DSF After School Program

The Dawn Staley Foundation After School Program is comprehensive in nature and is designed to empower young female participants by providing the necessary education and life skills to become productive and proactive community leaders. The multi-faceted program, which is administered by high quality staff members and volunteers, provides computer and reading programs, mentoring, tutoring, sport activities, field trips, health education workshops and community outreach projects.

Fifty girls, ages 11-14 who attend middle schools in North Philadelphia, participate in DSF After School Program each year, which runs concurrently with the school year. The After School Program utilizes a multi-year program design with the goal of graduating participants after three years of continuous involvement in the program. Since its inception in 1997, the program has served more than 600 minority and low-income middle school girls from North Philadelphia.

After school programs offer alternative opportunities for learning and success to youth facing considerable trials and tribulations as a result of their socioeconomic circumstances. With this in mind, establishing positive alternative programs after school for inner-city youth became an important mission for the Dawn Staley Foundation. The program elements of the DSF After School Program provide services, support, and positive experiences for at-risk students so that they can envision and achieve a positive future. Girls may participate in the program for several years during their middle school years, providing a continuity of services and the development of strong, caring relationships between participants and program staff and volunteers. Research has shown that programs that are successful in reversing negative outcomes for at-risk youth are those that are comprehensive, occur over a significant period of time, and enable the establishment of trusting relationships between service providers and recipients. The DSF After School Program incorporates all of these elements by design and our project objectives address the needs of the youth we serve.

The objectives of the DSF After School Program are:

1. To provide academic support including tutoring in reading, math and science, as well as computer skills.
2. To expose young women to cultural and historical social settings to foster an appreciation for various cultural milieus.
3. To introduce the participants to various professionals thus encouraging them to think about career opportunities, and to provide the necessary knowledge regarding successful completion of professional goals.
4. To enhance the participants' knowledge and awareness of various health issues they face as adolescents.
5. To provide community service projects that will allow the participants to interface with various community members and to foster an appreciation for giving back to those less fortunate.
6. To use sports as a primary vehicle for developing leadership and social skills and for emphasizing the importance of teamwork.
7. To provide a positive and safe environment for the participants.

The DSF After School Program serves low-income, minority, middle-school girls living in North Philadelphia. Ninety-nine percent of our participants come from single parent families with incomes of $15,000 - $22,000 annually. Many of our participants' parents have minimal education, have been or are incarcerated, and are experiencing major alcohol and substance abuse issues. The ethnic makeup of the population we serve is 98% African-American, 1% Hispanic and 1% Caucasian. The areas we service include Philadelphia postal zones 19121, 19132 and 19122.

Fifty girls, ages 11-14 participate in the program each year. The program currently serves 25 girls at each of the two sites: the Hank Gather Recreation Center at 25th and Diamond Streets, which serves girls from the Frederick Douglass, William Dick, E.W. Rhodes, and Edward Gideon Schools; and the Zion Baptist Church Community Center at 3601 N. Broad St., which serves girls from Cleveland, Gillespie, J.Cooke, St. Martin de Porres, and Kenderton Schools in North Philadelphia.

The ASP operates Monday through Thursday from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m., at two sites, the Hank Gathers Recreational Center and the Zion Community Center. The ASP utilizes a multi-year program design with the goal of graduating participants after three years of continuous involvement in the program. The program runs concurrently with the school year (September - June), and in the summer months, program participants take part in the DSF's Summer Basketball League and Mentoring Program.

In 2005-2006 school year, DSF reported an 80% attendance rate for the program as well as an 70% retention rate. We began the school year with exactly 50 participants (25 girls at each site). Also in 2005, the DSF participants' report cards indicated academic performance improvements in the following subjects: 65% improvement in English; 60% improvement in Reading, 55% improvement in Math and 50% improvement in Science. As a result of these findings, DSF recruited more tutors who specialized in Math and Science. Additionally, we hired a Reading Specialist to increase the participants reading skills. In 2006, the participants have maintained comparable percentages reporting grades that improved over 50% in Math and Science and over 60% in English.

At the program, participants receive the life skills, information, support and encouragement they need to make positive life choices, particularly in the areas of education and health. Specifically, the 50 middle school girls receive academic support including daily tutoring and homework help, weekly reading lessons from a reading specialist, and monitored school progress through periodic school visits and progress reports; health education including comprehensive, culturally competent sexual/reproductive health, and proper nutrition and fitness programming (i.e., HIV/STD and pregnancy prevention workshops, weekly group and one-on-one sessions with certified nutrition planner and fitness expert); weekly computer training, and weekly mentoring and career awareness workshops.

DSF also provides workshops that strive to improve the self-esteem and behavior of our participants. Along with our staff to support these foundations, we have been able to see major changes in a lot of our participants. We also receive feedback from our participants' parents in the visible changes that are affecting their child. Based on our parents evaluation of the 2005-2006 school year, 80% of parents saw a positive change in their child's behavior since attending the program. 87% mentioned that they saw characteristics of maturity within their child's behavior since participating in the program's activities. An example of the quality of our workshops included teaching the participants about unsafe sexual activities. Participants received a wealth of knowledge via the workshops on the detriments of unsafe sex and the importance of practicing abstinence.

The After School Program has been a vital part of many of our participants' adolescent lives. ASP actively tracks the lives and successes of the graduates of the program. Sophia Lumley, a 2006 high school graduate as well as a DSF alum, had this to say about the program. "The program helped me develop and exercise my leadership skills. I was also surrounded by a warm and positive staff, whom were really easy to talk to. [DSF] helped me out with my transition from one middle school to another. The program also helped me academically throughout high school."   Lumley also states, "I always looked forward to the annual community outreach project at the homeless shelter. Each year, we would feed the homeless for Thanksgiving and I had fun [while] I gave back at the same time."