Afterschool in the News

For media inquiries, please contact Michele Ritchlin at michele@OANohio.org / (833) OAN-OHIO (626-6446)

Kasey T. Morgan, MyCom’s Chief Strategy Officer, and NE Ohio Afterschool Network Chair Selected for the 2024-2025 Furman University, White-Riley-Peterson Afterschool Policy Fellowship

Cleveland, OH – Kasey T. Morgan, MyCom’s Chief Strategy Officer, has been selected to participate in the thirteenth annual class of the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship, named for William S. White, Richard W. Riley, and Terry K. Peterson.

The White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship equips participants with a real-world understanding of the art, science, possibilities, and realities of policy-making around afterschool and expanded learning.

Beginning in the late summer of 2024, she will join a broad national cross-section of 17 leaders from diverse organizations whose interests intersect in afterschool and expanded learning opportunities. Fellows will participate in a year-long process, including an intensive week-long fall workshop in Greenville, S.C. that will create a cohort of entrepreneurial, networked leaders capable of strengthening policy in support of afterschool and expanded learning opportunities.

Fellows will develop a targeted policy project in conjunction with their statewide networks and/or the Afterschool Alliance and will work closely with multiple organizations in their state to advance expanded learning and afterschool programs. Fellows are considered both learners and experts and will offer differing expertise they can share with others throughout the policy project experience. At the end of the ten months, Fellows will present their policy projects either in person or via a taped video presentation to the entire group.

“MyCom is one of northeast Ohio’s greatest assets as it plays the integral role of connecting government, philanthropic leaders, neighborhoods and key resources to youth and their families. We are passionate about providing afterschool and expanded learning opportunities for all youth, empowering them to be successful,” said Morgan.

The MyCom Youth Development Network of Greater Cleveland is Cuyahoga County’s premier youth serving organization providing a network of resources aimed at creating healthy, safe and thriving communities. MyCom has developed community-based systems that position communities to achieve common goals through partnerships that increase authentic youth engagement and college and career readiness. With over 300 neighborhood service providers in 20 neighborhoods, providing services in the areas of Out of School Time, Quality Improvement, Neighborhood Planning, Youth Workforce Development and Youth Engagement, with an emphasis on Youth Voice.

Walking in Another’s Shoes

Sandy Valley Local Schools challenged third graders in their 21st Century Community Learning Center grant-funded afterschool program to research a problem, develop a solution, and pitch it. Students interviewed the school custodian about what he needed to do his job better and learned he needed a better way to store and organize his screwdrivers. They interviewed cafeteria staff and learned they needed a way to hold recipes while cooking. They interviewed the art teacher and learned she needed a better holder for drying and storing paintbrushes. Students went to work: they shared their findings with the entire third-grade class and invited them to help research and design solutions. They reviewed suggestions, created CAD designs for the 3D printers in their maker space, and pitched them to the end users: the school custodian, cafeteria staff, and art teacher.

Project-Based Learning and Goat Breath Mints

Fourth and fifth graders in Newark City Schools Afterschool Adventures learned about goats, bees, and chickens in an entrepreneurship education program with an agriculture focus, offered with funding from Battelle and in partnership with Young Entrepreneur Institute, Ohio Soybean Council, and Young Entrepreneur Institute. They took field trips to farms, talked with farmers, met barnyard animals, and flexed their entrepreneurial mindsets when they came up with solutions to challenges they learned about…including Goat Breath Mints.

Elevated Visibility and New Partners

Youngstown’s Heart Reach Neighborhood Ministries added entrepreneurship education to their summer program. Students learn about entrepreneurship, develop a business idea, and pitch it to community judges. In  2023, a Great Handshake competition was held. Students learned about, practiced, and competed to make the best first impression.

Congratulations Maya Dorsey! - August 23rd, 2023

The Ohio Afterschool Network is so excited to announce that Maya Dorsey, Director of K-12 Strategies, has been selected for the White-Riley-Peterson Policy Fellowship. This fellowship creates opportunities to network and learn from experts from across the nation and to expand and improve afterschool and summer learning programming. Maya is the fifth OST professional from Ohio to be selected for the fellowship alongside Sheila James, Nichelle Harris-Shaskus, Charmaine Davis-Bey, and Michele Ritchlin who were all former recipients of the National Policy Fellowship.

Battelle Press Release - July 24th, 2023

Ohio Afterschool Network (OAN) extends Gratitude to Battelle for a $50,000 Investment in Ohio’s Out-of-School Time Programs. Click the button below to read the full press release.

Toledo’s Debbie Frison Chosen to Be One of Just 18 ‘Afterschool Ambassadors’ in the Nation This Year

The Afterschool Alliance announced today that Debbie Frison, Center Executive of the 21st Century Program at Rosa Parks and Glenwood Elementary Schools, has been selected to serve as an Afterschool Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance in 2020-2021. She is one of just 18 leaders in the United States chosen for the honor this year.

Moonshot Project to Propel Girls into STEM

Could a "moonshot" effort draw a million more girls and young women into STEM fields? That's the intent of a new initiative that will embed STEM learning opportunities into out-of-school programs over the next five years. The "Million Girls Moonshot" is being funded by a consortium of foundations, including the Intel Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the STEM Next Opportunity Fund, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.

Student From I Promise School Wins Young Entrepreneur Award With Free WiFi Plan

Dylan West, an I Promise School student, won a Northeast Ohio Young Entrepreneur Pitch Challenge award. His idea centered around starting a company, Scholarly Connections, that would provide free WiFi access for all in Akron. He was one of five award winners. The LeBron James Family Foundation tweeted a congratulatory message to West.

From Risk to Opportunity: Afterschool Programs Keep Kids Safe

The more than 5,000 law enforcement leaders around the nation who are members of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, have long known that the hours immediately after school lets out, when parents are likely not available to supervise, are the prime-time for juvenile crime. Over the past 20 years, law enforcement leaders across the country have relied on high-quality afterschool programs to provide supportive, stable, and enriching environments with caring adults that keep children and youth out of trouble and safe, while supporting their academic success, and social and emotional development.

‘Learning Centers’ Take In Kids Locked Out of Schools During Online-Only Classes

The coronavirus may have closed school buildings in Cleveland for at least several weeks, but it’s not stopping nonprofits like the Boys and Girls Clubs or the YMCA from giving students a place to do their online lessons while their parents work. The organizations are joining a growing movement in Cleveland and nationally to provide remote “learning centers” or “learning hubs.”