 
Making Afterschool Better!
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Afterschool News March 2011
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Trinity River Mission Helps Child...and Mother!
| | Ally Lopez was 6 years of age when she and her mother came to the U.S. from Mexico. Neither spoke a word of English. But Maria, Ally's mom, knew that Ally would never succeed in American schools if she didn't learn English quickly. Fortunately for Ally, her mother was told about Trinity River Mission (TRM), an academic-focused afterschool program in their West Dallas community.
Ally enrolled at TRM in first grade and was helped by her TRM tutors to learn English. Today, Ally is a 7th grade student at Dallas ISD's Irma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School and is a straight A student! She has a passion for reading, particularly Harry Potter or Twilight books. Through TRM, she is now also serving as a "Reading Buddy", helping younger students to learn English just like she did six years ago. Thanks to the encouragement of her TRM mentor, Ally has plans to attend college and design the first underwater roller coaster.
Ally is one of many success stories produced by the staff and volunteers at TRM, but so is Maria. TRM encouraged Ally's mom to learn English with Ally so that she could play an active role in Ally's education in the U.S. TRM referred Maria to Vickery Meadow Learning Center, where she learned enough English to be able to read Harry Potter books with Ally. TRM has taught Maria how to be involved in Ally's education, and when the time comes, TRM will lead them both through the college application process.
Watch Ally and Maria's story on WFAA's "After the Bell". You'll see first-hand that afterschool programs like TRM are not babysitting. They are a critical resource to equip youth and their parents with the skills they need to achieve educational success, thereby stopping the escalating numbers of minority students who have been dropping out of school in recent years.
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DASN Introduces New "Tiered" Members
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DASN knows quality matters. Research from Child Trends indicates, "...adolescents in high-quality programs were more likely to avoid risky behaviors, to have better performance in school, and to have greater social competence, over and above the control variables, than those in no program. Moreover, we consistently found that adolescents in a low-quality program have similar outcomes to adolescents not in a program at all."
In an effort to create more high-quality afterschool programs in our community, Dallas AfterSchool Network has introduced a tiering initiative which will become a robust evaluation and certification process of afterschool sites in fall 2011. Until that time, DASN has given member agencies that comprise its Network the opportunity to join our quality initiative. To demonstrate their commitment, we have asked afterschool providers to:
- Provide transparency to DASN by providing us with financial documents, licensing or exemption letters, and board rosters.
- Commit to quality improvement by implementing annually at least 1 of the 10 elements of DASN's quality improvement tool, "AQuA".
- Help us raise community awareness for the importance of afterschool programs by participating in DASN's community events, Lights On Afterschool and Afterschool Achievers, as well as WFAA-TV's "After the Bell" segments.
Eighteen of DASN's member organizations have risen to this challenge. Together, those 18 agencies operate approximately 250 afterschool sites, thus extending DASN's quality initiative to tens of thousands of students in our region. Visit DASN's website at any time to view the current list of "tiered" providers. Today, DASN is supporting these providers with training, and is in the beginning phase of delivering coaching and technical assistance from DASN Quality Advisors to accelerate the pace of program improvement. We are also directing the majority of our curriculum, in-kind donations and enrichment opportunities to these organizations in order to maximize finite community resources for the benefit of local children. |
22nd Annual Afterschool Achievers
| | We hope you will join Dallas AfterSchool Network for the 2nd annual Afterschool Achievers event, Tuesday, May 3rd, 6:30PM - 8:30PM. This year's event will be held at the beautiful Majestic Theater in downtown Dallas. Dallas AfterSchool Network and its member providers will be recognizing 82 students chosen by their afterschool programs for their accomplishments in one of the following categories:
- Academics
 | | 2010 Award Recipients |
- Arts
- Citizenship and Leadership
- Sports
- Other
All students will be presented with an award and special gifts. In addition, we will be honoring several outstanding volunteers who serve the afterschool field so well. Student performers will entertain us throughout the evening and WFAA's Rob McCollum will be our host.
Sponsors Needed!
Dallas AfterSchool Network is currently seeking sponsors for Afterschool Achievers. Please consider a tax-deductible contribution to help us make this a special evening for dozens of deserving students and their parents.
Be an Afterschool Champion ($1,000 donation) 
Be an Afterschool Advocate ($500 donation)
Be an Afterschool Friend ($100 donation)
RSVP Now!
Want to join in on the fun and celebration? RSVP here. Attendance is FREE!
View photos and videos from last year's Afterschool Achievers event on DASN's website.
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| Kids are Cooking (and Learning) in the Kitchen Afterschool | | Hundreds of Dallas kids are cooking in the kitchen afterschool, and reinforcing their math and
 | | Students at YMCA at Peak Elementary |
English skills in the process. The Junior League of Dallas' "Kids in the Kitchen" curriculum is a cooking, nutrition and fitness program designed to aide in the fight against child obesity and poor nutrition. Thanks to the sponsorship of UnitedHealthcare, DASN has been able to implement this curriculum at afterschool sites operated by Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas, Dallas Community Lighthouse, Wilkinson Center and the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas.
Twice a week the students cook snacks or small meals they can replicate at home. On the other days of the week, the students learn about the food pyramid and food properties. The students may think they're just learning about food and nutrition, but afterschool program leaders know they are learning so much more. By reading recipes and ingredients labels and doubling or halving the recipes, students are reinforcing literacy and math concepts learned during the school day.
But don't tell the kids that they're in English or math class. As far as they're concerned, they're having fun afterschool and enjoying healthful, tasty snacks. As one student at the Y said, "Some foods I didn't know we could make out of healthy foods". Visit our photo gallery to view more photos from Kids in the Kitchen sites.
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Spring Break - Fun or Hazard?
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| The ice has disappeared and tulips are blooming. Spring Break 2011 is on the horizon! Kids and teachers are surely counting the days until they have a break from the classroom. Local police departments, however, will not enjoy a rest during this time as hundreds of thousands of kids in our region become unsupervised each day while their parents go to work.
As the saying goes, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop". Without safe and engaging recreational options, few of which exist in our low income communities, students run the risk of becoming bored and restless. Some of them, in search of companionship or excitement, will find themselves making bad choices. According to research from Harvard University, there is a direct correlation between school days and juvenile crime. When students return to the classroom after a break or teacher in-service day, juvenile crime drops by 14%.
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Dallas AfterSchool Network is a 501(c)(3) organization. Our member agencies operate approximately 350 afterschool sites, serving nearly 30,000 students in Dallas, Tarrant, Rockwall, and Collin Counties.
www.dasn.org
214-306-8400
Download DASN's 2010 Annual Report
Dallas AfterSchool Network makes afterschool better. |
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