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Bridge to CRLS 2024: Cambridge Community and Schools Come Together to Welcome New 9th Graders9/6/2024 In the final days of August, just before the labor day trips and new school jitters, 350 new ninth graders lined up (many with their parents) for the third annual Bridge to CRLS day, a project coordinated by the Agenda for Children OST and Cambridge Public Schools and designed to give new 9th graders a more significant introduction to the giant, looming school building before them: Cambridge Rindge and Latin (CRLS). On Tuesday, Sept 3rd, all 2000+ high schoolers would converge on CRLS for the first day of school. But for today, it was just the school’s staff, the new ninth graders, and a robust collection of community partners, all there to ease their transition to the school. The project, now in its 3rd year, originated in community meetings of the Middle School Network (a network of OST programs and school folks working with middle schoolers) about how many young people and families struggle in this ‘transition year,’ particularly the huge transition from middle (“upper”) school and high school. (Want more info on the process of how we got here? Check out this post). Community members highlighted young people’s concerns about the school building and the massive social and emotional changes that come with shifting from a school of 350 to a school of 2,000 students. While many of these changes were seen as normal developmental milestones, a survey of all the transition supports provided by schools showed a necessary focus on the technical aspects of high school transition (signing up for classes, understanding credits). Many community members (in addition to school staff) felt that the wealth of information held by alums and current upperclassmen could be leveraged to help students preview and manage the more personal aspects of the massive transition. This year, the content on the social & emotional transition to high school was split between two experiences:
Bridge to CRLS Event #1Mayor’s Program Workshop Day in mid-August: Facilitated by recent CRLS alums, Mayor’s Program staff, and providers who work with high school students through RAY (Reaching All Youth) Network, this was an in-depth community building day focused on transitioning from 8th grade to 9th grade 55 teens attended, adding this day to their 6 weeks of their job placement for the summer, and they were split into community building groups and rotated through three strands of content.
After the rotations, all teens met at the Field House for celebratory games, food, and raffle prizes. MSYEP liaisons led games of basketball, volleyball, giant-sized games, and beading. SHADE brought snow cones, popcorn, and cotton candy machines. Teens won/earned raffle tickets during the workshops. Raffle prizes included notebooks, pens, art supplies, candy, aquarium passes, kayaking and ice-skating tickets (the candy prizes received the most raffle tickets). In total, 15 teens won prizes. Post evaluation from students was very positive, and there was great energy throughout the event. Some comments from students include: What is one take-away from this event?
Bridge to CRLS Event #2 Welcome Day for all rising 9th Graders This event, open and advertised to all rising 9th graders, is a partnership between the staff at CRLS (particularly the Deans of Students), Cambridge Public Schools/Agenda for Children OST staff and community partners. In keeping with the original goals of the project, the event was designed to help students check off a few of the technical aspects (getting student IDs and chromebooks, for instance) that often take up most of the orientation time on the actual first day of school. In addition to getting these things done, the planning team focused on giving students a facilitated tour experience in a group of their peers, hearing from upperclassmen, and meeting new adults they did not know. What happened at the event?: Due to the large number of students (about 500 rising 9th graders) the day was split into two waves of students, starting with students from Learning Communities C & R. As soon as we approached 10am, students were lined up for registration, making nametags and started off their day listening to a panel of 12-15 Peer Mentors in the auditorium. The panel included a wide range of upperclassmen, representing all parts of CRLS, who answered questions students had submitted on their RSVP forms, from technical issues (how do you not get lost?) to common concerns (how do you make friends in your lunch block?).  