Youth Population: After School Program

Statement of Need 

The participation of after-school programs has been identified as an important aspect of the lives of the children that attend these programs. These programs are attended for several hours after the normal school hours and have contributed positively towards the enrichment of children's academic skills outside the normal class activities. The programs serve as ways of keeping the children engaged to flexible time that doesn't follow the school program styles by offering fun interactive activities to children according to the age of the children involved and also the needs of both the children and the parents of the children. This is an analysis of the requirements of a program of after-school play for a community that has not had such a program before. There are so many kids who want to a part of something and get some attention. Their first thought is sports and joining some athletic team, but they either are not good enough or don't have the means to join a program. Our program will fill that void in those kids' life and enable those kids to play and learn how to become better at sports that they have an interest in, which will keep them off the streets committing crimes or losing their lives, or taking someone else's. 

Description of program design 

The aim of the program 

The program is aimed at providing security for children between the age s of 8-10. Most parents have identified their fears for the children having to spend the after-school hours alone as it poses insecurity on the well-being of the children ( Affrunti et al., 2018 ). In addition, the program is aimed at engaging the children and increases their ability to engage in social interactions since they will interact with other children in the program. The project wants to accomplish with our program is to show kids how to have a better life through sports and exercise by showing them what it is like to be a part of a team instead of a gang. It will have them participate in multiple sports throughout the year and teach them the benefits of being a part of a team and show them that it's more fun to do things this way and help them figure out what direction that they want to go in life and show them how the discipline and teamwork skills that they learned with us can translate to the real world and teach how to transfer those skills. 

Target population 

The program is aimed at serving the parents and children from two neighboring community schools that do not have effective after-school programs. The parents, in this case, will be served by the provision of security for their children by the program, while the children will be served by providing a platform for them to have interactive activities away from the normal school operations ( Epstein et al., 2018 ). Activities and time of the program will have well-organized activities in the areas of art, music, and recreation since it is play-based. The children will; take part in physical activities, have drinks and eat, interact with friends for socialization, and relax and enjoy quiet time. 

Explanation of how it meets community needs 

The community has expressed the fear and insecurity that is present due to the children being left alone after the normal school hours since most of the parents are working. The children, too, have shown to have increased levels of loneliness since they are alone after school. These two scenarios bring out the needs of both the parents and the children since the program is aimed at serving them (parents and children) (( Epstein et al., 2018 ). For the parent's needs, the program will ensure; there is safety from the dangers of being home alone and supervision of the children when they are working, security for the children since the program is aimed at eliminating the insecurity form the parents, reduce the high costs associated with hiring baby sitters to fill their place when they are at work, and ensure close monitoring of the needs of the children where special attention is required 

Site selection criteria and description 

The selection of the site for the location is important, bearing in mind that this is a program that is meant to serve students from two different schools that in one community. Site location will be strategic in a manner that it is accessible from the two schools. Transportation is also another crucial factor that is to be considered for site selection. The parents want to achieve the minimal expenses associated with the program, and thus the location should be one that is cheap to access by the available transportation means ( Allcott, 2015 ). The program is aimed at the creation of an after-school program for the play of the children, and this is a major factor in site location. The site should be able to have space that will enable the installation of both the indoor and outdoor play equipment as per the requirements of the program, and the site should not be in a place that is affected by changes in seasons. In addition, the operational management of the program will largely influence the selection of the site of the program. The easy accessibility of other supplementary facilities is also an important consideration for this offers great collaborations with the outside world that supports the operations and the existence of the program. This way, the program has to be in a site that enables it to receive community support as much as possible since it is community-based. 

Criteria for plants/trees, location, and how they will be established/maintained. 

The site location and tree location, establishment, and maintenance have similarities, but this is established later. Trees and plants will be of important value in the success of the program since some of the play activities will require the use of the trees. Additionally, an environment with trees offers a fresh and conducive environment for the various outdoor play activities and an avenue for interaction with nature by the children. The plants should be strategically located in various positions in the outdoors (playground) for them to serve various purposes such as shade on sunny days, a cooling breeze on hot days, and also as meeting points for various groups of children in the programs. New trees will also be panted and taken care of by the program with the involvement and participation of the children in the efforts of teaching the essentials of environmental conservation. The program staff and volunteers will also be involved in the location choices for the trees and plants and take great care of the trees and plants beyond the limits that the children take care of them. Maintenance will involve making sure that that the plants are in good shape and condition, such as trimming, to ensure that the trees do not pose any dangers to the health and lives of the students. 

List of facilities and equipment needed. 

The success of the program will be enabled by acquiring facilities and installing the required equipment to be used by the children. The required facilities include open ground and classroom facilities or halls. The open ground will be utilized for the purpose of installing the outdoor play equipment, whereas the halls/classes will be used for the installation of indoor play equipment for the children. The facilities for the outdoor play area will be utilized by different groups of students divided on the basis of age for the children's physical development and socialization ( Miller, 2012 ). The play area will be equipped with the structure for active games, play structures, sand and water play, bike baths, and climbing structures. The indoor play areas will be equipped with instruments and materials that give reflections on culture, language, and diversity. 

