The majority of our meeting we spent talking about the ways that we try to get to know young people at the start of the year in our programs. In doing this, we navigate multiple tensions that can’t be totally avoided (see slide below). For example, young people need to feel psychological safety and know that you won’t put them on the spot to answer deep and meaningful questions before they are comfortable; however, you also want to communicate that you care about more than just surface level information on the way to building a deeper relationship. ​

Lastly, I shared two resources (see slides). 
​

• 4 Developmental Needs of Middle Schoolers (and worksheet): The first, which Melinda Maxwell previewed already, is the 4 needs of middle schoolers, which can be used in staff training, in planning lessons, and in talking about what we want to know and build on with young people.

 

• “Along” App: I’ve heard about this from folks using it in schools, as a new way to nurture individual relationships with students. It uses a format they are quite familiar with - text, video or audio on their cell phones - to give a safer, 1 to 1 opportunity to answer questions posed by a teacher or youth worker in the app. Not a new idea - but maybe a new application and mode for reaching young people who aren’t as verbal in person, who fly under the radar, or who really want that individual relationship with you as an adult but don’t know how to build it on their own. ​

iReady to Try Something New? 
This year, Cambridge Public Schools is rolling out the use of iReady Personalized Instruction, an online learning platform and tool that can be used by families (and OST programs) to provide additional learning time in math and literacy beyond the school day. The district is excited by the prospect of collaborating with OST programs and partners to support students this way! 
​

How is this different from other online-based tools that CPS students use for learning? 

• The platform provides targeted lessons based on student’s individual skills (it’s linked to an assessment called iReady that all 3-8th graders take in schools)
• Lessons are designed to be culturally responsive, engaging, and connected to real-world scenarios (age-appropriate graphics, music, sound effects, activities beyond multiple choice questions, relevant and diverse texts)
• Young people grades 3-8 can follow their own pathway on the site, or teachers/educators can assign specific lessons to whole classes or individual students 
• The program includes quality content at all levels, from below grade level all the way to above grade level

When/How is this happening?

• Onboarding sessions for teachers is happening on Nov 8th (this is the no school PD day). OST providers are also invited to attend, although we assume many providers will be caring for young people that day! Additional training geared towards caregivers and for OST programs will be offered as well. The iReady program for the 2022-23 school year will be ready for young people to use by mid-November. 
• CPS Teachers CAN use the platform to assign and monitor student progress, but it is not required, especially this year, as all users gain confidence in the platform and what it can do. 
• With CPS, the Agenda team is planning a training session just for OST Providers (likely a morning in Oct/Nov) to orient themselves to the platform and figure out how they can use it in their spaces.

What does this mean for me as an Out-of-School-Time (OST) Program?

• You have the option of using the program at your site 
• CPS and the Agenda for Children will be offering training for OST Programs on how it works and how you can use it in your spaces
• iReady Personalized Instruction could be used during Homework Time, either as homework (if teachers assign it as such) or as a ‘after your homework is done but it’s not time to play yet’ tool.
• The program can help your after school staff communicate with schools/teachers, be more connected to work happening in the classroom, and be part of helping young people close learning gaps or get what they need in terms of academics.

More info is coming soon - for now check out this 2 page infographic about the timeline and how it will be used! 

On a recent, sunny late August afternoon, more than one hundred nervous 9th graders (all working their hardest not to show it) found their way down to the Lecture Hall at the Cambridge Public LIbrary, and checked in for the first day of Bridge to CRLS. This new 9th grade orientation, hosted Aug 23-25th, came together through a collaboration between Cambridge Public Schools and Cambridge community partners, spearheaded by the Agenda for Children OST’s Middle School Network. Over the next three days, 260 incoming 9th graders traveled between the Library and CRLS for student-led tours, scavenger hunts, and workshops led by community partners and CPS staff, culminating in a Community BBQ on Thursday, August 25th,  with a celebratory meal and send off for the 9th graders to their freshman year. ​

This year ESON and MSN will meet on the same day for all Network convenings. There will be opportunities for folks to break out into respective groups (ESON & MSN) during our time together. 
We are planning to do our first and last meetings of the year as in-person meetings at community locations - and then use Zoom for the bulk of the meetings in between, as we have heard from folks that the convenience and ability to sign in from anywhere allows more folks to attend and contribute. 

Please join us for as much or little time as you can for our upcoming IN-PERSON Kick-Off event on Wednesday, September 14th, from 10:00 am- 12:00 p.m at Starlight in Central Sq, 84 Bishop Allen Dr. 

See all calendar dates on our Events Calendar page 0r All Joint Network meetings on Sched (where you can RSVP!) 

Hello folks! If you missed our Feb 2nd meeting, read below to check out the community announcements, get the slides and see what you missed. Here is the link to the slide deck, where you can see visuals and get a sense of the conversations that aren't covered in the recap.  Thanks for checking in! 

