Archived Information

Chapter 3\
Communities Meeting the Need for After‑School Activities

The following after-school programs incorporate many of the components
of effective programs discussed in the previous chapter. They are
examples of how local communities across the country are meeting the
need for safe and smart after‑school activities that serve young people
of all ages. These examples are by no means exhaustive; they are
intended to illustrate the kinds of after‑school programs that are
working in schools and communities. The contact listed with each example
has agreed to provide more information upon request.

As the number of after-school programs continues to grow, more and more
programs are intentionally linking regular school day learning with the
after-school experience. Examples of linkages include integrating
curriculum, sharing information about homework assignments and
individual children, staffing programs with school day teachers and
community-based providers, and holding special events specifically for
building relationships between school day and after-school staff. By
addressing the needs of and tapping resources within local communities,
practices like these are providing broad learning and enrichment
opportunities to children in safe and drug-free environments.

###  Alum Rock Union Elementary School District 21^st^ Century Community Learning Center (CLC) San Jose, California Contact: Frank Castilla, 408-924-2571

The CLC program was developed to provide learning opportunities for
middle school students to develop self-esteem through academic
achievement. Through a collaboration between Alum Rock School District,
San Jose State University, and San Jose Museum of Art, students
participate in academic, enrichment, and motivational opportunities. The
program specifically targets children who demonstrate a need for
additional academic help. English is the second language of many
participants. In addition to the CLC program, a district-wide
after-school program is available to students.

The CLC program is in three middle schools (Sheppard, Ocala, and Pala)
and available at each from Monday through Thursday from 2:30 p.m. until
5:00 p.m. During that time, students participate in mathematics and
language arts instruction and tutoring from a highly trained staff. In
addition students participate in technology activities,
group-problem-solving activities, and a community-based arts program
provided by the San Jose Museum of Art. At two of the three sites, the
program also includes a close connection to the regular academic day
through a sixth period CLC class.

Each of the three centers is has a highly trained staff consisting of a
site coordinator who is a certified teacher, two other certified
teachers, a lead intern who is a San Jose State University student, and
a tutorial staff of four to six interns who are high school and college
students. All staff participate in an extensive training program
provided by the Collaborative Training Institute (CTI), which operates
out of the San Jose State University Pre-College Programs office. The
CTI is certified by the College Reading and Learning Association's
International Tutor Training Certification Program. Staff attend 100
hours of training a year.

Although it is too early to determine the effect of the program on
students, certain indicators of success have been identified by this CLC
program and include significant gains made in math and language arts
achievement, increased enrollment in algebra and geometry upon entering
the ninth grade, increased use of expanded library hours, and
demonstrated improved study skills.

### Boys and Girls Club of Tahlequah, Inc. Tahlequah, Oklahoma Contact: Bertha Alsenay, 918-456-6888

The mission of the Boys and Girls Club ("The Club") in rural Tahlequah,
Oklahoma, is to help young people acquire the attitudes, behaviors, and
skills necessary to succeed as adults. To this end, The Club promotes
health, social skills, education, character, and leadership development
for children. During the school year, The Club operates after-school
programs at two Tahlequah elementary schools and a junior high school
from the end of the school day until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday.
In addition, one night a week is family night where parents can work
with their children on the computers. Every day approximately 350
children receive a snack, participate in homework and tutorial
assistance, and then have a choice of recreational activities, computer
club, or other special activities, including field trips and guest
speakers on a variety of topics such as drug abuse, culture, academia,
and law enforcement. The after-school and summer programs are staffed by
certified teachers, coordinators, college students who are education
majors, and volunteer high school students.

During the eight-week, full-day summer program, over 550 youth ages
10-15 arrive at 9:00 a.m. at Northeastern State University for the
organized sports program. In the afternoon, they participate in a wide
variety of activities run by The Club that include "Smart Moves," an
alcohol prevention program, computer reading labs, environmental
education classes, cultural arts and crafts, golfing, field trips,
nature walks, math, reading, science, enrichment courses and sports
activities ranging from basketball and volleyball to swimming.
Opportunities for children and youth to lead are woven throughout all
the programs.

The most startling "before and after" comparison has been the almost
immediate, visible improvement in both academic performance and social
skills. According to Billie Jordan, principal of Central Elementary
School, "Teachers have reported that members have improved attitudes
toward school because their improved grades led to improved
self-esteem."

