Weekly Media Roundup: February 28, 2024

Program Designed to Boost Reading Rates in NW Tallahassee is Reaching More Students, WTXL (Florida)

At Springwood Elementary School’s afterschool program in Tallahassee, Florida, students are paired with volunteers from United Way’s ReadingPals program, working together to improve their reading skills. “A lot of times our students don’t have resources outside of that school hour,” LeeAnn Hewett, a reading coach at Springwood Elementary School, told WTXL. “We’re always trying to find those special moments to make kids be inspired through literacy.” Last year, 84 percent of students participating in the ReadingPals program increased their reading literacy level. United Way hopes to expand the program to additional Tallahassee-Leon County afterschool programs.

New Beckley Salvation Army Community Center to Soon Open Its Doors, Metro News (West Virginia)

This spring, the Salvation Army will partner with the Boys & Girls Club of America to open an afterschool program at its new state-of-the-art community center in Beckley, West Virginia. The program will provide students with healthy meals, academic support and a chance to play basketball, pickleball, and much more in a safe environment. “We want to provide basically that afterschool program that feeds them, it gives them homework help, we call it Power Hour,” Salvation Army Captain Liz Blusiewicz told Metro News. “We also want to give them emotional support. A lot of at-risk youth have a hard time expressing emotions.” The new facility will also include an emergency food pantry, case management services, older adult programs, and fitness classes.

The Opportunity Project In Tulsa Highlights Importance Of Access To Afterschool Programs, 92.9 The River (Oklahoma)

The Opportunity Project in Tulsa, Oklahoma works directly with afterschool providers to increase program quality, collect data and share findings, advocate for funding and more. The organization’s research found that last school year, students enrolled in afterschool programs were 43 percent less likely to be chronically absent. The organization is working to sound the alarm that when COVID relief funding expires, the number of free afterschool programs available to Tulsa students will fall from 350 to 75. "A few months ago I was observing an afterschool program and I had a chance to chat with a student…. She said to me, 'If I wasn't here, I'd probably be home alone.' The work of The Opportunity Project connects youth like her to experiences that are dynamic and enriching, and also safe and supervised," Executive Director Lauren Sivak told 92.9 The River.

Afterschool Programs Can Help Clean Energy Sector Meet Workforce Needs, CommonWealth Beacon (Massachusetts)

In a recent guest column for the CommonWealth Beacon, Massachusetts Afterschool Partnership Director of Outreach and Engagement Chloe Anne McElligott argues afterschool programs play an important role in building the talent pipeline needed to transition to clean energy and address climate change. “In afterschool programs, kids don’t have the pressure to pass a test and get good grades — they get to work together and learn through trial and error, creating strong networks of support to increase their persistence on their trajectories to higher education and careers in STEM [science, technology, engineering and math],” McElligott writes. She calls on the Massachusetts state legislature to create an out-of-school time opportunity fund to provide long-term funding so programs can help students explore careers in STEM.