This meeting was focused on two things: appreciating the contributions of our long time MSN staff member, Medjine Lucien, and on starting the summer planning process. Medjine, who has just moved on to work for Waltham Partnerships for Youth, worked in multiple capacities on our MSN team over the past 4 years, so we did a little retrospective of all her contributions and heard appreciations from Nicole Rodriguez, her past supervisor at Moses Youth Center, in addition to multiple others in the community who have worked with and appreciated Medjine's quiet but steady leadership over those years. Good luck Medjine - we have a feeling Cambridge will call you back at some point soon, but we are glad Waltham young people have you in their corner now as well! 

Next we talked about summer - where folks were in summer planning and how it felt to them. There were some great themes across the board, particularly wanting young people to make friends, feel belonging and have fun (and the adults to have fun alongside them). We also took some time to learn and test out the "annotate" version in Zoom, so folks could put a stamp on whichever thought bubble they felt represented their feelings on each question. Check it out: 

We had short breakout groups on a few of the topics mentioned here, particularly the social emotional skills and experiences we want young people to have, and cross-city partnerships and field trips. We asked folks before closing what was helpful to them, and what they want to have more time in MSN meetings to talk about before the summer: check out some great ideas and responses that we plan to build into meeting going forward!

• options for young people to meet up with other programs, or places across the city and do fun new things together (Ayesha Wilson, Work Force/School Committee)
• Social emotional tools for families (Mia Richardson, MSN/CCSC)
• Partnerships/meet ups/cross site activities/ 8th grade opportunities (Melinda Rosado, Gately Youth Center)
• I want to learn about East end House more. I want to discuss about more educational summer programs (Tagesech Wabeto, Community Engagement Team)
• Most helpful: programs are very interested in finding places to bring groups this summer (Emily Meyer, CPL)
• Knowing that the needs of special needs/disabled students are being discussed at program sites and not just in these meetings (Maya Gonzalez, SEPAC)
• I would like to learn/brainstorm more about what youth need for the summer (Puja Kranz Howe, GOLD/GEY)
• 1. Knowing there are people I can reach out to for help. 2. Hearing others experiences. I am coming from School Age to a leadership role in Middle School and there are things I don't know because I have spent all my time in School Age. (Marse Romero, East End House)
• It’s helpful to connect and hear more about opportunities and your experiences, great to meet you all! (Jonathon Leiner, Amigos K-8)
• Learned about Recess program and hoping to check it out this summer. (Nelita Depina, Russell Youth Center)

We are still sitting in the powerful energy of our Transition Years gathering on December 14th, and we've had many requests from folks for a recap of the meeting, both from those who couldn't be there and those who joined us. We had seventy  - yes, 70 -  folks show up to be part of the conversation. We (Annie Leavitt, Shawn Proctor and Nadia Davila) designed the conversation to be a cross-sector and cross-network conversation, as a joint meeting of the Elementary School OST Network (ESON), the Middle School Network (MSN) and Reaching All Youth (RAY), to address something we have known about for a long time. Naturally,  young people and families face difficulties in the transitions between stages of schooling/life (between elementary school and middle school, to name one). Since the adults that work with them are often siloed into age groups, the support networks usually available in these difficult years are absent or incomplete, creating even more inequity at times that are already challenging and crucial for young people's development. The topic clearly hit a nerve - many people we talked to in our planning were so glad to hear someone was deciding to focus the conversation on these years. The energy was palpable, even on zoom, as everyone joined the conversation. Folks came to the gathering from across the spectrum of programs and school years, from birth and pre-K all the way to 12th grade and career transitions. Especially in the busy month of December, we are grateful that everyone took the time to join for the beginning of what will be a series of gatherings on this topic -  and we hope you also felt the energy of the collective, of people who know that we can hold young people and families across these transition years with respect for the monumental transitions they are. 

If you missed the meeting (or part of it) and want to catch up, check out the info below and feel free to contact us to make sure we include you on communications to each of the Transition Year small groups! Each of the small/grade band groups will be meeting again in Feb/March, and then we will gather again June 14th as a wider group to share out what we think can be improved right away (within our roles and control) and move forward in advocating for what may include larger policy/institutional changes. It's not too late to join the conversation! 

Who was there? 
We kicked things off with a "Who's in the Room?" set of questions, which told us a lot about the group: 

• All age groups were represented (with slightly less participants in the Birth-3yr old group) but covering each age span up to (and through) the post-secondary transition to career.
• 7 folks were brand-new  - this was their first time in our network spaces.
• 3 caregivers from our ESON/MSN Parent/Caregiver Advisory Board (one of whom, Vanessa Bernard, shared her story during our StoryShare).
• 34 folks have been to SO MANY network meetings - old timers (lol) who give our networks their staying power, wisdom and experience.
• The rest of the group fell into the "I've been to one or two network meetings" group. 
• 51% of the group identified themselves as part of a community based organization, 23% were part of a school (charter school or public) and 16 folks opted for our third choice: " I defy all categorization" :) 
• When asked which of the transition years was hardest for them personally, the bulk of the group said that the transition out of high school to post-secondary plans was most difficult for them. 

What were the goals of the conversation?

