21st CCLC RFP Released

The Connecticut State Department of Education has released its Request for Proposals for afterschool funding through the 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant. The 21st CCLC grant application is electronic and is located on the State Department of Education’s e-grants system.  You should contact Millie Crawford at mcrawford@hmbnet.com to gain access to the system. Her […]

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SEL Series – Self Care

Three Key Strategies for a Full Day as a Youth Counselor It is vital for youth camp counselors to be prepared for full day summer camp. I remember how exhausting a day of work could be as youth development counselor.  In this blog post, I will discuss three self-care strategies for youth development summer workers […]

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SEL Series – Back to School

Getting Ready for your Back to School Night Event Back -to- School Family Night is a great way to enhance family involvement for your afterschool program. The event supports parent involvement as well as shapes children’s understandings of positive community interactions and it also promotes family bonding. A Back-to-School Family Night should be colorful, fun, […]

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Workshop Spotlight – Fun Fridays

TGIFriyays!  After school professionals will come together with context experts in a friendly and engaging conversation about one key area of after school program quality.  Explore tools and strategies, try new activities and games, share ideas, and network with colleagues.  Join us for Fun Fridays, and leave inspired and equipped to make your program shine! […]

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2019 – 2020 STEM Mini Grants

STEM Focused Mini-Grants for After School Programs in Connecticut The Connecticut After School Network in collaboration with the NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium is offering mini-grants of $1000 each to fund ten afterschool programs across Connecticut in an effort to expand STEM learning in an experiential way. Possible programming must be a minimum of two […]

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SEL Series – Poetic Expressions

Using Poetry as a Tool for Teaching Social Emotional Development Depressed When a tomato gets chopped, it is depressed. When carrots get diced, they are depressed. When they get mixed, they are depressed. Together!  In awe, I read each line of my student’s words and appreciated the depth of her talent and creativity. After reading […]

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State Funded Grants RFP Released

The Connecticut State Department of Education has released its Request for Proposals for the After-School Grant Program for Grades K-12 for the two year period 7/1/19 – 6/30/21. The State Department of Education has posted two videos to help with this process, which can be found here: Part 1 Part 2 For the first time, […]

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Looking for Grant Readers

Grant Readers Needed for After School Proposals The Connecticut State Department of Education is currently looking for a few good grant readers to help them evaluate grant proposals for after school programs. This is an unpaid, volunteer commitment to read and evaluate three or four proposals (maximum of 40 pages each) and score them on […]

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2019-2020 Professional Development Catalog Now Available

You asked for it and we delivered! The Network’s 2019 – 2020 Professional Development Catalog is here. From Deep Dive Sessions, Fun Fridays and a new CLASP Cohort, this one stop resource lays out an entire year of professional development offerings for after school professionals. In addition to some of our staples such as on-site trainings, […]

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SEL Series – Resources!

SEL Summer Program Resources I love a good find! I bet so do you. Recently I have found tons of excellent free SEL resources on Pinterest’s website.  These easy to implement activities will need minimal time to prep and complete. Also, they will be a great add on too many of your scheduled programs. In […]

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