Funding afterschool programs for middle-schoolers is hard and keeping kids interested is even harder, but Galaxy Youth Center in Bloomington gets it right
The Galaxy Youth Center is booming — literally. It would be loud enough if the only noise were from the 30 or so kids buzzing around the foosball tables and video games. But there’s a stereo blasting hip-hop at a decibel level that, while near-lethal to adults, seems barely audible to the middle-schoolers in the high-ceilinged rooms at the back of Bloomington’s Valley View Middle School.
A big whiteboard at the front door lists the day’s activities. At first glance, none of the clubs, games, and crafts seem edgy enough to interest sixth- to eighth-graders. Look twice, though, and you might find a notable local DJ teaching turntable skills or a spoken-word artist helping kids rap.
Too cool for anything that smacks of “kid stuff” but not old enough to truly take care of themselves, youth this age are notoriously hard to engage. Yet the three Galaxy centers operated jointly by the city of Bloomington and Bloomington Public Schools attract 200 kids a year, mostly by word of mouth.
Entering seventh grade at Oak Grove Middle School, 12-year-old Hannah Sapp is a Galaxy regular. She wasn’t sure she’d like it, but after attending for a year, she can’t imagine going home alone instead. “I just don’t like sitting around at home with nothing to do,” she says. “Galaxy always has good activities to do. You’re not just sitting on the couch.” Her favorite activities: cooking, playing pool, and taking dance lessons.
Devon Olson, 14, was a reluctant convert, too. Three years ago when his mother signed him up, he thought Galaxy “sounded dull.” He’s stayed in the program for three years. Making friends is most important to him, but he also likes Galaxy’s community-service projects, like raking leaves for seniors in the fall or packing food for homeless shelters.
The secret to keeping members of this age group engaged, according to Galaxy Coordinator Suzanne Kpowulu: Make things interesting enough that kids want to come back — and bring their friends. “The need to provide kids a safe space after school — that’s the baseline,” she says. “It’s about providing opportunities for meaningful connections, skill development, and character building.”
And if that weren’t a tall enough order, what kids find cool can change from one moment to another. “We always say we come with two or three tricks in our back pocket,” Kpowulu says. “If it doesn’t work, move on.”
Unlike high-schoolers, who are independent enough to piece together and manage a schedule of organized activities, middle-schoolers are at risk of getting lost. For them in particular, unsupervised time can lead to poor academic performance, drug and alcohol use, pregnancy, and juvenile crime. Unlike elementary-age kids, however, they’re likely to resist getting involved in organized, supervised activities — provided their parents can even find programs for them.
Minnesota has the largest percentage of working parents in the country, yet high-quality, affordable afterschool care for children of all ages is in notoriously short supply. “We’re going to have working families, so what we’re concerned with is making sure they have access to affordable, quality programming,” says Brian Siverson-Hall, executive director of the Minnesota School Age Care Alliance.
With its tradition of strong public education, Minnesota has a head start over other states, he says. Most of the afterschool programs that have sprung up here over the last 30 years were started by school districts’ community education networks. Even so, many families can’t afford afterschool care. Galaxy kids pay just $1 a day, but that’s thanks to an unusual, innovative combination of grants and funding from public agencies aimed at improving opportunities for kids who would otherwise be home alone. In 1996, the city of Bloomington teamed up with Bloomington Public Schools and secured a 20-year grant to open the centers.
The cutting-edge programming that draws in kids is paid for by a grant from a program funded by the federal government and administered by the state. A part of the otherwise controversial No Child Left Behind school reform legislation, funding for 21st Century Community Learning Centers is an effort to reach out to families that can’t afford good care. Kids who get afternoon homework help and behavioral support from schools and community organizations fare better in school.
Galaxy’s five-year 21st Century grant runs out at the end of this year. If the funding isn’t renewed, there’s a lot Kpowulu won’t be able to afford anymore. “Galaxy would still be here, but all the hip-hop programming and bringing in artists wouldn’t,” she says.
Galaxy would still offer homework help but would also likely lose funding for Brain Power, a nontraditional academic support program run by a licensed teacher that Kpowulu says has drawn many struggling students to the centers.