 As we often do in our network spaces, we wanted to combine a problem-solving approach with an equity frame focused on listening, checking assumptions and understanding gaps and challenges. We also set up the conversation to prioritize connecting across lines, and we hold firmly in our belief that new energy and possibilities can come from those conversations, even among people who have been doing their work for a very long time. We have found this to be true even in our own collaboration to plan this meeting - we have already learned so much about how we can align our efforts to create a continuum of care, especially for families and young people who face the most barriers and systematic oppression in our system. If you wan to hear more about these efforts, ask us about the future of the Community Partner Portal and Summer Program Pitch workshops (in Feb) we are also facilitating as Joint Network gatherings.

​So, what did I miss? 
​
For this first meeting, we grounded the conversation in stories from young people (alum Elijah Cheeks) and from caregivers (alum and caregiver Vanessa Bernard from the ESON/MSN Parent Advisory Board), and took some time to connect over relevant info in our Connection Groups. One group watched and reacted to this clip from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which hit on many of the visceral feelings of moving into middle school, and another talked about their high school experiences, if they were to be summarized in the oh-so-popular "Spotify wrapped" format. Another group got to ask questions and dive deeper into Vanessa Bernard's experiences as an alum and a caregiver of multiple kids moving through transitions, and our last group was an opportunity to literally "meet the people" - a version of our usual "life catch-up" connection group, adapted for a space where so many folks were new to each other.

​Breakouts: Focus on challenges first

I missed it - did you record the meeting? ​
Yes, we did - at least the section not in breakout groups. We are editing it down to make it easily watchable - stay tuned! 

In our Middle School Network meeting on Nov, 3rd, 2021, we focused on an often-overlooked part of the equity landscape in Cambridge: access to after school for young people with disabilities and their families. Maya Gonzalez, retired educator, grandmother, Equity Fellow, and longtime Cambridge caregiver to her granddaughter Annalise (see pictures above!) talked to us about her experience trying to navigate the few options available in Cambridge, and how she has ended up leading an organizing effort to bring the call for equity (which is also mandated in several state/federal laws) to Cambridge's institutions and leaders. 
Since everyone comes to the conversation from different places, we used a few media pieces as 'sparks' for the conversation and discussed them in connection groups: 

Inclusion is belonging, not a program: 

• Animated cartoon explaining the basics: https://youtu.be/6SnXBKEfr2s (2:20)

Local and specialized example: 

• The Cambridge Program  https://youtu.be/O9v7br6tWw0 (2:50)

Local (new in Cambridge) inclusion example: 

• Unified Sports  (2:48) https://youtu.be/nJzUWZ64m-s  (note: many MSN folks noted that some language in this video is unnecessarily 'othering' towards folks with disabilities - we are still including it here as a useful learning tool despite reservations)

Bonus videos (to watch on your own): 

• Best Buddies: 
• relationship profile: https://youtu.be/0j6YaVsLJZI  3:39
• what to expect: https://youtu.be/JPft0oW6MB0 2:41

Adapting the environment: Multi-sensory room examples:

• The Sensory Club
• Multi-sensory Room video: https://youtu.be/JPft0oW6MB0 2:41

Watch the recording here of Maya telling her own story and detailing her own journey to this place. She also covered where we are as a city (Cambridge) and what she wants OST providers to know about this issue, how it affects their families and how it affect you. The meeting slides also have some detailed bullet points on where we are now, and where we want to go.

In the end, Maya asked us as a network to help move the work forward by completing and spreading her Needs Assessment survey for folks working in after school programs in Cambridge. They (Maya and SEPAC, the Special Education Parent Advisory Council) will be doing a similar assessment with families, but for now the important move is to know what is happening on the ground. How prepared do you feel to have disabled youth in your programs? What would change that? What kind of PD do you already receive? What communication do you have from schools about IEP plans, etc.? What keeps families from registering when they have children with disabilities? 

Want to be involved in next steps? Maya is hoping to form an After School Equity "workign group" that includes stakeholders from families, students, OST program staff and city and school department reps. For more info, email Annie ([email protected]) or Maya (​[email protected] ).

To see the full Nov newsletter click here! 

Has a parent ever asked you: "Hey do you know of a program for......?"  Have you ever noticed a talented young person and wanted to know where to send them to hone that skill? 

Check out the landscape of programs offered to young people and families this fall in our ESON and MSN Resource Guides.

If you run a program: Read your entry and look at the other options  - part of being in this network is knowing more than just your own offerings. Also, send us pictures (or edits) from your programs that we can add to the Guide! 

If you work with families and young people right now, tell them about this resource. They can be shared in multiple ways: 

• Flyer with QR codes for both guides (electronic versions) and Shawn and Annie's contact info
• Live version of Middle School Network After School Guide: https://bit.ly/MSNAfterschoolGuide2021
• Live version of the ESON After School Guide (for PK-5th grade) : https://bit.ly/ESONAfterschoolGuide2021 
• Request a # of printed copies from us and we will deliver them to you! 
• Both Guides are on Find It Cambridge 
• Bonus: ESON slideshow of programs and resources (including how to get a voucher)

 Help us make this community resource as powerful as it can be! Spread the word! ​