The strategic direction was the focus for the 2017 – 2018 school year. In my second year of operations, I wanted to focus on developing a strategic plan for the next three years of programming. This is an important focus, so we have a direction to move toward and goals in mind to strive for.
Operationally, the program is functioning smoothly. Staff continuously reports on time and works harmoniously to provide the best service to our families. Specialists continue to teach participants their identified skill as well as integrate our goals and objectives into their activities. Programmatically, we are still growing into the overall vision of becoming an enrichment program. Academically our participants are performing at 98%. The addition of two new specialists, for cooking and music, has increased participant interest in these areas.
Our volunteers have become more engaged by teaching activities to our scholars. Character building is slowly evolving as staff continues to research ideas and activities. Overall, we are progressing slowly and steadily toward our vision. This year we reached beyond our goal by serving 66 participants. Since we are still growing and learning, as of May 31, 2018, we have reached 83% for the retention of this years’ scholars and we have retained 73% of last year’s participants. This year, part of our challenge was retaining participants due to several other free afterschool programs opening toward the beginning of the year. Despite this challenge, our population grew 11 % this year. With the acceptance of CCIS, I believe we will be able to increase our population even more. We will continue to strive to improve our overall retention rates, reduce our turnover rates, and increase our participant growth.
We added a new Group Supervisor to assist with the management of the program. Ms. Nickayla Ottley has an extensive background in education and childcare. She has been a great addition to the staff and a great help to me in the management of the program. We are in the process of setting up an Instagram and Facebook accounts so that we can better document and share our activities with the families, board members, and the community. These platforms will showcase our activities for the upcoming school year. Look for these upcoming links for next school year. Finally, one of our staff members, Ms. Nyerere Heath gave birth to another son on March 19, 2018. She is currently on maternity leave and will be back with us in August 2018.
Programming Highlights:
Music – Ms. Nina is our new music specialist. She came to us at the beginning of 2018 and has hit the ground running. Our scholars are learning the basics of reading notes and learning rhythms. During our art showcase on June 1, 2018 scholars performed what they learned throughout the year.
Art – Ms. Hope and Ms. Julie have returned to engage our scholars in visual arts. Both specialists are familiar with our scholars and continue to provide projects geared toward their ability and interests. Pieces were displayed during our annual art showcase on June 1, 2018.
Cooking – Chef Renee has been a great addition to our specialist team. She has an extensive background working with children and culinary programs. Not only does she teach the scholars how to cook new and unfamiliar dishes, she explains the nutritional value of the ingredients. Chef Renee is also committed to applying math and science to the culinary platform. Scholars enjoy the activities which include journaling, recipe writing, and of course preparing and cooking dishes. We look forward to expanding this nutritional and culinary program next year with Chef Renee.
Character Building – This year we have a geographic focus, expanding beyond our neighborhoods with the Little Passports activities, which was generously donated by Linda Walters. The 3 – 8 group engaged in a geography-based game called Carmen Sandiego. This detective game pushed the scholars to research and learn facts about the various countries the fictional character traveled to escape. These activities gave the scholars the opportunity to explore the world beyond SW Philadelphia.
Event Highlights:
Fall Festival 2018 – This year TCP collaborated with the 12th police district and Rep. Joanna McClinton’s office to host The Fall Festival. The festival was a huge success hosting over 350 people! Children of all ages participated in games, jumped on a moon bounce, ate hotdogs and received candy as part of the seasonal celebration.
Scholar Market, April 20th, 2018 – Although you may not know it, TCPS has a booming economy!!
Scholars have earned $7, $16, $23, or even $35! Our behavior incentive initiative has been a great success for reinforcing positive behavior. Scholars enthusiastically spent their “money” at the Scholar market for all kinds of prizes.
Funplex Field Trip, June 14th, 2018 – Scholars embarked on a journey across the bridge to play laser tag, bowl, slide down waterslides and generally have fun at the Flunplex in Mt. Laurel, NJ.
Common Worship Experience – The quarterly CWE events were a huge success, engaging the scholars to participate and show off their talents.
Volunteers:
This year we had a new addition to our volunteer members, Linda Walters. Ms. Linda worked primarily with the K – 2 group and incorporated the Little Passports geography activities. Throughout the year the scholars were transported to places like Brazil, Japan, and France to learn about the culture, foods, and historical landmarks. Ms. Linda created and lead activities surrounding each country for our scholars to explore.
Our returning volunteer Buff Barnes, along with Ms. Carrie, introduced the 3 – 8 scholars to knitting. Each Monday, during their social & downtime, scholars who were interested, learned how to knit. They collectively began knitting several scarves which will be donated to the less fortunate.
February marked the beginning of our Hardy Williams interns. Every Wednesday our two interns would come to support our staff and scholars as they assisted in passing out snack, helping our specialist set up, and worked with scholars on homework.
Thanks to all of our volunteers and interns for a great year! We look forward to working
with you again next year.
Evaluation:
Overall, 60% of scholars are satisfied with our programming. This means we are doing good work, but we should continue to strive to improve our programming. The parents and participants are satisfied with the homework help they are receiving and appreciate the time that is given to start/ complete the homework. The top three activities the participants love are Cooking, Art and CWE. Some suggestions from parents for activities include STEM, Debate, and large motor movement activities such as dodgeball or sports related.
Quotes:
“My child has attended the aftercare program for the past 4 years…I really appreciate the homework assistance and all of the enrichment programs offered. I know my child is in a safe and loving environment…. [and] she is usually not ready to go home because she is having so much fun. The staff and teachers genuinely care for each child and everyone is like family. I hope this program will continue to be accessible for families who will benefit from it.” – Tamica L Smith – parent
“I have been volunteering in the after-school program since last fall, usually one afternoon a week. Kids are kids wherever you go…They also love learning new things, so I have tried to introduce them to…the cultures of other countries. We are using the Little Passports kits… I am constantly impressed with how much they want to learn. But every day brings a new awareness of the disparity between their world and the opportunities/experiences and resources children…enjoy. I think the Scholars Program is doing wonderful work to help bridge that gap.” – Linda Walters – Volunteer
