From Alabama to Washington state and places in between, afterschool programs are embracing the USDA Child and Adult Care Feeding Program’s (CACFP) At-Risk Afterschool Meals program. This spring, hundreds of afterschool programs are providing nutritious meals at no cost to those children who need them most. With summer around the corner, providers are also taking part in the Summer Food Service Program to ensure young people have the nourishment they need when school is out. Here are a few examples from around the country:
In Huntsville, Alabama, and the surrounding area, children will be able to receive three meals per weekday during the summer as part of Huntsville City Schools’ new Summer Feeding Program. Young people under the age of 18 will be able to enjoy up to three meals per day at no cost at 10 area schools through the Summer Food Service Program. Summer learning programs will be offered at most of the schools allowing students to nourish both minds and bodies.
The Albuquerque Journal recently reported on a number of schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, including Kirtland Elementary School, that started serving a meal as part of their afterschool program.
This past March several schools in Houston Independent School District (HISD) in Texas began serving free afterschool meals to students. Meals will be offered through the district to students attending 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) at 32 HISD schools to ensure students receive healthy and nutritious meals on a regular basis. The meals are made possible through the CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program and the district hopes to expand meal service to 50 schools next school year. The local CBS affiliate reported that district officials see the latest endeavor as one that is beneficial for students beyond measure: “For some children, these dinner meals may be the only meal they eat until the next school day so this program will strive to provide them the proper nutrition they need for a healthy development,” said Jonnelle Hollins, manager of HISD afterschool programs. “Offering free dinner at school will ensure that thousands of students have access to the recommended three meals a day.”
This spring, the Roosevelt School District in Phoenix, Arizona, pilot tested an afterschool meal program that allows students participating in afterschool programs to have a balanced meal. The ABC affiliate in Phoenix reported that the school principal at C. O. Greenfield School has seen the effects of hunger in his students and often works with local food banks to ensure families have food at home.
Bucyrus City Schools in north central Ohio recently added afterschool meals to its menu of meals served to students. The afterschool meal program was launched as a pilot program this month and serves students in the BEST (Building Excellent Students Together) afterschool program, and could expand afterschool meal service to more students and sites for the 2013-2014 school year. The BEST program serves elementary students in grades 3-5 through the 21st CCLC initiative.
In Spokane, Washington, the Northeast Youth Center is serving afterschool meals six days a week through CACFP. A recent meal, reported by the Spokane Spokesman, included a teriyaki chicken sandwich, green beans, orange slices and milk. “We are pretty excited about this,” said Kate Zehner Green, executive director and accounts manager at the youth center, while watching the children eat. “This is why we are here. There is such a need in this neighborhood.” Green said the youth center had been working on bringing in an afterschool meal program for some time, but once the center applied for this program, it took less than a month to get it going.
Join us on Thurs., May 9 at 2 p.m. EDT as we discuss the role that afterschool programs can play in addressing youth violence.
According to a nationally-representative survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 1 in 3 high school youth reported being in a physical fight within a 12 month period, and 1 in 6 high school youth reported carrying a weapon on one or more days within a 30 day period. These alarming statistics underscore the need for quality afterschool programs that keep kids safe, inspire them to learn and help working families. Providing an outlet for positive self-expression, access to caring adult mentors, and a community of supportive peers has been proven to be a winning formula for curbing aggressive behavior and empowering youth to be agents of change in their communities.
This webinar will highlight specific violence prevention strategies and federal funding streams for afterschool programs engaging in this work. Carleen Wray, executive director of the National Association of Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), will discuss how to empower youth to make their schools and communities safer through crime prevention tactics, conflict management and service projects. Ben Forman, executive director of Teens Run DC, will also discuss how the combination of mentoring and a distance running program encourages positive youth behaviors by helping them work toward personal goals.
With the sequester now in effect, 3,400 AmeriCorps positions are expected to be cut. A recent story in the Baltimore Sun illustrates the concern that many afterschool providers have about the implications these cuts might have for their programs. At the Mother Seton Academy, a school for low-income children in Baltimore, AmeriCorps members serve in a number of vital roles, including helping out the afterschool program. As the school faces budget constraints and teachers are overworked, AmeriCorps members expand the capacity for schools and nonprofits to serve.
