Schools can be more than vibrant places for learning, they can also be year-round hubs
that connect families and communities to resources and services. This brief from the
National Human Services Assembly looks at schools that doing just that and outlines
what it would take to make school-linked services available in a greater number of
communities. For more great tools, check out the National Assembly's Family
Strengthening Center.
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the federal 21st Century Community Learning
Centers, the Afterschool Alliance is creating a storybook featuring people whose lives
have been improved through out-of-school time programs. Share your stories and program
nominations and check out sample stories online.
A simplified version of the USDA Summer Food Service Program has just gone national. It lessens the paperwork involved for groups or out-of-school time programs that want to incorporate summer meals.
Released in 2008, this interactive chart and report from the Center for Law and Social Policy includes updated information on programs, participants, families, and staff for all Head Start programs in each state.
Ice hockey fans are devoted to their sport, unfazed by the game's physical demands, cumbersome equipment, and the red-hot competition for ice time. Massachusetts is one of the centers of hockey fever in the U.S. So it's only fitting that the gradually growing list of hockey clubs for children with special needs now includes The Boston Bear Cubs, which hit the ice in February. Lisa M. Cataldo explains how the Cubs got their start, and what the club means to its players and their parents.