When it comes to swapping unstructured time for enrichment, Galaxy’s experience illustrates both the potential victories and challenges communities face, say Siverson-Hall and other youth programming experts.
Early afterschool efforts focused on getting kids off the streets, says Siverson-Hall. But with the bare skeleton of a network of programs in place, and at a time when budget crunches mean schools are cutting back on extracurricular activities, there are endless opportunities to do more than just keep kids safe, he says: “Now we’re really trying to make creative opportunities for kids.”
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman campaigned on an education platform that included a pledge to address the afterschool gap. When he won election in 2006, Coleman launched the Second Shift initiative. His idea: If community organizations came up with ideas for engaging kids and manpower, the city would provide space and other supports.
For example, recreation centers throughout the city are open and offer structured programming on school release days. In an effort to make sure the offerings appeal, the city enlists high school students to help choose the activities. In addition to sports and homework help, offerings include cooking, visual arts, dance, theater, and media arts.
“We’d been staffing the recreation centers just to staff them,” says mayoral spokesman James Lockwood. “Now they’re staffed whenever kids aren’t in school.” Over the last two years, more than 3,000 kids have participated in activities on school release and vacation days.
On St. Paul’s East and West sides, circulator buses weave through neighborhoods, picking up kids and dropping them at afterschool programs at parks, libraries, and other sites. “It’s easy enough to create programs, but it does no good if kids don’t have a way to get there,” Lockwood explains.
More than 10,000 rides were given during Second Shift’s first six months of operation. St. Paul is currently looking at the feasibility of routing circulators throughout the city.
With regular K–12 schools experiencing budget crises and funding virtually disappearing for early childhood education and other preschool programs, funding for afterschool supports is a tough sell. The national Afterschool Alliance, Siverson-Hall’s Minnesota School Age Care Alliance, and other groups are working for full funding of No Child Left Behind.
And as educators and parents become increasingly vocal about the need to keep kids engaged for more hours every day, more cities and school districts are considering following in Bloomington’s and St. Paul’s footsteps. And at no point is this more crucial than in the middle-school years, according to youth program organizers. That’s because it’s an age where kids are solidifying their identities and characters—a stage where relationships with adults are crucial.
“It’s an age of exploration,” says Kpowulu. “In high school, they’re going to have their own niche. But here, we help them figure out who they are. We try to put them on the path to
self-discovery.”
“They challenge us and test us constantly,” she adds. “They want the structure and they want the guidelines.”
When school starts, Devon Olson will be in ninth grade at Bloomington’s John F. Kennedy High School. He knows the stereotype is that he’s supposed to relish being on his own after school, but he’s sad to be moving on. “I’m going to be bummed about it,” he says. “But there’s no Galaxy for high school.”
Beth Hawkins is a Minneapolis writer.
‘Connect and contribute’
That’s what middle-schoolers need to do, according to noted child development expert Dr. Marti Erickson, who recently retired from a career in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota:
Where we can have the greatest impact on the healthy development of children that age is if we really think about their growing capacity to contribute to the common good. A lot of times we think in terms of trying to entertain kids and yet if you engage young people with things in their community, they just rise to the occasion and it allows them to develop some really strong, positive peer relations.
I call it the three Cs: Connection, Competence and Contribution. That’s my own effort to sum up a whole body of research on protective factors that really enable children, even in high-risk circumstances, to grow up well. I think we don’t think enough about that third C.
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11 percent of school-age kids in the United States participate in afterschool programs, according to “America After 3 P.M.,” a 2003 study by the Afterschool Alliance.
35 percent are on their own an average of seven hours a week.
10 million children with working parents would attend
afterschool programs if they were available.
$50 a week– Typical cost for afterschool care, though programs range from free to $125 and school-release days and summer care are much more expensive.
$9 million– Funding Minnesota received for afterschool care under No Child Left Behind, but if Congress had fully funded the law, Minnesota’s share would have been $21 million.
That money is divided among 114 afterschool centers welcoming kids from 246 schools. During the last round of applications, 78 organizations applied for 14 awards.
