Weekly Media Roundup: October 2, 2019

After-School Program Named for Some of Sarasota’s First Black School Administrators, Herald-Tribune (Florida)

At a new afterschool program in Sarasota, Florida, children living in a mixed-income housing community will create relationships with college students who serve as mentors, get academic support, build character and enhance their social and emotional skills. The program is named after Earl and Mary Watts, some of the county’s first African American school administrators, and was born out of a collaboration between the Sarasota Housing Authority, the United Way Suncoast, and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. “I always say Sarasota is a unique place because we address problems as a group …,” Schools Superintendent Todd Bowden told the Herald-Tribune. “I think this is a perfect example of an identified issue — that these kids need support outside of the school all day. It benefits the kids, it benefits the schools and it benefits the community as a whole, so we have a lot to be excited about today.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Virginia is Celebrating 100 Years with This Book, Southside Daily (Virginia)

To celebrate its 100th anniversary this year, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia collaborated with a local high school’s literacy fellowship to produce a book about the organization’s past, present and future. To write the book, high schoolers conducted 99 interviews with business leaders, alumni, current students and others about what the organization’s afterschool programs offer the community.  “All the things family can ask of you and do for you, it seems to be what the Boys & Girls helps bring,” teacher David Kidd, who edited the book, told the Southside Daily. “With a real sense of community and a sense of belonging.”

‘You Have a Voice’: Young Philly Writers Take a Stand Against Gun Violence, WHYY (Pennsylvania)

Students in the Mighty Writers afterschool program in Philadelphia recently presented an original anti-violence booklet to city and state lawmakers at a panel focused on the city’s gun violence epidemic. Mighty Writers helps students develop their voices through writing about issues that matter to them. In the book, students discuss how their communities have been impacted by violence. “People who help run Philadelphia, they should provide more resources, more education on things you can do as an alternative,” student Shamsa Belgrave told WHYY. “Provide classes to help people with PTSD who are suffering from these crimes that are committed by people every day.”

YWCA Afterschool Program Moves Full STEAM Ahead, El Paso Inc. (Texas)

More than 2,000 students at 41 schools are exposed to science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM) at afterschool programs facilitated by the YWCA El Paso del Norte Region in Texas. Students take part in hands-on activities such as computer programming and math games designed to build a strong foundation in various STEAM subjects. “We just want the program to spark an interest, to find the joy and excitement of learning these things and how they are used in the outside world,” Program Coordinator Pricilla Reyes told El Paso Inc.