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!
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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
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
The Terrifying Click of Heels in the Hall
When I was site coordinator at an elementary school in San Francisco, we were not afraid of the mice in the office, or the cold air that whipped through the poorly insulated windows on a foggy SF morning, or the cafeteria full of wildly enthusiastic pre-teens. No, but we were afraid of the click, click, click of the principal’s heels on the linoleum hallway. We could hear it about 2 minutes before she turned the corner into our closet-like office. We’d look at each other across our desks, each ...Read More
What Kind Of Mark Did You Make Today?
Checking in with your kids each day is a great way to help them remember their values and to focus on the type of person that they want to be. And a great question to ask each day is – “What mark did you make today?” You see, every time we are with someone we leave a “mark” – either a “gold heart” or a “grungy mark” depending on how we treated them. When I was a young girl, my Dad loved to talk about the Golden Rule – “to treat others as I would want to be treated.” The Golden Rule was rea...Read More
A New Year’s Resolution
Today is the last day of 2017. It’s been a strange year. I feel like we’re living in some Bizarro World version of America. It’s as if one day we will wake up and realize this was all just a bad dream. A year ago I thought, “Well, I lived through eight years of W, I’ll get through this.” I didn’t think it would affect me personally, but it has. It does, every day. I live in Irvine, a diverse suburban community in which less than half of the population is white. A multitude of languages can be he...Read More
Preserving Programs for Kids by Going Local
At the end of 2017, the nation is on the verge of one of the largest federal tax cuts in modern times. And while some in Washington celebrate, for others the Congressional tax deal holds the specter of devastating cuts to social services and education programs that rely on federal dollars. Some are bracing for budgets squeezed dry, and more and more programs, already run on a shoestring, hobbled to ineffectiveness or nonexistence. Knowing what’s at stake, people in our line of work don’t typical...Read More
What is advocacy, why does it matter, and how can you make a difference in just 10 minutes from your desk?
Why does advocacy matter? Did you know that 1 out of 3 students in California can’t identify a single caring adult at school? [1] Research shows that access to caring adults is critical for the development and success of youth, and expanded learning programs often provide these relationships that students depend on. [2] Advocating for these programs increases access to caring adults and safe spaces in and out of school that are necessary to support student success. In 2015 and 2016, the Partners...Read More
Santa Baby! Crafts, Resources, Volunteerism and Hugs!
It’s that time of year again… the last of the pumpkin spice lattes are being served and the air is filled with peppermint everything at the local coffee shops. There’s an added pep in every step, smiles are shared amongst strangers, and you are determined to sing “Santa Baby” better than ever. It’s my favorite part of the year! Creativity at school sites is at an all-time high and program coordinators are excited about the different activities that will surely outshine everyone else’s. Ser...Read More
The Flawed Leader… Follow Up 6 Months Later
Social Power is defined as the degree of influence that an individual or organization has among their peers and within their society as a whole. 6 months ago, I shared in this blog my challenges with my own leadership and that of the organization I started and grew over the past 15 years. I poured out on the table the comments my staff made in relation to my leadership flaws, and the ways I needed to be better for my team. Since then I have openly spoken in three different states in front of lar...Read More