2021-2022
Impact
Be the Domino
Our Model
Thriving Youth
When youth participate in high-quality OST programming their odds change by improving their social-emotional learning skills, school attendance, and academic performance.
Program Areas
Organizations participate in our continuous quality improvement process and participate in targeted professional development that allows them to improve their program quality, strengthen youth social-emotional learning skills, provide opportunities for youth leadership and authentic family engagement, and create more inclusive and equitable learning environments.
Partners
Cohort members and our community partners share resources to maximize efficiency and impact.
How We Support the Sector
45 Memorandums of Understanding
Signed
400+ Youth Development Advocates
42
Workshops
Offered
20
Out-of-School Time Partners
Program Areas
Program Quality
KYD Network staff observe sites and complete the Youth Program Quality Assessment (YPQA) every program year. Overall, program quality was maintained at a high level in Safe Environment, Supportive Environment and Interaction through the year, and improved in Engagement from the 2020-21 school year. The quality ratings were higher than the national average on all four domains
"Youth are able to use their voice in the reflection and truly be heard.”
Youth voice was the goal. We knocked out the park with leaders in training (L.I.T.) We brought on a program coordinator and have 5 leaders in L.I.T. The leaders are planning the HBCU college tour and we are empowering leaders to make decisions on the direction [program] goes in. They are taking initiative and are being empowered to move on their own.
We would like to celebrate the fact that a goal was set. We intend to keep the same improvement goals going into fall.
Almost all survey participants indicated that at least to some extent . . .
The program helps me feel good about myself (87%)
There are opportunities to work on projects with peers (85%)
I learn new things here (91.5%)
Social Emotional Learning
At the beginning of the program year, during the initial engagement meeting, cohort members worked with their Coach to select one essential SEL skill – Identity, Belonging or Agency for their SEL goal for the year. Usually, identity is an appropriate goal for elementary school youth programs, belonging for middle school youth programs, and agency for high school youth programs.
91.5% of youth surveyed felt their racial and cultural identities were welcomed.
Many students from the virtual tutoring program participated in our summer youth program because they felt a sense of belonging and wanted to come back. During the summer youth program, youth made new friends and wanted to be a part of the school year program.
Three foundational Social Emotional Learning (SEL) skills:
Identity
Strong sense of “who I am” and recognizing where I hold power and privilege; grounded in my core values; honor my culture(s); and have empathy for others and myself.
Belonging
When I belong, my racial, cultural and intersecting identities are welcomed, valued, represented and celebrated. When I belong, I feel motivated to be and to do my personal best.
Agency
Youth practice the skills they need to move through their intersecting communities in an authentic way so that they can dismantle oppressive systems and build a more equitable future.
Family Engagement
Youth live and learn within many different learning environments including their homes and out-of-school time programs. We strive to authentically engage with caregivers and families to ensure young people have a continuum of care that supports their identity development, offers them belonging, and supports their agency.
We send weekly parents phone calls, text messages, and emails. We will continue to explore other options to contact families.
We did not get a chance to implement the strategies but we intend to focus more on BOSTnet Family Engagement strategies in the fall.
Inclusion & Equity
60% of cohort organizations in Battle Creek selected Inclusion & Equity goal(s) to improve and 33% reached their goal. 21% of cohort organizations in Kalamazoo selected Inclusion & Equity goal(s) to improve and 13% reached their goal. The majority of staff shared that the Inclusion & Equity Affinity Group was helpful.
There is a need to recruit and retain OST staff but data have been collected and options reviewed, recognizing it will take multiple years to reach the goal.
Cohort members were supported to create their BIPOC policy through the Inclusion & Equity Affinity Group meetings and to disaggregate and use data through Open Lab.
See where our money is coming from, working on the transparency of the budget and how to make this happen. ED is advocating for staff, stipends for self-care, creating time off between summer and fall sessions. Space to have brave/safe space to have conversations.
Within our programs committee, we are starting to work on disaggregating data by age groups (elementary/secondary), where we had grouped youth outcomes together before. However, there are other groups we can disaggregate the information on.
Youth Leadership
THE 2021-22 PROGRAM YEAR PROVIDED POWERFUL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH VOICES TO BE HEARD.
First, our youth advisory council, the Kalamazoo County Youth Cabinet (KCYC) planned and facilitated a youth leadership retreat in March
2022, attended by over 50 local young people. The participants identified four priorities as their agenda for change.
Over the next six months, through the Youth Leadership Affinity Group (YLAG), facilitated by KYD Network, youth leaders conducted a more detailed analysis of the issues and decided to focus on youth mental health.
Second, KYD Network received a $32,000 planning grant from Every Hour Counts and the C.S. Mott Foundation to participate in Powered by Youth, which provided an opportunity for ten youth to participate in a six-month planning process to redesign the future of after-school.
The Kalamazoo group presented their project, I SPI the Future of After-School, in Chicago and took home the top prize of $30,000 to implement their plan!
Campers got to come to a consensus to choose their cabin and cabin names. Doing camper feedback, [staff] was able to gain feedback for campers as well as future campers.
