Welcome to the BOOST Breakfast Club Blog! This is a collective space where bloggers write weekly about a variety of topics relevant to the out-of-school time field. This interactive platform encourages readers to leave comments and supports on-going dialogue with leaders in the field. We welcome bloggers from around the world who want to share their personal thoughts and voice….including what they ate for breakfast! Interested in becoming a blogger? Email breakfastclub@boostcollaborative.org
BOOST Breakfast Club Blog
15 Messages of Encouragement to Site Supervisors
As the beginning of the school year is underway, safe spaces during the out-of-school time hours are open and serving children all around the nation. This piece is collaboratively written by our bloggers and includes wisdom, tips, and inspiration for all of our valued Site Supervisors of out-of-school time programs. You ALL matter, and we wish you a successful school year. “I’ve been t...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 ...Read More
Front Line Staff / Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management / Uncategorized
Calming Back-to-School Jitters for LGBTQ Youth
Will I make friends? What if I get lost? Will I like my teachers? What if I do something embarrassing? These are the back to school jitters we’re used to helping youth navigate. We have all kinds of strategies to help young people feel comfortable in their new classroom or after school program — putting their name on a desk or name tag, icebreakers, activities that encourage youth to get to ...Read More
Now Live! Submit an RFP for the 2018 BOOST Conference
From May 1-4, 2018, thousands of professionals will be joining together to learn, think, inspire, create, and grow at the BOOST Conference and we want YOU to help facilitate this growth and learning through our dynamic workshops. Submit a proposal today! Think about your expertise, what you have to offer to the out-of-school (OST) time field, and what conversations conference participants are see...Read More
Leaping Into the Void: Modeling Learning for Our Students
Artist Yves Klein perfectly captured how it feels to be engaged in the creative act in this 1960 piece entitled Leap Into the Void. I have been teaching the creative process and making art for most of my adult life, and this image perfectly captures the feeling of not knowing where you’ll end up when you begin to make something. Leaping, literally, into the unknown, not knowing if you’ll fall to y...Read More
4 Steps to Make Student-Centered Learning Come Alive!
The purpose and potential of Expanded Learning Programs have changed radically in the last 20 years. The process began with the passage of California’s first comprehensive afterschool legislation, which Carla Sanger of LA’s BEST and I initiated in 1997. This paved the way for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for elementary and middle school programs and resulted in a growing body of know...Read More
7 Back-to-School Resources for the Expanded Learning Field
Hello Expanded Learning, Out-of-School Time, and rockstar educators across the globe! In support of back-to-school time, our home team has chosen a hodgepodge of resources that will jumpstart your school year. 1. Apply for FREE school supplies! Kids In Need Foundation has your back and is giving out two large boxes to qualified applicants. The deadline to apply is August 14th. 2. For a plethora o...Read More
Back-to-School: Pencils and Possibilities
I love pencils. Freshly sharpened, classic #2 pencils. I love the smell of a freshly-sharpened pencil. I love the way a sharp pencil feels on a thick, new notebook. I love the way you can erase away anything you don’t like with a pencil. I love the way pencils will smudge my fingers. I love the eraser dust that fills the page. Fresh pencils also bring with them all of the feelings of back-to-schoo...Read More
Out-of-School Time Staff – What do you get to do?
Hello Breakfast Club readers & leaders! As we approach August and get closer to launching the 2017/2018 school year, I wanted to share a speech I was asked to do for a CAL SAC leadership event in June, in Los Angeles. I am hoping this helps motivate and inspire you and your staff to appreciate all you GET to do. They come to us filled with hormones, under-resourced, confused, academically behi...Read More
Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management / Storytellers / Sustainability
Part 2: The Great ASES Augmentation of 2017 – A Children’s Story
In 2015, Sir Mark Leno from the village of San Francisco introduced a bill to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. By now, the full resources of CA3 were focused on the issue, but that still amounted to very little in comparison to the magnitude of the quest. The Partnership for Children and Youth, a longtime member of CA3 led by Lady Jennifer of Peck, was called upon to lead the campaign an...Read More
Program Design, Development, and Quality / Staff Leadership and Management / Storytellers / Sustainability
Part 1: The Great ASES Augmentation of 2017 – A Children’s Story
Gather around, children, and I’ll tell you a story. What kind of story, you ask? Is it a scary story? Is it a funny story? A magical story? No. It’s better than that. It’s the best kind of story there is. It’s a story about policy change. ASES to be exact. Our story begins way back in the year 2006. Do any of you remember that year? Some of you may have been quite young. A traveling minstrel named...Read More
Demystifying the LCAP for Expanded Learning: FUNDING Explanation
The California Department of Education asks school districts to produce Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAPs) as evidence of appropriately using Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) dollars. Every district must submit this plan in order to spend these dollars. Here’s my question: Is your Expanded Learning program written into your district’s LCAP? I know some of you out there are ...Read More