Afterschool Innovators Are Recognized By MetLife Foundation

By Kamila Thigpen, Associate

This year, five special afterschool programs were honored with a MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator Award during their Lights On Afterschool celebrations.  The Innovator Awards are the result of a partnership between the Afterschool Alliance and MetLife Foundation to develop and disseminate a series of issue briefs that address topics related to middle school youth and afterschool programs.  Each issue brief highlights the work of an afterschool program with proven success in one of four categories specific to middle school. This year’s categories were: providing opportunities for service learning, aligning with the school day, addressing bullying, and supporting literacy.

The 2011 Afterschool Innovator Awards and a $10,000 check were presented to:

1. 21st Century PASOS - Gettysburg, PA
   In response to a concern among teachers and students about bullying during school-day and afterschool hours, a group of seventh- and eighth-graders in 21st Century PASOS created The Bully Situation, a website and video series depicting real-life school bullying.
   
   
2. America SCORES - Chicago, IL
   Guided by a soccer and writing coach, America SCORES Chicago supports middle school literacy through teams that work together on the field, in the classroom and in the community.  Students emerge as poet-athletes attuned to their own skills and creativity, as well as to social concerns such as sexual harassment, gang violence and healthy living.
   
   
3. Higher Achievement – Washington, D.C.
   Focused on closing the opportunity gap for middle school youth in at-risk communities, Higher Achievement offers an accelerated, hands-on curriculum that is aligned with the school day and provides access to: academic mentors, university stays, academic contests, and top high school placement.
   
   
4. Kids Rethink New Orleans Schools – New Orleans, LA
   Service-learning opportunities are offered through the creation of five action committees: oil-free schools/architecture, food justice, garden, restorative justice and digital media.  Working with professionals, students have successfully proposed creative solutions to school officials and convinced them to take steps such as repairing substandard bathrooms, installing hand-washing sinks in new cafeterias, and adding garden plots to future school designs.
   
   
5. Urban Arts/Project Phoenix – Oakland, CA
   Afterschool academic mentors meet with grade-level teachers monthly to align their curriculum with the school day.  While daytime teachers provide structured English intervention for struggling immigrant students, Urban Arts/Project Phoenix provides intervention in mathematics, aiding teachers who lack the time to address all of the students’ needs. 

In November, our 2011 MetLife Foundation Afterschool Innovator awardees will be featured in an upcoming educational webinar hosted by the Center For Expanded Learning at Foundations, Inc.  Click here to learn more about the winners and how you can benefit from this free webinar series for afterschool providers: http://www.afterschoolalliance.org/metLife.cfm.