City Connects Coordinators from Dedham, Massachusetts to Dayton, Ohio have spent months preparing for summer, carefully coordinating the crucial services their students will need once school doors close.
“Summer is a time when some of those trusted adults are not in students’ lives on a daily basis. Especially for those students who may be facing challenges, we want to make sure they have another trusted adult they can connect with throughout the summer. I think that is key,” said Akua Miller, City Connects Assistant Director of Implementation.
Miller and her team of Program Managers and Coordinators support students in nearly 50 schools in Indiana and Ohio. They’re focused on ensuring students have access to food, mental health support, learning experiences, and enrichment opportunities throughout the summer.
“We work with our Coordinators to connect students to food services because food insecurity is a huge challenge, especially in the Indianapolis and Gary areas. Some schools provide food to families throughout the summer, but if not we’re working to find resources in the community to support students and their families,” said Miller. “Mental health is another important resource–many of our students have therapists they work with inside the school building and we want to make sure those connections continue throughout the summer in their communities.”
Summer planning began in January for the City Connects team in Indiana and Ohio. They organized three summer service fairs for Coordinators to meet with a variety of community partners that provide everything from summer enrichment opportunities, to academic support, to health services, to vital support that families need to get through the summer. The summer service fairs happen in March to ensure Coordinators and families can enroll in programs before they fill up.
“For Coordinators, it’s an organic way to network and connect with various service providers based on the needs they are seeing in their communities,” said Miller. “Sometimes camps only have a certain number of students they can provide free or low cost services, so we make sure our Coordinators are getting that information as soon as possible so they can make those connections with students and families.”
In addition to connecting students and their families to critical resources this summer, Coordinators in Dedham, Massachusetts, are linking students to a variety of programs that support academic and social development. Incoming sixth graders, for example, have a chance to take part in a 12-day camp at their middle school that includes reading, math and STEM learning, team building activities, and—perhaps most importantly—the opportunity to get to know their new school.
“It helps students transition and get ready for middle school. They learn how to open their lockers and get to meet some of the teachers and clinicians. It’s wonderful because the kids that go through that program really seem to enjoy it, and it helps alleviate anxiety and stress when transitioning to middle school,” said Ali Lukoff, City Connects Program Manager in Dedham.
For students in Dedham who may need additional support this summer, there’s Camp Spark, a program that offers both academic learning and counseling, speech, occupational, and physical therapy. Meanwhile, all students have the option to attend Dedham’s Summer Institute, which offers dozens of enrichment programs that students can choose based on their interests. The camp offers everything from LEGO building to cooking, to arts and crafts, to sessions focused on special interests like mermaids or sharks.
“Coordinators work hard on making sure students have activities in the summer. Especially for those children that might not have anything available to them, Coordinators will reach out to the families, talk to the teachers, and connect those families to these kinds of camps in Dedham,” said Lukoff. “We really take into consideration the whole child.”
Whether its activities and fun. whether it’s academic, whether it’s social, we make sure there are a lot of options so every child has something this summer,” said Lukoff.
