After-school
program targets at-risk children
By
Daniel Frias
On-line Forty-Niner
After-school
programs are nothing new, but the Long Beach
BLAST program is. Long Beach BLAST, which
stands for Better Learning After School
Today, was launched in September 2000 as
a non-profit organization that works with
at risk children from kindergarten to eighth
grade.
The
program's mission is to improve learning
in after-school programs through collaboration.
BLAST recruits, trains, places and supports
community and college volunteers to work
as academic mentors for children at risk
for school failure.
"The
primary thing we do is we pull a lot of
volunteers to be trained and work as academic
mentors with at risk kids," BLAST programming
director Alison Redman said.
Long
Beach BLAST works with almost 300 volunteers
every semester most of who are Cal State
Long Beach students said Redman.
"We
work with a lot of college students,"
Redman said. "Ninety-five percent of
our volunteers are college students and
most of them are from CSULB."
BLAST
does not necessarily provide an after-school
program, but rather works with after-school
programs already in place for kindergarten
through eighth grade. BLAST provides several
elementary and middle schools with volunteers
that give one-on-one tutoring and homework
assistance in reading, writing, and math.
More importantly they function as role models
for at-risk students.
"The
college volunteers are amazing," Redman
said. "The kids really look up to them.
They think they are young and cool. It gives
college students the opportunity to connect
with these kids more so than any adult.
They have the opportunity to encourage kids
to go to college. Before they work with
the volunteers we ask the children how many
of them want to go to college and very few
raise their hands. After the children work
with them we see in increase in students
wanting to go to college."
Volunteers
must complete a BLAST volunteer application,
a background check and tuberculoses test
and he or she must attend a three-hour orientation
and BLAST training session where the applicant
will learn the necessary skills related
for the volunteer role. Volunteers must
commit at least one and half-hour per session
a week to the program. Volunteers are only
required to commit to one semester, but
can choose to continue to volunteer if they
wish.
After
the training, BLAST works with over 28 schools
in Long Beach to figure out where would
be the best program to place the volunteers,
Redman said.
"They
give us a list and tell us which kids they
have that are at risk and are struggling
at school or emotionally. We then figure
out what programs the volunteers are comfortable
with and what time they are available to
go that program."
The
volunteers are required to meet with the
students for at least an hour and a half
and volunteers must do academic work with
the students. Volunteers who cannot meet
them for after school sessions are still
required to do some type of academic activity
whether its reading a book or playing an
academic game said Redman, who also volunteers
as an academic mentor.
"As
academic mentors we are concerned not only
with the academics of the children we work
with, but we are also concerned with building
mentoring programs and finding out what
the child is about," Redman said. "These
kids really look forward to the volunteers.
It's a chance to get one-on-one time with
someone who cares. We see incredible results
both academically and socially from the
students investing time and love with them."
Long
Beach BLAST also provides these at-risk
children, mostly low-income, with resources
that enrich their lives. Not only do the
children in BLAST get help with homework,
but they also receive tickets to the symphony,
donated books and other gifts.
As
a non-profit organization BLAST primarily
depends on donations from individuals and
corporations. BLAST holds three fundraisers
throughout the year that help raise money
for the program. The next fundraiser will
be a bowl-a-thon to be held in May.
"We
can always use more volunteers. We have
way more children than volunteers that need
help," Redman said.
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