Today’s after school programs are innovation labs for learning. Through decades of practice and evaluation, they have refined the “after school approach” to expanding learning: offering hands-on experiences that make lessons come alive, often in collaboration with community-based organizations, businesses, colleges and universities, museums and local government.

Students in after school programs are exposed to a range of horizon-expanding opportunities. From an expert on robotics, they might learn to design and build a robot to compete nationally. From a local chef, they might learn to prepare a tasty and nutritious meal. From a local business leader, they might get insights into making a business click. From a nearby museum curator, they might get a look behind the scenes of a local science center, and learn about careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. And from a local university professor or college student, they might get a tour of a college campus and start imagining how they could fit into the picture after high school.

It’s not just the substance of such activities that are important. It’s also the people with whom kids come in contact. Community leaders, scientists, engineers, professors, government officials, college students, and others they encounter through after school programs are role models and mentors. That’s a particular benefit for low-income students, who often have a limited view of what awaits them after high school.

After school accomplishes all that while keeping kids safe — no small thing for kids in communities challenged by crime. The afternoon hours can be downright dangerous for children, left to themselves without adult supervision. By contrast, students in after school programs are less likely to join gangs, be the victims or perpetrators of violence, become teen parents or engage in other inappropriate behaviors. After school programs are also a lifeline for working parents, who are eager to have their children engaged and safe, getting help with their homework, while parents are working. One study showed businesses saved hundreds of billions of dollars because parents are more productive when they know their children are safe after school.

After school programs also have an important impact on student academic achievement. Years of research shows that quality after school programs help students excel during the school day as well. Studies have found gains for after school students in attendance, study habits, behavior, grades and test scores. Indeed, the Afterschool Alliance is thrilled to be working with the Broader Bolder Approach to education, whose research and reports demonstrate the importance of quality after school enrichment in improving school and life success of at-risk students.

Unfortunately, only a minority of the nation’s children have access to an after school program. Research released by the Afterschool Alliance in 2009 found that about 15 percent of America’s children — about 8.4 million — are in a program. The parents of 18.5 million children say they’d enroll their kids, if a program were available. That is the problem: We don’t have enough after school programs. And many programs are being forced to trim their offerings or close their doors due to the struggling economy and budget cutbacks it has brought.

Worse, after school programs are being pitted against policy proposals to extend the school day. The U.S. Department of Education is offering waivers to allow states to open the 21st Century Community Learning Centers initiative — which until now has supported only before school, after school and summer learning programs — to instead be used by school districts to pay for a longer school day.

It’s hard to argue against more learning time, but what matters most is how that time is spent. More of the same is not going to help, especially if it is done at the expense of the after school programs that help students thrive.

Extending the school day is more expensive than running an after school program; the diversion of funds for every school that gets additional classroom time would likely cause six after school programs to close. That would leave families without safe, supervised activities for their children in the afternoons and it would rob children of activities that help them discover their love of learning. Even in the schools with longer days, families would still have big gaps to fill before parents return home from work.

Kids need engaging and exciting activities that are educational and fun. Today’s after school programs create partnerships between schools and community-based organizations to offer just that. We should band together to expand the quality after school programs that offer engaging learning opportunities for our children.

The Washington Post‘s Answer Sheet blog recently conducted a lively debate on the topic, well worth checking out. And there’s more on the Afterschool Alliance’s website, as well.

The Afterschool Alliance is a nonprofit organization that works to ensure that all children have access to affordable, quality after school programs.

Written by Jodi Grant, Executive director, Afterschool Alliance

Source: Huffington Post

Reading was one of 17 school districts across the state to receive the 21st Century Community Learning Center Challenge grant, which will be used to establish community-learning centers that would provide educational services to students in struggling school districts.

“This is an innovative plan that will reinforce the lessons our students are learning in the classroom in a safe environment,” said Schwank, a Democrat whose district is in Berks County.

“We have so many bright and eager students in the Reading School District who want to learn, and thanks to this grant, they will be able to continue their studies after school dismissal.”

“Every child deserves an opportunity to succeed, and so many students can benefit from extra opportunities to learn and grow,” said Caltagirone, a Democrat who represents part of Reading.

“This grant will help the Reading School District ensure that students are receiving a quality education.”

