Combatting Isolation with Intentional Care: A Community Care Project with Cambridge Afterschool Program
by Olivia Owens
Keywords: Social and Emotional Learning, Restorative Justice, Mindfulness, mentorship, education, growth zones
As our lives have been completely uprooted over the past nine months, we have been forced to adapt to how we conduct our daily lives. By that fact, how we work, dine, and connect with people has drastically changed. Therefore, how we perform service has also transformed. Normally, the classroom is filled with students, materials, and a plush rug specifically for circle time, however, now the classroom is my bedroom, my kitchen table, or my couch as this is the only way we can create meaningful connections during this global pandemic. For this reason, youth public service is even more essential in the current state of isolation and social distancing to show up and stand with young people. Therefore, my community care project is centered around the Phillips Brooks House Association’s Cambridge Afterschool Program.
PBHA’s Cambridge Afterschool Program, or CASP, began in 2008 out of a summer-long program called Cambridge Youth Enrichment Program. In 2008, CASP was started, in the Fresh Pond Apartment Complexes in Cambridge. CASP operates Monday through Thursday for low-income Cambridge youth and works primarily with immigrant families. This program serves roughly 30 students that age from 6 -14 years old. CASP offers academic programming which serves as homework help and academic activities. CASP also offers the space of tutors to create new and fun workshop activities that allow for a wide variety of activities for the students.
Through this service experience in a virtual world, I intentionally prioritized care and provided a space for my students to connect with peers and mentors out of school hours. Classrooms have been successfully implementing frameworks such as social and emotional learning, restorative justice, and mindfulness, and afterschool programs must do the same to foster a positive and caring environment. As I have been working with CASP I have prioritized the creation of this space for the students that I work with. I have set classroom norms, maintained opening and closing circles, implemented workshops activities focusing on academic learning, community building, and personal development, and established individual check-in between students and mentors to pin-point their growth zones.
The sources I’ve included highlight the how beneficial integrating concepts from social and emotional learning, mindfulness, and restorative justice into programming are. This has promoted engagement and interest and prioritized empathic caring within our virtual community.
Resources
Advancement Project, Denver Classroom Teachers Association, Denver Public Schools, National Education Association, and Padres & Jóvenes Unidos. 2017. School-Wide Restorative Practices: Step by Step Education Votes. Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership. www.denverrp.org
Bulach, Cletus R. 2013. Success in School: Are Your Child’s Five Basic Needs Being Met? Houston Family Magazine. https://houstonfamilymagazine.com/features/success-in-school-are-your-childs-five-basic-needs-being-met/, accessed October 2020
Finley, Todd. 2014. The Science Behind Classroom Norming. Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/establishing-classroom-norms-todd-finley, accessed October 2020.
Gerszberg, Caren. 2017. Bringing Mindfulness into Schools. Mindful. https://www.mindful.org/ mindfulness-in-education/, accessed October 2020
Hopkins, Belinda. 2004. Just Schools: a Whole School Approach to Restorative Justice. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Monke, Audrey. 2019. Understanding Kids’ Comfort, Growth, and Blackout Zones. Sunshine Parenting. https://sunshine-parenting.com/understanding-kids-comfort-growth-and-blackout-zones/, accessed October 2020
N.A. 2020. SEL Is… CASEL. https://casel.org/what-is-sel/, accessed October 2020
Pomegranate Lab. 2016. Creating a More Growth Minded Classroom: Growth Zones. Medium. The Future of School. https://medium.com/future-of-school/creating-a-more-growth-minded-classroom-collaborating-educators-931bd1afe3a6, accessed October 2020
Tulsian, Kirsten. 2019. Why Every Classroom Needs a Safe Space for Students. Kirsten’s Kaboodle. https://www.kirstenskaboodle.com/why-every-classroom-needs-a-safe-space-for-students/, accessed October, 2020
Weissberg, Roger. 2016. Why Social and Emotional Learning Is Essential for Students. Edutopia. George Lucas Educational Foundation. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-sel-essential-for-students-weissberg-durlak-domitrovich-gullotta, accessed October 2020