is grounded in the belief that it takes a community to raise a child. As such, parents are required to contribute a minimum of 16 service hours to their child's programming. This family engagement contributes to the wellbeing of our students by creating opportunities to spend time in a healthy and safe atmosphere, and by enhancing parent's knowledge base and toolset for supporting their child.