Weekly Media Roundup: November 25, 2020

The Bridge Teen Center Celebrates 10,000 Students!, Patch (Illinois)

The Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park, Illinois is celebrating the milestone of serving 10,000 students in the decade since it opened its doors in 2010. The program serves 7^th through 12^th graders from the greater Chicago area and northwest Indiana with free programs that help students develop mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually in a safe environment during the after school hours. “This special place belongs to the community, and it stands as a testament to what can be accomplished when committed and caring people rally together around a common cause,” said Priscilla Steinmetz, Bridge Teen Center founder and executive director and an Afterschool Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance. To gain experience and raise money, Bridge Teen Center students run a (now socially distanced) Thrift Store.

Boys & Girls Clubs offers second home for families who feel they have nowhere else to go: Season of Sharing 2020, Cherokee Tribune & Ledger-News (Oregon)

When the Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro’s Regence site surveyed students to ask what they need, one student responded: I need you. The Clubs provide meals, homework help, computer programming, art, music, sports and more to 6,400 students whose families are struggling with food and housing insecurity. It closed its facilities in March when the pandemic hit, providing only virtual academic support for several months until it began reopening its sites on a limited basis last month. “I was very happy because being connected to Boys & Girls Clubs is like a second home to me,” said 18-year-old Malik Jackson, who has been in the program since first grade. “I always loved this place. There is no place I would rather go to but here. It’s special to me because as you start coming here you start learning from others, the things they’ve gone through in their life.”

Giving Matters: Creative Advancement Center in Greer provides after-school care, enrichment activities and more, Greenville Journal (South Carolina)

Corporate leader Dan Dudley worked with school systems, parks and recreation departments, faith-based organizations and others, and won support from local businesses to create the Creative Advancement Centers afterschool program four years ago. Based in Greer, the program provides meals and works to improve students’ grades and school retention rates. “We help with homework and provide a nutritious meal. Parents can be sure their kids are in a safe environment,” Dudley said. “We also take field trips to places like Washington, D.C., and the slave markets in Charleston. They’re able to see history outside the classroom, so when they read about it, it’s exciting.” Creative Advancement Centers recently won a grant from the Community Foundation of Greenville.

Garden Pellissippi Youth Scholars program to start in January at MLK Center, The Daily Times (Tennessee)

A $50,000 grant from the Arconic Foundation is making it possible for the Pellissippi Youth Scholars Program to give middle school students from two afterschool programs hands-on opportunities to explore careers in advanced manufacturing and coding. The program is recruiting volunteers from local industry to work with students, who will have the chance to explore robotics, additive manufacturing, coding, pneumatics and other potentially high-paying careers. “The earlier a student is introduced to these jobs, the sooner they will see an optimistic future open to career-connected learning,” said Teri Brahams, executive director for economic and workforce development at Pellissippi State. “Exposing students to these career opportunities in middle school will allow them to better use their time in high school to prepare for the path they’ll take after graduation.”