'Makes me emotional': Austin ISD has three new Boys & Girls Club after school programs
AUSTIN (KXAN)—Miguel Guerrero sat at a small table in the art room of one of the Boys & Girl Clubs of the Austin area (BGCAA) on Tuesday, reflecting on the impact the organization has made on his life. This, as his team prepared for a big day.
Guerrero is the family engagement manager of the Boys and Girls Club of Austin was once in the very shoes of the kids and families he now works with.
“My family wanted me to go to club just to have a safe place for me to go while they continued to work,” he said.
BGCAA and the Andy Roddick Foundation held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the official launch of the three new clubs at Hart, Harris and Pecan Spring Elementary schools.
Families will now have more options for their kids who need a place to go after school.
The new after school programming gives more than 300 elementary students access to after school care, according to BGCAA. BGCAA said that adds to the 1,000 Austin Independent School District kids who already are served through its sites.
“With a focus on academic success, character development, and healthy lifestyles, these Clubs will offer a safe, enriching environment where young learners can grow, explore, and reach their full potential,” BGCAA said in a statement.
A 26-year longitudinal study published recent research in Educational Researcher showing the impact consistent involvement in after school programs can have on students life.
Jaime La Fuente Garcia, CEO and president of the Andy Roddick Foundation summarized some of the findings that her nonprofit uses to improve its services with BGCAA:
- Foundation for Learning: Early care engagement lays the groundwork for cognitive and social development, leading to academic benefits in elementary school.
- Building the Foundation for Success: Children who consistently participate in afterschool activities in elementary school show academic success and positive social behaviors.
- Keeping Youth Engaged and Connected: Youth engaged in middle-level afterschool programs are more confident and engaged.
- Supporting Success and Safety: Youth involved in high school activities are more productive and safer than their peers.
- Promoting Positive Outcomes: Young adults who participated in afterschool activities show improved life skills and are less likely to engage in risky behaviors.
“By age 26, young people who participate in early learning and afterschool activities are stronger learners, earners, and leaders,” La Fuente Garcia said in her summary of the research.
La Fuente Garcia said in addition to supporting research used to help their work, they also have different measurement models for tracking success.
“One of one of them is a wide group success model, and that is important for us to look at the program content, the interactions between staff and children to make sure we’re looking at the overall activities that are being offered,” La Fuente Garcia said. “When you see kids responding on surveys showing that 97% of them are saying that they have a trusted adult in their program, that’s more than just a number that says so much about the relationships that are being built.”
The Andy Roddick Foundation has funded BGCAA’s programs for several years. La Fuente Garcia said doing so is sustainable, with the help of community partners who invest in their nonprofit.
“When you can look at programs like this, to close that gap, it allows for kids to be on the same, you know, playing field, then their peers, that their parents can afford it,” La Fuente Garcia said. “It all leads to wanting to come to school, which leads to better success measures and academics and graduation rates for the future.”
Zenae Campbell said the expansion of new programs will continue making an impact through its various academic success, character development, and healthy lifestyle activities.
“We’re uniquely qualified to be in communities that we would say need us the most, and so having access and having access to a high quality program activities and experience is key,” Campbell said.
At the core of these programs are staff who care, who get involved with their kids, who help make these programs more engaging and enriching for students.
“It makes me emotional, just because the thing I valued most was like that connection with staff and other kids,” Guerrero said. “And I think now more than ever, like kids are looking for that.”
