Teens and Seniors Home of the BraveHow it works: Link two demographics
• Pilot program is put in place in target demographic of working families’ unsupervised teens. Initial surveys indicate teens interests and needs to determine best practices and activities.
• Senior citizens volunteer admin and support, interaction opportunities with teens.• Proven successes, “small wins” are iterated to strengthen systems of operations. Operational capacity includes donated school space,
volunteer seniors.• Funding comes from school board, grants, teen and social organizations local, regional and national.
• Teen Choice:• School projects Home of the Brave Thinkers for integrating curriculum across disciplines to realize school projects using multi-media. All ARTS:
music, movement, video can be created, as avenues of expression, encouraged for school projects, or exhibited.
• Workshops: Bold Hearts: Ongoing creation: projects with current events themes, art/message poster campaign using social media and physical-space exhibits. Creations can be posted, then printed and reposted in public and private spaces. Legal counsel determines contracts.
• Goal Oriented: Yearly, traveling exhibits are created around nomadic art (portable) guidelines and bring ideas and messages to communities,
creating more opportunities for cross-generational connections and learning, and adding key focus and goal to Teen-Senior after-school group.
• Teachers and administrators are involved, lending support for cross-disciplinary advantages. Teens’ learning styles (Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardener) are taken into account and school projects can now integrate more arts, with help of the Teen-Senior Workshop team. Integrated curriculum concept and opportunities help many students advance their ideas.
Mission Statement: Provide a safe place after school where teens and seniors interact on creative, academic and community projects.
Values to Realize we
Funding/Space/Materials: computer/techarts supplies
WORKSHOP
OutcomesOutputs
Teen and senior engagement and empowerment
Increased sense of community security and well being
Teens and senior programs•Study, learn, create
•Attract funding•Admin., schedulingInputs
AdministrationHuman capital:volunteering
Activities
Traveling arts EXHIBITS
Teen and senior interactions
Teens and
SeniorsWorksho
pwebsite
Find work and exhibit space
Inputs Outputs
Get Press to raise awareness of Teen-Senior workshops
Determination of budgets by participant
numbers
Funds from local, regional and
national sources, teen and senior
organizations
Aligned school district teachers
and administration
Physical space at school
Community building,
Activities OutcomesShort-term
OutcomesLong-term
Strengthened operations
Empowered teens, Improved safety
Goals established for student
success
Meetings, scheduling,
planning
Accounting, legal, social services input/indicate
needs
Fund amount requests become more concrete
Participation increase; Senior
transport schedule building
Workshop planningTeens and seniors
Arts projects, posters, print-and-hang
campaign, exhibits
Improved academics; community outreaches,
self expressions
Increased trust supported
actions
Co-creatingenvironment fosters well-being, academic
improvement
Workshop results more fully realized
Ongoing, established and reoccurring
grants and fundingfor the program
Non-profit staff growthRoll-out plan for
locations
Institutional integration actions:
aim to improve student
performance
Home Base staff of two operating as non-
profit org
Materials: computer, web access, Arts supplies
Interactions between teens
and seniors
Operational planning/ legalities
discussion (art posting rights)
Gather data/feedback; determine best
practices/spaces/activities
Build website; Operational
improvementsAnnual exhibit planning
Other schools use Teen-Senior model; iterations
use best practices; Community acceptance
Functioning operations; Shared
experiences
Improved, secure, after-school environment
School integration: Group becomes teacher resource: teens get subject/ project
support by content specialists
School districts adopt teen-senior program and add
line-item in budgetNations schools adopt
results-driven integrated curriculum model; teens benefit
Adoption of favored
programs/workshops
Identifying the ProblemChallenge Type
Problem DefinedDifficulties
SolutionOpportunities
Who is doing the work?
Technical Need to negotiate for secure physical space with IT for Teen and Seniors workshops
Use existing school room, IT/admin
Authority:School admin and IT experts; teens and seniors Teachers, Advisors, Staff
Adaptive Teens need supervision after school. Both working parents, leave teens nowhere to go; Isolated elderly
Use empty school space. Assess and engage specialized skills of teens and seniors. Teens take on leadership and accountability
Stakeholders:New teams combine teens and seniors, teachers, principals; community
What Value will be Realized? Teens and Seniors Creating in a Safe Environment
Making it Happen
Supporting DataAfter School Programs’ Potential
NEED :• Safety: Juvenile crime peaks directly after school, from 3- 6pm, according to
Fight Crime, Invest in Kid; • Emotional Security: Suicide is 2nd cause of death among teenagers, highest
among seniors 85 and over• Socio-economic: High percentage of working parents; teens left alone,
unsupervised; U.S. Department of Labor stats showed 23 million parents worked full-time in 2010
• PEW Research Center, Washington, DC: In nearly half of two-parent households, both parents work full-time.
• Inequities in after-school opportunities
SUPPORT Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math – underlying importance of
innovation driving growth.• STEM to STEAM initiative championed at Rhode Island School of Design, which
cites: In last century it was science and technology that drove economic growth and in this century it is art and design. Gov’t policymakers support RISD STEM and STEAM
More Success Indicators:• Successful models for after-school programs include After School Allstars, operating in
hundreds of schools nationally. Based on similar vulnerability categories and mission statement of safety and success, programs have succeeded, including customized programming in a “Voice and Choice” motive.
• After-school programs save in crime-related costs, i.e., keep kids off street, away from drugs• A U.S. Government website exists specifically aimed at helping form, strengthen and
maintain youth programs: youth.gov, which gives tips on finding funding; generates maps of local and federal resources.
• In 2005, members of Congress established 1st ever After School Caucus in both Senate and House of Reps to increase resources for after-school care (Florida has “ambassadors from successful orgs that help advocate.
• U.S. Department of Education has 21st Century Community Learning Centers Initiative in place to help support after school programs. Existence of which substantiates the socio-economic-driven need: working parents, juvenile crime.
• Afterschool Alliance, Washington, DC based non profit public advocacy group seeking to spread awareness of the potential for after school programs to help kids succeed academically, socially and professionally.
Assumptions/Indicators• Teens will want to co-mingle with seniors.• Teens will join after-school workshop: success indicators show currently-
thriving programs due to need for safe place.• Funding will be approved and allocated: success indicators include
abundance of funders ,all sizes, from local and National.• School administrators will allow use of physical space.• Teachers will have time and inclination to partake. Buy-in includes success
indicators from other after-school programs which have improved academics