Weekly Media Roundup: December 11, 2024

Usher Helps Cut Ribbon On New Content Studio at Metro Boys and Girls, WSB-TV (Georgia)

This week, superstar Usher visited the Whitehead Boys & Girls Club in Atlanta, Georgia, to unveil a new content studio he donated featuring soundboards, mics, computers and other audio equipment. The Grammy Award-winning singer is honorary chair of Lights On Afterschool this year.  “For me in Chattanooga, Tennessee, being raised by an entire village, mother, my mother and my grandmother, grandfather -- my father wasn’t there. The Boys & Girls Club welcomed me with open arms and was a motivational place for me,” Usher told WSB-TV. “We’re investing in the youth. And I’m an example.”

How Two Gadsden City Schools Teachers Are Building “Students to Stewards,” Alabama News Center (Alabama)

Fourth and fifth graders at Walnut Park Elementary School’s afterschool program recently worked with high school students to monitor the water quality of local rivers while learning about the importance of environmental stewardship. The initiative was created to help the older students develop leadership skills while boosting younger students’ confidence in the wake of the isolation the pandemic caused.  “I wanted a way to get these kids outside, to inspire them to want to take science and to make science real for them,” program leader Rissa Stephens told the Alabama News Center. “This was something that had real-life issues and would connect them with their community.”

Boys & Girls Club of Freeport Braces for ‘Catastrophic’ Funding Cut, WIFR (Illinois)

The Boys & Girls Club of Freeport & Stephenson County, Illinois is relying on funding reserves as it grapples with statewide funding losses. “We are basically using our unrestricted revenue, or our reserves, to serve children,” James Rhyne, executive director at the Boys & Girls Club of Freeport, told WIFR. The program is also relying on the generosity of its non-paid staff. “These are individuals committed to kids being successful.”

New My Place Teen Center in Biddeford Aims to Nurture and Support Local Teens Year-Round, Fox 23 (Maine)

In January, My Place Teen Center in Biddeford, Maine will officially open its doors to teenagers, offering afterschool programs that provide academic and emotional support as well as nutritious meals. “Some of the things that we really focus on, and that are very important these days, are life skills and civic engagement and mental health,” CEO Donna Dwyer told Fox 23. The center is housed in a former church and will provide afterschool programing year-round.