Afterschool Programs are Helping with COVID Relief
Here are some examples of what Afterschool Education and Safety (ASES) programs
across the state are doing to support their communities in this time of need:
Interview with Healdsburg city and school district leaders.
Healdsburg
Afterschool programs have partnered with the school district and city to provide essential services:
Delivering food to isolated seniors
Supervising and caring for children of essential workers
Reaching out to families to find out what they need (food, resources, support for distance learning and enrichment)
Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center has a wide variety of videos posted by their staff members.
Sacramento
Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center created a virtual afterschool program for 2 hours every day, with physical activitiy, STEAM, nutrition, social-emotional learning, and literacy. Students are able to retain a sense of normalcy by seeing and talking to their peers and mentors.
Students from Bay Area Music Project learning online
Bay Area
Bay Area Music Project converted their entire afterschool program to a virtual, multi-site online learning hub with private and group lessons, community music nights, and more, to ensure their students continue learning and stay connected to their friends and mentors. Staff personally delivered instruments and materials to students so they could continue their studies. Nearly 85% of their 160 students have engaged weekly in their instrumental classes.
Campbell Union School District afterschool staff give out free vegetable plants to families.
Greater San Jose
Campbell Union School District’s afterschool programs partnered with the district, CalFresh Healthy Living, and the UC Master Gardeners to secure a large donation of vegetable plants for families to start or add to their own home vegetable gardens. Afterschool staff set up a curbside pickup during school lunch service to distribute the plants and resource packets with tips for family gardening activities and how to care for the vegetables.
Los Angeles County
“We wanted to make sure content was quality and could be led by any reader in the house, and done by the family together in small spaces with no special materials.” —Woodcraft Rangers Staff
Woodcraft Rangers afterschool program developed BIRCH, a caregiver support platform specifically designed to respond to this moment when parents, grandparents, and siblings are caring for children without in-person support from the educators, youth workers, extended families, and trusted helpers who usually share this load. BIRCH helps keep kids ages 4-12 engaged in enriching at-home activities. Over 7,000 families are using the platform, receiving activities directly to their mobile phones three days a week.
These examples were collected by the California Afterschool Network. Learn more about how to share your story, or simply post your stories on social media using the hashtag #ExpandedLearningAllDayEveryDay