After the panel, 9th graders were split into tour groups, each group led by Peer Mentors, and went for a tour of CRLS (using this Bridge to CRLS Tour Highlights route) including a stop to get their ID Photos taken and a stop to pick up their chromebook. Pro-Tips about certain spaces were set up around the building, and Peer Mentors shared the basic in addition to personal stories. All tours ended out front of the high school, where the Welcome Day celebration (aka ‘fun stuff’ was waiting). While the first wave of students started out doing the ‘fun stuff,’ the second wave of students (LC-L and LC-S) arrived and registration began again over by the arts building. Peer Mentors started the second panel and split into tour groups with the second wave of students. Tours ended out front for that group around 1:30, and all the celebration tables were open until 2:30. At the celebration, students could play games, get popcorn, sno-cones and ice cream, earn raffle tickets by talk to community resources tables (or another adults) and use those tickets to enter a raffle for candy and gift cards to the CRLS school store. They also had the option to airbrush-paint their own “Class of 2028” t-shirt, using a stencil designed specifically for the events by the Community Arts Center. How many students came to join in? In total, 365 students attended the event, about 71% of the freshman class. Outreach efforts had been focused on getting the word out to young people & their families, particularly eighth graders designated as ‘priority’ for the 9th grade transition by their Upper Schools through a holistic process considering multiple factors and voices. 51% of those ‘priority’ students attended the event, an increase from years prior and considered a success by event organizers. What did students think?: The exit survey taken by students (226 responses) asked very simple questions that showed the goals in clear, simple terms:
 As always, organizers appreciated hearing students open response answers to the big question: “What’s one takeaway from this event?” Responses below are sorted into popular categories with examples, but it was clear that students appreciated the time to get familiar in the building and meet (and hear from) upperclassmen:
Annie and the CPS & Agenda for Children OST team would especially like to thank the following folks who had a significant impact on the planning, execution and realization of Bridge to CRLS events:
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On a sunny June afternoon, the ESON, MSN, and RAY communities gathered at the Moore Youth Center to celebrate the end of the school year. Amidst the lively music, laughter, and the delicious BBQ (thanks, Tyrique!), there was a strong sense of joy and camaraderie among the out-of-school time community. During our second annual Network Love and Impact Awards, several OST colleagues were recognized for their dedication to the youth in their programs and for supporting each other. Awardees included: Latifah James, Sarah Lincoln, George Hinds, Alex Frank, Raul Zaorski, Gavilán Rivas-Chavez, Larry Thompson, Katie Quizhpe, Jack O’Hearn, Yvonne Gittens, and Bo Lembo. Check out the awards ceremony here! We also honored Annie Leavitt, MSN Coordinator, for her work in advocating for children and families and facilitating partnerships between systems, schools, and programs. To honor her contributions, we introduced the inaugural Annie Leavitt School-Out-of-School Time Partnership Award to recognize members of the OST community who embody Annie's commitment.  The community had the opportunity to share their feedback on what they would like to see more of in upcoming ESON and MSN meetings, which we plan on incorporating in the new school year. If you haven’t shared your feedback yet, you can still do so by filling out a brief questionnaire here.
From ESON, MSN, and RAY, we are grateful to be a part of this community and look forward to the upcoming summer programs! Have a great summer!  Our network meeting in March 2024, focused on our middle schoolers (6th-8th graders) - particularly the older rising 7th and 8th graders that are often hardest to recruit and maintain in summer programs, yet are also critically important to have in programming. Our big question for the meeting was: What does it take to engage middle schoolers in the summer? Because only so much can be covered in any 90 minute meeting, we focused on two elements: what trends we are seeing among the 6-8th grade post-COVID (in schools and programs), and what we are naming “the culture challenge”: how do you create a pathway so that 5th graders want to stay enrolled and eventually become the 8th graders in your program? Check out the slide deck from the meeting here: What Does It Take to Engage Middle Schoolers in Summer? We did a number of ‘chat waterfalls’ during this meeting, where we asked the 30+ participants a question, had them type their answer in the chat but not press send until everyone did it together - thus creating a ‘waterfall’ of responses all at the same time. It was a great way to see all the input and perspectives and expertise from across the network. The first of those was just about what trends we are seeing in middle schoolers: What are we seeing? (Chat waterfall responses)
Then, we asked folks to share their own questions about the situation: What questions do we have about what is going on? (Chat waterfall responses)
