Twitter Afterschool Program of the Day: July Roundup

The Afterschool Alliance is on a mission to bring afterschool to all American youth; in order to achieve this goal, we must affect policy.

Sure, lawmakers love seeing concrete statistics denoting the benefits of afterschool, but is anything really more powerful than hearing about afterschool programs in action?

Recognizing that programs are what directly influence our youth, we began highlighting an "Afterschool Program of the Day" on our Twitter account—afterschool4all. In July, we featured 12 programs nationwide, each of which is doing their part to make afterschool for all a reality.

July’s Afterschool Programs of the Day:

• YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh–With a focus on healthy snacks and physical activity, this program serves more than 1,300 kids in the Pittsburgh area both after school and in the summer.
• Energy Express–In rural communities especially, summer is a season of learning loss and malnutrition. The Energy Express program in West Virginia combats these problems in a six-week program by focusing on reading, serving two nutritious meals per day and using AmeriCorps volunteers as mentors.
• LA’s BEST–LA’s BEST serves 28,000 elementary school kids in the Los Angeles neighborhoods most prone to gangs, drugs and crime. While providing a safe environment, LA’s BEST also uses engaging activities to encourage independent decision-making and responsibility.
• Kid Power DC–Through Kid Power, 275 underserved youth explore civics and current events related to art, nutrition and service-learning. These opportunities are made possible through the strong partnerships in which Kids Power invests.
• THINK Together–Approximately 50,000 students in California participate in THINK Together, generally with no cost to the family. These programs encourage youth development through academic enrichment, homework assistance, physical activities and nutrition education.
• Common Threads–Common Threads blends the lessons of health and tolerance together by involving low-income children in hands-on cooking classes. These children may not strive to become the next Julia Child, but being able to cook independently is an imperative to prevent childhood obesity.
• Maryland MESA–Featured in the Afterschool Alliance’s America’s Afterschool Storybook, Christopher Gooding runs Math Engineering Science Achievement (MESA) at his middle school. The statewide program is STEM focused and sponsors competitions such as bridge and windmill building.
• Big Thought: Thriving Minds– Thriving Minds Summer Camps are free for any K-5 Dallas elementary school student. The programs focus on core subject instruction, but also use music, visual art, theater and dance to further engage students.
• EVOLUTIONS–Run at the Yale Peabody Museum, the EVOLUTIONS afterschool program is an opportunity for promising students to work as paid interns in a Yale Professor’s lab. In addition to work experience, students learn college-readiness skills and go on field trips to places such as the Boston Museum of Science.
• Free Arts NYC–Volunteers dedicate time to Free Arts NYC with the goal of helping underprivileged, homeless, abused and neglected children to explore different aspects of the world through art. Often with a 1:1 ratio, children have the support to fill the dotted lines of their lives with color.
• Teens Recreation Activities Program (TRAP)–Featured in our “Afterschool: Providing Multiple Benefits to Middle School Students” Issue Brief, TRAP is a program in rural Wyoming that  provides youth with critical experiences and support that they would not otherwise have. TRAP activities, such as STEM and mentoring programs, are student-designed and the result of several focus meetings.
• Sisters4Science–Men currently dominate the scientific field, but Sisters4Science is doing its part to promote STEM amongst middle school girls. One-hundred minority women participate in hands-on science experiments, honing leadership and teamwork skills along the way.

Do you have a program you want to be featured? Tell us about it!
 

Elizabeth Stonehill is Research and policy Intern at the Afterschool Alliance. Bio.