During a time of budget cuts, AmeriCorps members make all the difference in overcrowded classrooms, afterschool programs that keep kids safe or in tutoring programs that lower dropout rates. A recent blog post on Service Nation argues that the small living stipend offered to AmeriCorps members costs the country far less than the price of a teenager who drops out of school. With the wide range of services that AmeriCorps members offer, cuts to the program will undoubtedly have a large impact.
AmeriCorps currently engages more than 75,000 men and women at more than 15,000 locations including nonprofits, schools, public agencies, and community- and faith-based groups across the country. During their year of service, AmeriCorps members help communities with a wide range of issues including disaster services, economic opportunity, education and healthy futures.
AmeriCorps members have had a longstanding impact on afterschool programs, and have served in a number of capacities. Across the country, members are tutoring and mentoring students in afterschool programs, recruiting and managing volunteers, and working on other capacity building efforts. The Afterschool Alliance AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) project has 13 members in 12 states working on program sustainability and expanding access to afterschool meals.
One example of an afterschool program that relies heavily on national service members is Higher Achievement. Higher Achievement is a rigorous afterschool and summer academic program that operates in D.C., Baltimore, Richmond and Pittsburgh. Here in D.C. there are 13 dedicated AmeriCorps members who work directly with over 500 middle-school scholars and build the capacity of the organization. They are a critical piece to the organization, as many national service members are in afterschool programs across the country.
Afterschool and summer learning programs are uniquely suited to offer physical activity, nutrition education and healthy meals to participating young people. Two potential funding opportunities can assist providers in offering evidence-based and innovative programming that can lead to healthier lifestyles for students:
The Safeway Foundation is partnering with Children's Hospital & Research Center Oakland to develop community- and clinic-based programs designed to reduce the burden of childhood obesity. The program seeks to fund nonprofit organizations with innovative programs to address childhood obesity. The goals of the program are to empower innovative programs to expand and enhance services, increase capacity, and/or incorporate new strategies to support healthy body weights among children and/or adolescents; evaluate the impact of existing programs; and identify promising approaches that could be replicated, adapted, and implemented in diverse communities nationwide. Applicants must be 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, or have a fiscal sponsor that is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The applicant does not have to be affiliated with a healthcare facility or clinic. Applicants must be based within 10 miles of a Safeway store (with some flexibility for regions with low-density stores). Proposed programs must use an inter-disciplinary model that includes at least one partnership with a community, clinic, business, and/or school. Initially, the Safeway Foundation is committing $2 million to support about 15 one-year awards. The amounts awarded may range from $3,000 to a maximum of $100,000 depending on the specific needs of the project. The majority of awards will be within the range of $40,000 to $75,000. The complete Request for Proposals and the online application form are available at the Safeway Foundation website. Applications are due May 15, 2013.
Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) recently extended the deadline to May 3, 2013, for their School Grants for Healthy Kids for the 2013-2014 school year. Around 400 schools will be awarded funds that will range from $1,000 to $5,000 with significant in-kind contributions from AFHK in the form of people, programs, and school breakfast and physical activity expertise. AFHK will also provide schools with management expertise and support to develop strong alternative and universal breakfast or physical activity programs. Award amounts will be based on building enrollment, project type, potential impact, and a school's ability to mobilize parents and students around school wellness initiatives. Grants are available in select states. Note only schools are eligible to apply. ThePhysical Activity grants provide funding for facilities and equipment for recess, playgrounds/play-spaces, classroom energizers, physical education, intramural and/or before- and afterschool programs that introduce underserved youth populations to the value of an active lifestyle. Learn more through Action For Healthy Kids.
Ed. note: This post was originally published by SparkAction. Read the original post here.
Juvenile justice professionals take note: a new resource launches this week that will make it easier—and more engaging—than ever to get in-depth journalism stories together with key research, data, guides and tool kits on critical issues in the juvenile justice field.