List of resources used, including human (tutor, student forum, other) 

Human resources 

The human resources applied include tutor consultations and student forums. The tutor, in this case, acted as the consultant of the program to be initiated and offered assistance on the aspects related to the location of the program facilities and the administrations that are in line with a startup. Additionally, a student discussion forum was also utilized as a part of human resources. The responses I got from the questions I posted on the student forum on the facilities required, as well as the various needs that exist in the community that requires setting up of the program, have been utilized in this report. 

Methods and Strategies 

There are a lot of young kids in the community that does not have anything or anywhere to go once they get out of school to help them stay safe and have fun. The majority of those kids have a love for sports but have no way to get involved in organized sports either because their parents financially can't afford it or because they are not good enough to make the team. This program will provide those students with the opportunity to be a part of a team and learn how to play the sports they love the right way; it will also open their eyes to some other sports that aren't as popular among the urban community. Our hope is that through the mentorship of our staff and volunteers and through the comradery and love for the sports, we will be able to not only change some kids' lives for the better but save some lives as well. 

Transportation to the site 

The issue if having the children to reach the program facility is crucial, and transportation arrangements have to be made to ensure that there is the responsibility within the program. Parents will be asked to offer and organize carpools that will be used for the transportation of the children from the schools to the program facility. 

Administration and Management 

Since this is a community organizer after-school program, the management will be mostly by the parents selected to do so on a voluntary basis. The program will also consider having one qualified full-time staff to run the program and also have voluntary from students' and other interested individuals of the community who can volunteer. 

Plan of Evaluation 

We will evaluate the success of our program by looking at the number of students we have participating and looking at how those students grades and attendance improved while they are in the program because if they don't make good grades and attend a school that can't come to the program and if their grades are bad they will have to attend an hour of tutoring every day until their grades come up before they can participate. 

Budjet

Personnel $230,000.00 

Fringe $49,250.00 

Travel $1142.00 

Equipment $20,000.00 

Supplies $4,560.00 

Contractual $0 

Consultant $0 

Other $4160.00] 

Total Direct Costs $ 309,112.00 

Summary 

The project involved the establishment of a community after school play program that engaged the opinions of many stakeholders, and this was an indication that there were conflicts that needed problem-solving. The lessons learned from the problem solving are that it required; Problem-solving would not be a success if the solution that was being sought were not aimed at the concerns of the community. The problem-solving process for the project, therefore, involved the great consideration of the needs as presented by the stakeholders. Community concerns lead to the identification of problems by the community, as was in the case with this project. There were identifiable problems arising from the concerns of the community, which were given priority in the adoption of viable solutions. Once problems have been identified, the community had to devise the various ways and options that would be implemented for better solutions to arrive. Action planning engaged the process of listening to the opinions of each of the community members and combining the ideas to make a single solution. Community problem solving becomes successful if the correct actions are taken. The actions taken for solving the community problems included the ideas that had been coined in the action planning were the best of the solutions available was adopted. The community experiences changes day in day out, and these changes may impact the action taken negatively. The efforts to ensure that the problem-solving action that was implemented stays relevant in the continued problem-solving state of the community problem. 

References 

Affrunti, N. W., Mehta, T., Rusch, D., & Frazier, S. (2018). Job demands, resources, and stress among staff in after-school programs: Neighborhood characteristics influence associations in the job demands-resources model. Children and Youth Services Review, 88, 366-374. 

Allcott, H. (2015). Site selection bias in program evaluation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 130(3), 1117-1165. 

Braithwaite, J. (2017). Democracy, community, and problem solving. In Family Group Conferencing (pp. 31-39). Routledge. 

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Sheldon, S. B., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., ... & Hutchins, D. J. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. Corwin Press. 

Göçer, Ö., Hua, Y., & Göçer, K. (2015). Completing the missing link in building design process: Enhancing post-occupancy evaluation method for effective feedback for building performance. Building and Environment , 89 , 14-27. 

Gordon, B., Jacobs, J. M., & Wright, P. M. (2016). Social and emotional learning through a teaching personal and social responsibility based after-school program for disengaged middle-school boys. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education , 35 (4), 358-369. 

Hanlon, T. E., Simon, B. D., O'Grady, K. E., Carswell, S. B., &Callaman, J. M. (2009, November 01). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2840398/ 

Miller, P. M. (2012). Community-based education and social capital in an urban after-school program. Education and Urban Society, 44(1), 35-60. 

Miller, P. M. (2012). Community-based education and social capital in an urban after-school program. Education and Urban Society , 44 (1), 35-60 

White, M. C. (2016, August 03). After-School Sports and Club Costs Rise 7% This Year | Money. Retrieved from http://time.com/money/4425114/parents-rising-costs-after-school-activities/