EXPANDING THE REACH OF BOSTON’S SUMMER PROGRAMS

A proposal for learning where and why kids in Boston are missing out on summer programs

Prepared by Give a SummerRamon@GiveaSummer.org

GiveaSummer.org

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Summary of presentation• Key, connected questions to improve the reach of

Boston’s summer programs• what are kids doing over the summer?• why don’t some kids participate in summer programs?• how can we get more kids into enriching summer programs?

• What we know so far

• Proposal: this fall let’s start understanding where and why kids are missing out• Details on plan

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Key, connected questions for improving the reach of summer programs

• What are kids in Boston doing over the summer?• How does that vary across communities, by race, by income?

• Why do kids not participate in summer programs?

• How can we get more at-risk & missing out kids into great summer programs?

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…and opportunities for Boston• What are kids in Boston doing over the summer?

• OPPORTUNITY -> Direct resources within Boston at most in-need communities; Support advocacy efforts to expand programs

• Why do kids not participate in summer programs?• OPPORTUNITY -> Increase summer participation by targeting key

barriers (e.g. awareness, excitement, transportation, availability)

• How can we get more at-risk & missing out kids into great summer programs?• OPPORTUNITY ->

• Take advantage of existing summer slots• Leverage community resources (teachers, mentor organizations, high school

students) efficiently for outreach and broader support for summer programs

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…and opportunities for leadership• What are kids in Boston doing over the summer?

• OPPORTUNITY -> Almost no data in any city about what kids are doing over the summer

• Why do kids not participate in summer programs?• OPPORTUNITY -> Lots of dispersed anecdotal knowledge, no real

comprehensive understanding at a local or national level

• How can we get more at-risk & missing out kids into great summer programs?• OPPORTUNITY -> Take the lead on education and engagement for

summer programs; Demonstrate model of leveraging mentor organizations and high school students to help with education & enrollment

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Focus on 1st and 2nd questions first• What are kids in Boston doing over the summer?

• What % of kids in BPS participate in summer programs?• How does that vary across communities, by race, by income?

• Why do kids not participate in summer programs?

• How can we better target education and outreach about summer opportunities to at-risk students and students who may be missing out during the summer?

• Questions best answered now, in the fall• Supports subsequent engagement effort in spring

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What we know so far – what are kids doing?

• Give a Summer Synthesis: Probably 40% to 50% of kids participate in summer programs, with little understanding of how that varies across communities, race, income, etc.

• Evidence• BPS data that 20% of Boston kids participate in its summer programs• Boston Beyond 2013 survey that ~25% of young people participate in

non-profit summer enrichment programs, while another 35% take advantage of BPS, BYCF, and youth jobs

• Afterschool Alliance survey in 2010 of summer learning participation in MA at 30% (national survey, ~500 responses from MA)• 2014 survey results will be released later this year• As far as Give a Summer is aware, this is the only source for national or state-

level data on this question

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What we know so far – why don’t kids participate in summer programs?

• Give a Summer Synthesis: Not well understood with probably lots of variance across communities. • Nationally, about 60% of parents whose kids don’t attend summer learning

programs have an interest in their kid attending (and about 70% of minority or low-income parents)

• Probably blocked by mix of i) awareness & excitement about options, ii) logistics (transportation, schedule), iii) availability of programs.

• Evidence• Afterschool Alliance survey in 2010 found in MA and nationally that about

60% of parents whose kids do not participate in summer learning programs have an interest in enrolling them in the future.• Interest is around 70% from minority and low income parents• 2014 survey results will be released later this year

• Dispersed anecdotal knowledge across providers about their communities

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Potential plan• Goal: understand better where & why students are missing out on summer

enrichment and help them take advantage of existing opportunities

• This fall – • Focus groups with parents to understand reasons for / against enrollment• Simple (targeted?) survey of student summer activities

• Target survey in areas with turnaround schools and/or underutilized summer programs

• Synthesize focus group and aggregated student data into “State of Summer” report

• Next spring – • Focus on communities with

• low summer program participation• underutilized local summer slots (and revise capacity to account for ~80% attendance)• concentration of at-risk students

• To help them take advantage of summer opportunities• Incorporate feedback from focus groups• Hire teachers to be summer enrichment coordinators

• Leverage mentor groups (Big Brothers/Sisters) and high school students (especially already participating in summer programs?) to serve as individual mentors to students

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Details on plan for this fall• Focus groups to understand why kids do / do not attend summer programs

• Target parents• Work with schools targeted for survey to find parents whose kids do not attend summer programs

• Simple surveys to map which kids do / do not attend summer programs• Target particular schools in grades 4-8

• Use prepopulated survey info to enable more accurate data analysis• Outreach to schools & parents to explain survey purpose and privacy

• Cost roughly is $15,000• $5,000 for surveys (~$1 per student, targeting about 5,000 kids)• $10,000 for focus groups (number will vary)

• Results• Give a Summer produces consolidated report of findings with partner organizations• Survey and focus groups inform targeted and improved outreach effort next spring• Individual data goes to BPS to improve picture of students and target other interventions• Serves as demonstration pilot for mapping and understanding summer participation

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Appendix

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Background – Give a Summer• Give a Summer is a new, not for profit organization to help

more young kids participate in enriching summer programs• Works to develop promising policy, advocacy, and program

innovations to expand summer program participation• Tries to find great partners to help improve these ideas and push

them forward

• Immediate goal is to partner with a school district to• Survey young kids (and parents) this fall about summer activities• Use that data and the help of community supporters and mentors

to increase enrollment in next summer’s programs

• Started and run by Ramon Gonzalez, a recent Yale College graduate

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Give a Summer’s beliefs• Summer programs can play a crucial role in youth development,

though many kids do not have access or enroll in them. • Recently, there has been increased study of effective summer

programs and some expansion of them to underserved kids.• Still, too many young kids, especially kids who are academically

struggling or from lower income backgrounds, do not participate in enriching summer opportunities.

We can do better (cheaply and quickly)• Survey young kids’ summer activities to identify gaps in access or

enrollment• Increase the low enrollment of struggling and lower income kids in

available summer programs• Partner with mentor organizations to attract young kids to summer programs• Involve young adults in a summer-oriented mentorship program for young kids

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Give a Summer’s approach• Focus on the problems of low enrollment and limited data

on youth summer activities • Why?

• Not much has been done about these problems• Efficient approaches to start addressing them• Benefits from this approach –

• “Easy” way to increase participation• Helps advocacy efforts by demonstrating demand & improving

knowledge of gaps in access• Brings in outside groups to summer program issues

• Increasing funding / greater access advocacy is being done well, partly successfully, and with tremendous effort by others