The impact of COVID-19 on our children has been huge. This summer, it is absolutely essential to use every tool possible to help students catch-up, re-connect and re-engage in learning again. We know that summer programming and afterschool engagement is essential to the recovery of our youth and we recognize this will take additional funding and support. Please take this brief survey to help the Idaho Out-of-School understand the need, interest and barriers that may exist to increasing, developing new or retaining summer programming in your community.

This survey will be open through March 19th. Gift cards will be sent to the 25th, 50th, 75th, 100th, and 150th person to respond to the survey.

Michelle Batten, Family Engagement Coordinator for Idaho Federation of Families, will be presenting a web workshop on Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 10:00 am MST. She will share about Understanding the Brain with Trauma in Mind. 

The National Girls Collaborative Project will be presenting a webinar on March 18, 2021 at 10:00 am MT. The topic for this webinar is Equity in Afterschool STEM: Strategies & Resources. Please plan to join us!

This year's Power Up Summit will be held on September 9th and 10th. We are hoping that it will be in-person at the Riverside Hotel in Boise, Idaho. Save the date and plan to join us!

We are currently requesting proposals to be considered for the Summit. Breakouts should tie in to one of the Idaho Building Blocks for Out-of-School Time Quality in some way. Breakouts will be selected based on those most effectively addressing the conference mission of providing practical training for out-of-school providers. Breakouts should be clear, interactive and include strategies that participants will be able to implement immediately following the conference.

As a presenter, you will receive the following benefits:
-Great networking and connection with 100+ out-of-school program providers statewide
-Free registration to the full Summit
-Travel arrangements can be made for those that need to travel for more than 60 miles

Breakout proposals are due by Monday, March 19, 2021. All presenters will be notified by Monday, March 29, 2021. Please contact the ION Quality and Professional Development Coordinator, Dianna McAllister (dmcallister@jannus.org), if you have any questions/concerns.

Afterschool professionals and leaders, represent your place in the profession by sharing your voices in NAA's 2021 Be Counted Campaign! Together, we'll gather data from the field to inform research, policies, practice and professional development with the ultimate goal of supporting the afterschool workforce—your workforce.

NAA's Be Counted Campaign is a three-minute survey for those who work with or on behalf of young people in out-of-school time. Your responses—up to 10,000 strong—to the survey questions about demographics and representation will provide a comprehensive reflection of our profession's members. Survey results will be compiled into the 2021 State of the Profession Report, providing workforce data to help you and other advocates solidify the profession and its essential role for young people, families and communities.

Your voice matters. Your voice can make a difference. It’s your workforce—be heard by being counted.

 

The Idaho Space Grant Consortium (ISCG) offers a K-12 STEM Engagement and Informal Education Grant each spring. Proposed projects can focus on competitions, camps, mentoring, outreach, or other projects that happen either in or out of school-- as long as the proposed project aligns with the intent of the grant and benefits multiple students and/or educators. The ISCG is especially interested in projects that include an actionable plan to serve underrepresented, low-income, rural, first-generation, and/or female students. There is a 1:1 matching requirement.

Application Deadline for this grant is March 24, 2021.

Engineer for the Week provides a high-quality, cost-free curriculum that helps students ages 11-18 develop computer science skills and explore engineering as they design a prototype to achieve positive social impact.

To run a one-week EFTW project with your students, register by March 14. Facebook provides technical assistance for you to run the project anytime from March 15 to May 14. Because of Afterschool Alliance's partnership with EFTW, stipends will be awarded to the first 18 programs that complete the project: the first 8 programs will receive $500, and the next 10 programs will receive $200.

iSTEM is a summer professional development opportunity for educators working in both classroom and informal settings. In light of COVID-19, all 2021 i-STEM institutes will take place virtually and run for three days.

During the Institute, participants attend a strand on project-based, hands-on learning in a chosen content area, as well as general sessions tied to the Institute links below. Each participant will receive a kit of instructional materials unique to their strand, so that they can implement what they have learned in their own teaching environments.

If you applied during i-STEM 2020, you do NOT need to apply again. Applications close on March 7, 2021.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the income limits for the Idaho Child Care Program (ICCP) are increasing. This allows for more families to be eligible for ICCP benefits.

Visit healthandwelfare.idaho.gov or call them at 877-456-1233 to learn more about ICCP and how to apply.

When COVID began sweeping the country, afterschool programs and youth development organizations pioneered a new operating model to allow them to safely open their doors to all children: Community Learning Hubs.
 
Community Learning Hubs leverage facilities and partnerships to offer accessible locations where young people can connect to school, meals, caring adults, socially distanced enrichment, and much more. Hubs build on and expand the work of afterschool programs to operate all day long and accommodate students whose schools are on hybrid or all-virtual schedules.
 
Community Learning Hubs: Meeting the Needs of Students & Families can help programs launch their own Hubs, taking inspiration and lessons learned from 32 out-of-school time practitioners running Hubs right now.
 
Created in partnership with the National League of Cities and with the financial support of the Charles Koch Institute, our report builds on the foundation outlined in the report, "Building Community Learning Hubs."

Afterschool and youth development professionals know that youth voice and choice is an important component of program quality.

If you're like many others in the field, you may find yourself knowing the importance of youth voice and understanding the concept at a basic level, but at the same time are not sure about implementing youth voice and choice as a regular program practice.

Enjoy exploring the practices in this Youth Voice Curated Resource Collection from National Afterschool Association:

-3 Ways Youth Voice Opportunities Leads to Success
-Global Kids: Stepping Up to Take a Step Back
-Getting Youth Involved in Outside the Box Thinking
-Sharing Power With Youth
-Leading Youth With Equity and Inclusion
-Giving Youth More Voice and Choice: Simple Strategies, Significant Results
-8 Ways to Encourage Girls to Use Their Voices

Taught by some of the world’s most experienced and respected Holocaust educators and historians at the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, on the campus of Yad Vashem, the 10-session course is designed to enhance participants’ knowledge of Holocaust history, explore and access classroom-ready content, and support instructional practice to promote student learning and understanding of this complex history and its lasting effect on the world. 

Echoes & Reflections is dedicated to reshaping the way that teachers and students understand, process, and navigate the world through the events of the Holocaust.  The Holocaust is more than a historical event; it’s part of the larger human story. Educating students about its significance is a great responsibility.

Ten weekly sessions, each 90 minutes in length, will explore core topics in Holocaust education: Pedagogy of Teaching the Holocaust; Antisemitism; Nazi Germany; The Ghettos; The Final Solution; The Holocaust in Film; The Righteous Among the Nations; Liberation and Return to Life; and Social Justice and Racism.

Posted each Saturday for ten consecutive weeks, participants will have one week to view a session and complete the session reflection before the next session goes live.

The first session will be posted March 13, 2021 – the final session will be posted May 22, 2021.  Final course reflection must be received by June 5, 2021.  Registration closes March 17, 2021.  If you’re an Idaho educator, email info@wassmuthcenter.org to learn how you can earn a $100 stipend for completing the course.