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 BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is Brain Food for In and Out-of-School Time Leaders!
Interested in becoming a blogger? Email [email protected]
Click here to Register for a free account or click here to Login to your existing account.
More Than 5 Smart Ideas for Professional Development on a Shoestring Budget
Last week I received an email about an upcoming staff development opportunity for my team. It sounded so good. It met our goals, it spoke directly to our growth areas, it was what staff were asking for… and then I saw the price. $7,500! YIKES! That is pretty much all of the staff development budget for the year, and then some. I have always found it a fine line to walk, to be able to provide the quality and quantity of staff development opportunities for my team and still maintaining the b...Read More
Start Planning for Summer Meals Success
Even though there might still be traces of snow on the ground in your state, now is the perfect time for youth-serving programs to start thinking about expanding access to and participation in Summer Nutrition Programs. The Summer Nutrition Programs — which include the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) — fill the nutrition gap for low-income children who rely on free or reduced-price meals during the school year. The programs also support summer prog...Read More
Webinar 3: Igniting Leadership in Young People
Editor’s Note: A special thank you to author @jillgordon for sharing the third of four of Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana’s webinar series. Today’s post focuses on youth leadership practices that can be implemented in your program too! Click on the webinar link below “Igniting Leadership in Youth” for the full program. And keep your eyes open in April for the next special webinar from Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana. The Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (...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
Coding Club: What High School Students Can Teach Us About Leading Afterschool Programs
None of the high school or elementary students noticed me when I slipped into their after-school classroom last fall. The room buzzed with happy energy as the older students crouched at computers, coaching their younger peers on using Scratch to create animated games. This after-school Coding Club was the first of its kind for my organization, Ann Arbor Public Schools Community Education and Recreation (“Rec & Ed”). We have a decades-long history of providing after-school programs in our sch...Read More
Engaging Young People in Creative Placemaking: Part Two
Welcome back to this two-part blog series as we unpack what creative placemaking looks like in community development and how we can use it as a tool to empower youth in being key players in their local public spaces. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to take a few minutes to read Engaging Young People in Creative Placemaking: Part One, published February 20, 2018 right here on the BOOST Cafe Breakfast Club Blog. Using Creative Placemaking in Youth Program: Examples It may feel daunt...Read More
Engaging Young People in Creative Placemaking: Part One
Young people have inspiration, ideas, and unique problem-solving skills to contribute to community planning. One of the most holistic ways of designing sustainable spaces and places is through creative placemaking. In this two-part blog post, I will share with you what creative placemaking is, the importance of it in our communities, and how we can use creative placemaking in our youth programs. Creative Placemaking One of the best definitions of creative placemaking is from Ann Markusen and An...Read More
It’s Not Enough Just To Make More Stuff….
Learning through making and doing is important, but so is teaching our students to make a difference in the lives of others. In the maker world, it’s not enough to just make “stuff,” we need to teach students the importance of making things that matter. As part of our three-level STEAM sequence of courses, I teach a Physical Computing/Wearables class, in which students learn electronics and how to program Arduinos. Both of these things are difficult and can be glitchy, even more so w...Read More
Hands-On DIY Wellness Projects: The Ultimate Life Hack
In the month of January, Alliance for a Healthier Generation is celebrating #NewDaysResolution. Gone are the old New Year’s resolutions that are ultimately broken (and leave us feeling terrible). 2018 is about making a daily commitment to achieve one simple healthy change that leaves us feeling fulfilled and proud. For example, on the first day of January, I used all of my leftover veggies to make this delicious smoothie (ignore the color). On January 2, I used my lunch break to get a 25-m...Read More
Hate Your Data? There’s A Toolkit For That!
We’ve all been there. Frustrated with maintaining 15 different spreadsheets, 30-word documents, and 19 Survey Monkey Surveys, a nonprofit leader says, “Enough! Let’s just get a database.” Yes! Finally! A centralized place for all the program’s data will help the team serve clients better and make reporting to funders a breeze. Joy and excitement fade to sadness as the team struggles to fathom how to go about getting a new database, much less implementing one. And the stakes couldn’t be higher: n...Read More
Serving Through Hands-On Projects
Editors Note: A special thank you to author @jillgordon for sharing one of four of Youth Philanthropy’s webinar series. Today’s post focuses on service learning models that can be implemented in your program too! Click on the webinar link below “Serving through Hands-on Projects” for the full program. And, keep your eyes open in February for the next special webinar from Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana. Youth Philanthropy Initiative of Indiana (YPII) created a 4-part webi...Read More