These responses set the table for a really rich discussion about what we’d like to see in middle school programming. We heard from Melinda Rosado, who has deep history with the Middle School Network and our schools - she was a former youth worker and program director at Gately Youth Center, worked in student support at Putnam Ave Upper School and is currently working across all four Upper Schools as a Safety Specialist for the Safety Dept of Cambridge Public Schools. As someone who spends time in each of the school buildings, and someone who knows both the OST and the school perspective well, she had a lot to say on this topic (which is why we brought her here - her expertise and advice about young people has always been spot on). Some of Melinda’s insights on middle schoolers right now:
 Melinda’s 3Ps and a V from Gately Middle School Programming when she was a program director We spent the rest of the meeting talking about where we would like to be with our middle school programs - thinking and sharing “what it looks like when it works” - and we got some great examples from folks in the meeting. Some highlights: What does it look like when it works?:
As always, here were the community announcements:
Emily Meyer (CPL): The Cambridge Public Library has a few fun and exciting events coming up! On March 14th, there is a Nintendo Switch program for ages 7-9. On March 28th, there will be a shadow puppet story telling event. For the April 8th solar eclipse, the library is giving away free glasses to watch the eclipse and is hosting eclipse-related activities. To view a list of upcoming events and programs, click here. Emily Shield (Women’s Commission): Hosting Consent Camp this summer! During this summer program campers will learn about consent education and activism. Campers will be mentored by high school peer leaders. By the end of camp, they will receive a certificate in Peer Education. To register, 7th-9th graders: click here, 4th-6th graders: click here.  More than 650 Cambridge parents and caregivers attended the third Annual Rollin’ & Summer Resources event, where they learned about how to sign up their children for summer programs. The event took place on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at the Cambridge Street Upper School/King Open Community Complex. More than 50 summer camp and other service providers attended. Families enjoyed plenty of pizza, samosas, wraps, snacks, drinks, popcorn and snow-cones! Children roller skated, made art projects, tried parkour, played life-sized board games, built basketball skills, and more. Families throughout the city accessed school bus transportation to and from the event. They received support to explore program options from: Summer program staff, members of the Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) Family Engagement Team, Cambridge Agenda for Children Out of School Time staff, and CPS parents and caregivers from The Village. Multilingual Family Liaisons and Community Engagement Team Outreach Workers provided translation and interpretation for families -- including many migrant families who have recently arrived to our city and district.  Providers shared that they enrolled more than one hundred new families into their summer programs. Many more providers continue registering and/or making decisions based on what they learned at the event.
Who attended the 2024 Rollin’ & Summer Resources Event?
Together we can make sure that young people connect to high quality summer program experiences! At our February Network Meeting, we focused on equity and access in out-of-school (OST) opportunities in Cambridge. Our main goal, as always, is to ensure that all young people and families have fair access to these opportunities. We wanted to spend time being explicit with our networks in talking about WHAT that looks like, HOW we do it (and you do it, within your contexts) and WHO we are talking about when we reference ‘priority families’ in Cambridge. During the meeting, we discussed the changing demographics of Cambridge, specifically income inequality over the past four decades, and shared snapshots from some recent reports (like the Cambridge Community Foundations’ "Equity & Innovation Cities: The Case of Cambridge" report) that paint a picture of the city that is surprising even to folks who’ve been in Cambridge a long time. In the connection groups, participants had meaningful conversations about what this income inequality and changing demographics looks like in their K-5 and 6-8 programs. This helped us understand how this issue affects our community and our own spheres of influence.
We also heard stories from families and students, and shared demographic data and examples from our summer follow-up initiative, where we work with schools and community members to assemble a list of priority young people and work individually with them to get them registered for summer programs. These highlighted the HOW: how we try to ensure equal access (and overcome the barriers involved) to high-quality out-of-school opportunities for everyone, from our team’s vantage point in the schools and across community programs.
