After School Program - Steps 2 Success

The primary goal of Making It Better's After School Program, Steps 2 Success, is to empower our future leaders to develop good character and leadership skills, positive relationships and to make healthy choices for a lifetime of success.

High quality after school programming can help keep kids safe and provide them with activities to support their development and success in school. According to Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2007/After School Alliance, 2009:

  • 71% of the nation's law enforcement leaders chose providing "more after school programs" as the most effective strategy for reducing youth violence and crime.
  • As many as 15 million (26%) "latchkey children", go to an empty house on any given afternoon.
  • The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the peak hours for juvenile crime and experimentation with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sex.
  • Currently, the federal government contributes only 11% of the cost of afterschool, while 29% of the children in afterschool meet the federal government's definition of low-income and in need of federal assistance.

Offering Solutions – Through Steps 2 Success

The Steps 2 Success Program was developed as a result of our experience, over the last 4 years, in providing afterschool programs for at-risk students. We have designed the program to develop leadership and positive relationship skills, and provide at-risk children with a wide variety of experiences that, otherwise, they would not have an opportunity to encounter. We believe that these skills and experiences are vital to our students' ability to resist negative influences that are so common in the world today and enable them to break the cycle of poverty as they become adults.

Our Approach

Our approach is multi-faceted; we will target various areas that we see as critical to the development of our students. Our program offers extremely low student to adult ratios (6:1), which allows for building and sustaining meaningful relationships. The program will provide a safe environment with loving adults, and carefully planned and structured lessons personalized specifically to the children we serve.

In addition to the students, we feel it is crucial to develop a strong relationship with the parents so they feel a sense of community and an investment in our program. Therefore, these programs will also include a substantial buy-in and participation from the parents of our students. Parents will have educational opportunities throughout the year designed to reinforce the curriculum we will be providing for the students. We have often times found parents can be a barrier to a child's ability to fully participate in programs. With the parents more closely involved in the program we hope to increase our ability to impact the life of the child and the entire family.

Content Areas: 

  • Life Skills
  • Community Engagement
  • Lifetime Fitness
  • Creativity
  • Grade 13

What sets our After School Program apart?

  • Our programs are free of charge!
  • Our programs are held both on school campuses and in apartment complexes.
  • Our programs have a low student:adult ratios are 6:1, unlike most traditional after school programs that maintain a 15:1 student:adult ratio.

Parent Education

In an effort to reinforce the children's curriculum, we hope to create a supporting home environment, equipping parents with the tools to support their children.

  • Parental participation
  • Increase in understanding of content areas
  • Increase in supportive behaviors

Each unit will have a class for parents including but not limited to:

  • Nutrition – healthy cooking/grocery shopping
  • Steps to getting your child into the right high school to prep for college (middle school groups)
  • How to support healthy decisions for your children
  • Financial literacy
  • How to support your child in school – homework, school involvement
  • Creative/positive discipline techniques

Evaluation and Outcome Measure

The first and last sessions of the EmpowerME4Life include a Pre- and Post- Assessment. The Pre-Assessment allows the facilitator to gauge the knowledge that the youth currently have around the areas of physical activity and nutrition. The Post-Assessment is to ascertain what knowledge and skills have been gained throughout the course. MIB anticipates that 100% of participants will display increased knowledge along with positive changes in attitudes and behaviors associated with nutrition and exercise.

After School Program Results 2010-2011
After School Snapshot 2010-2011
Testimonial
Cost
S2S Content