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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Hey Afterschool Leaders, We’ve Been Called In

Most of us are compelled to work in afterschool programs because we want to empower youth, nurture young talent, even level the playing field. Despite doing this important work daily, we are painfully aware that the conditions of schools, neighborhoods, and economies just never change. So, we find ourselves, though well-intended, propping up a system that still doesn’t equitably serve all the people in this country. As agency leaders, we are witness to, and work daily against, the pressures, pol...Read More

BOOST Stands in Solidarity with Black Communities

TEAMBOOST stands in solidarity with our Black colleagues, students, families, and communities. We love you. We support you. We are here for you. Today, we are recommitting to our fight for racial justice, inclusion, and equity. Going forward, we will continue to take meaningful action toward positive change.Over the years, we’ve sought out powerful Black voices to educate, inspire, and uplift the BOOST community. We hope you’ll take some time to listen, read, and continue your anti-r...Read More

Out-Of-School Time Providers – Needed Partners In An Uncommon Civics Education

These days, it appears that every other day presents a lesson in civics – an opportunity to understand and practice the rights and duties of citizenship anew. More palpably, the state of our civic education is in flux. What civic participation looks and acts like is being updated for a new generation – with numerous examples from Black Lives Matter to the March for Our Lives, from the Women’s March to the Dreamers to children taking the case on climate change both to the courts and the streets. ...Read More

It’s Time to Reframe the Narrative around Black Youth — and Youth Work Has Some Tools to Do So

This post originally appeared on the Breakfast Club Blog on June 9, 2017. His name is Jordan Edwards. And Jayson Negron. And Darius Smith. He was fifteen years old. He was unarmed at the time of his untimely demise at the hands of law enforcement. He was a young man of color caught on the wrong side of the thin line between potential and death. He should be participating in a summer jobs program, playing hoops at the Y, or compiling an initial list of colleges. He – Jordan, Jayson, and Darius – ...Read More

Can You Alter Unconscious Bias? Changing the Conversation.

On Saturday morning… the City of Cleveland and its surrounding suburbs anxiously awaited the verdict reading of the Michael Brelo case, a white American police officer who stood on the hood of a car and shot fifteen rounds into the bodies of two black Americans who sat in the front seat of the car. There is nothing right about this situation and there is nothing right about the verdict, which cleared him on all accounts. However, the most difficult lesson in this story, and many similar st...Read More

A Challenge to Educators

2015! Wow! When I was a kid, in the 70’s and 80’s, we used to fantasize about what it would be like in the 2000’s. There were going to be flying cars and moon shuttles for public use, machines on which you could dial up any type of food and it would instantly appear. Even sports would be different, played in mid-air with jet packs and in stadiums filled with interactive technology. All of these notions seemed so possible then, dreamed up by city kids who watched too many episod...Read More

From Ferguson to Our Classrooms: Why Social Justice Education Matters

The paradox of education is precisely this – that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions… But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry, which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society ...Read More