What We’ve Learned

Guest blog by Barbara Couto Sipe, President & CEO, NextUp RVA

The COVID-19 crisis has shined a light on many inequities in our society, one in particular being access to quality educational opportunities. When schools closed last spring, our current model, which brought high-quality afterschool programs directly to the schools, was no longer possible. At NextUp RVA, we immediately began the work to transition our network of programs to a virtual platform.

About NextUp RVA

At NextUp, we believe that when students participate in high-quality out-of-school time (OST) programs, they benefit academically, physically and socially. We are a coordinated system…

Insights from Six Cities on Building Partnerships to Improve SEL

By Ally Margolis, Policy & Communications Manager, Every Hour Counts

Our country’s compounding crises have magnified the importance of supporting children socially and emotionally. Amidst a global pandemic, systemic racial inequity, and record-breaking unemployment, developing social and emotional learning (SEL) skills such as resilience and self-regulation can pull people through these treacherous times.

At the helm are out-of-school time (OST) intermediaries, community-based organizations, and school districts, partnering to mobilize resources and supports to respond to young peoples’ social, emotional, and academic needs. School-day and OST leaders and educators are navigating…

Intermediary Approaches to Advancing Social and Emotional Learning

By Ally Margolis, Every Hour Counts

As this new, unprecedented school year begins, social-emotional learning (SEL) and development is needed now more than ever before — both for young people and the adults we entrust to care for them. As Dr. Shawn Ginwright explains in Healing the Impact of Racial Injustice and Inequality: The Role of Afterschool, an insightful webinar hosted by Temescal Associates, The How Kids Learn Foundation, and the EduCare Foundation, “We’re sitting in between trauma and transformation,” battling two pandemics, “COVID is the new one and racialized trauma is the one that’s always been around.” …

Guest blog post by Saskia Traill, President & CEO, ExpandED Schools

In April, Mayor Bill De Blasio announced that he was doing away with New York City’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which annually puts tens of thousands of youth in paid summer jobs. With a huge budget deficit looming amid the pandemic, it would have been easy to shrug and walk away. But ExpandED Schools did the opposite. The organization rolled up its sleeves to design the reimagined Youth Empowerment Summer plan, now being put into action. …

By Ally Margolis, Every Hour Counts

Longstanding, structural inequities seem to seep their way into every crevice of our country. The coronavirus further exposes this problematic pattern, unveiling entrenched racial inequities in education, health care, criminal justice, employment, technology, and more. Clearly these disparate impacts involve dismantling more than the virus.

COVID-19 has ripped away the curtain on deep-seated racial inequities embedded within our country’s systems and institutions. Weeks of protests following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Amaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and far too many other Black Americans — amidst a global pandemic disproportionately impacting Black people —…

By Ally Margolis, Every Hour Counts

From Boston to the Bay Area, intermediary organizations are moving swiftly to address a question gaining growing national attention: how are we supporting America’s young people this summer?

Longtime summer learning champion and Partnership for Children & Youth President and CEO, Jennifer Peck, shares that there are, “some unique challenges in front of us, when learning loss, social disconnection and mental health challenges will be as intense as ever.” …

Guest blog by Jennifer Peck, President & CEO of the Partnership for Children and Youth

Time to Get Creative

As a person who loves summer just as much now as I did as a kid, I’m struggling with the reality that summer will be something very different this year as we navigate life in the era of COVID-19.

On top of my personal feelings about the summer and what it will mean for my high school-age daughter, I am guided by seven years immersed in the topic of summer learning while my organization, Partnership for Children and Youth, was leading the California Summer Matters…

by Ally Margolis, Every Hour Counts

Carolyn Riehl of Teachers College, Columbia University, provides insights on key findings from Building Impact: A Closer Look at Local Cross-Sector Collaborations for Education.

As the saying goes, “collaboration is key.” This rings especially true for local leaders, tasked with addressing the numerous challenges in their communities, among them clearing the roadblocks necessary for young people to succeed.

Cross-sector collaborations are one approach decision-makers can take to help ensure young people have equitable access to quality learning opportunities. These partnerships provide an opportunity for leaders from all walks — philanthropy, government, school district, nonprofit…