Reading was selected among 119 applicants from across the state. The Pennsylvania Department of Education distributed a total of $20.9 million in federal grant funding.

Source: BCTV.org

Barnabas Shakur, 31, has been a resident of the Brooklyn neighborhood for over 20 years, and has witnessed firsthand its slow but steady progression from a gang-heavy ghetto to an increasingly safe, family-friendly community. In fact, he was an integral part of that process.

Thanks to the volunteer-based nonprofit organization Shakur founded in 2001, Project Re-Generation, Brooklyn teens are trading in guns and drugs for brooms and mops. Through Project Re-Generation’s innovative Foot Soldiers program, hundreds of teens have hit the streets every day after school to sweep neighboring homeowners’ stoops and sidewalks, clean their yards, and take out their trash.

The teens’ active involvement in their community’s restoration and beautification has not only helped create a cleaner and safer Brooklyn, but has helped bridge the gap between the old and new generations of Brooklynites and the two disparate kinds of Bed-Stuy residents — black low-income families and middle-class young couples and professionals — that have come to, somewhat awkwardly, co-exist in Bed-Stuy over the past ten years.

“I wouldn’t say we’re responsible for the positive way Bed Stuy’s changed over time,” Shakur tells The Huffington Post in an interview. “But we’ve definitely created something that inspires the next generation to be better, and teaches our kids by example. It’s more than just a cleaning service.”

Shakur adds that initiatives like the Foot Soldiers program are almost necessary in previously gang-heavy neighborhoods such as Bed-Stuy, where reckless behavior among teenagers — including smoking, drinking, taking drugs and premature sexual activities — still earns them street respect. Foot Soldiers, which was established in 2005 and is just one of many volunteer-run programs the nonprofit offers, refocuses the teens’ after-school energies and activities from destructive to productive.

Though the teens are paid “wages” for their services (between $4.50 and $8.33 three times a week), the thousands of other Brooklyn residents who have donated their time, energy and efforts to the organization and its various programs and events are unpaid.

Over 5,000 collective volunteers across the borough have enabled PR-G to operate since its inception. From professionals who offer pro-bono legal services, to those who donate their teaching skills (PR-G also offers free, after-school tutoring), to volunteers who make up the crew leaders and supervisors of Foot Soldiers, Shakur says the organization’s success relies on the goodness and generosity of the wider community.

“These guys have been doing great things for the community, and in return, the community does great things for them back,” says long-time Bed-Stuy resident Anita Parker, who lives on Lafayette Avenue and Tompkins Street, just a few blocks down from PR-G’s headquarters. “Everybody wins.”

Despite running the organization on a shoestring budget comprised largely of donations — “our biggest challenge is funding,” Shakur admits — PR-G’s efforts and the impact it has on the community continue to increase exponentially.

Just this Monday, PR-G launched an intensive campaign to generate new customers for Foot Soldiers. PR-G volunteers hit the streets on a block-by-block drive on a newly-launched Youth Employment Program.

The program will reward Brooklyn homeowners by offering discounts to those blocks that collectively sign up for services. On blocks where at least 10 homeowners sign up, PR-G will provide services for 50 percent off, and on blocks where fewer sign up, homeowners will receive 10 percent off.

PR-G is optimistic the new program will further unite the community and generate more jobs for unemployed Brooklyn teens. On any block where at least four homeowners sign up for the cleaning service, one job is created for a teen.

As an incentive, crew leaders will bring a Foot Soldiers team to do a free demonstration of the cleaning service at 30 randomly chosen homes on the block.

It’s an excellent marketing plan that’s already attracting many residents — including Brooklyn’s own Borough President.

“Initiatives like this are a win-win, not just for the kids, but for all Brooklynites who need services such as sidewalk cleaning and snow and trash removal,” Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz told The Huffington Post.

“At a time when job creation is a top priority, particularly jobs for younger Brooklynites struggling to find work in under-employed neighborhoods, we need more programs that keep our youth off the streets and actively working.”

The positive impact of PR-G’s programs — which include academic mentoring, life schooling and extracurricular weekend classes such as urban jujitsu and zumba — stretches far beyond the borders of Bed-Stuy and neighboring Clinton Hill. Shakur says that over 96 percent of the teens who commit 20-25 hours a week to PR-G’s programs throughout high school have gone on to graduate. Some have even gone on to excel in college.

