Weekly Media Roundup: December 22, 2021

Virginia Beach Before & After School Programs Saved After Surge of Applicants, WTKR (Virginia)

After the approval of a pay rate increase, the Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Department received hundreds of applicants seeking employment at its before and afterschool programs. The influx of potential employees has prevented the closure of three before-school and 11 afterschool programs. “We are very grateful to City leadership for recognizing the urgency of this situation and approving the pay increase that ultimately allowed us to hire enough staff to save these critical programs,” Michael Kirschman, director of Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation, told WTKR. “Providing this good news to the families who were impacted is the best holiday present we could have asked for, and we are thankful to the people who have applied and come on board to join the team.”

North Missouri Center for Youth and Families Awarded Grant for After School Program, Constitution-Tribune (Missouri)

Thanks to a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant recently awarded to the North Missouri Center for Youth and Families, students in Chillicothe, Missouri will benefit from a comprehensive afterschool program that includes hands-on learning, science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programming, and more.  “Through this funding, we can better help the children of Chillicothe R-II and the surrounding area to succeed in school,” Missouri State Representative Rusty Black told the Constitution-Tribune. “Children who regularly attend quality after school programs improve their grades in math, science and reading, score higher on MAP testing, are more likely to attend school regularly, and most importantly, they are less likely to engage in risky or unsafe behaviors.”

Upper Arlington School Teams with Nonprofit to Provide Meals for Kids Over Winter Break, Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)

Thanks to a successful Winter Break Comfort Bag Drive, families from the After-School All-Stars program in Columbus, Ohio will receive a large donation of food, winter clothing and gifts as they start a two-week holiday break when schools and afterschool programs will be closed. Students from Greensview Elementary School helped donate $7,000 of food and supplies to support the afterschool program. Expecting only a few carloads of donations, After-School All-Stars Development Manager Renee O’Shaughnessy was thrilled by the overwhelming response from the school. “We ended up using a Realtor’s truck to pick up all these bags. We were completely blown away and did not expect this,” O’Shaughnessy told the Columbus Dispatch.

TRUE Skool After School Program Uses Hip-Hop to Help Youth Discover their Creative Side, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)

For more than 16 years, TRUE Skool has used hip-hop culture to promote leadership, entrepreneurship and social justice advocacy among students. At the afterschool program in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, students learn to spin vinyl, write and produce original music, breakdance, produce videos, and more. In the process, they connect with mentors, explore the business side of the music industry, develop their voices and learn new skills. “It is getting them to understand that their voices are powerful and their ideas are powerful and that they can manifest whatever they want to,” Co-Director Fidel Verdin told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Through the arts, we are building that confidence and showing them how to network and professionalize their passion."