The SOAR after-school program at Garden Hills Elementary School began in February 2006, based on a request from parents in the Shadowwood Mobile Home Community. Most of the families in this community were recent Spanish-speaking immigrants and faced difficulties due to low incomes, cultural differences, and language barriers. With no available options for affordable academic support, parents were desperately worried about the future of their children, who were falling behind in school. They shared their fears with University of Illinois (UIUC) Professor Ann Bishop and other Shadowwood volunteers. The Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at UIUC initially partnered with the Latino Partnership and B.T. Washington Elementary School to offer an after-school program for at-risk children in north Champaign. In the fall of 2011 the SOAR program moved with the bilingual program to Garden Hills Elementary School in Champaign.

The SOAR after-school program has grown into a very successful collaborative project which now includes many partners from the university campus and the local community. Currently, the after-school program is coordinated out of the Center for Education in Small Urban Communities in the College of Education.

SOAR draws on community funds of knowledge theory to build bridges between marginalized families and the school, help children develop a positive identity, and improve in-school learning.  This theory is also used to organize diverse and already existing resources for program sustainability.