NYS TARC Newsletter—October 2022
Updated: Oct 11, 2022
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NYSED News/Updates PD/Events Resources NYS Program Spotlight: Little Flower UFSD NYS Program Spotlight: AIM & CIS Win NEEF Greening STEM Grant
NYSED News/Updates
Fall 2022 Conference Schedule
All sessions are mandatory for all subgrantees. Sessions are held virtually via Zoom from 10:00-11:30am.
October 12th: NYS Network for Youth Success Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) Tool
October 19th: Fall Kick-Off Conference
Zoom links will be available immediately after registering, and will be sent to you via email the day before and morning of the event. If you do not receive the Zoom link, please contact your Resource Center.
*Check out the August 31 session on 'The Evaluability Checklist and Advisory Boards' recording + slides.
*Check out the September 21 session on 'The Site Monitoring Visit Tool' recording, slides, Q&A , + Site Monitoring Visit Tracking Template.
October 20, 2022 — Lights On Afterschool
Programs are strongly encouraged to participate.
Lights On Afterschool celebration is only a few weeks away! On October 20, join the Network and the Afterschool Alliance for Lights On Afterschool, the only nationwide event celebrating afterschool programs and their important role in the lives of children, families, and communities.
Lights On draws attention to the many ways afterschool programs support students by offering them opportunities to learn new things and discover new skills. Lights On highlights the importance of afterschool and the need for quality afterschool programs for all youth.
Visit the Afterschool Alliance's Lights On Afterschool Planning Kit to learn how you can participate. Register your Lights On event here.
Important Reminders from the 21st CCLC Timeline:
Convene 2nd Advisory Board Meeting, October-December. Include all stakeholders. Topics might include review of initial program implementation efforts, enrollment/participation, family engagement plans/activities, staff development plans, internal improvement cycle/QSA process.
Participate in the 1st Evaluator’s Site Visit, conducted by the Local Program Evaluator. This is an opportunity to open the program to the observation of the partnering evaluator, collaborate to track progress indicators, and to receive valuable, actionable feedback about program implementation. Summary findings from this visit can be used to inform the continuous improvement cycle and communicate progress updates to staff and stakeholders.
PD/Events
Required: Fall '22 Conference
All sessions are Mandatory for all subgrantees. Sessions are held virtually via Zoom from 10:00-11:30am.
Oct 12: NYS Network for Youth Success Quality Self-Assessment (QSA) Tool
Oct 19: Fall Kick-Off Conference
Check out the August 31 session on 'The Evaluability Checklist and Advisory Boards' recording + slides.
Other (non-required) events that may interest you:
Ongoing: Self-Paced Professional Development
As a 21st CCLC subgrantee, you have access to free professional development through Change Up Learning, an online training platform for youth development programs. Relevant topics include Restorative Practice, Equity and Inclusion, Positive Behavior Management, and more! Users can explore content, gain resources, and receive a certificate with SACC credits upon the completion of each course. Gain access to a growing library of courses by creating an account using the custom links below:
If you’re based in NYC, activate your account here.
If you’re based in the rest of NY state, activate your account here.
On-Demand Recordings: Cultivating Equity in Community Schools Using the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework: A Four Part Regional Conference Series
Through Dec '22: Network for Youth Success Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Training Series
On-Demand Recordings: Cultivating Equity in Community Schools Using the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework: A Four Part Regional Conference Series
Through Dec '22: Network for Youth Success Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Training Series
Oct 4: National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement (NAFSCE) Win-Win Family Engagement: Setting School Staff and Families Up for Successful Partnerships
Oct 4, Oct 18, & Nov 8: ETAC Creating a Culture of Care Series
Oct 6, Nov 3, Dec 8, Jan 12, & Feb 2:
ETAC Mental Health and Well-Being with Communication Pathologist and expert Dr. Caroline Leaf
Oct 11-15: National Family Engagement Summit
Oct 12: C/WTAC Cultivating Authentic Relationships: Family Engagement
Oct 13: ETAC The Role of Fathers in Schools: Developing a Fatherhood Initiative
Oct 25: NYS School Environmental Health Conference
Oct 28: Techbridge Girls: TinkerLabs Application Due
Nov 15: STEAM Event: Paper Circuitry: Easy Light-Up and Motorized Projects Kids Can Make with Everyday Stuff
Nov 15, Dec 13, Mar 7, & May 3: C/WTAC CS/MTSS Community of Practice with Ali Hearn, LCSW: Holding It All, Together
Resources
Updated New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department 2022-2023 Frequently Asked Questions related to COVID-19
On September 8, 2022, the New York State Department of Health and the New York State Education Department updated two questions on the 2022-2023 Frequently Asked Questions related to COVID-19. The updates are:
Question 3 clarifies isolation requirements for students and staff who test positive for COVID-19.