The Juvenile Justice Resource Hub, launching April 24, 2013, provides visitors an accessible, user-friendly point of entry to a repository of years of research into juvenile justice issues—with particular focus on the best practices and lessons from the MacArthur Foundation-funded Models for Change initiative which examines systems change approaches to make juvenile justice more fair, effective, rational and developmentally-appropriate.
The Hub is a project of the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (JJIE.org), published by the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University.
Since its formation three years ago, JJIE.org has earned a reputation as the go-to source for juvenile justice news. The Hub builds on this, adding “layer upon layer of research into issues pertaining to youth and justice,” said Leonard Witt, executive director of the Center for Sustainable Journalism.
Practitioners, researchers, policymakers and journalists can now navigate seamlessly from the comprehensive journalism produced by JJIE.org to the underlying research and best practices in the Hub, deepening their understanding of the treatment of youth in juvenile justice and of innovations that make juvenile justice approaches more responsive and effective.
The Hub will “put juvenile justice information and resources from Models for Change and other reform efforts into the hands of those who need them,” says Sarah Bryer, director of the National Juvenile Justice Network (NJJN). NJJN is curating the Hub in partnership with JJIE.org.
“When we first put the words ‘information exchange’ on our site, that’s what we aimed for,” said Witt.
Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Juvenile Justice Resource Hub focuses on six reform areas identified with Models for Change: mental health, disproportionate representation of minorities, indigent defense, evidence-based practices, aftercare and community-based alternatives for youthful offenders.
First Up: The intersection of mental health & juvenile justice
Timed to coincide with the Hub launch, JJIE.org is releasing the first article in a six-part series examining the issues raised by the problematic intersection between mental health and juvenile justice.
Many recent studies concur that as many as two-thirds or more of all youth enmeshed in the juvenile justice systems suffer from one or more mental health conditions. One in five suffer a serious and debilitating mental illness.
Mental health presents one of the most vexing challenges facing our nation’s juvenile courts and corrections systems.
Many experts argue that youth are being driven into the court system by a lack of mental health services in their communities. Due in part to crippling cuts to community providers, juvenile justice has become the nation’s de facto adolescent mental health system.
Failure to provide adequate mental health services has been alleged in dozens of lawsuits filed recently over conditions of confinement in juvenile facilities. And recent surveys show that the quality of mental health treatment is sorely lacking in many or most youth detention and corrections facilities.
Meanwhile, a wave of new research has emerged showing that new “evidence-based” mental health treatment models – most of them offering family-focused therapy to youth in their own homes – are far more effective than incarceration, group home care, or standard community supervision in steering troubled youth away from delinquency. Yet states have been slow to adopt the new models, and many questions remain regarding how these evidence-based models should fit into an effective juvenile system.
The series, “Mental Health and the Juvenile Justice System: Progress, Problems and Paradoxes” will examine these problems and offer solutions through case studies of successful and progressive reforms in states.
First in the series: a look at the treatment of mentally ill youth in Cook County, the cradle of juvenile justice, and throughout Illinois. Then, stay tuned for the next installments, launching weekly throughout the month of May:
The only national survey to gather data directly from confined youth on mental health and substance abuse issues.
Missouri’s widely acclaimed juvenile corrections system’s approach to mental health.
Georgia’s progress in embracing evidence-based and therapeutic practices.
What you can do
Please help spread the word about this comprehensive Hub to colleagues and networks interested in juvenile justice. SparkAction—which is providing social media support to the launch—has sample social media posts, images and video you can share here.
After the April 24 launch, JJIE and NJJN are looking for beta-phase feedback. If you find errors or issues on the site, please share feedback at http://jjie.largoproject.org/beta-feedback.
Please also share resources and tools that you’d like to be considered for inclusion in the Hub.
This week is National Volunteer Week, a special time to recognize the extraordinary contributions of volunteers across the country.
Afterschool professionals understand the importance of volunteers. These dedicated individuals are key to ensuring all children have access to high quality afterschool programs. Volunteers fulfill a number of different roles, from serving as tutors and mentors to educating students on specific subjects. They also fundraise for these programs and can manage certain aspects of program operations Without volunteers, many afterschool programs would not be able to serve the 8.4 million students they reach.
