New York 21st CCLC Round 5 Award Notification The State Education Department is pleased to announce the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Round 5 grant awards. Of 387 applications received, 60 were funded. The list of successful applicants can be found here.
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Funding Opportunities
Global Youth Service Day Lead Agency Grants
Looking for a way to increase participation in your programs while connecting with the larger youth service movement? Apply to be a Lead Agency for GYSD 2010!
Deadline: July 17
Through the State Giving Program, the Walmart Foundation seeks to support organizations with programs that align with its missions to create opportunities so people can live better. Minimum grants are $25,000.
Deadline: September 18
The Verizon Foundation Community Investments
The Verizon Foundation seeks to fund projects that work to increase literacy and educational achievement, prevent domestic violence, and achieve and sustain health and safety in communities. Awards range from $25.00 to $4.5 million.
Deadline: October 31
Project Learning Tree - GreenWorks! Grants
Grants administered by the Project Learning Tree support projects that allow students and local community members to learn by doing environmental projects. Selected applicants receive between $250 and $5,000.
Deadline: October 31
Jenesis Group Grants
The Jenesis Group offers grants to nonprofit organizations focusing on youth development, education, and social entrepreneurship.
Deadline: Ongoing
Teaching Tolerance Grants
The program, administered by the Southern Poverty Law Center, offers grants to pre-K-12 educators for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve intergroup relations in schools and/or support educator professional development in these areas.
Deadline: Ongoing
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New York, NY
August 2009-June 2010
The Center for After-School Excellence at TASC is partnering with CUNY to offer the "Foundations in After-School" and "Leadership in After-School" certificates. These programs consist of undergraduate and graduate credit-bearing courses. Applications are still being accepted. Contact Chymeka Olfonse for more information.
The 10th annual Lights on Afterschool is taking place on October 22. Register now and receive planning tips and tools,
10 free posters and more! In 2008 more than one million people rallied
for afterschool programs at 7,500 events nationwide so be sure to
register your event now!
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Message from Our Director 
Greetings Colleagues:
During these turbulent and trying times in our nation, state and
local communities as well as professionally and personally, I thought I'd share
the following story to encourage your hearts.
Keep your heads up and maintain your PMA - Positive Mental Attitude....
John
is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and
always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he
was doing, he would reply, 'If I were any better, I would be twins!' He was a
natural motivator. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went
up and asked him, 'I don't get it!' 'You can't be a positive person all
of the time. How do you do it?' He replied, 'Each morning I wake up and
say to myself, you have two choices
today. You can choose to be in a good mood or....you can choose to be in a bad mood I choose to be in a good mood.' Each
time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to
learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me
complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the
positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life'. 'Yeah, right, it's not that easy,' I
protested. 'Yes, it is,' he said. 'Life is all about choices. When
you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how
you react to situations. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live
your life.' I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower
Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought
about him.
Several
years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some
60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of
intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
I saw him about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he
replied, 'If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?' I declined
to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the
accident took place. 'The first thing that went through my mind was the
well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,' he replied. 'Then, as I lay
on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to
live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.' 'Weren't you scared?
Did you lose consciousness?' I asked. He continued, '...the
paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But
when they wheeled me into the Emergency Room and I saw the expressions on the
faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I
read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action.' 'What did you
do?' I asked. 'Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,'
said John. 'She asked if I was allergic to anything 'Yes, I replied.' The
doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a
deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity''. Over their laughter, I told them, 'I am
choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.' He lived, thanks
to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I
learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
As you forge ahead in the Afterschool
Movement despite all obstacles and set backs, be encouraged. And, don't forget
to keep a PMA - Positive Mental Attitude!
Shalom,
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21st CCLC Summer Institute
Realizing American's New Education Promise
The 21st CCLC program represents more than 1 billion dollars of federal investment in academic enrichment for children, particularly those students that attend high-poverty, low-performing schools. The 2009 Summer Institute met its primary objective to provide its participants with a professional development opportunity that will assist them in the design and implementation of high-quality afterschool programs for America's children.
Sylvia E. Lyles, Ph.D
Program Director Academic Improvement Programs Group.
The Summer Institute kicked off with an all-day Management Preconference Session for State Coordinators and 21st CCLC Program Directors.Day two included a panel discussion and community forum where infusing service learning activities in 21st CCLC programs was discussed. During the general session, Elizabeth Warner, Chair, IES, U.S. Department of Education, Robert Granger, President of the William T. Grant Foundation, Fred Doolittle, Vice President of MDRC and Robert Stonehill, Chief Program Officer at Learning Point Associates, spoke to a crowd of over 2200 (over 25 representing The Empire State) afterschool professionals on Expanded Program Knowledge through Research. Afterwards, ReadNex Poetry Squad, Newburgh, NY, reminded us through the power of the spoken word and music what 21st CCLC is all about.
The day culminated with a wonderful networking reception, emceed by Felicia Watson, Director of the NY 21st CCLC Statewide TAC where seven 2009 Afterschool Student Ambassadors were named. Coordinator and organizer of the student ambassador piece, Monique McDowell of the Bronx, NY, worked with the Department of Education, students and their families for weeks leading up to the Summer Institute. The Department of Education will track the students for 1 year and will solicit their ideas and feedback on improvements to the program. The student ambassadors represented California, Kansas, Montana, New York, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Texas. Congratulations!
