Kicking off the 2024 2025 School Year

Collective for Youth sites welcomed over 3,600 students to start the 2024 2025 school year! Partner organizations worked hard hiring and onboarding staff, preparing curriculum, meeting with school staff and administration, and working with students and families to have a strong start to programs. We know these programs make a difference for families and for schools, and we are so grateful to all who helped prepare for this school year!

Get Ready for Lights On Afterschool: Olympic Edition!  

We’re less than 10 days away from our Olympic-themed Lights On Afterschool celebration, and it’s going to be an event you won’t forget! This year, we’re going bigger, brighter, and bolder as we celebrate the spirit of afterschool with an Olympic twist. 

Please join us on October 12, 2024 at the UNO Sapp Field House from 10 am until 2 for a day full of friendly competition, exciting challenges, and community as we showcase the incredible talents of our afterschool programs. Whether you’re aiming for the gold in sports, creative arts, or somewhere between, this event has it all!

Event Highlights: 

• Creativity Olympics: Hands on engineering builds and creative problem solving like Giant Jenga or Connect 4 to name a few! 

• Sports: Test your skills on the court or on the field in Pickleball, Basketball, Soccer, or even a Football toss. 

• Artistic Arena: Let your creativity shine in Olympic-level art stations. 

• Relay Races & Team Games: Show your speed, strength, and teamwork in action-packed outdoor/indoor games. 

Come ready to cheer, participate, and celebrate all the ways afterschool programs are making a difference! It’s your chance to see how our programs empower students, build confidence, and foster growth. Don’t forget to bring your team spirit and excitement—we’re going for gold! 

Let’s come together to celebrate afterschool programs that are lighting up opportunities for our youth. Get ready to bring home the gold! 

 

GetConnected Annual Conference

On September 26 and 27^th leaders from all over the state of Nebraska gathered in Kearney Nebraska for the 2024 GetConnected Conference – Nebraska’s statewide school-age afterschool and summer learning conference. This year’s conference was continuing a conversation taking place in communities across the state focusing on how Nebraska’s afterschool professionals and advocates can use Whole Childcentered approaches to enrich programs serving tens of thousands of Nebraska youth and their families. 

Collective for Youth’s very own LaRon Henderson and Nik Stevenson delivered an engaging and high quality workshop on the topic of How to Maximize Your Team’s Potential Through Multi-Generational Connections. Other topics presented on STEM programming, Nebraska State Historical Society, Whole Child, Whole Life and Afterschool presented by Stephanie Malia Krauss as a follow up to her morning keynote address. Attendees participated in these training often with hands on activities to try out prior to taking back to their programs youth.

 

Program Quality Assessment Data

Collective for Youth utilized program quality assessment data from Spring 2024 to center our work this school year around the Program Quality Assessment (PQA), specifically, the Supportive Environment and Interaction domains of the tool. These 2 goals are At the September manager meeting and the September site director/provider meeting CFY shared these goals and led staff through reflecting on their own personal and professional goal setting processes. We also took time to think about using our data and the PQA to develop SMART goals (goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant/realistic, and time bound) for our staff teams.  

Collective for Youth Receives Two Year Expanded Learning Grant from Nebraska Department of Education

The Expanded Learning Opportunity Grant Program Act was created by the Nebraska Legislature in 2016 to promote academic achievement in high-need schools during out-of-school time afterschool and during summer break. Collective for Youth was recently awarded a two-year grant for $200,000 by the Nebraska Department of Education to work to expand programming in 24 elementary afterschool sites.  Students will have access to STEM, SEL, fitness and art programming in partnership with many great community providers offering classes once a week.

NAA Releases OST Job Quality Standards 

NAA announced the release of the OST Job Quality Standards (JQS), a groundbreaking resource developed by the National AfterSchool Association (NAA) to elevate the out-of-school time profession and support the well-being of OST professionals nationwide. The corresponding Usage Guide & Assessment provides various audiences with a roadmap for effectively using the OST Job Quality Standards.

Welcome Back to Year 2 of the STEM Library!

We’re excited to announce that Year 2 of our STEM Library is upon us, plus it’s bigger and better than ever! Over the summer, we’ve added a wide array of new and engaging experiences, and we’ve already seen a surge in checkouts as the school year kicks off—higher than this time last year! 

Don’t miss out on the chance to explore the ever-growing selection of STEM tools and materials available for your programs. Whether you’re planning hands-on projects, engineering challenges, or even a STEM-themed family night, we’ve got everything you need—from robots and project-based builds to 3D printers and more! 

 

Findings and Lessons from Post-Pandemic Out-of-School Time Coordination: A webinar hosted by The Wallace Foundation

Out-of-School Time Intermediaries (OSTIs) are organizations that support a community’s afterschool and other programs. They play a wide range of roles managing systems, ensuring quality, building access, and fostering equity, to name a few. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, OSTIs took on even greater responsibilities, reimagining how they could help address the heightened needs of children and their families.
 
Collective for Youth Executive Director, Megan Addison was invited to discuss findings and lessons from a new report from Research for Action and McClanahan Associates: Responding, Reimagining, Realizing: Out-of-School Time Coordination in a New Era. The report examined how OSTIs stepped up in new ways to support their communities and address inequities made worse by the pandemic.  We heard insights from OSTI leaders on how their organizations formed partnerships with key stakeholders, doubled down on their commitment to equity, expanded the presence of out-of-school time programming, and more. Keep an eye out for this webinar to be posted online.

 

Upcoming STEM Professional Development Opportunities 

Don’t forget to register for our STEM Related Professional Development Opportunities! This October, we’re hosting a STEM Skills Workshop where you’ll get hands-on with STEM tools and activities to bring back to your classroom or program. In November, join us for a training on how to gamify STEM concepts as a part of our STEM Facilitation Series, perfect for keeping students engaged and excited about learning. 

Check out our current inventory of available STEM resources [here] and connect with our STEM Partnerships Manager to start exploring everything the library has to offer! 

Save the Date-  

Lights On Afterschool 2024 Celebration
October 12, 2024 from 10-2 at the UNO Sapp Fieldhouse

Third Thursday Training- Ask/Listen/Encourage
October 17 @ 10:00 am – 11:30 am