The Rutherford County After-School Network is wrapping up a great year of professional development, programming, and opportunities for our youth and Hub!
We hold bi-monthly professional development meetings for the programs in our hub. Everyone is invited to bring their staff and volunteers in an effort to better educate those working with our youth. We began the year with a presentation on ACE’s. It was lead by Jennifer Drake Croft, formerly of the Family Center. She spoke to our network about what ACE’s are and how, as After School Program staff, they can better work with our youth. ACE’s teaches us to change our perception of misbehaving children from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”
At our February meeting we offered the Stewarts of Children – Darkness to Light Training, which was presented by the Child Advocacy Center. Stewards of Children is a prevention training program that teaches adults how to prevent, recognize, and react responsibly to child sexual abuse by learning the 5 Steps to Protecting Our Children.
With the summer time vastly approaching, our After School Programs may see an increase in youth, programming, and unfortunately bullying. Therefore, we had a presentation from Kim Frank, Behavioral Specialist with our local school district, and Olweus trainer; Bullying Prevention in Community Based Organizations. The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program is designed to improve peer relations and make schools and community based organizations safer, more positive places for youth to learn and develop. Goals of the program include: reducing existing bullying problems among youth, preventing the development of new bullying problems, and achieving better peer relations at your organization.
This past fall, we partnered with our City School District to bring Leggo Robotics to their After School Program. This summer, we are excited to partner with our Rutherford County School’s Summer program provide scholarships for Middle School youth to attend a week long Code Camp. Code Academy camps/workshops teach the basics of programming through games and gaming platforms, web and mobile applications.
We are also gearing up for our After School Network Summit that will be held on August 25, 2016. This is a full day of speakers, professional development, and workshops for our Hub. This will be followed by a Resource Fair for all of the Educators in our Hub!! We are excited about what we have been able to accomplish with our this year, and look forward to making a bigger impact!