Weekly Media Roundup, September 30, 2020

YMCA Expands its Mission During COVID-19 Pandemic, The Times News (Tennessee)

When schools and afterschool programs closed due to the pandemic in March, the Greater Kingsport Family YMCA in Kingsport, Tennessee quickly expanded its afterschool program to function all day for more than 130 children of essential workers. This fall, the program has expanded to 20 socially distanced virtual learning labs through which students can work on distance learning with support from adult mentors. The YMCA also brings meals, life skills activities, fun games and homework help directly to underserved neighborhoods through its ‘Y on Wheels’ program. “Nothing we’re doing now is going away. There’s always going to be those needs out in the community,” Reagan Pierce, senior director of youth development, told the Times News. “If no one else is going to reach these kids, why shouldn’t we be doing it. We’re the Y.”

City's  Largest After-school Program to Resume In-Person Care, ABC 7 (New York)

About 40,000 students in 130 schools in New York City attend robust afterschool programs facilitated by New York Edge, where they explore new interests and potential careers, get tutoring, develop their artistic talents, have fun in the gym, play sports including handball, and more. When the pandemic hit, New York Edge quickly pivoted to virtual programming. This week, students returned to programs in-person which social distancing measures in place. "[The students] are so excited because they don't look at their counselors as teachers or coaches, it's more like a family-based session," Christine Mattias, whose son attends the program, told ABC 7. “[Without the program], I would be lost… Our program is great.”

System to Provide Child Care During COVID-19 Bearing Fruit, The Associated Press

This fall, in just over four weeks the state of Vermont partnered with Vermont Afterschool to establish 87 remote learning sites serving more than 5,000 children by utilizing federal coronavirus relief funds. These hubs, which are run by afterschool programs, child care centers, and parks and recreation departments, provide a safe, socially distanced environment for children to do school online while their parents work. “We knew that after months of being out of school children needed access to programming, opportunities to play and learn with others in safe, caring spaces,” Vermont Afterschool Executive Director Holly Morehouse told the Associated Press.

This Agricultural Nonprofit Wants Kids In Wards 7 And 8 To Learn Farming From People Who Look Like Them, DCist (District of Columbia)

At the Green Scheme’s afterschool and summer programs in Washington, D.C., students learn about nutrition, build their own community gardens, practice yoga and African dance, and more. The program aims to teach students about entrepreneurship, the environment, and health through hands-on activities. In one afterschool program, students developed their own flavored water product, which is now sold in stores, in order to increase access to healthy beverages in their community. The Green Scheme has continued to creatively fulfill its mission during the pandemic through a mix of outdoor in-person and virtual programming, including delivering seedlings to students’ homes so they can garden with their families. “There weren’t many Black students in my college classes or even now at environmental conferences and panels. I want the kids to know an environmentalist who looks and talks like them,” founder Ronnie Webb told DCist.