Weekly Media Roundup: September 16, 2020

A Different Look: Noblesville Boys & Girls Club Forges Ahead with Smaller Numbers, Current (Indiana)

At the Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville in Noblesville, Indiana, students get help with homework, explore science, technology, engineering, and math, develop their artistic abilities, shadow elected officials such as the county prosecutor, and more. Recently, the in-person afterschool program reopened after a period of virtual programming, with strict social distancing measures that include smaller numbers of students, masks, and contact-tracing. “They are getting outside a lot, making sure we’re in gym time,” Executive Director Becky Terry told Current. “We’re promoting [a] healthy lifestyle. We really are providing everything we usually provide in some fashion. It just might look a little different right now.”

Organizations Expand Program Offerings to Serve New Haven Students with At-Home Learning, Eyewitness News 3 (Connecticut)

Multiple organizations and afterschool programs in New Haven, Connecticut, are stepping up to provide safe, socially distanced environments for students to do distance learning this fall. For example, the Boys & Girls Club of New Haven recently launched a new Learning Hub, which opens at 8am each weekday. At the Learning Hub, students can get help with their virtual learning as well as breakfast and lunch. The Greater New Haven Clergy Association recently opened a similar hub at First Calvary Baptist Church. “There are many children out there who need our assistance, and the more that can help, the better,” Barbara Chesler, the interim executive director of The Boys & Girls Club of New Haven, told WSFB-TV.

Keene YMCA to Launch Afterschool Program with Federal Aid, Sentinel Source (New Hampshire)
Thanks to funding included in the CARES Act, middle schoolers in Keene and Swanzey, New Hampshire will soon have access to an afterschool program that includes mental health support, leadership development, tutoring, fitness activities, substance abuse prevention, social and emotional learning, mentorship and more. Created by the Keene Family YMCA, the program is designed to support students who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. “The program is specifically to target teenagers that are really struggling,” Program Coordinator Peter Sebert told the Sentinel Source. “We hope to use our connections with all of our community partners, like [Monadnock Family Services], the city of Keene and Keene Housing, to really get referrals for some of these high-risk teenagers.”

Afterschool Program Extends Hours to Help Students Learning Virtually, WCIA-TV (Illinois)

From 8am to 5pm each weekday this fall, the Don Moyer Boys & Girls Club in Champaign, Illinois, is holding an academic support program at which more than 100 students in kindergarten through 12th grade can do remote learning while their parents work. Then, at 5:30pm, students can join the afterschool program, which offers performing arts, workforce readiness programming, guest speakers and more. “We understood that a lot of our families may need Wi-Fi; they made need some academic support. Everyone’s not technologically sound and [they’re] getting onto different apparatuses. We felt that we could play a role and help with that,” Director of Operations Charles Burton told WCIA-TV.