Weekly Media Roundup: February 26, 2025

Discover How the Leaps After School Program is Transforming Lives at Harrison Elementary, News Channel 9 (Tennessee)

At Harrison Elementary’s Leaps After School Program in Chattanooga, Tennessee, students are publishing a newspaper focusing on Black historical figures to be displayed throughout the school during Black History Month. “We want to push for positive social change,” site director Morgan Kelly told News Channel 9. “We want to make sure that [the students] are aware of the significance these people have done in their lives and how it matters to [the students’] lives now.”

Tuscaloosa City Schools Cutting Funding to Free Summer Learning Program, WVTM (Alabama)

Due to the end of federal pandemic relief funding, Tuscaloosa City Schools is reducing the size of its summer learning program by two-thirds, offering the enrichment program to only 1,000 students. “It’s very high-engaging hands-on learning for students,” Dr. Andrew Maxey, Tuscaloosa City Schools director of strategic initiatives, told WVTM. “We also have very clear evidence that students who attend summer learning for the majority of the program do not lose the learning they attained during the school year.” The district continues to explore other funding streams with hopes of expanding the program to more students.

YMCA, Salvation Army Secure $850K Grant to Expand STEAM Learning for Joliet Families, Chicago Defender (Illinois)

Last week, U.S. Representative Lauren Underwood presented an $850,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Greater Joliet Area YMCA in Illinois for a science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM)-focused afterschool program. The program will be held in partnership with the Salvation Army and will include a maker space, a fine arts studio, a coding lab with robotics and 3D printing, a video production lab with green screen technology, and more. “The project builds on previous collaborations between the YMCA and The Salvation Army, particularly their efforts to support e-learning during the pandemic and summer programming for children. With this latest investment, both organizations aim to give local families greater access to technology, the arts, and hands-on learning in a space designed for innovation and creativity,” the Chicago Defender reported.

‘Makes Me Emotional’: Austin ISD Has Three New Boys & Girls Club After School Programs, KXAN (Texas)

Thanks to support from the Andy Roddick Foundation, more than 300 students at three elementary schools in Austin, Texas now have access to afterschool programs in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club of Austin. The programs are designed to cultivate healthy lifestyles, academic success, and character development, with an emphasis on mentorship. Miguel Guerrero, a family engagement manager who attended Boys & Girls Club programs as a child, told KXAN, “It makes me emotional, because the thing I valued most was that connection with staff and other kids. And I think now more than ever, kids are looking for that.”