Perhaps the most significant outcome of all, however, is that PR-G has increased teenagers’ confidence and self-esteem by teaching them to “dream big” and equipping them with an unwavering support system that many of them wouldn’t have otherwise.

“I have made so many friends here,” says Tyisha Kincaid, 14, a Foot Soldier and an aspiring chef. “We’re like one big family. We do everything together, it’s really cool.”

When HuffPost asked Shakur, who spent his own adolescence navigating the streets of Bed Stuy, what personal advice he had for teens looking to improve their lives and make a difference in the world, he barely had to stop and think about his answer.

“Do you. Be progressive. And read,” he said. “It’s the key to life.”

Feeling inspired? Bed Stuy’s Project Re-Generation accepts donations through its website.

Source: Huffington Post

This has been a wonderful opportunity for our students to enrich their days and to engage in positive interactions with peers. While every elementary building is involved in after school programming, each building has a unique service delivery. Here at Neveln Elementary School we have modified and added to programming based on parent, teacher and community member’s feedback. Surveys were completed at the end of the school year, and the decision was made to limit our enrichment programs to Monday and Wednesday with three, six week sessions. This allows our students to participate in a wide variety of classes. Busing is provided for all students who are eligible. Courses are typically taught by community members and volunteers in addition to professional teaching staff.

Some examples of popular courses offered as a part of NASA (Neveln After School Academy) include “Fun and Fitness” under the direction of Helen Jahr, community member. Fourth- and fifth-grade students are able to learn a variety of activities and games to promote healthy living and physical fitness. “Top Chef” under the direction of Diane Sherman and Eileen Carroll, teaches students how to prepare simple foods and learn new vocabulary. “Lego League” taught by David Wolff, district Gifted and Talented coordinator, allows students to have fun while creating with Legos. The “Power of Wind” taught by Stephanie Stundahl, U of M extension, allows students to learn about the science of wind power.

Parents have been overwhelmingly positive in their response to NASA (Neveln After School Academy) and our winter session currently has more than 210 students enrolled. That is over half our student population at Neveln.

As we strive to meet the educational challenges faced by our diverse and ever changing community, After School Academy is a positive way to allow students to engage in unique opportunities not provided during the school day. It allows community members not typically involved in the schools, to interact with students and staff members. It provides a safe and nurturing place for students after school. It also fosters communication between the home, school, and community settings.

If you would like additional information regarding After School Academy, contact any Austin Public School office.

By Bonnie Erickson
Neveln After School Academy Coordinator

Source: Austin Daily Herald

The program provides youth development opportunities for children in grades four to eight for three hours a day after school.

The Advantage After School program is supported through a partnership with the school district, Lewis County Sheriff’s Department and Planned Parenthood of the North Country New York.

The funds will be used to recruit more mentors, pay for extra programming the agency otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford and allow outside educators to come to the school. It also will allow the agency to purchase iPads, musical instruments and software for students.

Source: Watertown Daily Times

A Pepsi Refresh Challenge Grant was awarded to the Heart of Missouri Girls on the Run.

The organization is an afterschool program for girls.  The girls get ready for middle school by learning how to deal with bullying and peer pressure while at the same time enjoying the sport of running.  At the end of 10 weeks, the girls compete in a 5K run.

Midway Heights Elementary School Student Sidney Yaeger said, “It helps you understand that you shouldn’t do specific things.  You should do good things and not bad things.  It helps you learn how to run faster.”

The organization won their $10,000 grant by getting the most online and text message votes during the month of November.  The grant money will expand the girl’s program this spring, by growing from 2 to 5 Boone County elementary schools.

The Boone County program will expand in the fall.  Organizers plan to expand outside of Boone County within the next 5 years.

Executive Director Nancy Yaeger said, “The girls have so many different pressures put on them at younger and younger ages.  It’s just helping them become strong and confident to where they don’t give into those things.”

Organization leaders expect to have about 75 girls in their program this spring.  Organizers said they can always use more volunteers to help these girls on the run.

The organization received $5,000 in grant money this month.

