Weekly Media Roundup: October 30, 2019

D’Abate, Swearer Partnership Praised for Success, The Brown Daily Herald (Rhode Island)

More than 120 Brown University students volunteer at the Brown Elementary Afterschool Mentorship Program (BEAM) at D’Abate Elementary in Providence, Rhode Island, acting as mentors and facilitating activities focused on geology, art, sustainability and storytelling. The highly successful program is funded by a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant. “There is this belief that it takes a village to raise a child,” D’Abate Principal Brent Kerman told the Brown Daily Herald. “We consider BEAM to be just another part of our village contributing to the positive growth of our kids. We see them as part of our family.”

Centro Latino Offers Haven to Latino Community, KBIA (Missouri)

At the Centro Latino De Salud afterschool program in Columbia, Missouri, elementary and middle school students who are immigrants are paired with mentors who work with them one-to-one throughout the semester. Through homework help, games, tutoring, and mentoring relationships, the program seeks to empower the Latino community and combat opportunity gaps many immigrant students face. “I decided to start volunteering here because I thought it was a really cool opportunity for the Latino community here in Columbia,” volunteer Allison Christiansen told KBIA.

Fit Kids and Rotarians Reinvigorate the Y’s Best Kept Secret, Boothbay Register (Maine)

Each Tuesday, members of the Rotary Club in Boothbay Harbor, Maine are visiting the Boothbay Region YMCA’s (BRYMCA’s) Fit Kids afterschool program to help children construct and maintain a garden. Through the “Eat Well, Play Well” grant awarded by Rotary District 7780, students and Rotarians are grooming the existing garden, constructing new raised beds, and preparing the land to plant blueberries in the spring. The project aims to provide students with experiential learning opportunities as well as combat food insecurity. “The Fit Kids afterschool program plans to continue working on gardening-related curriculum over the winter and hopes to incorporate the newly renovated amphitheater into program activities moving forward,” Stephanie Tucker of the BRYMCA wrote in the Boothbay Register.

After-School Program for Teens Focuses on Arts, Media, Offers ‘Outlet Where They Can Express Themselves,’ Chicago Tribune (Illinois)

At TruVision Productions afterschool and summer programs, Chicago teens can choose from a diverse array of courses including acting, sound engineering, dance, songwriting, video production and more. Program staff seek to instill confidence in students and help them discover new passions and express themselves. “When students do not have anything else to do, they roam the streets aimlessly. TruVision allows them to come in and realize their worth and [that] they all have greatness within them,” Jacqueline Sanders, executive director and founder of TruVision, told the Chicago Tribune.