Weekly Media Roundup: August 20, 2025

Berkeley Families Again Left Scrambling for After-School Care, BerkeleySide.org (California)

As school started this month, afterschool programs in Berkeley, California reported waiting lists totaling approximately 700 students they cannot accommodate, now that capacity has been reduced from 1,900 slots in 2022 to just 1,300 slots now. In addition to the reduction in slots, the district has been doing more to recruit low-income families and those from other historically marginalized groups, to comply with state funding requirements. Berkely Unified School District Superintendent Enikia Ford Morthel acknowledged that leaves “little room” for families in non-priority groups. “It’s not just in people’s heads. There’s something different about how we’re doing after-school assignments,” she told the community.  

Austin Teen Takes the Fight for After-School Programs to Washington, D.C., CBS Austin (Texas)

Na’Siah Martin credits the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area with providing stability and guidance during some of her most challenging years. “My family was homeless throughout middle school, and [the Clubs] provided me with support, with meals, transportation, going on field trips, allowing me to be a kid,” Martin told CBS Austin. “It’s helped me become …. an understanding and compassionate person. Organizations like this are crucial to have, especially in minority communities and underfunded communities.” While attending the Summit for America’s Youth in Washington, D.C. in July, she shared her views with congressional staff, urging them to support afterschool funding.

Hurricane Katrina: See The Mural Unveiled In New Orleans 20 Years After Devastating Storm, Shreveport Times (Louisiana)

After interviewing family and community members about the catastrophic impact Hurricane Katrina had on their community, teenagers from the Eternal Seeds’ summer arts program in New Orleans created a 450-foot mural on one of the levees that was breached during the hurricane. “The mural is about the 20-year commemoration of Hurricane Katrina. Basically we are honoring not just those lost, but those who survived. And we’re trying to show them that they belong and that they have a place… we gave them some light, some positivity,” 17-year-old Eternal Seeds participant Dontay Allen told the Shreveport Times. The large mural, spanning across the breached levee that submerged the Lower Ninth Ward, depicts life before, during and after the deadly storm.

Chino Hills Elementary's Innovative Enrichment Programs Helping Entire Families Succeed, KABC (California)

At Litel Elementary School in Chino Hills, California, students are learning robotics, music and other creative arts at the school’s before-school and afterschool programs. “They have different clubs that teachers can offer,” principal Samantha Han told KABC. “We know the importance of [afterschool programs], it’s not just academic learning, but that the students feel that they belong.” The free before-school and afterschool programs are supported by California’s Proposition 28, a measure providing visual and performing arts funding to public schools.