Organizers are scheduled to get the other $5,000 in May.

Source: ConnectMidMissouri.com

“She never wants to leave,” the Virginia-Highland interior designer said.

But Givelber and 40 other parents who have enrolled their children at SoulShine were forced to find alternate accommodations Monday after the Kirkwood facility was shut down by a state regulating agency for not being licensed.

SoulShine’s director, Shannon Smith, said she has been working to obtain that license, adding she was blindsided when she received a cease-and-desist letter late Thursday afternoon from Bright from the Start, which oversees the state’s day care facilities.

“I am 100 percent willing to comply,” Smith told the AJC Monday. “I just need the time to do it.”

According to state regulators, Smith has had more than enough time.

“Bright from the Start notified the owner of SoulShine in 2008 and in August 2011 that the after-school program she operates is required to be licensed. SoulShine did not pursue licensing,” the agency said Monday through a spokeswoman, Stacey Moore.

“We are currently investigating a complaint that SoulShine is operating illegally. Our agency has no way of knowing if the program has met fire marshal’s office approval, zoning approval as well as other health and safety requirements,” Moore said.

Smith said she could not acquire a license in 2008 because her program was housed at a Candler Park elementary school that was “not up to code.”

“The playground equipment didn’t meet Bright from the Start’s standards,” Smith said. She then moved the program to a nearby facility on the Lake Claire Community Land Trust, assuming she’d be exempt from a state license.

“We’re an after-school program, not a day care,” said Smith, who contends her profits are minimal in comparison with the larger facilities because she’s only open from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m.

But, according to Smith, state inspectors told her she could not meet their standards operating on a land trust.

So Smith moved SoulShine again, this time to its current location in Kirkwood. She said she was developing a state-mandated curriculum, part of the certification process, when she received the cease-and-desist letter.

“I was becoming compliant, and then I’m told to close it down without being given any options,” said Smith, who has a staff of 15 instructors. SoulShine’s ratio of less than four students to every teacher would qualify it for the highest rating in a new evaluation process proposed by the state.

Temporary licenses are granted by Bright from the Start, but the agency said Smith was already denied an exemption in 2008, when SoulShine was housed at the Candler Park school.

“The program was advised to become licensed at that time” and didn’t, Moore said Monday.

The process to obtain a license could keep SoulShine shuttered for awhile.

Smith must first obtain “inspections and approvals from local jurisdictions, [the] fire marshal’s office, complete background checks and meet licensing rules, as required by Georgia law,” according to the spokeswoman.

Meanwhile, parents of SoulShine students say they aren’t going to let the facility go without a fight. They’ve already secured 431 signatures on a petition calling on the state to grant Smith a temporary license.

“It’s an amazing place,” said Maria Azuri, whose son has been enrolled at SoulShine for 2 1/2 years. “I have complete trust in all of the staff. For us, it’s a home away from home.”

Azuri and Givelber said Smith was upfront about not being licensed.

“They make me feel like I’m the Jesse James of child care,” said Smith, 31. “I have a $3 million insurance policy taken out on SoulShine. We have a camera in every room. This is my passion in life, to provide a place where parents know their kids are in a safe learning environment.”

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

So, he came up with a plan to inject healthy eating into that scene.

Menapace worked with the district’s food service department to offer healthy sandwiches, snacks and drinks for students staying for after-school activities. He also opened the library and a computer room for students to gather and do homework while supervised.

The meals offer students, especially athletes who have late practice times, a chance to eat a healthy meal for $3 while doing homework.

“Every time I talk to parents or adults they say, ‘What a great idea,’ ” Menapace said.

Unfortunately, the program has yet to take off with Hamburg students, some of whom keep turning to fast food instead of the sandwiches and snacks offered by the cafeteria.

After opening up the computer room in September, attendance has climbed only slightly from a handful in fall to about 10 to 15 students a week in winter.

Nice weather in the fall probably contributed to the low attendance, Menapace said.

“The last place kids want to go after school is the library,” he acknowledged.

Mostly, the younger students without driver’s licenses take advantage of the program, said sophomore Josh Kisha, 15.

Kisha and sophomore Mike Burns, 16, both Hamburg basketball players, sat at computers one day this week working on a project before practice started at 4:30 p.m.

