YMCA after-school program will serve Charlestown schools

CHARLESTOWN — On the opening day of the 2018-19 school year, Meeting Waters YMCA’s national award-winning after-school program will begin serving the children and families of Charlestown Primary School and North Charlestown Community School.

Y-ASPIRE (After-School Program for Inspiration, Recreation and Education) has served thousands of youth and parents over the past 20 years at program sites throughout the Connecticut River Valley. The new program will be based in the multi-purpose room at Charlestown Primary School. North Charlestown Community School students will be bused to the primary school for Y-ASPIRE.

“Meeting Waters YMCA’s after school programs have been successful with many of our surrounding neighbors in both Vermont and New Hampshire and I look forward to their expertise in designing a program that will be successful for our Charlestown children,” Principal Christopher Young said is a press release.

Meeting Waters YMCA Executive Director Susan Fortier said Y-ASPIRE was designed in 1998 with a focus on multiple benefits.

“When Steve (Fortier, former MWYMCA executive director) and I created Y-ASPIRE 20 years ago, we applied all of our knowledge and experience in positive youth development, after-school programming and family strengthening. As parents of two young children at the time, we also built in considerations of parents’ needs-like all-day programming when schools are closed for in-service days, vacations and even most holidays,” Fortier said. “By doing all of that, we are supporting more than 200 youth each year, the many hundreds of working parents and caregivers of these young people, the businesses that employee the parents, and the communities served by our programs because we are developing important life skills during ‘the danger zone’ each and every day.”

Fortier added, “Research shows that ‘the danger zone’ from 3-6 p.m. is the time when children not enrolled in enriching after-school programs are likely to be physically inactive, not engaged in learning, and introduced to unhealthy behaviors. With our focus on the Developmental Assets approach to youth development — which research shows helps young people reduce risk behaviors while also building thriving behaviors — we are much more than a ‘safe haven.’ Yes, we are keeping kids safe, but while we have these 200 or so young people in our care, we are developing building blocks that help

them develop life skills and life habits that will serve them well into middle school, high school and into adulthood. We are thankful to the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation and the Claremont Savings Bank Foundation for the financial support needed to bring this program to the families of Charlestown.”

Y-ASPIRE is a state-licensed school-age child care program. Each day of the program includes physical activity, nutritious snack, assisted study time and a cooperative group project. Activities are centered around monthly themes such as Our Community; Celebrating Diversity and Kindness and Justice. Through various activities, students in Y-ASPIRE develop life skills such as cooperation, problem-solving, group decision-making and leadership. They also learn more about themselves, their community and their world. Periodic service learning projects benefit the community. Monthly family events focus on strengthening healthy family habits. Over the past four years, Y-ASPIRE has been recognized as a national model among the more than 2,700 YMCAs in America for both its family engagement practices and its Healthy Eating and Physical Activity standards.

Enrollment is now open for the new Charlestown program as well as those in Rockingham, Putney, Dummerston and Brattleboro in Vermont. Financial assistance for all Meeting Waters YMCA’s Y-ASPIRE and other “out-of-school” programs is available through the New Hampshire and Vermont Childcare Subsidy programs and Meeting Waters YMCA’s Reach Out to Youth scholarship fund, built by donations. As in all of the YMCA’s programs, no one will be denied access to Y-ASPIRE for lack of ability to pay full program fees.

For more information and registration materials, visit www.meetingwatersymca.org, call Meeting Waters YMCA’s main office at (802) 463-4769, or email them at [email protected].

Meeting Waters YMCA is a charitable, nonprofit, social service organization founded in 1895. Its services also positively impact children, teens, families and communities throughout the Fall Mountain, Springfield, Bellows Falls and Brattleboro regions of Vermont.