Launch a Project
to Connect
Celebrate Success RFP Project
Step-by-step project guide for students to write a 'grant application' for their end-of-year celebration. Illustrated with selections from students in Philadelphia.
Connections: Schools, Parents and Communities
Children benefit significantly when programs build connections among schools, families and communities.
Programs can benefit, too, by tapping new, often underutilized resources for afterschool education.
The Center for Afterschool Education provides professional development and technical assistance to help develop this component of your program. Set the wheels of collaboration in motion for children's success.
- Connecting with Schools
- Connecting with Parents
- Connecting with Communities
- Where to Learn More
- Tips on Building Relationships with Families and Organizations
Connecting with Schools
Afterschool programs connect with schools and schooling in different ways and to different extents, from no connection at all to tight integration. If your program is in a school, the connection can go further than simply sharing space. Each educational and developmental space should be a resource for the other and for the children you serve.
Close relationships with schools help improve the quality of your program by:
- Providing opportunities to better understand children's strengths and how best to address individual needs
- Aligning program activities to expand, deepen, practice or reinforce school learning
- Mutually supporting 21st century skills for success in school, including teamwork, hands-on learning, problem solving, decision-making and creativity
- Sharing resources
Connections require work and planning, with the recognition that both sides have staff and time limitations to consider. These ideas can help.
- Exchange a list of important contacts (e.g., name, phone and e-mail of afterschool director/staff, school principals and others)
- Mount a bulletin board for sharing information, like homework or project assignments, afterschool activities, special events, teacher-to-teacher notes or student work
- Invite school staff to an open house so they can see what goes on in the program
- Ask for opportunities to participate/present at school meetings
- Plan joint staff development sessions so all staff can know the school's academic priorities for the year (e.g., writing across the curriculum and improving attendance) and learn about academic content standards
- Share GraffitiWalls® across in-school and afterschool time
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