Play Captain Summer by the Numbers
On Friday, we celebrated the last day of this summer's Play Captain Initiative. This year, we had two day-time celebrations with just our teens and staff as opposed to a more formal evening event. There were videos, and certificates and bags filled with our "You got caught doing something FAB" cards for both the teens and the staff. And yes, there were tears.
Here are some ways that 2019 was different from 2018. We've already started planning for 2020!
By the numbers 2018:
- 2 Group Leaders
- 1
 Project Manager
- 6 days of Staff Training & Prep
- 35 Play Captains
- 6 Play Streets
- 2 neighborhoods
- Data collected informally by Play Captains
By the numbers 2019:
- 8 Group Leaders
- 3 Supervisors
- 1 Administrative Assistant
- 4 Weeks of Staff Training & Prep
- 4 Training Facilitators
- 43 Play Captains
- 15 Play Streets across 3 neighborhoods
- 1 New Funder
- Play Captain paper work & on-boarding completed PRIOR to orientation
- Utilized WorkReady to hire 6 Play Captains
- Partnered 3 Recreation Centers & Summer Camps
- Data collection by Group Leaders
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Closing Remarks from the Play Captain Celebrations
These are the remarks that were shared during our celebrations.
Stay tuned for the end-of-summer videos we showed!
Good morning,
Congratulations! You did it. You have completed your summer job as a Play Captain.
This is our third summer running the Play Captain Initiative and just as I was last year and the year before, when I was putting the film together I was struck by how much you have changed in just a few weeks. Do you feel different? Some of you have had some major ‘growth spurts this summer’. Some of you have gone from self-identifying as shy, reserved, and cautious, to becoming outgoing, courageous and confident. Others of you have matured into your leadership and strengthened your ability to motive and support others.
You not only survived but you thrived in, 90 degree weather (it’s apparently been the hottest summer on record!), unexpected rain storms, slow days and busy days on the Play Streets; you dug deep into places I’m not sure all of you have gone before to stay focused, professional, and to support your peers. Can you see the ways you have grown and developed this summer? We can.
You make me and all of the staff proud. You make me believe this is the right work to do, even when it gets challenging. You make me feel hopeful. Every time an adult or news outfit talks about “what’s wrong with kids these days?” I want to introduce those people to each of you. Then they would know how much you care about your community. They would know that want to help reduce ‘summer slide' so children go back to school on grade level. They would know that you want to create positive experiences for other children that you didn’t always have for yourself.
By a show of hands, how many people here know how to ride a bike? When someone is learning to ride a bike, often, they go from a tricycle to training wheels, to no training wheels. Some go right to the big kid bike, but this is how it typically works. The tricycle and the training wheels allow someone to understand the mechanics of riding a bike and how balance works when coupled with motion. This usually happens with lots and lots of practice, through trial and error and it helps to have lots of encouragement and someone saying: “use your legs, look straight ahead; you can do this!” and “try again” and “give it another try”. In fact, I heard a lot of you say these kinds of things to children who were trying something new this summer.
I know there were many times this summer when this job felt a little (or a lot) like school; maybe now is even one of those times. I need you to know that some jobs are like school in some ways. And maybe it feels a little like school because your experiences thus far have only been school, or a specific type of job, like fast food or retail. Maybe you haven’t been exposed to or experienced the kind of job, where you spend time learning and planning, working together and independently. Where your opinion matters and is taken into consideration when changes are to be made. Maybe you haven’t had a job, where people spend a lot of time talking, thinking, and creating. And unfortunately, much of the world doesn’t expect you to be prepared for or excel in this kind of a job. We want you to be prepared to excel in any job you want, in jobs other than fast food and retail. To do this, you’ll have to keep developing your workplace skills and deepening your confidence. We’re glad to have had a small part in that this summer.
To the Fab Youth Philly team: Thank you for your flexibility, your can-do attitude, your commitment to and your care for the Play Captains and the success of this initiative.
This is not goodbye. Our door is always open. And we plan to stay in touch with you during the school year. We will have about 8-10 positions for afterschool jobs working as Play Captains in early childhood centers (in West Philly only) – you’ll get an email about that in mid-September. PLEASE REMEMBER TO CHECK YOUR EMAILS. And we will have a few weekend events like the 24-hour stair climb at the Art Museum in September, the annual Cardboard Challenge in October and Fright Night also in October.
We hope you’ll reach out if you need something and just to say hello.
Lastly, to each Play Captain. Thank you for choosing this as your first or second job. I see you. We see you. We love you… Yep, at some jobs, you even tell people you love them.
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