Elementary & Middle School Out-of-School Time Networks | |
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Meet Our New MSN Coordinator! | |
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We are excited to announce Vanessa Fisher has joined us as our new Middle School-OST Network (MSN) Coordinator!
Vanessa is a compassionate individual with a deep passion for working with youth and families, empowering them to navigate through situations and create meaningful connections. With a background from Wheelock College in Special Education with a focus on Child and Family Life, Vanessa brings a wealth of experience and a deep passion for empowering youth, particularly middle school students.
Vanessa has over 15 years of experience working with middle grade youth in Cambridge. From starting as a youth worker to most recently serving as Center Director at Frisoli Youth Center, she believes in the transformative work that can happen with connection to safe spaces and people during one of the most forming periods of life, middle school. As a mother of two, with one child currently in middle school, she understands firsthand the importance of this critical time in shaping a child’s future.
Throughout her career, Vanessa has consistently worked to create emotionally safe spaces for middle schoolers. One of her proudest accomplishments is bringing a roller skating program to local youth, where they learned valuable new skills while fostering fun and personal growth. After her most recent role in Boston at a non-profit where she directed community programs, Vanessa is excited to return to Cambridge and to partner with our OST providers, schools and families to support the middle school journey.
WELCOME BACK VANESSA!
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Stay tuned for more details about our next Network meeting which will be taking place on February 5th from 10am-12pm at the YMCA in Cambridge! | |
Voices From Our Network: Youth Impact | |
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During September's Network Meeting, we asked for your thoughts on the impact of your work on young people. Each month, we'll be featuring one your powerful responses! The highlighted quote for January is:
“We give them a safe space to be themselves. And we feed them!”
Stay tuned for more of your impactful quotes in our upcoming newsletters!
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Opportunities & Resources:
You and Your Programs
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OST Expansion Study Updates | |
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The OST Expansion Study continues to make progress, and in early January there was a webinar that Advisory Group and Steering Committee members attended during which results from the data collected this fall were presented. This included program profiles, caregiver focus groups/surveys, teacher focus groups/surveys, and principal focus groups/surveys. Next up there will be meaning-making sessions to dive deeper into the data, perspectives, themes and voices collected, in order to develop strategies and recommendations that will be shared with City, CPS and OST leadership as well as with families, educators and across the community.
As we head towards February, we plan to share more recommendations, strategies and opportunities for advocacy coming out of the study -- and it will be huge for our OST community to be engaged around next steps for the rest of this year and beyond. Please visit the AFCOST webpage devoted to OST Expansion Updates for more details and developments.
| Sample Data: CPS Teacher Focus Groups & Survey | |
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Opportunities & Resources:
Youth & Families
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Interested in continuing your conversations from Network Meetings or want to establish better connections with the OST community, check out our OST Networking Contact Form!
To submit your contact information, please fill out your contact details here. Click here to see the current submissions on our expanding network contact sheet.
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The Middle School Network (MSN) and Elementary Out-of-School Time Network (ESON) are programs of the Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time that aim to ensure equitable access and engagement of elementary and middle school youth in out-of-school time experiences in Cambridge. Agenda for Children Out-of School Time is a citywide intermediary situated in both the City’s Human Services and School Departments. | |
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Greg Green
ESON Coordinator
Cambridge Public Schools & Agenda for Children OST
857-235-2946, ggreen@cpsd.us
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Vanessa Fisher
MSN Coordinator
Cambridge Public Schools & Agenda for Children OST
617-349-6018, vfisher@cpsd.us
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Check our Events Calendar for all other professional development opportunities and links to virtual meetings. | | | | |