Weren’t able to make the meeting? Check out the rest of the slides here! Please get in touch with us if you have questions and want to talk more - as always, we want and need everyone across our networks to be part of the effort to challenge inequity, and all have roles and actions (large and small) that can be part of the solution. Feel free to use the data shared here (the demographic data and the Cambridge OST data) with sources cited (see slides) as we continue the long term work of overcoming barriers that affect the future of young people. Community AnnouncementsShilpa (Cambridge Camping): Summer camp registration for Adventure Day Camp and Daybreak Day Camp is now open. There is also a low cost cooking program available! Cambridge Camping offers payment plans. To learn more visit their website.  Puja (Cambridge YWCA): There are two YWCA summer programs happening this year: CampOUT at The Farm School: August 19th-23rd Overnight/Sleepaway Camp The Farm School is an educational farm that hosts weekly programs for youth from many different schools nationwide. Learn more about The Farm School at farmschool.org. The CampOUT week is a sleepaway camp for trans, non-binary, and queer teens who are 9-14 years old. (Teens 15-19 are welcome to apply to be counselors-in-training!) And young people from queer families. For questions, please email Emmy at [email protected]. Learn more and register online. Consent Camp Consent Camp is a NO-COST summer program for Cambridge students entering grades 7th-9th and 4th-6th. Camp participants will learn about consent education and activism. Campers will be mentored by trained high school peer leaders and supervised by expert adult educators. Participants will receive a Peer Education certificate by the end of camp. Learn more and register here for 7th-9th and here for 4th-6th. Shameka (New School of Music): New School of Music is hosting a Chorus Open House on February 10th. It’s free and open to the public! Emily Meyer (Cambridge Public Library): Cambridge Public Library is hosting February Vacation Week programs. Check their calendar here to see what’s available!  Nina (Office of Workforce Development): MSYEP Worksite applications are now available! MSYEP offers Cambridge teens the opportunity to work with non-profits or government agencies for 6 weeks during the summer. Teens work 20 hours per week from July 1-August 9. There are two ways of providing opportunities for youth to work with your organization:
Traditional Worksites: MSYEP provides all youth wages and an MSYEP Liaison who will monitor youths’ experience and provide support to the teens and to you. If you would like to host one or more young people at your workplace as a traditional worksite, please complete only the MSYEP Worksite Application. Summer Work and Learning Sites: Expand the scope of MSYEP by including an educational enrichment component. SWL programs are an opportunity for you to design and manage an educational, work-based learning project specific to your organization’s mission and needs. Funds are available to cover personnel costs related to the program and supplies. As with traditional worksites, MSYEP pays the wages for all teens assigned and provides the support of an MSYEP Liaison. If you’d like to apply as an SWL site, please complete the MSYEP Worksite Application AND the RFP Proposal Form. Both forms are due on Wednesday, March 20, 2024. Questions? Contact George Hinds, 617-349-6268 or [email protected] Thank you to the many of you who joined our School Partnerships Gathering! We had over 100 people in the room and the energy was palpable. Thank you again to the Foundry for hosting (please reach out to them about booking space – they have so many amazing resources available!) After our meeting, we had a chance to connect with folks and asked them, “What's something you learned today?" Here are some of the responses we received:
To facilitate ongoing learning and networking, we've created a directory of all the meeting attendees, which you can view here. Below are announcements - and some amazing language related resources from Crystal Rosa (thank you!) Also, be sure to check out the upcoming 2024 ESON/MSN Network and 2024 RAY meeting dates/topics! With gratitude for all that you each do, Nadia & Annie Breakout Group Notes & ParticipantsMany of you asked if we could specifically share the notes from each of our breakout groups with names and emails - here they are! We encourage you all to reach out to each other to continue these conversations - or start new ones! We will also be reviewing notes to see what we can continue to work on in our networks and across organizations. Check out the Breakout Group Notes & Participants below: Community Announcements Space Available at The Foundry (Applications Due 12/29/23) Would your program like to use The Foundry's amazing facilities to offer weekly classes for young people? Weekly programs are selected on a quarterly basis for up to 12 weeks of programming per season. For this season, applications open on November 10. Applications are due on Friday, December 29. The spring season runs between March and May. Any programs that meet their community guidelines and make positive use of the space are welcome at The Foundry! For more information about how they will select which programs are accepted each season, you can review their Program Rubric. This application should take around 10-20 minutes to fill out and you can view the full application here. Questions about the application or this process can be directed to [email protected]. To see the rooms available at The Foundry, visit their website. To see the hourly cost of each room, see their sliding scale.
