Weekly Media Roundup: January 22, 2025

Another Year, Another Long Waitlist for BUSD After-School Program, Berkeleyside (California)

Due to ongoing staffing shortages, more than 200 students are currently waitlisted for afterschool programs at Berkeley Unified School District. Parents in the district’s PTA Collaborative on AfterSchool are advocating for universal afterschool access. Namita Dodeja, who has a kindergartener, is one of them: “Many of the families in the district have dual-working households, and not knowing when the after-school care dust settles is a very stressful situation,” she told Berkeleyside.

State Grants Give a Boost to York County After-School Programs, York Dispatch (Pennsylvania)

A $1.5 million grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency will strengthen the Pennsylvania Alliance of YMCAs programs for the 15,800 at-risk youth it serves throughout the state. “The number one cause of death for young people in America isn’t cancer or car accidents — it’s guns,” Lt. Governor Austin Davis told the York Dispatch. “When we invest in afterschool programs, we’re being smart about safety, and we’re saving lives. There’s no more important metric, when we talk about getting stuff done, for the good people of Pennsylvania.” The additional funding will help increase staff salaries, provide transportation for students, and broaden educational opportunities.

Focus is Our Children, a Free After-School Program in Pittsfield, is Driven by Volunteers. It Can Always Use More, The Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts)

Students play sports, take dance classes, get help with homework, connect with mentors and more at the Focus is Our Children afterschool program in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Vanessa Guess-Slaughter and Manny Slaughter founded the organization more than 25 years ago to help children discover their passions and succeed in school. It is “always rewarding to help out the children in our community, to give them something to do. There's not a lot for them to do out here,” Tayla Taliaferro, a volunteer, told the Berkshire Eagle. “We become mentors for them to count on in their lives, on top of their teachers and family members and parents.”

Hundreds Honor MLK's Legacy Through United Way Service Event in Charlotte, WCNC (North Carolina)

In celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the United Way of Greater Charlotte in North Carolina hosted its annual MLK Call to Service event at Northside Charlotte Church, encouraging community members to support afterschool programs and local non-profits. “We want to pull people together from all walks of life,” Kathryn Firmin-Sellers, Interim President and CEO of the United Way of Greater Charlotte, told WCNC.  “We want people to engage with [these organizations] and really learn about them, so that the active service we start today doesn't end today, and we can continue this service year-round.” Volunteers assembled over 3,000 snack kits for local afterschool and community programs.