Opportunities for Providers
Administration
New Report on the Impact of Afterschool and Summer Learning Programs
The Afterschool Alliance released a report on afterschool and summer programs’ positive impact on students’ engagement in school, school-day attendance, academic performance, and mental well-being.
Survey Data Suggests Parents Cannot Access Child Care
The 74 released an article highlighting survey data that suggests parents are struggling with rising child care prices, unexpected closures, and a scarcity of providers.
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum released a Fall Field Trip Planning Guide. The guide is designed to help prepare students for their field trip experience and contains tips to make the most out of a visit to the Nature Museum. To schedule field trip at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, click here.
Techbridge Girls developed a training video to help role models and volunteers engage young girls in STEM programs. The training helps role models and volunteers develop skills to engage girls in STEM through videos, reflection questions and more.
Surveys
Safety, Health, & Nutrition
The Connectory: Integrating Wellness into STEM Education
In collaboration with Healthier Generation’s new Eating Healthy at Home campaign, The Connectory is highlighting five key activities to encourage picky eaters of all ages to try new and nutritious foods – all with a STEM twist.
- “I tried It” Chart: Support food preferences while building critical thinking skills. Choose 2-3 types of vegetables or prepare one multiple ways (e.g., raw vs. steamed). Try the veggie plain and rank how much it was enjoyed using emojis or stickers. Add dips and sauces too!
- Make Trying (and Retrying) Fun:As you introduce a new item to a child’s diet, add a hands-on counting twist. Label bowls with numbers and ask the child to put the correct amount into the corresponding bowl.
- Wild Names for New Foods:There are creative ways to experiment with food preferences, such as pairing a new or disliked food with an ingredient, animal or insect a child enjoys. Does your student dislike peas? Try pairing peas with pasta and giving the dish an exotic name like Beetle Pasta.
- Delicious Science:Discuss the science of blending, boiling, baking, and other food prep options and how it changes a child’s preference. Click here for more ideas.
- Apple Math Taste Test: Choose 3-4 varieties of apples. Make predictions together on the weight and measurements of each apple. For a literacy “add on”, read Apple Fractions.
For more of Healthier Generation’s resources, click here
Family and Community Partnerships
Strengthening Chicago’s Youth Podcast: The Parenting Supports
The Parenting Supports Podcast, sponsored by Strengthening Chicago’s Youth (SCY), is about all things parenting. SCY aims to empower their audience by providing information on topics relevant to the lives of parents, caretakers, family members, and community providers. Topics surround self-care, managing stress and anxiety, and more. The podcast is also available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
Forefront and Serve Illinois: Nonprofit Volunteer Opportunities Page
In collaboration with Forefront, Serve Illinois has developed a statewide page for nonprofits to post volunteer opportunities. Through this page, you can learn more, submit opportunities, become a partner, or search for opportunities by county. Click here to review the page.
Chicago Moves – Transportation Cost Relief
Chicago Moves is a short-term assistance program that provides financial relief for Chicago residents struggling with transportation expenses. The program grants $150 prepaid cards eligible for redemption at local Chicago gas stations as well as $50 prepaid cards eligible for use on public transit. Apply today!
Professional Development & Qualifications
Additional Resources and Support for Youth within the DCFS System
Health Choice Illinois is an insurance company that works to support any youth that has been in the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) system. In addition to health insurance and case management, the Youth Care program allows the company to also support young people by providing funding for afterschool programs, uniforms, and gym memberships. Learn more here.
CDOT Safe Ambassadors to Support Chicago Youth and Families
The Chicago Department of Transportation’s SAFE Ambassadors offers free traffic-safety education and programming for diverse stakeholders. Whether your program needs ride support for a community bike event, a share-the-road presentation for drivers, or transportation-resource tabling at your neighborhood event, the SAFE Ambassadors offer a wide range of free services.
Youth Development, Programming, & Activities
The Department of Education’s Best Practice Clearing House is sharing multiple resources that support out-of-school time (OST) providers in facilitating career exploration experiences for youth.
- Explore this page of resources: Afterschool and Career Pathways
- Learn from this resource: Afterschool and Summer Learning: A City Strategy to Support College and Career Readiness
- Read this one-pager: Afterschool: Preparing Youth for the Jobs of Tomorrow
- View this playbook: Community Based Organization Playbook: Unlocking Career Success
- Explore this toolkit: Youth Apprenticeships Toolkit
Libraries Ready To Code
The American Library Association’s Ready To Code Collection provides resources and strategies for coding and computational thinking activities that are grounded in research, aligned with library core values, and support broadening participation. They have three experience levels to help library staff connect with resources that reflect their own computational thinking (CT) experiences, communities, goals, and interests.
Connecting Students from K to Career
The National AfterSchool Association has partnered with Discovery Education to inspire a culture of STEM education in K–12 schools and afterschool organizations nationwide. Select schools and afterschool organizations will be provided full access to Discovery Education’s Daily Learning Platform, making it easy to find engaging resources that reach every student. Discovery Education’s flexible, award-winning K—12 learning platform connects educators and afterschool professionals to a vast collection of high-quality, standards-aligned content, ready-to-use digital lessons, and timely professional learning.
American Writers Museum: Online Education Program
The American Writers Museum (AWM) has unveiled an interactive online education program featuring young and thought-provoking authors. This initiative is designed to inspire young writers across the United States. The interactive program includes live and virtual sessions with AWM education staff and renowned writers, as well as other digital materials developed for students grades 3 through 12. To review the Museum’s online educational programs, click here.
Gateways to Opportunity Registry
Gateways to Opportunity is a statewide professional development support system for individuals and programs serving youth and families. The Gateways Registry membership is FREE and offers a quick and easy way to track your training and education online, and meets Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) licensing requirements.
Adolescent Development Toolkit
ACT for Youth‘s Adolescent Development Toolkit presents selected resources that explain and describe adolescent development. Resources include guides, articles, fact sheets, videos, narrated presentations, and websites.