### Boys Harbor: The Harbor for Boys and Girls East Harlem, New York Contact: Gloria Schwartz, 212-427-2244 ext 515

The Harbor is an urban community-based program located in East Harlem.
It was founded in 1937 as a summer camp for disadvantaged youth. Now it
is a multifaceted, education-oriented agency that offers over 4,000
children ages 5-21 a range of services that combines recreation,
education, and guidance through holistic programming. The after-school
component runs 3-6 p.m. every weekday and all day on school holidays and
summer for elementary and junior high youth and serves on average 400
children and youths. The program focuses on supporting and reinforcing
academic skills introduced in school, developing debating and critical
thinking skills, conflict resolution, and continued support in the
process of preparing for the future. Activities include explorations in
science and the arts, sports, foreign languages, photography,
filmmaking, computer workshops, ceramics, and cooking and nutrition.

One of the keys to sustaining the Harbor has been ongoing staff
development and support. In the last five years, a full-time literacy
specialist and resource development specialist were hired to help
teaching staff develop thematic plans for encouraging and incorporating
developmentally appropriate literacy practices into the various
after-school activities. Students are often engaged in summer or
school-year-long literacy projects, researching and learning such topics
as world leaders, themes of the 20th century, and famous authors.
Students choose to use forms such as art, poetry, videos, and plays to
present their learnings to other students at the Harbor. In addition, a
literacy clinic is available to students through referrals and ongoing
formal and informal assessments by staff and teachers at the schools.
The staff at the Harbor maintains regular contact with the schools
through teachers and parents.

### Community Collaboration for Education Enrichment (CCEE) YMCA of San Antonio & The Hill Country, Hawthorne Elementary School San Antonio, Texas Contact: Sally Luedke, 210-246-9622

The CCEE model blends the resources, expertise, and services of the
YMCA, numerous local youth service agencies, the public schools, and the
community to deliver services to at-risk youth and their families. The
YMCA, the local school districts, the City of San Antonio, the Texas
Education Agency, numerous local foundations, and federal funding come
together to support and maintain services. CCEE is in 17 school
districts in San Antonio. CCEE is based on the philosophy that the
neighborhood school is the focal point of the community, reflecting the
community's values and answering its needs. Program services are based
on consultation with school faculty, collaborative partners, students,
parents, and community leaders. Current services include: child care for
pre-k and school-age children, care for infants and toddlers of teenage
parents/students, tutoring, mentoring, youth service learning, youth and
government, youth employment readiness, experiential education, academic
enrichment and support services, fine arts, outdoor education, youth
sports, intergenerational activities, and family/community involvement
programs.

At the Hawthorne Elementary School Campus, YMCA collaboration with the
community has been key to the success of the program. The staff nurtures
and maintains partnerships with corporations, neighborhood businesses,
universities, and human service agencies in delivering services to
children and their families. With a permanent office within the school
building, the program is staffed by a YMCA program director, aides,
support staff, interns, parents, and volunteers. YMCA staff members
attend school-day staff meetings to coordinate curriculum and
activities. The collaboration between school-day and YMCA staff has
created a seamless system where activities throughout the day adhere to
a core knowledge curriculum designed by Trinity University.

The Campus YMCA is one of several strategic school improvement
initiatives underway at Hawthorne. Together, as a coordinated effort,
these initiatives have significantly improved attendance, attitude, and
academic achievement. Attendance has improved from 63rd in the San
Antonio Independent School District to 12th among elementary schools.
Parent and community involvement has improved dramatically. The
physical, emotional, and spiritual health of students in the program
shows excellent progress, and student achievement has improved
significantly as have standardized test scores.

### Hamilton County Board of Education, 21st CCLC Lights On! Chattanooga, Tennessee Contact: Anne McGintis, 423-209-8595

Through 25-member task forces created for each school and consisting of
parents, neighborhood representatives, bankers, politicians, business
people, ministers, and other community leaders, The Hamilton County
Board of Education established 21st Century Community Learning Centers
at three elementary and two middle schools. Approximately 500 children
participate in enriching learning opportunities provided by parents who
are involved as volunteers and a network of creative partnerships (YMCA,
Girls Inc., Ballet Tennessee, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga,
Chattanooga State University, Multiple Museums, The Hamilton County
Health Department). Together, these partners help the community
strengthen families, improve parents' capacity to earn income,
demonstrate the value of education to children, provide a safe haven for
children, and guide the healthy development of children.

The centers operate after school and during summers with several
providing before-school programs as well. Each center offers homework
assistance and tutoring, recreation and athletics, art and music
programs, and cultural outings for children. Students take math and
language arts, and then select from electives such as art, ballet,
drama, foreign language, computers, guidance counseling, youth
leadership, and cooking. The YMCA provides a wellness program that
includes activities such as kickboxing, aerobics, spinning,
weightlifting, volleyball, swimming, and walking. Lights On! staff
members have found that linking actual life experiences to a lesson
learned during the school day is an effective way to keep children
engaged and enthused about learning, and feeling good about themselves.
In addition, parenting programs, job placement and job skill services,
English as a second language (ESL) courses, health awareness, and adult
basic education services are available to adults. As part of the health
awareness program, The Hamilton County Health Department also provides
health risk assessments to parents and families.