Question 19 was added since COVID-19 is a reportable disease that schools must report to their local department of health.
For questions, please contact SchoolQuestionsCOVID@health.ny.gov.
Child and Adult Care Food Program's new increased reimbursement rates and #CACFPweekNY is 10/3-10/9!
Eligible afterschool programs can receive reimbursement for serving healthy suppers and snacks through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. The reimbursement rates have increased substantially for this year! Learn more and share: AfterschoolMealsNY.org.
10/3 - 10/9 is New York CACFP Week! Join us in sharing resources and promoting CACFP on social media using #CACFPweekNY.
Power of Us Workforce Survey
The Power of Us Workforce Survey, administered by the American Institute for Research, is open until the end of the year. This national survey is meant to inform policy, practice, and further research to better support the youth-serving professionals and volunteers workforce. Please share widely with your networks! We need at least 525 responses in New York in order to get state data.
The Office of Student Support Services released their Welcome Back to School Newsletter
The Office of Student Support Services (SSS) welcomes all students, faculty, and staff to the 2022-2023 SY.
Students must meet the immunization requirements for school enrollment. Students who need to be vaccinated may contact their county health department.
Accessing crisis mental health support is now easier by dialing 988!
Districts and schools are reminded of Commissioner's Regulation §100.2(y)(3) pertaining to timely student enrollment. Additional resources are provided for schools and school districts to promote positive school attendance.
21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) welcome all round 8 subgrantees! 21st CCLC provides high-quality academic, enrichment, and youth development programming to students and families throughout New York State during out-of-school time.
SSS recognizes awareness activities including:
Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15th - October 15th)
Domestic Violence Awareness Month (October)
Bullying Prevention Month (October)
International Day of the Girl Child (October 11th)
If you have any questions, please contact SSS at StudentSupportServices@nysed.gov.
Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Training
The New York State Network for Youth Success is pleased to offer a FREE training series on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) for afterschool and youth professionals.
We encourage every youth professional to participate. The lens of your own experience is just one perspective, but with JEDI training you will be able to see the entire landscape.
Recruit New Staff for Free - post Your Jobs on the NEW Afterschool Pathfinder!
Need support finding staff? The New York State Network for Youth Success recently launched the redeveloped AfterschoolPathfinder.org, the premiere career site for afterschool and youth work. This FREE resource maintains a comprehensive list of jobs available to the dedicated people who work in afterschool, expanded learning, and other youth programs in New York State. The website provides a platform to advertise positions for potential staff and access to browse eligible candidates to work for your organization.
Mental Health Resources for Black Girls and Youth of Color
Report: Youth-Led Policy Report Promotes Solutions to Improve Mental Health for Black Girls & Youth of Color
The Children’s Partnership (TCP) and the National Black Women’s Justice Institute (NBWJI) released the report, Youth-Centered Strategies for Hope, Healing and Health, from The Hope, Healing and Health Collective (H3 Collective), a youth-led policy council that worked to elevate the voices of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) youth in developing policy solutions to address their own mental health needs and advance the mental health of all youth in this country.
