August of 2020 Riverside Church began a partnership with Edgewood Academy. Little did we know what would grow from that partnership. Teachers and classrooms were more supported, kids were being fed on the weekends, and attendance and grades showed marked improvement. Rhonda Dahlin felt a call to do more. So, on October 1, 2022, she stepped into the full time creation of The Imagine Initiative to more fully support Edgewood Academy and the surrounding neighborhood.

Just imagine what it would mean to our community if every school in Lee county had a church that partnered with them to provide the support, encouragement, and resources needed. Imagine what that would mean for our country if churches across the nation felt empowered to engage in their schools. We want to inspire churches to partner with schools and help equip them to to do so well.

We have seen what happens when schools and churches partner together and we want more to experience that love, support, and transformation. There are 97 schools in Lee County and less than 1/3 of those have church partners. Beyond that, we dream of all of south Florida having transformational church-school partnerships. Can you imagine the possibilities?