Leaders of Tomorrow

A Saint Peter's College/Community Collaboration with New City Kids After-School Program.

Overview

• Introduction
• Database project
• Documentation project
• Reflections
• Products & future directions

Making A Database

Purpose

Right now, there isn’t really a place where you can find an easily accessible list of all after-school programs in Jersey City.* The purpose of this project is to create an online directory, so it can be easier for parents and students to find out about the different after-school programs that are available in Jersey City. Our project focuses on after-school programs that target kindergarten through eighth grade.

* with the exception of Urban League

Photos:  Research Team (left); Research Assistant (center); Research Team in Action (right)

Methods

• First, we had to look up different places that we could call to find out information about the after-school programs.

We used the following sources to identify the after-school programs:

• College Library
• Telephone Book
• Informal Contacts
• Internet 
• Survey

• To continue identifying other after-school programs, we also contacted the following groups by phone:
  • City Hall
  • Jersey City Board of Education
  • All local churches
  • Salvation Army
  • Urban League

Once we identified the programs, we developed a short phone survey. We came up with a list of questions we were going to ask the different after-school programs. The questions we came up with were ones we thought were meaningful and straight to the point for the parents and guardians of students. 

Script

• We developed a protocol for each survey. We first identified ourselves and why we were calling. Then we proceeded with questions we were going to ask.
• “Hello, my name is ________. I am a freshman at Saint-Peters College and I am working on putting together a database of after-school programs for the city. I was wondering if you offered any after-school care for children between kindergarten through eighth grade.”
  • If answered No: “We say, thank-you for your time and have good day.”
  • If answered Yes: We proceed with the questions.
• Questions:

1. What is your name, address, and telephone number?
2. How long have you been open?
3. Are you a nonprofit organization?
4. What kinds of activities do you offer?
5. Who does your program target?
6. Is there a fee?
7. What hours are you open?

• After Survey is done: “Thank-you for your participation and have a good day.”

Preliminary Findings

• At this time, we have identified about 60 programs.
• Over 60% of the programs were school based.
• The rest were community or church based.
• Most of the programs offered homework help, snack time, and recreation.

Documentation Team

Rachel Goodstein, Susan Mascolo, Edward Ryan

Purpose

The purpose of this portion of the project was to research the New City Kids after school program. We wanted to help the program become stronger and help expand it as well. We did this by recording the strengths and needs of the program.

Our group researched New City Kids using four different methods:

1. Focus groups - a group of people are interviewed at the same time so they can add in on one another’s responses. There were three different sets of focus groups. One was a group of 1st-3rd graders, another 4th-6th, and the last one was of those any grade above 6th. Each group contained three to four children.

2. Interviews - questioning an individual and recording his/her responses. We interviewed three teen workers there to see how working there may have had a personal impact on their lives. We also wanted to take a look at their perspectives of the program.

3. Participant observation - when the researcher actually gets involved with the research instead of merely observing.  The entire team was required to attend a full day at New City, once a week. The program runs from 3-6:00 PM, so each researcher spent about two hours a week at the program. We participated in homework help and recreation time in order to get a feel of the program we were researching.

4. Photovoice – “Entrusting cameras to the hands of people to enable them to act as recorders, and potential catalysts for social action and change in their own communities” http://www.photovoice.com/background/index_con.html. One researcher (Marie) bought five cameras and told the children to take pictures of their favorite things at New City.

Data Analysis

There were various sources of qualitative data that were used in this research.

• Children’s drawings.
• Field notes.
• Children’s photographs.
• All of the interviews were transcribed by Michael Gore (freshmen research assistant) so we could better see the questions and responses. As a group, we analyzed the transcripts by reading then highlighting points that stood out to us. We also used note cards to jot down quotes that were relevant to our research. Finally, the group discussed what we thought were important ideas to add in our research.

Preliminary Findings

• New City Kids is a program that develops students’ homework completion skills, as well as increasing their abilities in music and art. Both the teen and adult staff want New City Kids to be a safe haven that will equip them for life and boost their self-esteem.
• There is a need for increased funding. Reaching out to more parents and middle school age students are also main concerns.
  
  • Money makes the world go round. And if we had more money the kids would get a lot more. I think about a lot of things I want to give them…if I could get them certain supplies they needed like books or things that they should know about I’d get it for them but I don’t have the money for that.”       --Teen staff

• Living in an urban environment, children may face an array of obstacles, so they really appreciate the program. This can be seen through the stories they told us and pictures they drew. Some even told us how homework help is one of their favorite things about New City, which shows how eager they are to learn.
  

Friendship

• “I have friends at New City Kids.” – one child’s response to one of his three favorite things at the program
• “I can’t say only one child [had an impact on me] I have to say a pair because they are always together. ‘Jason’ and ‘Ricky.’ Those two go hand in hand. They have a great friendship. When one is down, they help the other out.”

Leadership

• “I’d want to be known in the community for developing teen leaders and doing it well.”
  – Adult staff
• “I didn’t know how to play chess, but a little boy taught me. He totally creamed me, too.”
  – College researcher field notes
  

Guidance and Inspiration

• “We want to help to equip them for life, and not just have a warehousing or babysitting center…When they come here, it’s a place of hope, it’s a place of light, it’s a place of love and energy.”
  – Adult staff
• “Going to New City Kids has really inspired me to be a better person.”
  –Researcher/College volunteer
• “A lot of people look up to me, so I have to make sure that I’m doing good things around the teenagers as well as the kids.”
  – Teen staff
  

Expression of Talents

• “Basketball, board games, and drum class” – a child’s response to three favorite things about New City
• “‘Dave’ didn’t know keyboard or anything back then and now he is not only playing keyboard but he is teaching other kids from his community to play.” – Adult staff quote

Reflections

Vicki Webb, Outreach Coordinator
Pastor Trevor Rubingh, Director
Shanel Salter, College volunteer

Upcoming Projects

• Written Report to New City Kids
• Initial Database
• Report Back Meeting with New City Kids Staff

Future Directions

• Online Directory or After School programs for Public Use
• Continue/Formalize Relationship Between New City and SPC
• Connect to Service Learning Office?
• Expand ongoing Frosh Year Project Course?
• Co-Develop Training program for New City Volunteers