Weekly Media Roundup: February 7, 2024

Rangers Star Welcomes Kids to the Ice in After School Program, NBC4 (New York)

With help from a donation from the Garden of Dreams Foundation, 50 students in the WHEDco (Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation) afterschool program in the South Bronx are lacing up skates and learning to play hockey – many for the first time. Recently retired New York Rangers star Brian Mullen visited the program to share his story, run drills on the ice and encourage students to pursue their dreams. “It brought back a lot of memories for me, because I grew up in a neighborhood like these kids. I fell in love with [hockey] in a gym,” Mullen told NBC 4.

Go! After School Programs Opens New Facility, Helps Kids to Pursue Gifts, News Channel 3 (Michigan)

At Go! After School Programs’ new facility, students can take part in physical activities including dance and basketball, explore robotics and art, take classes in entrepreneurship and babysitting, work with tutors on academic skills, and more. On Saturday, the program threw a block party to celebrate the new space. "What we do is we offer a variety of programs and opportunities for kids to find and pursue their gifts," Executive Director Dan Walsh told News Channel 3. “We try to provide space for kids to find and pursue what it is they love to do.”

Local Foundation Launches Grant Program to Support Out-of-School Time Efforts, Rochester Business Journal (New York)

Thanks to grants from the Max and Marian Farash Charitable Foundation, eight out-of-school time programs in Rochester, New York will receive $1.5 million to expand their before-school, afterschool and summer programs. The Farash Foundation recently shifted its focus to the power of out-of-school time. “We found there was greater opportunity to reach the youth of today when we focus on time spent outside of school,” Jennie Schaff, Farash Foundation CEO, told the Rochester Business Journal. “Providing safe, enriching and accessible out-of-school experiences gives kids the support they need to be more prepared for success in an academic setting and in life.”

Mental Health and Social Work Program Coming to Auburn High School, WREX (Illinois)

At Auburn High School’s Early Birds Social Work Development afterschool program in Rockford, Illinois, students learn the importance of mental health, develop leadership skills, and explore social justice issues. One of the goals of the program is to encourage the high school students to become mentors to younger students at the Zion West Enterprise afterschool program.  "The idea of the teenagers coming back to help to mentor the younger kids, who better to relate to kids than kids. If they are taught the tools and, can identify them, I'm sure the kids will open up to them,” Marvin Hightower, Pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, told WREX.