The Allegheny Partners for Out of School Time (APOST) in partnership with The Forbes Funds and Gateway to the Arts presented the second installment of the APOST Symposium Series.  The theme of the Symposium was "Best Practices in Integrating the Arts in Out of School Time."  Keynote speaker Sharnita Johnson from the Skillman Foundation in Detroit provided us with her valuable experience in implementing a five-year neighborhood based initiative that incorporated arts and youth programming at the forefront.  Wayne Jones and Justin Laing from the Heinz Endowments shared with us their current arts in out of school time strategy.  The second half of the event focused on data collection and program evaluation with a panel consisting of Manchester Youth Development Center, The Pittsburgh Project, and Sarah Heinz House sharing with the audience their experience with a two-year cohort project led by The Forbes Funds.  The second phase of this project has now moved into arts OST agencies with a collaboration with Gateway to the Arts, who will provide professional development opportunities for teaching artists at these agencies.  The powerpoint is now available for download only on http://www.afterschoolpgh.org/news/view/80.

Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Cost: Free

Location: Eat N' Park at the Waterfront

Are you an out-of-school-time provider who is already familiar with the mission of APOST and may have even been attending gatherings for the past year or so? OR are you an out-of-school-time provider who is asking yourself "what in the world is APOST and how will it affect me?"  Regardless of which category you fall into, your presence is needed and will be greatly appreciated at one of three upcoming breakfast forums hosted by APOST!

Please join us for an update on the successes of APOST, an overview of the goals, and most importantly...the opportunity for you to share your needs, challenges, successes and suggestions that will shape the direction of APOST's mission. Every voice in OST is of value so please share this invitation with all staff members in your organization. If, however, it is difficult for your frontline youth workers to make it to the breakfast and a Program Director/Executive Director will be representing, please ask that your youth workers take a few moments to complete a very brief questionnaire. Click here to view and print the questionnaire. Simply bring the completed questionnaires with you to the scheduled breakfast forum.

The breakfast forum will be held on 3 different dates; February 25, February 28 and March 2. All will be located at Eat'n Park at the Waterfront at 9:00 AM. To confirm your attendance, please contact Aimee LeFevers at alefevers@uwac.org  or 412.456.6876  

Click here to view the invitation.

SARAH HEINZ HOUSE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WIRELESS NEIGHBORHOODS, A PAR EDUCATIONAL LLC, AND APOST PRESENTS:

PSAYDN STATEMENT OF QUALITY ELEMENT TRAININGS

Location: Family Resources (East Liberty) 5877 Commerce Street Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Trainings are free, but space is limited!  Light Refreshments will be Provided

Register online at www.pakeys.org or directly to Jennifer Engel at: engel@sarahheinzhouse.com or 412-231-2377.   

This series of trainings has been developed to introduce Out of School Time professionals to the PSAYDN Statement of Quality Elements.  

Save the Date for this upcoming event:

Thursday, February 15th 10am - 12pm Positive Connections

Click here for more information.   

Thursday, February 24th 10am - 12pm Safety and Health

"Building Family Partnerships" is a course at Point Park University's School of Education that introduces future educators to strategies for developing and maintaining ongoing, meaningful relationships with family members.  Students will be able to explain how effective communication with families helps to improve classroom management, attendance, graduation rates, social and emotional development, and achievement.  They learn the importance of involving parents in decisions regarding their children's progress, with special emphasis placed on developing cross-cultural competency skills in communicating with students and families representing diverse economic, linguistic, academic, and cultural backgrounds.  

Two observations are required for this course.  The first is simply a hands-off, non-participant observation to note how a school or community organization engages the parents of their students in its functions, and speak with a staff member who is knowledgeable about the parent population.  The second observation is to occur at the same type of event at the same location, though this one is a more hands-on field experience.  Students are to facilitate the event in some form, be it setting up, distributing materials, contributing to the discussion, or some other task the school or organization sees fit. In the past, students have worked with Pittsburgh Public Schools, Fox Chapel Area High School, The East End Cooperative Ministry, and The Homewood YWCA, amongst other organizations both in the education and community realms.

For more information about participating as a partner, please contact Mark Mangini at

Participate in the Child/Youth Worker Survey 

PSAYDN and the Philadelphia Out-of-School Time Professional Development Project (OST PD Project) are invested in the professional growth of child/youth workers in the state of Pennsylvania.  Staff working directly with K-12 children and youth are requested to complete the Child/Youth Worker Survey, which will increase understanding of the profession.  The survey will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

If you are a direct service worker, please click here to fill out the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/childyouthworkersurvey.

A print version is also available for hard copy distribution and available by emailing PSAYDN Director Kacy Conley at kconley@csc.csiu.org.

As a way of saying thank you for taking the time to complete the survey, there will a raffle drawing to receive an Apple I-Pad courtesy of the Philadelphia Out-of-School Time Professional Development Project.  At the end of the survey, respondents will be prompted to enter their contact information.  Their name will not be connected to their survey answers during data analysis.  The contact information will only be used for the purpose of the raffle and will not be shared with or distributed to other organizations.

Your response matters!  It will assist us in making the case for increased funding and in developing career pathways, so that, ultimately, staff can earn a decent wage, receive stable benefits, and be recognized as professionals for the valuable work that they do. If you do not work directly with youth, please forward this email to encourage your staff, colleagues, and friends to complete this survey.

The survey is being administered by the OST PD Project under the direction of United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Center for Youth Development, the Out-of-School Time Resource Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and PSAYDN.

Survey needs to be completed no later than  February 15, 2011. 

Thank you for your assistance.

Bolstering Out-of-School Time for City Kids: A New Systems Approach from the Wallace Foundation. Many families take for granted that the hours their children spend outside school will be filled with enrichment and learning: photography or homework help, soccer or robotics, dance or debate. But for the nation's poor, including millions of urban children and teens, such opportunities are often out of reach.  

New Reports Examine Access to Out-Of-School Time Programs. Sustained participation in out-of-school time (OST) activities, research suggests, can improve a young person's academic achievement and success in life. Many municipal leaders also recognize that promoting participation in high-quality OST programs can advance other city priorities - including decreasing dropout rates, lowering juvenile crime rates and strengthening workforce development.  Lane Russell, Afterschool Policy Advisors Network (APAN).

Participation Over Time: "Keeping Youth Engaged from Middle School to High School" draws on data collected for Engaging Older Youth, a recent study from Harvard Family Research Project and Public/Private Ventures, commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and looks at out-of-school time programs that successfully engage older youth and the strategies they use to maintain high participation rates.   

A new article from the National Education Association finds that afterschool programs are key to closing academic achievement gaps, improving graduation rates and creating better community members.  Click here to read more!  

A new research brief from the Afterschool Alliance, in collaboration with the MetLife Foundation finds that afterschool programs can play a pivotal role in preparing students, particularly middle  school students for college and careers.  "Afterschool: Supporting Career and College Pathways for Middle School Age Youth"  explores how after-school learning can open students' eyes to their college potential, as well as easing them away from more risky paths. Click here to read the Issue Brief.