After School
& Mentor Programs
Supporting Youth Development
Getting involved in after school programs and having a mentor
A child doesn't stop learning when the bell rings and school ends. Development comes from all different facets of life between family, school, social interactions, and activities.
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Having a mentor is a great way to be supported and develop different skills, as well as getting involved in different after school activities.
Advantage After School Program
Improving the social, emotional, and academic competencies of youth
Advantage After School Programs (AASP) provide quality youth development opportunities to school-age children and youth for three hours directly after school.
Research shows that children who participate in quality afterschool programs have higher school attendance and academic achievement and are less likely to be involved in risky behaviors during the afterschool hours.
The goals of Advantage After School
Positive outcomes for parents & children
Advantage After School Program is licensed and developed with the NYS Office of Child & Family Services (OCFS) and designed to have 4 primary program outcomes:
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To improve the social, emotional, and vocational competencies of school-aged children
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To prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock adolescent pregnancies
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To reduce other negative behaviors such as crime; tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse; disengagement from school; school suspension; and truancy and health-compromising behaviors
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To provide parents with a safe after school environment for their children
The possibilities are endless
After School activities take place for 3 hours every school day, with an additional family based activity to involve parents in participation once a month. Our After School, Mentor, and AmeriCorps teams all work together to get children involved fun, engaging and even educational activities to support in child development. Parents and youth involved have input into what these activities look like for what is most beneficial for them. The possibilities are endless. Here are just a few examples of what youth participate in:
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After school clubs
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Arts & Crafts
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Sports
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Cooking Classes
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Theater
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Nutrition class
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Community Service Club
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Spring Fling
Supporting STEAM Education
STEAM Education, evolving in recent years from STEM Education for the addition of the Arts, is a movement to advocate from segmented content areas, emphasizing technology to connect the subjects, and relating teaching to the outside world.
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Students can apply STEAM skills to diverse projects that help build a foundation for their future.
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Our teams help support STEAM by engaging youth in activities that help support the learning. Youth have taken part in building robotics and conducting stop animation videos.
Mentoring
Your bridge to a positive role model
Mentoring is a developmental relationship; help by one person to another in making significant transitions in knowledge, work or thinking.
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A mentor is someone who provides support and helps the mentee to review their situation through a process of reflection, questions, advice, and feedback. A mentor is there to help the mentee on their own journey.
The value of having a mentor
Supporting the development of others
How a mentor helps support
Mentors build a consistent, pro-social relationship to help support positive development of the youth. Mentoring has been shown to improve self-esteem, academic achievement, and peer relationships. It also helps reduce drug use, aggression, depressive symptoms, and delinquent acts.
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Mentoring guarantees young people that there is someone who cares about them, assures them they are not alone in dealing with day-to-day challenges, and makes them feel like they matter.
Video produced by mentoring.org with whom we are not affiliated for our mentoring program. Provided as a demonstration of the impact mentoring provides.​
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Our mentoring program provides 6 to 10 hours per week for youth. It involves developing a strategy for the youth's successful path to adulthood. We have a structured program that pairs a supportive individual with a youth to build a relationship by goal setting, offering guidance, support and encouragement.
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With a mentor, youth participate in pro-social activities similar to the Advantage After School programs. They can attend movie events, theater, circus, Hudson Opera House, get involved in Karate or Tae Kwon Do.
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The mentor is someone to call when they need someone to talk to. Someone who can listen, provide advice and support. They build lasting relationships beyond the scope of the program.
A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself
- Oprah Winfrey
What it means to be a mentor
Mentors are not meant to replace a parent, guardian, or teacher. They are not a disciplinarian or decision-maker for a child.
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Instead, a mentor is a role model, someone that demonstrates and helps develop the youth's positive values and cultural heritage parents and guardians teach. A mentor is part of a team of caring adults there to support the child.
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The needs and expectations of each child can vastly vary, so the mentor's job is to encourage the development of a flexible relationship that responds to their needs.
