Weekly Media Roundup: September 9, 2026

New Haven Kicks Off Low-Cost Afterschool Program for Thousands of Students, WFSB-TV (Connecticut)

The New Haven Afterschool Initiative, which will provide afterschool programming for up to 2,000 students at 20 schools throughout the Connecticut city, has launched. Thanks to a partnership between the city, the local Boys & Girls Club, and the nonprofit New Haven Counts, the programs are $5 a day for families, or free for families receiving public assistance such as SNAP. “There are a lot of families in New Haven, maybe single parents, grandparents, trying to raise a child, and having affordable, after school programing that goes till 5:30, Monday through Friday is crucial to them making sure their kid is in a safe place, but also that they can continue to have a job,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker told WFSB-TV.

Mill Street Youth Center Gives New Braunfels Teens a Safe Place After School, KSAT (Texas)

The Mill Street Youth Center in New Braunfels, Texas provides sixth through 12th graders with a free, safe place to socialize, participate in engaging activities and receive academic support after school. The new center opened this spring, offering games, cooking, music and athletics. “We talk a lot about this age group: that they’re lonely, that they have high anxiety, that they don’t know how to communicate, that they are isolated,” Mill Street Youth Center Executive Director Stacey Dicke told KSAT. “But what we’ve seen is when they get inside this facility, all of that goes away.”

Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Oregon Launches New Afterschool Program at The Community Center in La Pine, Cascade Business News (Oregon)

This fall, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Oregon is opening a new afterschool program at the La Pine Community Center, providing elementary and middle school students with academic assistance, STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities and enrichment opportunities. To celebrate the new program, the Club is waiving enrollment fees for the first 36 students and offering its first week of programming for free. “Expanding into La Pine allows us to directly support working families who need safe, high-quality afterschool care they can trust,” Michael Baker, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Oregon, told Cascade Business News. “Every child deserves an afterschool environment filled with fun, discovery, and support. Bringing our programs to La Pine delivers both — offering safe, high-quality care for working families while unlocking exciting new opportunities for La Pine kids.”

Write Out Mentors Empower After-School Students to Identify as Storytellers, The Daily Orange (New York)

For the past six years, Write Out has embedded local artists, writers and university students in afterschool programs to facilitate creative writing workshops that help students find their voices and build their literacy skills. The nonprofit currently partners with seven afterschool sites in and around Syracuse, New York that serve elementary, middle and high schoolers. Last year, to commemorate the organization’s fifth anniversary, organizers published a chapbook with more than 200 pages of student work. “We really believe all students are already storytellers,” founder Jacob Gedetsis told The Daily Orange. “They’re telling stories in lunch lines and buses -- how can we provide the space for them to tell those stories and gain storytelling and writing skills?”