Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time
  • Our Work
    • Cambridge OST Coalition
    • OST Learning Institute
    • Elementary School OST Network
    • Middle School Network
    • Quality Improvement System
  • News & Events
    • OST Learning Institute
    • ESON Updates
    • MSN Updates
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Events Calendar
  • Stories of Family Partnership
    • The Importance of Meaningful Connections
    • Talking with Kids About Race
    • Committing to Racial Equity
    • Common Ground
    • Parent Voices
    • Showing Them that They Matter
    • Showing us What they Know
    • Empathizing with Parents
    • Building Dialogue
    • Creating a Welcoming Culture
    • Celebrating Families
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • Blog
    • How to Write a Blog Post for AFCOST
    • Professional Development Reports
    • 5 Key Elements for Successful Virtual OST Programming
    • Find It Cambridge
    • Cambridge STEAM Initiative
  • About Us
    • Mission and Beliefs
    • Our Ways of Being
    • History
    • Organizational Structure
    • Who we are
    • Contact
    • Work with us
  • Our Work
    • Cambridge OST Coalition
    • OST Learning Institute
    • Elementary School OST Network
    • Middle School Network
    • Quality Improvement System
  • News & Events
    • OST Learning Institute
    • ESON Updates
    • MSN Updates
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Events Calendar
  • Stories of Family Partnership
    • The Importance of Meaningful Connections
    • Talking with Kids About Race
    • Committing to Racial Equity
    • Common Ground
    • Parent Voices
    • Showing Them that They Matter
    • Showing us What they Know
    • Empathizing with Parents
    • Building Dialogue
    • Creating a Welcoming Culture
    • Celebrating Families
  • Resources
    • Publications
    • Blog
    • How to Write a Blog Post for AFCOST
    • Professional Development Reports
    • 5 Key Elements for Successful Virtual OST Programming
    • Find It Cambridge
    • Cambridge STEAM Initiative
  • About Us
    • Mission and Beliefs
    • Our Ways of Being
    • History
    • Organizational Structure
    • Who we are
    • Contact
    • Work with us

Cambridge Out-of-School Time Coalition

A coalition of out-of-school time programs working to improve outcomes for Cambridge children and youth.
The Cambridge Out-of-School-Time (OST) Coalition is comprised of OST Programs serving Cambridge children and youth. Coalition members are out-of-school time organizations that are engaged with Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time opportunities, including:  the OST Learning Institute, Quality Improvement System, Middle School Network, Elementary School OST Network, and the Annual OST Symposium.  

​Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting September 28, 2022

Picture
If you were not able to join us, here is a link to the slide deck, which includes notes from data focused table talks and links to  remarks shared by Ellen Semonoff (audio, text) and Dr. Barbara Mullen (audio, text).  
We were so excited to convene the September 2022 OST Coalition at Lesley University.  OST leaders had an opportunity to reconnect and make meaning of shared data sets. 

​We had an opportunity to engage with Ellen Semonoff, Assistant City Manager who shared updates about attending to equity in the Department of Human Services Programs.   

​Dr. Mullen, Assistant Superintendent of the Office of Student Support shared her experiences with OST and her desire to connect and develop complementary and interdependent relationships with the Cambridge OST Program to make sure that our children are seen and they find their voices as we attend to their social and emotional and academic learning.   

Greetings, Cambridge OST Coalition Members: ​

Picture
 We hope that you are having a fun, joyful, safe, and rewarding summer!

As one of AFCOST's Shared Beliefs conveys, "All people have the capacity for change and growth", and it was so great to see so many of you and for us to have the opportunity to grow together.
  This June was our first, in-person, OST Coalition Meeting since February 2020.
​
​

We reconnected with peers, freedom dreamed and explored OST leaders' questions and thinking about: data collection and sharing, partnering with the schools and the district, professional development for OST staff, and OST Program and System Expansion.  

If you could not join us or would like to review the content we discussed, here is a link to the slides with notes and photos of the meeting. 

For more highlights, please read the latest Cambridge OST Coalition Updates Newsletter and Save the Date for our next meeting:  September 28th.    


Best wishes,
Khari and Susan, Co-Directors

Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting February 16, 2022

At our February Meeting of the Cambridge OST Coalition, we welcomed new members of our community, shared challenges and strategies related to staff recruitment and retention, and discussed a recent blog post published by the National Afterschool Association which focused on how we B.U.I.LD. our respective teams.  
​
Khari Milner moderated an inspiring panel of Black OST Leaders who shared their perspectives, wisdom and approach to leading for equity and healing.  You can access the video here. 

We introduced 
Chaylin Johnson, the newly hired OST Learning Institute Coordinator for the Agenda for Children OST and reminded our leaders about the upcoming opportunity to engage at the OST Symposium and hear from our Keynote Speaker, Shawn Ginwright of the Flourish Agenda.   

​
We referenced a recent brief about the national OST workforce shortage published by the Afterschool Alliance.  ​​
We reviewed information about the Cambridge OST Workforce (June 2020) and 5 year trends (2016-2021) in participation in the AFCOST Professional Development System.  We discussed our collective leadership role in improving professional development opportunities for our sector. 
​You can see the slides here and listen to our AFCOST Black History Playlist.   

Finally, Michelle Farnum spoke briefly about an upcoming Cambridge OST Capacity Study, which we will be undertaking as a community.  Stay tuned for more information prior to and at our next OST Coalition meeting in June. 

Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting September 15, 2021

​At our September 2021 Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting, Khari also shared his reflections and acknowledged the many significant contributions of Dr. Bob Moses, activist, educator, beloved husband, father, mentor, founder of the Algebra Project, who recently joined the ancestors.  
We encourage you to read his last OpEd "Returning to ‘Normal’ in Education is Not Good Enough" and learn more as we commit to continuing his work dismantling the caste system and ensuring that our children have access to equitable education and full constitutional rights. 

We also had an opportunity to re-connect with colleagues and share reflections and learnings from the past year.  We had an opportunity to engage in some Freedom Dreaming about the future of OST in Cambridge and to meet and hear from Dr. Victoria Greer, our interim Superintendent of Cambridge Public Schools.  
We shared the Building Forward Together Conversation Guide published by the Forum for Youth Investment, and other partners.   Here is a link to the slide deck for the meeting.
Additional recommended reading about Bob Moses: 
https://alicewalkersgarden.com/ 
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/bob-moses-obituary-sncc/​
https://www.npr.org/2021/07/25/1020501110/bob-moses-1960s-sncc-civil-rights-leader-math-educator-dies-at-86
​https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/robert-moses-born/ 
https://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/news/the-quiet-courage-of-bob-moses 

​CPS COVID-19 Safety Training for OST Programs, Aug 31, 2021

Signed CPS Partner MOUs should be returned to Khari at kmilner@cpsd.us by 9/8/21. 
If you have any questions or concerns please email or call  Khari (617-349-6553(o), 617-874-6787 (c)
If you missed it, please share this recording of a training hosted by the Cambridge Public Schools to share key safety procedures in the out-of-school hours. 
​

Slide deck from 8.31.21 Training session
​

8.31.21 COVID Procedure Training - CPS Partners Q&A

​SY 21-22 CPS Partner MOU
This MOU should be completed and signed by organizations with programs and/or programming that:
a) Take place in a CPS building.
b) Receive CPS students who ride CPS buses to your programs after school.

Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting, March 30, 2021

In March, leaders of the Cambridge OST Community convened to actively engage other OST leaders in small group discussions. Leaders shared what we've learned this year; heard about the ways we supported and emphasized family engagement; supported equity across OST and our community, explored reflections, and learnings from national OST research.  Here is the link to the slide deck. 
In the recording above, Debbie Bonilla, Puerto Rican mom, grandmother, and CPSD Family Engagement Specialist,  shares her experience engaging families in ways that are anti-racist and inclusive. 

Shawn Proctor, Elementary School OST Network Coordinator, tells us about the parent advisory group he has convened to ensure that high quality OST programs are accessible to our Elementary School children. 

Cambridge OST Coalition Meeting, September 3, 2020

Picture
On September 3, 2020, we hosted an OST Coalition Meeting to create space for OST Programs to talk to each other about topics that they choose, to continue to learn from, support and advocate for  each other at this time of transition, uncertainty and possibility.
​

Here is the link to the slide deck.

OST Shares Fall 2020 Planning Data with CPS, August 26, 2020

On August 26th, OST Programs met with Dr. Salim to share data about Fall 2020 Planning and ask some pressing questions.  For programs who wish to access the  CPS Community Partners Portal, please get in touch with Khari Milner at kmilner@cpsd.us to learn about the process and get started. 
​
​Use this link to view a letter outlining next steps and how to submit a request for a portal account for your organization.
Picture
This portal, the result of hours of partnership talks, technology fixes and beta tests with CPS district folks, is now available for use. The short version of this is that the portal will: 
  • Allow OST organizations to use Google Classroom (compatible with young people's CPSD emails and Chromebooks) for their virtual programming 
  • Allow organizations to identify the young people who are in their programs through the portal (no more long enrollment spreadsheets from MSN!) to collaborate more easily and track who is being served across the city.
Click here for a link to request an account for your OST Program working with Cambridge Public School Students.

Click here for a link to the CPS Community Portal User Guide 

Cambridge OST Community Meeting with CPS, July 30, 2020

Save the Date for our next OST Coalition meeting on
​September 3, 2020!  ​

On July 30, 2020, approximately 60 members of the Cambridge OST Community met with Cambridge Public Schools leaders to share what we are learning about summer programs and to learn more about the status of planning for re-opening schools.  Here is a link to the presentation slides.
The presentation included a subset of slides from a June 2020 report of OST Organization Program Profile Data from a survey representing nearly 50 OST Programs.  Here is the link to the more complete set of slides. 
​
​Check back here as we will be posting questions and answers from the break out groups. ​More to come.   

CPS and OST Providers Meeting, April 30, 2020

Thank you to those OST Providers who joined the meeting with CPSD Administrators on April 30th.  As requested, here are the detailed summary notes and links to presentation slides and next steps, click here.   For those who were not able to attend, the Zoom Meeting was recorded and we have posted the video here. 
 
During this time of uncertainty, we are excited to leverage our relationships and partner strategically to coordinate and collaborate to better serve our children, youth, and families.  

Check out the slideshow from the ​February 2020 Cambridge
​OST Coalition Gathering

Picture

Picture

NEW! Report on 2018-19 OST Director Engagement and Experience 

Click here to read

If you were able to join us and haven't yet provided feedback, please respond to a short survey.

If you were not able to attend, please click here to tell us how you would like to contribute as we move forward.

Cambridge Agenda for Children out-of-school time

Looking for something?
Contact Us
Picture



51 Inman Street 
Cambridge MA 02139
​617-349-4099

Picture
​135 Berkshire Street
Cambridge MA 02141 
617-349-6553

oUR fUNDERS

Picture
Picture
Copyright © 2017 Cambridge Agenda for Children Out-of-School Time