According to Anne McGintis, the school district's coordinator for
parent, school, and community involvement and Lights On! project
director, "Kids in Lights On! are missing fewer days of school. They
fight less. They're excited about learning. Education is key to breaking
the cycle of poverty, and we think we're making progress. The community
is collaborating with us."

### Lake County Teen Connection After‑School Program, 21st CCLC Upper Lake, California Contact: Shannon Smith, 707-279-0880

As a result of a 21st CCLC grant, five after-school programs in rural
Lake County have been in operation since 1998. Middle school students
around the county participate in enriching learning opportunities from
the moment the school day is over until 6:00 p.m., Monday through
Thursday. Each site is staffed by two core staff members plus two high
school students who serve as tutors. Each program begins the afternoon
with an hour of homework completion and academic skill building,
followed by an enrichment hour offering a broad range of learning
opportunities structured as 6- to 10-week club sessions. Examples of
clubs include cooking, photography, science, crafts, and clay. Once a
week, the life skills instructor spends time with students on topics
such as peer relationships, team building, hygiene, finances, and health
and nutrition. On Thursday of each week, students work on their
community service projects such as coat drives, campus clean-ups,
participating in community events, and visits to retirement homes. The
last hour of the program is recreational where students have the
opportunity to hang out with friends or participate in structured
activities, or spend time outdoors as weather permits. One night a week
is teen activity night when the gyms are open for structured activities
for all children. During the summer, a six-week recreational
after-school program is offered in conjunction with the summer school.

After the first year of operation, evaluation results indicated an
increase in overall student grade averages, and decreases in
disciplinary referrals, detentions and suspensions of students in the
program. Staff report that students are turning homework in on a regular
basis, making new friends, and having fun. Staff also report that
school-day teachers are more and more supportive and many are interested
in donating time or become involved in the program as tutors or
advisors.

### Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership (LEAP) New Haven, Connecticut Contact: Karen Weis, 203-773-0770

LEAP is a year-around academic and social enrichment program for nearly
1,200 urban children ages 7-14 in five cities in Connecticut: New Haven,
Hartford, New London, Waterbury, and Bridgeport. LEAP is specifically
designed to improve the academic and social circumstances of children
ages 7-14, as well as of the teens and young adults ages 16-25 who serve
as counselors and are intensively trained as mentors and tutors. As part
of LEAP's multitiered mentoring system, the counselors are themselves
mentored to improve their academic performance, graduate from high
school and attend college. LEAP is one of the largest youth employers in
Connecticut, has one of the most extensive community-based computer
learning centers, and has developed age-specific curriculum guides.

During the school year, after-school programs run from 3 to 6:30 p.m.,
Monday-Thursday, with Friday as full-day staff development days.
Programs are both school and community based. A typical afternoon during
the academic year begins with homework club, which maintains a ratio of
four children per counselor. This is followed by DEAR (Drop Everything
and Read) Time where counselors plan activities to engage children in
reading for enjoyment and enrichment. During the last two hours of the
program, eight children and two counselors rotate through a schedule of
weekly activities that include educational activities (for example,
read-alouds and journal writing), resource activities (for example,
workshops at museums, science and art centers) and site-based
initiatives (for example, arts and crafts, athletics, leadership,
personal exploration).

Each summer, college student counselors move into children's communities
and offer around-the-clock presence in children's home environments. The
summer program runs from 9 to 6 p.m. daily and includes breakfast,
lunch, a morning meeting, a reading-based curriculum, recreation and
time to hang out, and resource activities. Children often return to
counselors' apartments at night for movies, sleepovers, games, and other
activities. During the summer, weeklong educational field trips take
students to cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington,
D.C., Toronto, and Baltimore.

Evaluation results indicate that children who participate in LEAP
improve their social, motivational, and behavioral skills, and maintain
academic proficiency over the summer. Also, LEAP has generated parent
support and involvement in their children's education and graduated 100
percent of inner-city high school student mentors.

### Proyecto Sano y Salvo (Project Safe and Sound), 21st CCLC Tucson, Arizona Contact: Barbara Benton, 520-617-7434

With a 21st CCLC grant, Proyecto Sano y Salvo opened its doors in
September 1998 at three Tucson, Arizona, middle schools. Each middle
school has an advisory committee composed of teachers, school
administrators, parents and community members who collaborate to design
after-school enrichment courses that are aligned with the school's core
curriculum. The after-school programs are open five days a week from the
end of the school day until 6:30 p.m. and at least one Saturday a month
for family activities. Each program has an after-school coordinator with
courses taught by teachers, community members, and students from the
University of Arizona and Pima Community College. The colleges also
provide tutors.

