Safe and Smart: Making After-School Hours Work for Kids - June 1998

A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Communities Meeting the Need for
After-School Activities


Plus Time New Hampshire, Statewide Network
Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.),
Manchester, New Hampshire

PlusTime New Hampshire
Contact: Cynthia Holt, 603-798-5850
PlusTime is a statewide network dedicated to ensuring that all youth have access to affordable, quality out-of-school time programs in New Hampshire. To increase community awareness about the need for after-school programs, PlusTime uses the media, works directly with communities, conducts workshops and conferences, and disseminates materials to after-school providers and schools. PlusTime convened a statewide strategic planning meeting for local communities, after-school service providers, religious leaders, businesses, families, schools, children's advocates, and government and juvenile justice agencies. The network has collaborated with other partners to apply for grant funding, and they have disseminated a number of start-up and expansion grants.

PlusTime New Hampshire works to improve quality and to increase capacity. They have assisted 53 after-school programs in program improvement. By working with another 59 communities, the organization has helped to start 24 new programs, serving almost 1,000 youth. PlusTime partners include University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, State Parks and Recreation, YMCA, YWCA, Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and Boys and Girls Clubs.

Y.O.U. After-School Program
Beech Street School
Contact: Andy Hamblett, 603-623-3558
Supported by PlusTime New Hampshire and its partners, the Y.O.U. after-school program, which stands for "Youth Opportunities Unlimited," serves 80 children, ages 5-14, who attend Beech Street School, located in a poor, crime-ridden area of Manchester, New Hampshire. The Y.O.U. program focuses on community collaboration and comprehensive approaches to supporting children, one-on-one attention, high expectations and strong links to the school, family involvement, and life skills training for students of all ages.

For the 45 young children, ages 5-9, who attend the Y.O.U. After School Adventure Program, the hours are filled with homework help and other learning activities, a nutritious snack, small group activities, games, projects, and reading. Fourth- through sixth-graders take part in the Y.O.U. Peer Adventure program, where they can get extra help with schoolwork and homework and join together in community service projects, such as a river clean-up. The Teen Program serves students in grades 7-12 in a club-like atmosphere. Y.O.U. Teen Leadership builds critical thinking skills and trains high school students to serve as mentors to middle school students in the Peer Adventure Program. Monthly family activities bring everyone together.

Students benefit from the Y.O.U. program in a myriad of ways. They name caring adults in their lives whom they trust. They make new friends and develop social skills. They do better in school and attend more regularly. Their self-esteem and ability to solve problems improves. They show a willingness to try new things and an increased capacity to think before acting. And their families are more involved in their lives and in their learning. Y.O.U. helped to establish a parent-teacher organization at Beech Street School, which did not have one. In addition, two Y.O.U. parents headed a community project to tear down a former crack house and build a park in the neighborhood.
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