Programs for Youth Practitioners and Youth |
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Overview
Overview
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| History |
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| Goals |
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| Funders |
History
The ILS advances literacy learning for children and youth in community-based organizations and advocates for effective educational practices in settings other than schools. Our services have included professional development and technical assistance to practitioners seeking to integrate educational components within community-based programs; leadership development for program staff in the areas of reading, writing, and curriculum development; and policy development, evaluation, and dissemination efforts for the youth field.
Over the years the ILS has supported after-school programming through several long-term projects, among them the Youth Practitioners Institute, 21st Century Community Learning Center/District 5, the Children's After-School Literacy Project, and various efforts funded by the Robert Bowne Foundation, including, most recently, the Youth Education Scholars project. In the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, key ILS staff were active members of the Bowne Professional Development Group, pioneering the establishment of ongoing professional development services for staff of after-school programs. Much of our work on behalf of the Bowne Foundation in the 1990s was conducted in collaboration with the Literacy Assistance Center and with Brooklyn-In-Touch, a management-consulting firm now called the Nonprofit Connection.
For three years, 2000-2003, the ILS was a service provider for The After-School Corporation (TASC), offering workshops in book-making, and reading and writing connections. Both series of workshops were designed to introduce after-school staff to reading and writing strategies that are fun for children and contribute to their literacy development.
Our work in after-school youth programs reflects the approaches to professional learning developed in the New York City Writing Project. Thus our work with after-school program staff includes opportunities for practitioners to share their own expertise, reflect on their practice, engage in their own reading and writing, become acquainted with relevant theory, learn from student work, and experience first-hand new strategies and approaches
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Goals
In our work with after-school practitioners and programs we seek to:
- create literacy-rich environments for after-school programs
- enhance library development through awareness of a range of books and resources related to programs' themes and missions
- expand and supporting programs' approaches to literacy education, including integration with the arts
- assist youth practitioners in developing practical ways to links reading and writing with youth development
- contribute to the professionalization of the youth-literacy field
Funders
Over the years our programs for youth practitioners and youth have been supported by a variety of funders including the Robert Bowne Foundation, the W.T. Grant Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, The After-School Corporation, the Fund for the City of New York, Partnership for After-School Education, the Kellogg Foundation, the Hearst Foundation, the Altman Foundation, and the Louis Calder Foundation.
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