During an afternoon, youth have the opportunity to choose from a number
of courses focused on math and science, fine arts, computer technology
and social development. Examples of courses include a science-based
curriculum designed by the University of Arizona; Boot Camp provided by
officers from the Davis Monthan Air Force Base that teaches youth
respect, discipline, physical conditioning, social awareness and
teamwork; and a class in African American Studies offered by the Tucson
Urban League. After-school students have also built model airplanes, a
model biosphere, learned about automobiles, and solved a crime using
DNA.

The summer program consists of a morning rotation of reading, language
arts, math and science classes and afternoon electives such as arts,
music, marine biology, folk dancing and drama. Youth keep journals for
each project.

Proyecto Sano y Salvo has also begun implementing a program improvement
and evaluation model. Building off a sophisticated data collection and
entry system that already exists through the Tucson Unified School
District, program and evaluation staff have designed instruments and
templates, scanable surveys, and a continuous feedback system for
program-level data collection and input, and analysis and feedback.
Early observations of the program by staff point to improved school
attendance as a result of the after-school program, as well as lower
suspension and adjudication.

### Summer Transitions Little Rock, Arkansas Contact: Don Crary, 501-374-1011

New Futures for Youth in Little Rock, Arkansas, in partnership with the
Center for Human Resources at Brandeis University, piloted Summer
Transitions, a capacity-building effort to improve school and career
options (with an emphasis on math and science) for youth. The initiative
strives to integrate lessons learned from education reform, workforce
preparation, and positive community youth development, and emphasizes an
asset-based approach to learning and the importance of strong
youth-adult partnerships. Funded by DeWitt-Wallace Reader's Digest, the
project-based learning efforts focus on the following specific
outcomes: 1) increasing learning gains among youth at high risk of
falling behind in school; 2) improving their knowledge of the
connections between school and work; 3) enhancing their understanding of
opportunities in the labor market, including education fields; and 4)
providing local businesses with a model that demonstrates the role they
can play.

During the summer of 1999, four sites in urban Little Rock participated
in the Summer Transitions initiative. The initiative focused on incoming
ninth-grade youth who were behind in math and science. A community-based
after-school provider and a schoolteacher formed a team at each site to
coordinate the six-week full-day summer program. Projects at the sites
included researching, designing, and constructing a community-based
science lab, pool tables, and portable greenhouses.

At the end of the six-week summer initiative, one site reported
significant increases in math scores. Saying, "We want this all summer
and during the school year!" students reported they not only felt good
about increasing their math and science scores but also learned a great
deal about how to get along with others and gained problem-solving and
decision-making skills. Participating teachers and community-based
organization providers plan to continue ongoing and supportive
relationships to link and expand learning opportunities throughout the
day. During the next two years of planning for full-scale
implementation, the initiative will focus on building a curriculum to
infuse learning and enrichment and work with the same students and
engage additional students.

### The Metropolitan Career and Technical Center (The Met) Providence, Rhode Island Contact: Eliot Washor, 401-277-5046

The Met is a new kind of public high school that integrates academic and
applied learning throughout the day from 7:00 a.m. to late in the
evening as well as some weekends. A lab school for the Rhode Island
Department of Education, the Met opened its doors in the fall of 1996
with 52 students and grew to 100 by adding a new freshman class in the
fall of 1997. It currently has two schools with plans to build a campus
with eight small schools with 100 students per school by the year 2002.
Students are culturally diverse with 75 percent from inner-city
Providence and 25 percent from the rest of Rhode Island.

The Met is a small school community designed to educate one student at a
time with a student/teacher ratio of 13:1. Each student's interests,
background, needs, and learning styles determine the activities
projects, and priorities that make up his or her individualized
curriculum. Each student has a personalized learning plan developed by
the student and his or her teacher, parent/guardian, and internship
mentor. The learning plan is based on the learning goals of the Met:
empirical reasoning, symbolic/quantitative reasoning, communication,
social reasoning, and personal qualities. AmeriCorp members are also
involved as advisors and coordinate community engagement. Met students
prepare for citizenship, work, and future education by engaging in real
work in area businesses, community-based organizations, and in personal
or group projects. Students spend each day determined by their
interests, needs, and learning styles in a manner designed to help them
reach their highest possible standards of learning.

Student projects are evaluated by their teachers, parents, and mentors
through presentations, observations, journals and other writing,
standardized tests, and teachers' narratives on students' learning
progress. Family engagement is a key part of the community---students
and their parents/guardians attend 11 meetings a year, plus weekly town
meetings to discuss various issues. An example of successful projects by
students includes the creation of Youth in Action, a nonprofit,
incorporated agency with 25 youth and adult board members. Two students
who graduated in spring 2000 began this project in their freshman year.
Students also take college courses, and participate in meaningful summer
experiences through work, travel, study or internships.