Story Ideas

  • Aligning services for struggling children
  • Meeting the needs of teens

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ALIGNING SERVICES FOR STRUGGLING CHILDREN

For every child, the in-school and out-of-school worlds intersect on a daily basis. Whether the transition from school is to a formal or an informal setting, kids know that over the course of their waking hours, they will interact with adults in a variety of settings and contexts. The experiences can be disjointed and disconnected, or they can work toward a common purpose - safe and healthy children developing to their fullest potential.

MEETING THE NEEDS OF TEENS

In the Out-of-School Time field, we face an apparent trade-off. On one hand, we want to spread the availability of programs broadly enough to meet the needs of as many young people as possible. On the other hand, youth programs work best when they offer young people intimate environments where they can develop strong relationships with adults and peers. How do we reconcile the need to bring quality programs to scale with the need to maintain the elements that made them quality programs in the first place?

Here in Boston, this is no abstract question. In a city that remains troubled by youth violence, only a third of our city's teens participate in out-of-school programs. While there are dozens of successful, high-quality program models for teens spread throughout the city, few of them are ready to consider moving beyond small-scale models serving handfuls of kids.