AFTERSCHOOL OBSERVER
OCTOBER 2022
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ADVOCACY
PLANNING TOOLS FOR YOUR LIGHTS ON AFTERSCHOOL CELEBRATION
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Just about two weeks until the 23rd annual Lights On Afterschool! Lights On Afterschool showcases the important role afterschool programs play in supporting students, families, and communities. Shining a light on afterschool programs helps build awareness of the critical need for more afterschool resources and affordable programming.
To help us out, the Empire State Building will light up the New York City skyline for afterschool on October 20! What can you light in your community for Lights On Afterschool? Check out these ideas!
Want to join in on the fun?
Here are a few ways that you can shine your light during Lights On Afterschool:
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Incorporate STEM activities! In 2021, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northtowns in Buffalo, New York hosted a glow party with DIY STEM projects about lights and circuits. Students decorated the event space with cut out lightbulbs, lamps with battery operated candles, black lights, glow in the dark materials and strobe lights.
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Light up someone’s day! The Norterra Canyon Pirate’s Cove in Phoenix, Arizona hosted a “Be Someone’s Light” event for Lights On Afterschool 2021. Students wrote and colored notes of encouragement to be placed in breakfast and lunch bags for other students and their families who participated in curbside pick up of meals. Students also wrote cards to active duty members of the military who would not be home for the holidays.
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ADVOCACY
JOIN THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FORUM OF NORTH CAROLINA FOR AN EDUCATION POLICY PRIMER SESSION
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The 2022 North Carolina Education Policy Primer serves as a fact-based guide to public education in North Carolina. The Primer provides a comprehensive overview of how education policy is made, along with the current state of public education and the policies guiding it. The Forum produces this guide in order to inform current policymakers, candidates for public office, and voters.
Education policy involves a wide range of interconnected issues such as school finance and facilities, accountability and assessment, technology, teachers and so much more. In order to make well-informed and evidence-based decisions, policymakers and voters face the challenge of understanding complex educational issues.
To further aid that understanding The Forum will be hosting a Public Education Policy Primer Session virtually on October 12, 2022 at 3 pm. Registration for that event is now open. All North Carolina citizens are welcome and encouraged to attend.
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SUPPORT
FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITY WITH ACRES
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Asking Purposeful Questions:
Questions are the beginning of a path towards discovery, imagination, and STEM exploration. How can we help youth expand and clarify their thinking and develop their reasoning through the questions we ask them? This module is designed for educators who have some experience facilitating STEM learning and would like to grow in their practice within a supportive group of other educators.
Please note: there is an expectation that participants will be live at all three sessions and active member of this coaching cohort. While funding is still available, stipends are only offered to participants who complete feedback surveys before and after a module. You do not get a stipend solely for participating. Stipends are limited and not guaranteed.
Learn more about the upcoming three part series, starting on October 19th at 11am, on the ACRES Website
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ADVOCACY
COMPLIMENTARY ADMISSION TO COLOR OF EDUCATION CONFERENCE FOR TEACHERS AND AFTERSCHOOL EDUCATORS
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Indicate that you are an afterschool or OST educator in your registration process to qualify for a scholarship which will cover the cost of the conference.
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SUPPORT
FREE ACCESS TO DISCOVERY EDUCATION'S DIGITAL LEARNING PLATFORM
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Select schools and afterschool organizations are provided full access to Discovery Education’s Daily Learning Platform, making it easy to find engaging resources that reach every student. Discovery Education’s flexible, award-winning K—12 learning platform connects educators and afterschool professionals to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, and timely professional learning. Together, these resources give educators what they need to facilitate instruction in any learning environment and create a lasting impact.
Is your school or program interested in gaining FREE access to the Daily Learning Platform and all the incredible resources it offers? Just fill out this simple form to be added to the list.
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SUPPORT
RESOURCES TO HELP YOU ENGAGE EVERY STUDENT
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Now more than ever, every child needs access to the critical supports and benefits out-of-school (OST) time programs provide. Every Hour Counts adds, "#afterschool and #summer programs don’t just focus on learning, they also attend to the needs that must be met if children are to learn, grow, and thrive– free meals in summer, access to wellness checks, etc. are accessed through these programs.”
Through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), states and districts now have funding to support partnerships with out-of-school time learning programs to support the recovery of students nationwide. A new map from the Afterschool Alliance and National League of Cities shows where and how these funds are being invested, with success stories to help guide others in their pursuit of funds for afterschool.