Both boys participate in the after-school meals program nearly every day.

They said it gives them time to do homework without having to take the bus home and then worry about how to get back to school for basketball practice.

The program also gives players a chance to help each other with schoolwork since they have to maintain a certain grade-point average to stay on the team.

Menapace said he will wait to see how the program does after winter is over and the weather is nice again.

“We still have students sitting 20 steps away from this room eating junk food when they could get something good to eat,” he said.

Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is a free high school journalism after-school program run by Norwood News

The Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative, a free high school journalism after-school program run by the Norwood News, is now accepting applications for the Spring 2012 semester.

Founded in 2008, the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative is open to any high school student who lives or goes to school in the Bronx. Spring classes will start at the end of February and are held every Wednesday afternoon from 4 to 6 p.m. at Hostos Community College, on the Grand Concourse.

The course runs for 12 weeks, and teaches the ins and outs of reporting, writing, and photojournalism. Students work on their own articles (often story ideas they pitch themselves), which we then publish in Bronx Youth Heard, a special supplement we distribute in the Norwood News–meaning they will get a real news clip with a byline. Their work will be seen by thousands of readers and have an impact on the Bronx community.

We are looking for students of all academic abilities, but they should be highly motivated, love to write, be naturally inquisitive, and care about what’s going on in their communities. Click here to find out more about the program or to download an application form. If you have any questions, please call Jeanmarie or Alex at  (718) 324-4998.

The application deadline is February 15.

You can also “like” the Bronx Youth Journalism Initiative on Facebook! See what our current and former students are up to. Click here to become a fan.

I’ve always thought that the most important resolutions are the ones that look beyond one’s own waistline, and instead bear on our commitments to family, community and country.

So the resolution I recommend to those who might happen to be in the market for self-improvement this year is that they commit themselves to supporting efforts to strengthen our community. That could mean volunteering their time, donating their money or used items, sharing their expertise or know-how or, in whatever way makes sense, giving a little more of themselves.

For example, I’m lucky to work with after school kids every day — to help them overcome challenges, share in their discovery of new experiences, and watch over and guide them as they grow into young adults.

At our after school programs at the George J. Mitchell School, Albert S. Hall School and Junior High School in Waterville, we work with more than 175 children yearly and try to give them the very best experience we can, keeping them safe, inspiring them to learn, and helping free their working parents of worries about what their kids are up to in the afternoons.

Our after school programs are of the highest quality and are an opportunity for students to participate in activities such as woodworking, running a hoop house, drama opportunities, 4-H, mentoring, homework help, science and technology projects, cooking; the opportunities are endless.

And, not only are our children having fun, but they are learning at the same time and using the skills they learn to connect with their school day learning.

But we’re strained for resources and volunteers, as is virtually every afterschool program I know.

Several years ago, it looked as if the federal government was going to provide the resources necessary to expand after school care here and across the nation, but now after school funding has grown even scarcer.

And Congress is pressing to divert already strained after school funds to much more expensive programs to extend the school day.

That would mean more students unsupervised and at-risk after the school day ends. Working parents would be without the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their children are safe, and more students would miss out on the innovative, engaging and hands-on learning opportunities that often aren’t available during the school day.

Granted, these are tough economic times. But after school programs are a terrific investment.

By keeping kids safe from a variety of afternoon hazards and temptations and by supporting their academic achievement, after school programs help kids succeed.

That’s no doubt why the American public overwhelmingly supports after school programs.

The parents of 18 million children say they would enroll their kids in an after school program — if one were available. But too often, it isn’t.

The federal failure to follow through on the commitment to expand support for after school programs is — so far at least — an opportunity squandered.

That’s where New Year’s resolutions come into play. After school programs not only need charitable support from individuals, they also need support from our lawmakers in Washington.

So here’s a two-part resolution I’d suggest: First, resolve to do what you can to help after school and other community organizations working on causes dear to your heart. And second, be in touch with your elected representatives in Congress to urge them to do what they can to help.

For after school programs, that means both providing more money and saying no to efforts to use after school funds to support other programs.

Laura Brock is the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant director in Waterville. She is an ambassador with the Afterschool Alliance.

By: Laura Brock
Source: Kennebec Journal