Breakfast Club Blog

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is a curated space where bloggers from around the world contribute content on a continual basis about a variety of topics relevant to in and out-of-school time. The BOOST Breakfast Club blog is at the heart of an ongoing dialogue where expanded learning and education professionals share their personal thoughts and stories from the in and out-of-school time field. They also tell us what they ate for breakfast!

The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer, or company. Enjoy the brain food.

The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!

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Hanging in the BOOST Live Podcast Lounge

My drive to work definitely changed this year. With my kids Zooming from home, I was all alone on the daily commute—no need for our “Drive to School” playlist, seasonal playlist, or our Disney sing-a-long. I took the opportunity to use my car time to wisely—PODCASTS. Over the past year I delved into the stock market with Snacks Daily (okay, I did originally think the podcast was about snacks – not snack size stock tips – but hey, it’s still a good podcast). I improved my running tech...Read More

4 Tips to Cultivating Leaders in Your Organization

The singular most important role of today’s leader is growing those around them. This is not just a lofty goal, but one of intentional thought and commitment. I view nurturing those around me as a benefit not only to our organization but also as a way to develop skills that will lead to success in any organization. Gasp! Yes, I believe it is my duty to shape leaders who may someday join a competing organization. So, where to begin? Leadership development is offered for many reasons. Poor company...Read More

Encourage Staff Well-Being: 3 Things to Try This Week

I recently spoke at the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) Conference alongside partners from the National Summer Learning Association, Afterschool Alliance, and Grow Appalachia. A common theme of our 3 workshops was the interconnectedness of physical health and social-emotional health to promote overall well-being. While at the NRPA Conference, we released an exciting new brief, Afterschool: Fostering Protective Factors that Can Last a Lifetime. The resource emphasizes the importan...Read More

2 Terrific Tips on Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) For Adults

  This blog is about SEL for adults, exploring why and how we must practice SEL in our collective work, both in and out of school. I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence. I asked my close colleague, who sits just across from me in the office, what I should write about in this next blog.  Understanding my ongoing, organic theme about creating conditions for youth voice and choice, he suggested I write about the competencies within us that allow for this to happen. I was intrigued ...Read More

“Treat Yourself,” Simple and Healthy Ways to Celebrate

As we head back-to-school, I hope you’re making time to recover from a busy summer and practice self-care. This summer, I’ve tried to slow down a bit, unplug from technology when I can and enjoy reading a book – yeah, one made of paper! My favorite summer read has been The Deepest Well. It explores the impact of childhood adversity and the steps to take to counter those experiences. Like many people in America, I scored high on the Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) questionnaire; now I’m findin...Read More

Webinar 4: 25 Engaging Tools in 60 Minutes

Editor’s Note: A special thank you to author @jillgordon for sharing the last of four of Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana’s webinar series. Today’s post focuses on engaging tools you can use in your program too! Click on the webinar link below “Engaging Tools in 60 Minutes” for the full program. And keep your eyes open, Jill will be adding to this series with additional content from Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana.  The Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (YPII)...Read More

Youth Development’s Hippocratic Oath

Editor’s Note: this blog is used with permission from the author. It was first published on October 14th, 2016 at https://arancibia.org/rodrigoblog/2016/10/14/youth-developments-hippocratic-oath.  In 1964, Louis Lasagna, the academic dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, looked at the work of Hippocrates and crafted the modern version of the Hippocratic Oath that is used in many medical schools today.  This galvanizing text is used as a declaration for the medical field to ra...Read More

How Do You Reach Frontline Staff?

I cringed, big-time when I realized that part of my role as LA’s BEST Director of Staff Development was to develop an online learning and resource hub for our 2,000+ staff. Based on my previous experiences, I knew we were up against a lot—creating ‘that thing’ for compliance or ‘that thing’ we have to use online. It’s not easy to make an online learning platform engaging and relevant. Our internal Learning Management System (LMS) was mostly PowerPoint presentations with recorded voice-overs, use...Read More

BOOST 2018 Workshop RFPs due 10/31

BOOST requests workshop proposals that support and highlight trends, innovative research, and promising practices to support quality out-of-school time programs. The deadline to submit a workshop proposal for BOOST 2018 is Tuesday, October 31, at 5 pm PST. Any proposals submitted after this date will go on a waiting list. To submit a proposal, visit the BOOST Conference website and click on the blue button to start the application process. Every year the BOOST Conference offers a variety of work...Read More

The Role and Vision of a CEO from a CEO

I have a lot of breakfast meetings these days, the hardest kinds of meetings. Not the kind where I get excited about pitching a program to a new client or get to brainstorm curriculum and advocate for youth. Those meetings I love. No, lately my days are filled with meetings wherein I talk—or, more often, listen– to people expressing real fear and vulnerability about their present and future. Not just people: my staff. In February 2017, I gave speech to my staff on “the state of Arc&#...Read More

8 FREE Resources to Welcome In the New School Year

Happy New Year! Greetings! It is a new year! 2017-2018 starts now! This is a time when you will see kids you know and a time to meet new kiddos. But most important, it is a time to learn from last year and make this year even better. It’s back to school time!     Take a moment to think about what you learned from last year and what your New Year’s resolutions are for this upcoming year, how will you improve your program? Will you concentrate on staff development, sustainable programmi...Read More

7 Healthy Makeover Ideas for Your Office & Breakroom

Back-to-school is Here. For youth serving organizations, transitioning from summer to the school year is stressful. With tight budgets, limited capacity and less-than-inspiring news headlines, staying optimistic, energized and creative is a challenge. This article builds on my previous blog, “Designing Welcoming and Healthy Environments” with seven ways to makeover your office and break room this fall. Like this topic? I will be presenting a workshop based on this article at the National Recreat...Read More

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