Kid Power

Afterschool programming - Kid Power's after school programs operate for 3 hours/day monday-friday for 38 weeks. Students participate in the daily academic Power hour to receive homework help and academic enrichment support. Classes are taught by Kid Power's site coordinators (with guidance from dcps contracted teachers) and supported by high school volunteers and college staff, utilizing small group instruction. Curriculum is aligned to the common core standards; however, Kid Power meets students where they are academically while working to gradually support these grade-level standards. Activities incorporate innovative and hands-on learning (i.e. Math taught through a fantasy baseball competition). Following the academic Power hour, students connect a stem-based curriculum to hands-on gardening, cooking, market, and service-learning operations in Kid Power's award winning veggietime project. During veggie time, students investigate sustainable agriculture, nutritional concepts, environmental science, and healthy living practices. Reading comprehension lessons are reinforced through hands-on science experiments and exploratory learning. Then, students apply these lessons to school-based gardens. They use produce in cooking and recipe development classes, bring produce home to participating families, and sell the remaining produce at farmers or school-based markets. Finally in our third program component the citizenship project, students connect a literacy-building and civic engagement curriculum to community action projects. Students work with high school or college tutors to complete a section of their "citizenship workbook," which teaches students us history and the building blocks of citizenship. Lessons are connected to hands-on activities that reinforce the democratic process and encourage civic participation. At the beginning of each year, students set up a Kid Power congress to create and pass bills pertaining to program operations. Students connect these lessons to service-learning and advocacy projects. In addition to these core programs, Kid Power also implements weekly enrichment opportunities based on youth interest and weekly stem activities.

Mentors Inc. at Kid Power - mentors Inc. at Kid Power trains and matches community mentors to middle and high school students to support high school graduation rates and social-emotional growth. It follows national best practices that support enhanced youth outcomes; which includes career site visits, college tours, enrichment activities, and ongoing match support. Students receive five hours of face-to-face contact each month and weekly phone calls with their mentors, and consistent support from Kid Power program staff to document and encourage monthly progress.

Summer leadership academy - Kid Power's 5 week summer leadership academy runs monday through friday for 7 hours per day. Students engage in daily academic, enrichment, and recreational activities. Each morning, they rotate through 3, 45-min classes (stem, english language arts, and citizenship) taught by contracted dc public school teachers. Students are broken down into small groups and work with high school and college mentors to reach individual academic and social goals. In the afternoons, students participate in hands-on activities aligned to Kid Power's veggietime curriculum. They participate in stem garden lessons and healthy cooking classes with produce from their own garden. During the summer leadership academy students also get direct entrepreneurial and workforce preparedness experience by creating a food product (pickles, hot sauce, etc) to sell at local farmers markets. Finally, summer leadership academy students engage in daily "Kid Power circles" to create community norms and a positive, nurturing, environment for youth. These feedback circles provided an opportunity for youth to discuss social issues, engage in teambuilding, and ultimately increase student's sense of self-worth and comfort speaking in a group.

In school health and wellness - our in-school health and wellness program places four foodcorps service members in our partner schools to teach in-school health and environmental lessons to over 1,000 students. They help train dc public school teachers and truly support the integration of health and wellness into the school culture. Members also run cafeteria taste test events, composting and recycling activities, school-based markets, and community wellness events. Our in-school health and wellness program places four foodcorps service members in our partner schools to teach in-school health and environmental lessons to over 1,000 students. They help train dc public school teachers and truly support the integration of health and wellness into the school culture. Members also run cafeteria taste test events, composting and recycling activities, school-based markets, and community wellness events.