Community volunteers are not the only people afterschool programs rely upon. Volunteers from the major national service programs, including AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA, also play important roles in many afterschool programs. During their year-long service commitments, AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps VISTA members manage volunteers, fundraise, promote program sustainability and work directly with enrolled students. These volunteers are critical to the day-to-day operations of many afterschool programs.
If you are an afterschool program volunteer, thank you for all that you do! If you manager or work for an afterschool program, be sure to take some time this week to thank your volunteers.
This week I was in Kansas City as a keynote speaker for the 2013 Best Practices Forum on Dropout Prevention, hosted by the National Dropout Prevention Center/Network. I was thrilled to be a part of the event and share with the audience the many ways the afterschool field is helping our students come to school, stay in school and graduate. Afterschool programs are an instrumental part of any effort to help our students not only graduate from high school, but prepare them for lifelong success and help shape the adult he or she will become.
This is why I am so pleased with the newly released video (below) and guidebook by America’s Promise Alliance, “Expanding Learning, Expanding Opportunities.” Both the video and accompanying guidebook highlights the many ways expanded learning opportunities—including afterschool programs, summer learning programs, and expanded learning time—are providing our kids with opportunities to express themselves creatively, explore their interests and gain hands-on learning experiences they might not have during the school day. Also included are a variety of resources, such as research, best practices and toolkits to assist those interested in learning more about the out-of-school hours.
What happens outside of the classroom can be as important to a student as what happens inside of the classroom. Research has shown that kids in afterschool programs see improvements in their grades, school attendance and behavior in the classroom. Children also become more self-confident and develop higher self-esteem. Students in afterschool programs are also less likely to be victims or perpetrators of violence and working parents have peace of mind with the knowledge that their children are in a safe environment surrounded by caring adults.
Afterschool programs across the country are helping to keep kids safe, inspire learning and help working families. Yet, despite the wealth of research and stories we hear every day on the ways afterschool programs are supporting kids and families, we’ve found that afterschool programs are struggling to keep up their services and meet the demands for afterschool in their communities. Close to 8 in 10 voters want their newly elected federal, state and local officials to fund afterschool programs, and more than three-quarters of voters want them to provide more funding for afterschool programs given the current challenging economic environment.
I hope that you’ll lend your voice to the thousands of other voices speaking out about the crucial role afterschool programs play in making sure our children stay safe, stay in school, and stay excited and engaged in learning. This new guidebook and video from America’s Promise Alliance can be a great tool for engaging others in your community in better understanding and valuing the role of afterschool and ideally get them to lend their voices as well.
“Detroit Public Schools plans to provide preschool to all of the city's 4-year-olds, offer music and art after school and allow schools to house educational and social services for 12 hours every day as part of an ambitious effort to attract and retain students,” the Detroit Free Press reports. The new plan also calls for a longer school day and a longer school year and for turning some of Detroit’s schools into community schools. Detroit Public Schools has lost two-thirds of its enrollment in the past decade and has a deficit of about $76 million and long-term debt of about $400 million. The district is hoping its reform efforts will enable it to keep its students and its per-pupil funding so that it won’t be forced to close more schools.
The Herald-Standard reports that California State Rep. Peter J. Daley (D) recently visited the Charleroi Elementary Center’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers afterschool program to read to students from Brownsville, Connellsville and Charleroi area school districts. The afterschool program has partnered with California University of Pennsylvania. The program includes daily skill development, individual tutoring, physical education, cultural and technology enrichment.
Some students from Access 21, an afterschool program at Haverhill High, are spending two afternoons each week painting “images of native plants such as sumac trees, and cattails as well as animals such as deer, foxes, coyotes, great blue herons, eagles, seagulls, geese, beavers, turtles and turkey vultures” on 12 4-by-8-foot panels for the Merrimack River Rail Trail, the Haverhill Gazette reports. The panels will be mounted on the back wall of a hardware store abutting the rail trail, creating an 80-foot-long by 20-foot-high mural for all to see.
Join us on Thurs., May 9 at 2 p.m. EDT as we discuss the role that afterschool programs can play in addressing youth violence.
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