From wherever you sit, there are resources available to help you make the case for afterschool in your community. From messaging guides for city leaders to pointers for reaching out to your school district, participants shared comprehensive and timely resources for all afterschool advocates to help strengthen afterschool systems in their community.
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INFORM
MAKE USE OF THE MIZZEN BY MOTT APP
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Supported by the Mott Foundation, Mizzen is available at no cost to afterschool professionals! Download the Mizzen By Mott app to access STEM activities at your finger-touch! You’ll find it in Mizzen here.
Featured Activities & Playlists
- Mizzen Playlist: STEM Activities for K-5th Grade in Small Groups - This playlist is a great mix of engineering and science activities that are easy and fun for small groups of students.
- Mizzen Playlist: Science Notebooks for 3rd - 12th Grade - Keeping a notebook can help your students think and act like scientists and engineers. Sample these easy-to-implement strategies and lessons to bring science notebooking into your program.
- Mizzen Module: S.INQ Up Earth and Space for 6-8th Grade - Earth and Space is an inquiry and exploration-based curriculum that uses hands-on activities focused on the relationships between the earth, the solar system, and human impacts on our global environment.
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Activity Toolkit: STEM Educators Academy Activity Toolkit from ExpandED Schools — This Activity Toolkit offers hybrid learning engineering design challenges, STEM facilitation skill builder videos, and engineering design activities categorized by content areas.
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Activity Toolkit: Engineering is Elementary's NASA Partnership free units - A suite of free NASA-funded STEM resources for students in grades 3-8. All resources are research-based and classroom-tested. They are designed to support students’ understanding of space, while helping them see themselves as capable problem solvers.
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SUPPORT
NO COST TRAINING - YOUTH ENGINEERING SOLUTIONS (YES)
OUT OF SCHOOL
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Field Testing Opportunity
Wondering how you might infuse engineering into your afterschool program, and are you especially interested in materials that are designed with English learners in mind? Dr. Christine Cunningham and her team at Penn State University are inviting 22 educators across the US to help develop afterschool engineering curricular materials for youth ages 9-13. Selected educators will be supported through asynchronous professional learning, will receive all curricular materials, and will be asked for their insights and reflections to improve the experience for youth.
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INFORM
BUILDING, SUSTAINING AND IMPROVING: USING FEDERAL FUNDS FOR SUMMER LEARNING AND AFTERSCHOOL
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High-quality summer and afterschool learning programs (“out-of-school time” or OST programs) play an important role in young people’s lives. They are even more important in 2022 when many educators are relying on them to help young people recover from learning time lost to COVID-19 and to promote well-being.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 includes several funding opportunities that could support such efforts. This guide identifies those opportunities, which providers, districts, summer, and afterschool intermediaries, and municipal and state officials can tap to cover program costs, plan for the future and develop infrastructure to execute their plans.
The guide groups funding streams under three broad headings:
- Creating and Sustaining Equitable Conditions for Learning
- Preparing for Program Delivery
- Building and Aligning Ecosystems of Support
Within those categories, the guide identifies funding streams for seven elements that emerged from a review of research and conversations with national and local out-of-school time leaders. These elements include:
- Safe and Supportive Environments
- Relevant, Rigorous, and Engaging Opportunities
- Planning, Communication, and Retention Infrastructures
- Physical Infrastructures
- Human Capital
- Systems of Continuous Improvement
- Strategic Partnerships
The guide was created by the EducationCounsel, an education consulting firm working on policy, strategy, law, and advocacy to support improvements in the U.S. education system.
To download the report, click here.
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INFORM
AFTERSCHOOL IN THE TIME OF COVID-19: A LOOK AT RURAL, SUBURBAN, AND URBAN COMMUNITIES
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Last month, the brief, “Access to Afterschool Programs Remains a Challenge for Many Families,” reported out on national survey results from nearly 1,500 parents or guardians of school-age children. It found that in the U.S., while afterschool programs continue to keep children safe, connected, and engaged in learning, the number of children unable to access programs remains high.
This blog is the first in a follow-up series that will dig deeper into survey results, exploring everything from how barriers to afterschool program participation differs between parents with low and high incomes, to comparing and contrasting afterschool program participation in rural, suburban, and urban communities.