Day three began with a discussion on inclusion: "Where Everyone Belongs". Experts, such as Keith Jones, President of SoulTouchin' Experience in Somerville, MA; Viviana Hernandez, Program Specialist at Primetime Program in San Diego, CA; and, Mary Shea, Project Consultant with Kids Included Together in San Diego, CA. stressed the importance on including ALL children in afterschool. Establishing and Sustaining Effective Partnerships with the Community and Public Sector was the topic of a panel headed by Lisa K. Proctor of the JCPenney Afterschool Fund in Plano, Texas.The Summer Institute culminated with a panel discussion on The Future of Early Childhood Education with experts from the Department of Education of Washington, DC; Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN; the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta in Atlanta, GA; Topeka Public Schools of Topeka, KS; and, The Center for Teacher Education at the University of Delaware in Newark, DE.
According to Sylvia E. Lyles, all conference/presentation materials were very intentional to show where the Department of Education is heading. Service learning, research, inclusion, partnerships/collaboration and early childhood were the salient topics throughout the conference.
If you are interested in any of the general session and/or workshop presentations, you will be able to download all presentation materials as soon as they are posted to 21st CCLC Summer Institute website.
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Children of Immigrant Families
Mental Health Needs
Lorraine Lopez, Program Manager
NY 21st CCLC Statewide TAC
This month I want to introduce you to the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS), a nonpartisan resource center at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. The Center pursues the commitment to achieve better health outcomes for children and adolescents through school-connected health programs and services by linking educators and health professionals to information essential to building effective school health programs. When it comes to parents, we recognize they are experts on what their children need. The CHHCS Parent Resource Center provides two types of information: Learn Now -- a web portal that provides valuable links to parent-friendly resources on child and adolescent health issues, and Act Now -- a guide written by CHHCS to help parents assess health-related services and programs at their child's schools. For families who speak a language other than English in the home, additional resources are found in the Children of Immigrants and Refugees sections of their website.
"According to the 2000 Census, 1 of every 5 children in the US is a child of immigrants. Many things about the immigrant experience are stressful for children. They may be separated from family for extended periods of time; some children come from rural or farming communities and are ill-equipped to cope with cities; others come from refugee camps, after witnessing wartime atrocities or personal or family violence. Many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder." (CHHCS)
 Supporting the academic success of immigrant and refugee students often focuses on improving their knowledge of English. Recognizing the mental health needs of immigrant and refugee students and engaging the entire family in addressing them, can build a crucial home-school partnership that may open doors to student success. A recent report by CHHC, School-Family Partnerships Play Important Role in Immigrant and Refugee Children's Success, is a must-read for those working with children from immigrant families as it addresses the mental health needs of the child of immigrant families.The report includes what 15 model programs are doing as they address the mental health needs of children from immigrant families.
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Online Resources
 Teachers and administrators in public high schools recognize there is a dropout problem, know they are confronted with daunting challenges in classrooms and in schools, and express strong support for reforms to address high dropout rates. This new report, produced by AT&T Foundation in association with Civic Enterprises, America's Promise Alliance and Peter D. Hart Research Associate, is a comprehensive study which involved teachers, principals, superintendents, and school board members across the country to understand the educators perspective on the issue of high school dropouts. To check out the webinar which focuses on the results of the study click here.
Adolescents and Electronic Media: Growing up Plugged In
 Education Week's Digital Direction
In this issue of Digital Direction find out what characterizes 'highly qualified' online teachers, discover how the stimulus could help boost your district's bandwidth, and learn more about electronic gradebooks. Digital Directions attempts to address the gap between the widespread use of digital tools in society and the workplace and the general lack of such use in classrooms.
A recent Afterschool Alliance survey of afterschool programs, finds that afterschool programs are serving a high-need population, struggling to maintain their funding and are worried about how the recession will affect future funding. Nearly all respondents to the web-based survey say that more children in their communities could benefit from afterschool programs, if programs were available. Sixty-nine percent report that funding is less than secure for the next 1 to 2 years and 83 percent report funding is not secure for the next 3 to 5 years.
The Challenge
The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools (OSDFS) supports efforts to create safe schools, respond to crises, prevent drug and alcohol abuse, ensure the health and well-being of students, and teach students good character and citizenship. OSDFS coordinates the Department of Education's (ED) efforts in these areas with other federal agencies and also leads ED Homeland Security efforts. The Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence (CSPV) provides informed assistance to those committed to understanding and preventing violence, particularly adolescent violence through basic research, training and technical assistance, and dissemination of information.
The Challenge provides critical information and resources to help schools in creating safe and healthy environments for students. It is a publication of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
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175 Route 32 North ~ New Paltz, NY 12561
Phone: (845) 255-8989 ~ Fax: (845) 255-3836
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89 Washington Avenue ~ Albany, NY 12234
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Disclaimer
Any publication included in this electronic newsletter and/or opinions expressed
therein do not necessarily reflect the views of the New York 21st CCLC Statewide TAC but remain solely those of the author(s).
Such publications have been included only for ease of reference.
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