Weekly Media Roundup: September 11, 2024

Philadelphia Program Allows Students to Tap into Healing Power of Music, WHYY (Pennsylvania)

Students in afterschool programs across Philadelphia are expressing themselves and processing difficult emotions through songwriting thanks to Beyond The Bars, a local nonprofit. Matt Kerr founded the program in 2015 to bring music therapy to incarcerated teenagers, and now partners with afterschool programs at schools and community centers as well. “It’s such a natural means of expressing what’s hard to say,” Kerr told WHYY. “It’s one of the things that we can both do as self-expression and also communal expression.”

YWCA McLean County Offers Free Before and After-School Care to Sheridan Families, WGLT (Illinois)

Thanks to a $60,000 grant from the Illinois State Board of Education, YWCA McLean County is offering its Young Wonders Early Learning and Youth Development program at no cost to families at its Sheridan location.  “There’s just a higher population of low-income families [at Sheridan], and so this grant will give them the opportunity not only to get caught up on other bills that they have but also to receive free parent education,” Melissa Breeden, YWCA McLean County’s vice president of education and curriculum, told WGLT. The YMCA McLean County has five additional afterschool program sites and chose to direct the grant funding to the program with the greatest need for financial assistance.

DC Promotes More than 120 Free After-School Programs, WTOP News (District of Columbia)

Last weekend, parents and students in the District of Columbia gathered to explore more than 120 free afterschool programs made possible by $25 million in city funding for out-of-school time activities. Programs advertised offerings including poetry, break dancing, tutoring, football, entrepreneurship, African drumming, chess, podcasting, and more.  “Because I’m a parent, that is why I’m here. I need my daughter to know … what’s available to us to be able to get her a better education … I want her to be in the STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] programs, I want her to get into the arts,” Taseeta Samuel, parent of a fifth grader, told WTOP News.

Generous Grant Supports Grounds for Sculpture After-School Programs with Trenton and Hamilton Students, Trenton Daily (New Jersey)

With support from the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) will partner with three local organizations in New Jersey, enhancing their STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) afterschool programs with a creative arts-based curriculum. “Through this partnership, our scholars have the opportunity to experience GFS’ art collection, practice and explore different crafts, and present their social justice capstone projects to the community on their beautiful grounds,” Natalie Tung, executive director of HomeWorks, told the Trenton Daily. In addition to HomeWorks, Grounds For Sculpture is also collaborating with the Hamilton YMCA and The Father Center of New Jersey.