Video: Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness
This WMHT production features first-person accounts from more than 20 young people, ranging in age from 11 to 27, who live with mental health conditions, as well as parents, teachers, friends, healthcare providers in their lives, and independent mental health experts. The film presents an unvarnished window into daily life with mental health challenges, from seemingly insurmountable obstacles to stories of hope and resilience.
Through the experiences of these young people, the film confronts the issues of stigma, discrimination, awareness, and silence, and, in doing so, helps advance a shift in the public perception of mental health issues today.
Center for Parent Information & Resources' back-to-school resources
The Department-funded Center for Parent Information Resources list resources and tools for back to school in their September issue of Buzz. Topics include handling a student’s refusal to go to school (also in Spanish) and taking a deeper look at anxiety in kids. These resources and others recognize that the physical and emotional well-being of children is important.
Family & Community Engagement Network and 2022 National Family Engagement Summit
Join the virtual network to support family-facing professionals and gain best practices and innovative ideas from expert practitioners and strategies to support the family engagement core competencies. Webinars are held monthly. Register here.
Registration is now open for the 2022 National Family Engagement Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference offers learning opportunities on family and community engagement to support educators, administrators, parent coordinators, and family-facing practitioners. Learn more about options to attend the summit virtually (Oct. 10-11) or in-person (Oct. 12-14).
YSA’s ServiceVote campaign asks young people to help register, educate, and get their peers out to vote; to connect their volunteering and service to voting and advocacy on the issues they care about; and to call on public officials to create spaces at every decision-making table for young voices.
Election season provides a unique opportunity to ask candidates and elected officials - current and future policymakers - how they will ensure that young people have a seat at every decision-making table if they are elected to office?
To create and sustain authentic youth civic engagement, we encourage local leaders to engage youth as active citizens in the policymaking process, especially on the issues that most affect them. Here are a few resources to share with your local leaders to help them partner with you to engage young people.
The Promoting Youth Participation Action Kit and Youth Engagement Resources for Cities Toolkit from the National League of Cities includes resources on authentic youth engagement; hosting a youth summit; starting a youth council; participatory budgeting; lowering the voting age for municipal elections; and a self-perception inventory designed to help cities identify their strengths.
The Youth Involvement Best Practices Report from the US Conference of Mayors details the results of the 2018 Youth Involvement Task Force Survey, which includes responses from 54 cities. The report also includes in-depth highlights of 12 cities with exceptional youth involvement initiatives.
Interested in creating a youth council? Check out the Forum for Youth Investment’s Building Effective Youth Councils: A Practical Guide to Engaging Youth in Policy Making to learn more about youth councils and policymaking!
Eager to start creating change in your school? Check out the Student Voice Roundtable Facilitation Guide to host a roundtable discussion to share your authentic educational experiences and to co-create student-driven solutions to issues you’ve experienced with fellow students, teachers and administrators.
Other helpful sites: allianceforyouthaction.org www.stuvoice.org vote16usa.org
ARTICLE: 18-Year-Old Student Wins School Board Election in Boise, ID
Shiva Rajbhandari was elected to the position by voters in Idaho’s capital, defeating an incumbent board member who had refused to reject an endorsement from a local extremist group that has harassed students and pushed to censor local libraries. Read more.
The (Student) Paper of Record in Muncie, Indiana
The Ball State Daily News', the student newspaper at Ball State University in Muncie, response to a historic change in the city’s public schools, is an important illustration of how colleges can innovate to address community challenges.
School Safety and Climate Workshop Series 2022 Recordings Now Available
In response to the overwhelming positive response to these workshops, we have opted to post all of the recorded sessions on our website here. You can also feel free to find the specific topics of interest to you and your team from the list below:
Measuring and Cultivating Positive School Climate: What, Why, and How with Dr. Amanda Nickerson
Building Community Partnerships to Support School Safety and Climate with Amy Molloy
Strategic Planning and Implementation of Trauma-Informed District Change with Samantha Koury
Culture of Care: Using a Principal’s Advisory Council for Change with Dr. Ron Gonzalez
Understanding and Supporting Gender Diverse Students with Dr. Todd Savage
New Content on Y4Y
Quality Program Quickstarters Quality Program Quickstarters, or QPQs, are self-paced learning modules you can do anywhere, anytime. Each module addresses an essential aspect of leading and managing a high-quality out-of-school time program. You can complete a module in about an hour and download a curated set of Y4Y tools and resources to help you implement what you learned. The following QPQs are available now: Building a Program Team, Conducting a Needs Assessment, Intentional Activity Design, and Community Asset Mapping.
Creating a Makerspace Click & Go Y4Y’s newest microlearning opportunity will equip your program with the tools to develop an effective makerspace by understanding your learners, evaluating existing program offerings and school-day curricula, considering global trends and best practices, developing a theme, and gathering your resources. View Click & Go.
Continuous Improvement Tool Kit This tool kit features Y4Y tools from various courses to help with continuous improvement:
Continuous Improvement Tool Kit (Download zip folder) Assess and Prioritize Your Program’s Career Pathways Components Assessing Alignment Efforts (for aligning with the school day) Continuous Improvement Planner (to measure progress toward SMART goals) Environmental Checklist (for creating an inclusive environment) Family Engagement Follow-Up and Supervision Checklist Fidelity of Implementation Checklist (for student voice and choice) Partnership Evaluation Rubric Partnerships Observation and Supervision Checklist Positive Learning Environment Observation Checklist Positive Youth Development Rubric Staff Observation Review Checklist (to support project-based learning) STEAM Approach Self-Check for Staff Student Assess and Adapt Checklist (to identify student strengths and needs) Summer Learning Activity Observation Checklist Virtual Activity Observation Checklists
Funding Opportunity: ParentPowered's Ready4K Equity Grant
Funding is now available to qualifying districts to deliver an evidence-based parenting curriculum to families of students through eighth grade. Learn more.
Program Spotlights Great things are happening at Little Flower Union Free School District!
Check out this story about their summer program from Michelle Fuentes, Site Coordinator.
Students at Little Flower UFSD's summer program participated in a Music Performance Showcase, displaying various talents including singing, dancing and playing instruments. Later in the summer, our high school ELA class hosted its first ever Poetry Slam. Students and staff were encouraged to create and share poetry expressing things that they are passionate about, and challenges they face. Both of these events demonstrated school spirit, engagement in the program, and a sense of pride in the students' hard work. Music to our ears, thank you Michelle!
Congratulations to Academics in Motion (AIM) and Counseling in Schools (CIS) for winning The National Environmental Education Foundation (NEEF) NPS-21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Greening STEM Grant!
For the third year in a row, NEEF has partnered with the National Park Service (NPS) and the US Department of Education (ED) to deliver STEM programming that engages youth from under resourced and/or underrepresented communities in citizen science, environmental monitoring, and other STEM activities at NPS sites across the country.
Funding from this grant will support place-based after-school education programs for students participating in 21st CCLC programs, which provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours. These programs will utilize components of NEEF’s Greening STEM model with a focus on NPS-related subject matter. They will also provide educators with strategies for hands-on, inquiry-based education, as well as opportunities for professional development and collaboration with 21st CCLC center staff.
Following project completion, all resources and related content developed under these grants will be made available via ED’s You4Youth professional learning portal. For examples of successful past projects, visit NEEF’s Greening STEM in Action page.
“Thanks to the support of our partners at the National Park Service and Department of Education, we have been able to slowly increase the number of programs each year, culminating in a record of nine awardees this year,” said Robert Sendrey, program director for K-12 environmental education at NEEF. “This shows the success this grant has had in forging long-lasting relationships between 21st CCLC programs and NPS sites.”
Seasonal Change: Monitoring the NYC Environment for Climate Change (Year 2)
Grantee: Gateway National Recreation Area
Partners: Academics in Motion (AIM) and Counseling in Schools (CIS), New York, NY
We look forward to hearing all about this great project!