Language Resources From the Language Barriers breakout group a few things emerged. Here are resources on those needs: The need for teachers to use plain language in their communications to families:
Although an organization may have bilingual staff available, their skill is not at a level for helping native speakers adequately. Interpretation services should be available to bilingual staff too:
Please inform the event participants that they can always Schedule a Meeting or Submit a Request for Assistance to discuss how to get their work translated or have interpretation at a community meeting.  Tell all 8th-12th Graders: Come to the MIT Museum Teen Science Cafe! Designed by teens for teens, Teen Science Cafes bring together scientists and students, grades 8-12 to explore new research and discuss what inspires and influences people to pursue careers in STEM. Join local researchers and other teens for a night exploring the field of psychology. Hear from experts on behavioral psychology and language, and engage in fun and interactive learning centered on interpersonal relationships and brain games. Upcoming Event: Psych Night, Sat, Dec 16th, 6-8 pm Registration Link. Questions? Contact Melisa Rojas, [email protected]
 ESON Coordinator Position is Posted! The Agenda for Children OST is looking to hire a new Elementary School-Out-of-School Time Network (ESON) Coordinator (Shawn Proctor’s former position)! ESON is a coordinated and committed coalition of Cambridge out-of-school time providers, schools, families, and community partners who work together to provide equitable access to quality learning experiences beyond the school day and school year for JK-5 children. Interested? Click here to apply or share the link with someone who would be a great fit! If you have questions, please feel free to contact Khari Milner, [email protected] CRLS Youth Equity Summit CRLS Youth Equity Summit is on January 24th from 12:30 - 3:00-ish! Table at the Actionable Advocacy Fair with opportunities for teens to get involved in your programs. Reach out to Sam Musher to get involved: [email protected]  Free Drop-In Tutoring at The Library The Teen Room at the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch has free Drop-In Tutoring for ages 12 – 18 on Mondays & Wednesdays 5:00 – 6:00pm Questions? Contact Paul Trunnell: [email protected]
 Friday Night Hype & Rollin’ N Summer Resources Friday Night Hype is hosting a Winter Dance! Students from around the district will come together for a winter celebration at the Friday Night Hype Winter Dance. All middle school students are welcome! Friday, Dec. 15th, 2023 at the Community Art Center Gym, 119 Windsor St., Cambridge Grades 6 & 7: Dance is from 7:00 - 8:30 PM Grades 8 & 9: Dance is from 8:30 - 10:00 PM There is no cost (permission slip is required). Rollin' N Summer Resources is happening on March 2nd! RSVP and save the date! Questions? Contact Debbie Bonilla, [email protected] CPS District / School Climate Survey for CPS Families
Please encourage CPS parents and caregivers to use this link to take the survey. (Deadline 12/22/23). Questions? Contact: Ray Porch: [email protected], Khari Milner: [email protected] We had our November meeting on zoom - the first in a while! - and we remembered how convenient the format can be for bringing in folks who can’t spend the time away from their programs. As much as we love the in-person settings, we are hoping the mix of the two allows all of you the best chance to be part of the MSN and ESON networks. Our topic this month was Family Engagement (see slide deck here!), particularly these questions:
We kicked off the conversation with a poll to ask folks where they spend their energy and time when it comes to family engagement:  We also shared some flashbacks to what we talked about last year at this time (particularly the tensions that come up when building new connections with middle schoolers) - see the slide deck for those flashbacks (and other info shared in the meeting).
