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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Taking Stock of and Improving Your Program’s Food

Having made it through the hectic beginning of the new school year, now is a great time to take a fresh look at the food served in your afterschool program. Food is an important part of any afterschool program, helping to draw in children and to ensure that they are not hungry and can fully benefit from the activities being offered. Is your program providing fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean meats and low fat milk? For the millions of children who live in homes struggling to put food on ...Read More

Grow Your Program with Gardening

My two driving passions are youth development and access to fresh food. So the idea of incorporating gardening into youth programs gets me very fired up. There are a lot of great garden resources out there including this previous Breakfast Club Blog: Garden-Based Learning. Truth be told I could chat about gardening plans and show you pictures of my little urban garden all day. But first we should talk about how gardening fits in to your bigger, grander program plan. Because gardening fits into e...Read More

Food as a Foundation for Global Understanding

Asia Society and BOOST Collaborative are partnering to create a series of blogs on global learning in out-of-school time.  This blog entry was orginally published on EdWeek’s Global Learning Blog.  This entry is written by Heather Loewecke, Senior Program Manager, Afterschool and Youth Leadership Initiatives, Asia Society. In this entry she outlines some ideas for incorporating food and cooking into classrooms and afterschool programs. Visit Asia Society’s website for the full list o...Read More

3 Ways Summer Meals Are Making A Difference

Summer is here! For some families, summer plans involve which parks they’ll visit or vacations they’ll take. But for other families, summer can be a time of great stress as they find themselves struggling to fill the food gap that’s created when schools close and children no longer have access to healthy meals at school. Fortunately, there is a solution: the Summer Nutrition Programs. These programs—the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the National School Lunch Program (N...Read More

Addressing Food Security in your Expanded Learning Program

Think about all of the meals that you ate today. Did you have to think about: 1. Did you eat today? 2. Did you have enough to eat today? 3. What would you like to eat today? 4. Or did you not even think about food as you may eat whatever you like whenever you like? Many of the students that we serve in our Expanded Learning programs answer different questions than the ones we probably answered. More and more students rely on the food that is being served in school cafeterias all across the natio...Read More

Leveraging Wellness to Help Children Think Global and Act Local

Although the facts are alarming, conveying the importance of wellness to children can be challenging. Childhood obesity has almost tripled in children and adolescents in the past 30 years and today approximately one out of three children and adolescents in the United States is overweight or obese. Even more alarming, there are significant racial and ethnic disparities in obesity prevalence among U.S. children and adolescents. Research shows a strong link between a young person’s practice o...Read More

Snack It Up: Give Your Snacks an Upgrade for Less

What does snack time look like in your program? Are kids eating snacks like fruits, vegetables, and water, or are there bags of chips, cookies, and juice boxes?  Maybe you want to offer healthier snacks, but don’t think your program has the time or money?  Your local grocery store can be a great community partner to help make healthy snacks more affordable. In a recent announcement, First Lady Michelle Obama highlighted the important role that out-of-school-time organizations can play in fightin...Read More

Simple Ideas for Making Your Out-of-School Program Healthier

Out-of-school time providers have the unique opportunity to create environments where healthy eating and physical activity are encouraged. It doesn’t matter if you’re a before school program, an afterschool program, a summer program, a scouting organization, or a sports team you play a meaningful role in empowering youth to eat better and move more. As you think about your goals for 2014, below are resources and tools you can try throughout the year to promote healthy eating and phys...Read More

From Changing Lives To Saving Lives

For the past fifteen years I’ve had the privilege of working in the afterschool field as a program director, consultant, policymaker and advocate. I’ve met countless people who are making a huge difference. Students are doing better in school, becoming more enthusiastic about learning, developing positive social relationships, experiencing new things and mastering new skills. There’s no question that afterschool programs change lives. Now it’s time to save lives. Just a f...Read More

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