Learn more about the report by visiting the blog
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INFORM
MILLION GIRLS MOONSHOT STEM ACTIVITIES
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The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs is a part of the Million Girls Moonshot, helping out-of-school time programs as they increase the quality of STEM learning opportunities for all young people, especially underserved and underrepresented youth. The following engineering activities can be shared with programs and families for additional STEM learning.
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Role Models are Critical to Introduce Girls to STEM Careers - Looking for STEM role models & mentors? Create a free VolunteerMatch account and post volunteer opportunities to connect STEM role models and mentors to work with your youth today!
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Take Flight - Using everyday materials, youth engineer a glider that can fly straight for 15 feet.
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Keep Your Cool! Design Your Own Cooler Challenge - Youth design a cooler that will keep a bottle of water cool using the engineering design process. They test their prototype and graph their results to determine the effectiveness of the solution.
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Get it Write! - Youth engineering a writing device (pen) using everyday materials. They think about both the (water soluble) "ink" and the delivery mechanism.
To learn more, click here.
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SUPPORT
WEBINAR: ADDRESSING STEM STEREOTYPES WITH YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULTS
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Join the National Girls Collaborative Project for a webinar on October 13th at 11:00 am to learn how to combat pervasive STEM stereotypes with youth and young adults.
Back by popular demand! This webinar is the first of a two-webinar series on addressing STEM stereotypes with children and youth. This webinar will dig deeply into research and best practices related to addressing STEM stereotypes with older youth and young adults. Researchers and educators will share strategies and resources to counter and break down STEM stereotypes. Confirmed speakers include:
- Claudia Fracchiolla, American Physical Society (APS)
- Michelle Higgins, The University of Arizona
- Corinne Okada Takara, Bio-artist and STEAM Educator
To register for the webinar, please click here.
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INFORM
NC CAP STEM CORNER: WORLD SPACE WEEK
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This month we celebrate International World Space Week “Space and Sustainability,” a celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition.
Each year, Space Week is held October 4-10th to commemorate two important events:
- October 4, 1957: Launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space exploration
- October 10, 1967: The signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
Join thousands of participants in over 90 countries celebrating sustainability in space, and sustainability from space. Find activities, events, host an event and learn more at World Space Week Association (WSWA). |
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PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT
NC CAP WANTS TO HIGHLIGHT YOUR PROGRAM!
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The North Carolina Center for Afterschool Programs (NC CAP) would like to highlight program successes statewide. Tell us about your program and you might be our Program Spotlight in the next edition of the Afterschool Observer or on Social Media. Click the Program Spotlight below to be redirected to the updated survey link to tell us about your program. |
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SUPPORT
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
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The Allen Foundation, Inc.'s priorities and policies are: (1) to make grants to fund relevant nutritional research; (2) to support programs for the education and training of mothers during pregnancy and after the birth of their children; (3) to assist in the training of persons to work as educators and demonstrators of good nutritional practices; (4) to encourage the dissemination of information regarding healthful nutritional practices and habits; and (5) in limited situations to make grants to help solve immediate emergency hunger and malnutrition problems. Applications are due January 15th, 2023.
Centene is offering general operating grants of up to $500,000 to organizations that fall within one or more of the following areas of focus: Health, Education, Children, and the Arts. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Discover is offering grants of up to $5,000 to nonprofit organizations working in the areas of education and literacy. Funding, donations, and sponsorships are intended to support programs and initiatives that meet the needs of various communities across the country, with a particular focus on communities where Discover employees live and work. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Dogwood Health Trust seeks to dramatically improve the health and well-being of all people and communities of Western North Carolina. They are interested in projects that address one or more of their strategic priorities: Housing, Education, Economic Opportunity, and Health and Wellness and that align with their overarching commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. They also have interests in projects related to improving broadband access to support education and healthcare bridging rural divides, and addressing racial equity issues. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
The NC GlaxoSmithKline Traditional Grants provides grants of $25,000 and above to organizations to help meet the educational and health needs of today's society and future generations. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
The Duke Energy Foundation is committed to making strategic investments to build powerful communities where nature and wildlife thrive, youth can excel, and a talented workforce drives economic prosperity for all. These grants support programs that prevent summer reading loss, while also advancing energy, engineering, and environmental education. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
The Saxena Family Foundation is a privately funded, 501(c)(3) registered non-profit charitable foundation headquartered in Austin, TX. The Foundation awards grants and supports programs that have a particular focus on STEM education and around empowering women in the United States and in India. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
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