Weekly Media Roundup: January 2, 2019

Sheraden After-School Program Offers Enrichment For Kids And Parents, WESA (Pennsylvania)

Pittsburgh’s H.O.P.E. for Tomorrow afterschool program takes a two-generation approach to afterschool learning. The program started with six children meeting in founder Keysha Gomez’s living room in 2010 and has expanded to include classes on financial wellness, nutrition, cooking, chess and more. H.O.P.E. for Tomorrow aims to connect parents with students’ learning by inviting them to parent meetings and culminating events for classes. “We have kids who have started their own businesses through our entrepreneur club for kids. Some of our parents, you know, it's wowing for us to be told that they have left their jobs or needed supplemental income, and they have started their own business, which kind of came from what their child is learning,” Gomez told WESA.

After-School Program ‘BUILD’ Transforms NYC Student Into Promising Businessman, CBS New York (New York)

In the BUILD afterschool program at Bronx Engineering and Technical Academy, high school students gain hands-on business experience by meeting with executives and working in teams to develop original products. The program is boosted by community partnerships with Chase and the New York Knicks. For example, Frejoel Munoz and his team recently marketed their LED vest for nighttime bicyclers at a Knicks game after being presented with an award at center court. “Before BUILD I used to really not care about my work,” Munoz told CBS New York. “But now I’m more like…do my work, sit down, make sure I have a good grade. And if I don’t have a good grade I’m stressin’ it out.”

New Afterschool Program Makes Its Fitness Fun, Great Falls Tribune (Montana)

Fitness and nutrition are a family affair in the HANDS afterschool program in Montana. As part of an eight-week program called Fitness, Food, Family and Friends (F4), students in HANDS brought home worksheets on physical skills and nutrition to complete with their parents. Students earned prizes for completing activities with their families, and the skills they learned were incorporated into fitness games during the afterschool program. A local nonprofit created F4 as part of a citywide effort to improve residents’ health. It will expand to nine more schools in 2019. “It’s nice to know there is this kind of organized activity focused on health,” mother Kerry Dattilo told the Great Falls Tribune. “Young kids naturally love to be active and it’s been really nice to know that is the kind of activity she is doing after school.”

Vulnerable Youngsters Learn Life Lessons at the Chess Board, WUSA9 (District of Columbia)

An afterschool program in Virginia uses chess to teach anger management and socio-emotional skills. Link Club provides on-site afterschool programming and mentorship to children living in an affordable-housing high rise. The program’s chess classes teach the basics of the game as well as skills like persistence, critical thinking, and emotional regulation. Eleven-year-old Jakodi Dyson told WUSA9 he used to get into fights “almost every day of the week,” but that chess has helped him manage his anger: “In chess it’s like, should I do this before I do that? Should I hit this person because I know what the consequences are, or should I just let it go?”