ESON & MSN: April Network Meeting Recap

Our April OST Network meeting brought together creativity, connection, and purposeful planning as we began transitioning into summer programming.

We kicked things off with a layered drink station to ground ourselves in the theme of “layers.” Members crafted colorful drinks (think mango, lemon, ginger juice topped with gummy worms and fresh mint) while reflecting on the layers of summer already rising to the surface in our minds. It was a light, joyful way to spark conversation and acknowledge the complexity of this seasonal shift for our programs, our teams, and ourselves.

A huge thank you to the Cambridge Community Center (CCC) for hosting us and sharing more about their work. CCC highlighted their community center offerings as well as their food pantry, and we want to help spread the word:

The CCC Food Pantry is open to all: no questions asked, no documentation required.
Hours: Tuesday–Friday, starting at 1:00 PM (open until food runs out)
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This is an incredible resource for families in our community, and we encourage everyone to share this information widely.

We then shifted into focused network work. The Elementary School OST Network (ESON) led a conversation on caregiver engagement exploring strategies for building stronger connections with families and benefitting from seeking and leveraging their input. Together, we began developing thoughtful questions aimed at better understanding caregiver expectations, needs, and hopes as we design responsive summer programming.  Here's a summary of the ideas we came up with in support of engaging parents as well as survey based on the questions we came up to ask parents and caregivers in support of our summer planning.

Meanwhile, the Middle School Network centered youth voice. Participants worked collaboratively to develop meaningful questions that we can ask middle schoolers to inform our program design and strategy. The group committed to taking one or a few of these questions into the field and capturing responses through video, audio recordings, or written reflections to bring back to our May meeting, helping ground our summer planning in the lived experiences and perspectives of young people. 

As always, this meeting reflected the strength of our network: thoughtful, creative, and deeply committed to the communities we serve. We look forward to continuing this momentum together.