OST Network: April Meeting Recap

At our April network meeting, we discussed the upcoming 5th grade and upper school summer workshops. These workshops give kids a chance to learn more about available summer opportunities, meet staff from those programs, and have fun with their peers.

We reviewed attendance data from last month's Rollin' n Summer Resource event, which informed us that 78 of the families who attended have never sent their children to summer programs in Cambridge, while 67 said no when asked if their child attends afterschool programs. 

Andrew Liedtka from Find It Cambridge shared his organization's Cradle to Career Ecosystem Map and how it can help us better understand the local resources available for families in our community. 

Finally, we spoke about data in Community Partner Portal and its many uses for afterschool programs in Cambridge.

If you missed our April meeting, you can check out the presentation slides here! Join us for our next meeting on May 3rd (on Zoom!). Stay tuned for more information!

Summer Slideshows

The 6th-8th grader slideshows are being shown in schools as part of our classroom visits to CPS Upper Schools, to give young people an exciting peek into their options for summer. They also fill out a form at the end about what they are interested in - which kicks off our individual follow-up effort, where we help young people and families connect to programs and make summer dreams a reality. 

Do you know a family who is looking for summer programs and needs assistance? Have them fill out the form (on the last slide of each slideshow) and we can follow up with them!

Click here for the 6th, 7th, or 8th grade slideshow.

The Elementary School slideshow features summer programs and activities for JK-5th graders. 

Community Announcements

Jordan Harvey - Tutoring Plus
Tutoring Plus is piloting a program where they come to your summer programs and facilitate a Math and/or ELA curriculum for your youth. The content can be geared toward rising 4th-9th graders. Reach out to Jordan at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Claudia Ferrara - Math Talk
MathTalk is hosting a Family Math Day at MIT Open Space on May 13th from 10:00am-3:00pm, if this sounds like something you want to learn more about and collaborate on, you can email Claudia at [email protected].

Sean Effel - Cambridge Camping’s Village Series
Cambridge Camping presents a unique forum series for a diverse group of caregivers, including out-of-school time providers, parents and guardians, and other community members to share perspectives and learn from one another.  Cambridge Camping will provide a simple evening meal and child care will be on site so families can come and enjoy the workshops for the evening.  Each of these workshops is free and open to the public and they are not sequential - you may attend any or all events. 

For more information visit their website.

Also, check out their April and summer day camp programs, among many other offerings here.

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Bernette - Cambridge Families of Color Coalition
CFCC is looking for partners to attend the Juneteenth parade event. For more information contact Bernette.

Tagesech Wabeto - Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship
Join Pathways for Immigrant Workers for an information session for employees and business owners on May 3rd in the Community Room at the Cambridge Public Library (449 Broadway).

Learn more about affordable housing and eviction resources at the Fair Housing for All panel event on April 29th in the Community Room at the Cambridge Public Library (449 Broadway).

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Emily Meyer - Cambridge Public Library
The Cambridge Public Library has a few upcoming events. Check out the flyers below for more information:
Tarot Readings (ages 12-18),  April 13th from 3pm-5pm, in the Teen Room. Click here to learn more.
How to Create a Graphic Novel Page, (ages 9-14) April 21st, 2pm-3:30pm, registration required. Click here to learn more.
Hive (Makerspace Programs): Teen Room drop-in activities are happening on April 14th and April 28th from 3:30-5pm and teen-only hangout every Wednesday in the Hive on the lower level from 3:30-5:30pm.