Our connection groups gave folks a quick time to talk about specific topics as we started off the meeting: one group talked about how to discuss world events with kids and families, another talked everything Halloween (favorite/least favorite/best costume/program celebrations) and a third group was looking for an update on the CPS Excel strategic tutoring initiative, which we all heard during announcements. Take a look at the other community announcements below:
Breakout Groups: In one group, focused on problem-solving specific situations in K-5 programs, the conversation centered on communicating with immigrant families. Tagasech Wabeto, who works for the Commission on Immigrant Rights and Citizenship, said many people don't check their email regularly because they forget their credentials or struggle with the login process. To improve communication, she suggests text messages. Translated messages can be helpful but if translation is not available, sending a text in English is better than an email. Another tip is to send messages in a child's backpack. Using Google Voice, which combines text and email features, makes it easier to access missed calls and messages in one place. For group messaging that doesn't require a reply, Remind is a good option. Finally, the C.E.T and C.D.D outreach workers can assist with distributing flyers and translations. In another group (for 6-8th grade programs), we shared our own stories of how we learned to engage with families early in our own careers - and although some people had some formal ‘training’ the overall sense was that most of us learned by trial and error and by watching others and their interactions with families. We talked about how to translate that into building capacity for younger staff - creating opportunities for people to listen in on phone calls, intentionally model types of interactions or push newer staff to have the interactions rather than defer to directors. One person talked about the clarity and energy that came from having an outside consultant/coach come in and help the program staff create a Family Engagement plan, complete with goals, strategy, and events for the year - another key way to get everyone on board and ready to engage families as partners. As part of our closing, we asked folks “What’s one thing you are leaving here wanting to try/do? Or what conversation would you want to have with the Family Liaisons/school staff at the Dec 6th gathering?” Here are some responses:
Our next meeting on Dec 6th is a joint meeting (in person at the Foundry) including not just programs in MSN, and ESON, but also the CPS Family Liaisons, Upper School Guidance Counselors, and OST Program folks serving the high school community (in Reaching All Youth). Remember to RSVP for this meeting (which isn’t usually required for our other meetings) - because we want to give people tools for networking and talking about shared young people, we need to know who will be there! Click here to RSVP! Thanks for joining us on a sunny October morning at Danehy Park - we were glad for the sunshine, especially since we postponed the ESON & MSN Kickoff Event from the original soggy Sept. date. But more importantly, we were glad to see your faces, feel your energy, and look forward into the 2023-24 school year as a network of programs and partners serving young people in Cambridge. We can't wait to see the amazing things we will achieve together over the coming months. Here is a link to our proposed meeting schedule for this school year MSN and ESON Meetings: 23-24 SY. We had a great time at the meeting, starting off with connection groups that allowed folks to choose their own adventure. The options included untangle the Human Knot and talk about building bridges with school folks, play Evolution and debrief summer programs, or survey the Cambridge Ecosystem Map (provided by Family Policy Council & Find It Cambridge) to find all the resources that we didn’t know existed, or orient ourselves to a new community. Folks old and new shared a wide span of community announcements. Here is a list of some community announcements if you missed the meeting. We spent the rest of the meeting cycling through four breakout rotations, sitting in the shade in small groups to talk about (and hear your ideas) for the different AFCOST spaces this year. The four rotations included:
As we embark on this new journey, we eagerly anticipate all the opportunities for learning, growth, and collaboration that lie ahead. We firmly believe that, with your continued involvement, we can make this school year a remarkable and fulfilling experience for all.
Feel free to reach out to us with your ideas, suggestions, or questions – your active engagement is what will make this year exceptional! School newsletters are a great way to find out about upcoming school events, like back-to-school nights! For each CPS school, you will need to sign up for their school newsletter individually. To get started, follow these steps:
 On behalf of the entire Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time team, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude for your presence and participation at our End of Year Event. For the first time, we celebrated a year of MSN and ESON Network meetings/events as well as Community of Practice groups, to create a big gathering for folks across AFCOST spaces. The event was filled with fun, music, delicious BBQ (shout out to Grillmaster Tyrique!), and the warm presence of friendly and familiar OST faces. Your attendance made the event a resounding success. We were thrilled to see so many familiar and new faces coming together to celebrate the achievements, milestones, and memories of the past year. We had many brief and powerful conversations as part of our concentric circles activity, answering questions like:
The highlight of the event was the inaugural Impact Awards, recognizing members of our community (nominated by colleagues) who made significant contributions in their OST spaces.
We also celebrated Dee Spinkston and Daniel Weinstock, who are both moving on from their roles facilitating in the COP spaces:
If you want to feel the love all over again (or you missed it) check out this highlight reel on the Agenda for Children website. As we look forward to another year filled with exciting possibilities and challenges, we are grateful for the support and enthusiasm you have shown us throughout the past year. Your continued presence and involvement are invaluable to us, and we are excited about the journey ahead. |
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