Summer 2007

Project My Time’s First Semester a Big Success continued...

Overall better coordination is another important result of Project My Time. We have a new Memorandum of Agreement with the DC Public Schools, a framework for coordinating all activities at each site. For instance, it provides a flat rate for using school facilities for after-school programs. It establishes principals as key players in this work and gives us access to aggregate data on students. It establishes the Office of Community Partnerships at DCPS, ably staffed by Karene Brodie, an expert at navigating systems. In addition, for the first time, all after-school providers meet regularly at each site to talk and solve problems together. There’s also better coordination among after-school program providers. “We’ve met our goals of establishing a baseline of understanding and competence among providers about aligning content with the school system’s standards and about training youth workers on youth development,” says Sharma-Holt.

While we’ve met our original goals of reaching about 200 children at each school, we want to do even better. Our new goal is to engage half of all students at each Project My Time school in after-school activities and to have about third of them participate regularly. Those are ambitious goals, but we are confident we will get there.


 

Project My Time is an initiative of the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation.