The CE Experience

As part of Afterschool Awareness Month, we reached out to one of our Member Organizations for a guest blog post from one of their youth. Critical Exposure "trains youth to use photography and advocacy to make real change in their schools and communities". We are thrilled to have Desmond Cole, Jr. share his story this week.

I got involved with Critical Exposure (CE) in the summer of 2016 through the Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program. I was really interested in Critical Exposure’s mission of creating strong youth leaders that want to create change within their communities. Youth Internship is where CE teaches you the stages of a campaign, photography, and how to identify problems within your community. Fellowship is what you move up to once Youth Internship is over and it’s here where you start your own campaign on something we, as a group feel really passionate about.

Happy Afterschool Awareness Month

As you may know, October is Afterschool Awareness Month. And we thought we'd highlight Lights on Afterschool, an Afterschool Alliance project that has been that has been celebrated annually since 2000, to highlight the importance of and need for afterschool programs.

In America today, 11.3 million children are alone and unsupervised after school. Afterschool programs keep kids safe, help working families and inspire learning. They provide opportunities to help young people develop into successful adults. [LOA History]

Throughout the month you can follow the conversation and see what's happening around the country, by following the #LightsOnAfterschool hashtag on Twitter.

#LightsOnAfterschool Tweets

And if you and your organization are interested in and plan on joining the celebration, make sure to let Afterschool Alliance know by registering your event as an official Lights on Afterschool event!

You can:

• Register here
• Get event ideas here
• Review their event kit here

Whatever you do, let us know in a comment or by tagging us on Twitter!

Expanded Learning and a Halloween Hearing

It's the season for Expanded Learning! Actually October IS Afterschool Awareness Month, so for this week's blog we thought it would be a good time to highlight some recent activities and updates, as well as an upcoming hearing.

Lights on Afterschool

Just last Thursday, was Lights on Afterschool, a day which saw a million Americans celebrate afterschool programs around the country. This nationwide event was launched in October 2000, and highlights the role of after school programs in "keeping kids safe, inspiring them to learn and helping working families."

Our own staff members, Joey Gavrilovich and JR Russ visited two participating schools last week here in the District, Hart Middle School and Stuart-Hobson Middle school, respectively.

Stuart-Hobson: A speed mentoring session

Hart: Performance by the After School All Stars' Drumline

Did you, your youth, and/or your school participate in this year's Lights On Afterschool? Do you have any favorite afterschool programs or memories you'd like to share? Please do so in a comment.

Expanded Learning Issue Brief

Joey Gavrilovich, our Senior Policy Analyst, has been particularly busy. He just recently updated our Expanded Learning Issue Brief, which you should check out and share, if you haven't yet. One particular highlight is the following chart.

It breaks down the deficit of learning hours many children enter 6th grade with:

These children are typically beginning 6th grade with only about 60% of the learning hours afforded their higher income peers, missing out on some 4,000 hours of out-of-school time learning.

If you would like to read more, please check out our latest Expanded Learning Issue Brief.

Public Hearing on the Office of Youth Outcomes and Grants Establishment Act of 2016

Coming up on Monday, October 31, the Committee on Education will have a public hearing on B21-865, “Office of Youth Outcomes and Grants Establishment Act of 2016.”

DCAYA and other advocates have been at the table over the past several months with leaders from DC government and local philanthropy to help address the path forward for supporting afterschool and summer programs for District youth. This legislation proposes a framework for greater strategic coordination and funding for out-of-school time programming.

The hearing will begin at 10:30am at the John A. Wilson Building. And if you are interested in testifying, you have until 5:00pm tomorrow, Thursday, October 27 to sign-up. Those who wish to testify may sign-up online at bit.do/educationhearings or call the Committee on Education at (202) 724-8061.

That's it

We hope you enjoy the rest of Afterschool Awareness Month!

- Your DCAYA Team

Expanding Our Approach to Education

Photo Courtesy of Beacon House

Education is a top issue in DC. There are constant debates around truancy, graduation rates, charter schools, credit attainment, assessment scores, teacher supports, community involvement, student engagement, and the list goes on. DCAYA focuses on one educational topic at the heart of these debates: Expanded Learning.

To give context, the Expanded Learning Model adds time to the school day by partnering schools with community-based providers (CBOs). These partnerships enhance the curriculum by bringing enrichment activities, led by CBOs, into the classroom to compliment the traditional school subjects taught by teachers. The partnership also allows teachers to spend more time planning the curriculum and engaging in professional development opportunities, while CBOs are working in the classroom with the students. DCAYA supports this model because it is a win-win situation for everyone: CBOs enhance the school climate, students are offered personalized and hands-on learning experiences, and teachers have extra time to plan and grade work without feeling overwhelmed and/or burnt out by the longer school day.

See all of the benefits of an Expanded Learning Model in DCAYA’s latest one-pager:

Expanded Learning Issue Brief

So what would it take for DC to adopt the Expanded Learning Model?

DC currently has certain pieces in place to smoothly transition schools into an Expanded Learning framework: a high-concentration of quality community-based providers, extended days for certain schools, and the infrastructure to facilitate community collaboration. In fact, DC already has an example of a functioning and thriving Expanded Learning Model at Kelly Miller Middle School through their partnership with Higher Achievement.

However, in order for DC to scale the model responsibly and successfully, District-wide data must be collected on afterschool and summer programming to fully understand the landscape. Both the Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (DC Trust) and DC Public Schools (DCPS) are in a position to collaborate and gather such data, which would allow the District to begin building a strategy to connect schools with CBOs. The data would also be used to assess students current limitations and access to afterschool and summer programming and ensure that at-risk students are receiving ample educational supports.

To further understand the Expanded Learning Model and DCAYA’s 2015 policy asks, be sure to read the one-pager and reach out to our policy analyst Katie Dunn at katie@dc-aya.org for more information on testifying at DC Council hearings.

In addition to educating the public and policymakers about the benefits of an Expanded Learning Model, DCAYA is also advocating to protect current afterschool and summer programming. In the coming weeks, look out for another #LightsOnAfterschool social media campaign to ensure that Trust grantees receive full funding for their summer programs. 

To read more about youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.