| Youth Driven Spaces |
The Neutral Zone, a nationally recognized teen center in Ann Arbor is conducting outreach across Michigan for organizations interested in joining an exciting project to transform programs for older teens into "Youth Driven Spaces" (YDS). YDS is based on a simple innovation-involving youth in running their own programs. The YDS project is designed to establish this innovation, modeled successfully at the Neutral Zone in Ann Arbor MI in other youth-serving programs across Michigan. A "youth driven space" is an after-school or community-based youth program-in which young people are involved in program and organizational decisions through leading activities, establishing and running youth advisory boards, and being involved in decisions about the physical space, activities offered, how money is spent, and even organizational policy or staff hiring.
A collaboration involving the Neutral Zone, the Weikart Center for Program Quality and MSU's Community Evaluation and Research Collaborative are submitting a proposal to the National Institute for Health in February. We are looking for 40 youth-serving programs from around the state that work with high school aged teens that might like to participate in a full YDS study. If funding is secured for the project, organizations will be compensated for designated staff hours and travel costs; control groups will be paid a stipend for time spent supporting the data collection.
For those groups interested in participating in the study, we need letters of support (sample here) by January 9th 2012. If you have any questions, contact John Weiss, Executive Director-Neutral Zone @ 734.214.9995 or weiss@neutral-zone.org. |
| Summer Food Service Program |
Join the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) to learn more about how you can help feed children next summer and hear the benefits to being a part of the Summer Food Service Program!
USDA FNS 2012 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Introductory Webinars
Monday, 12/19, 11:00am - 12:00pm EST - Public Session
Wednesday, 12/21, 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST - FNS Outreach Coalition
Wednesday, 1/4, 2:00pm - 3:00pm EST - Public Session
Wednesday, 1/11, 5:00pm - 6:00pm EST - Public Session
Tuesday, 1/24, 6:00pm - 7:00pm EST - Public Session
Thursday, 2/2, 11:00am - 12:00pm EST - Public Session
Thursday, 2/23, 3:00pm - 4:00pm EST - Public Session
Session Description: These webinar sessions are designed to provide a high level overview of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). Every "Introductory" webinar session will cover the same content. Following the overview of the SFSP, the session will cover resources and tools available to help get started with the SFSP, successful outreach practices and tips, next steps and how to get involved, and then the session will open for questions and answers with USDA FNS staff.
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| MASP Blog |
The Michigan After-School Partnership has a blog.
We hope you check it out and leave a comment. We want this blog to be a place for dialogue, idea-sharing, and information gathering.
If you're interested in being a guest blogger please email Erin. |
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Mapping Out-of-School-Time Science |  MOST-Science is a nation-wide study funded by the National Science Foundation and the Noyce Foundation. They are inviting you to put your youth programs on the map! They are collecting data on science and engineering-focused out-of-school-time programs across the country. An online questionnaire was recently released that you can find here. The questionnaire asks for details about your middle and high school-aged youth programs, including who participates, how much time youth spend in your program, and what kinds of activities they do. One out of every 20 people who fills out the questionnaire will win a $50 gift certificate to your choice of either Staples (get needed supplies for your own program!) or DonorsChoose.org (donate supplies to a classroom in need!)
Most importantly, however, by filling out the questionnaire you will:
- Highlight your organization and its youth programs to the research team
- Help to identify common needs and challenges for youth OST science program
- Contribute to a study that will inform funders, policy-makers, researchers and other program providers about the great work in this community and the needs that remain to be addressed
- Support development of future research studies to examine the development, education and career outcomes for youth who participate in OST science programs.
If you have any questions or would like more information about MOST-Science, please check out their website. Put your youth programs on the map! |
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The New Latchkey Kids |
The December issue of Parents magazine includes an article that focuses on the impact the economy has had on after-school programs. The article quotes research from the Afterschool Alliance. Read the article here. |
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