BGCP 2020 Summer Programs
by Victoria Thorp and BGCP Staff
While staff and teams of volunteers continue to prep and distribute community meals (140,000 meals to date and still going strong), Team BGCP has been hard at work to ensure that our students experienced engaging and educational summer programs.
Summer 2020 is unlike any we’ve ever experienced. We shifted our summer programs in significant ways to continue responding to the needs of our students and meeting local health requirements.
Here’s a glimpse of what changed for our K-8 students:
Rationale for this shift
While many of our students have suffered learning loss since schools closed in March due to COVID-19, the most pressing need we heard repeatedly this spring was for social-emotional connection with caring adults and interaction with other kids their age. Students also let us know that they wanted more art, STEM, and other enrichment opportunities. In response to feedback from our students and school partners, BGCP opted to prioritize enrichment and community building this summer to maintain relationships with our students and keep them from feeling isolated.
This summer, our goal was to deliver high-quality, engaging virtual programs that promoted active participation by as many students as possible. We extended the program by two extra weeks and shortened our program day to engage students for a longer time prior to school starting and minimize screen burnout. We are grateful for Ravenswood Education Foundation’s partnership in supporting these 2020 summer programs.
Families stopped by school distribution sites, like Garfield Community School featured above, to pick up colored pencils, paper, books, and all other supplies students would need for summer activities.
The K-8 focus for summer 2020: Community Building and Social-Emotional Connection
We focused on building community by reducing our group sizes to 10 or fewer students and creating fun hands-on activities based on student interest so that BGCP youth did not just show up but stayed engaged. Kids were excited about the daily Camp Culture celebrations, games, and fun activities – like Hoover Community School’s blindfolded drawing challenge. We also prioritized time in each week for staff to reach out to participating students for 1:1 wellness check-ins. Staff were trained to help students name their emotions and then support students with emotional coaching.
Focus on high school students:
In fulfillment of our mission to help students get to and through college, BGCP’s summer 2020 programming also included college prep workshops for our 2020 graduates as well as career coaching and resume building support for our current college students. This summer’s Future Grads Summer Academy hosted 64 active students.
Summer programming impact to date
A quick look at the numbers show that BGCP youth were excited to participate and families signed up at levels very close to what we have seen in years past.
- Total # of youth served: 1,088* (87% of our summer active members in 2019)
- Total # of active students attending 2+ classes/week: 535
- Total # of youth that received two or more wellness check-ins from BGCP staff: 376
- Total # of live classes offered by BGCP staff: 295
- % of classes observed that were rated “high quality”: 84% (172 observed)
Looking toward fall 2020
As we prepare for the new school year amidst a global pandemic and a national spotlight on systemic injustices, both of which disproportionally affect the communities we serve, BGCP will continue taking action to ensure the future is great for the students and families who are counting on us.
We have launched our 3rd annual Project Backpack, a school supply and clothing drive for about 300 of our highest need K-12 students. Many thanks to the donors who have made this possible! Whether learning on-line or at school, our students will begin the new school year ready to learn and succeed.
2018-2019 Project Backpack
BGCP’s Impact & Evaluation Team has been gathering family/caregiver survey data locally and nationally around COVID-19 and schools re-opening. Families have expressed the most value around individualized support for their children during remote learning, and these are often the type of services they were least likely to receive from schools last spring. As our partner schools find it more difficult to provide support classes, we may be able to fill this need. We will continue to reach out to teachers to build programming that is as complimentary as possible to our partner schools. As we determine how we can support our students and community this fall, BGCP will continue to prioritize our role as a partner to the school districts in providing the individualized support our students may not always receive in the classroom.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about BGCP’s programs or how you can support our work.