An after-school model: parks, schools and communities work together in Indianapolis - Great Parks: Indy Parks

Parks & Recreation, March, 2003 by Kristen Weaver

According to the National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education and Families, an estimated 8 million school youth between the ages of 5 and 14 go home to an empty house on a regular basis. Many of these youth are left alone for as many as four hours a day. For cities and towns across America, these unsupervised hours after school mean both heightened risks and missed opportunities.

When Indianapolis, Ind., Mayor Bart Peterson took office three years ago, he brought with him a mandate to increase the number, size and quality of the city's after-school programs. Peterson wanted to link after-school programs with local public school learning standards, and then provide staff and services to keep schools open during those critical hours after 3:00 p.m. Peterson knew that, to succeed, his new after-school agenda would need support and assistance from schools, the community, the private sector and his parks department.

"Nationally, statistics show that most kids get into trouble in the two or three hours right after school ends," Peterson says. "That's why Indy Parks has been working so hard to facilitate and create safe, wholesome, fun and educational activities for our youth."

Indy Parks met the mayor's challenge with its own strategic initiative, and began working with area schools to develop year-round youth programming to expose students to expanded education and enrichment opportunities in a structured, safe setting. Indy Parks Director Joseph Wynns created a school outreach office within Indy Parks, and hired former teacher Don Aguilera to fill the division's top spot, empowering him to create unique school-driven programming while forging the creative partnerships and funding to make it happen.

"When Mayor Peterson took office, we were all on board with his initiatives, but we didn't have any staff or resources dedicated solely to school outreach efforts," says Joseph Wynns, Indy Parks and Recreation director. "It was essential to get someone like Don who had a background in education and also the vision of how to build upon our involvement so we could help reach those kids who were under served."

Programming For Success

Currently, the Indy Parks Office of School Outreach offers programming at 13 locations, serving 27 schools in four school districts, with approximately 1,125 students participating weekly. Indy Parks works with local schools to engage youth in academic assistance, enrichment activities, prevention, service learning, recreation and socialization. The overall goal of after-school programs is to provide an environment that positively encourages youth development. Objectives include providing a safe, caring and healthy supervised environment for youth during non-school hours; promoting the 40 developmental assets and character development; developing marketable and protective skills allowing youth to "move on" to a more productive life and resist involvement in self-destructive behaviors; and encouraging positive connections among family, school and community.

In each program, the school outreach staff works closely with school personnel to design programs that support K-12 educational curriculum. Indy Parks now has 23 school outreach and summer day camp programs that reach more than 5,300 Indianapolis youth each year.

In 2001, the office of school outreach began developing an after-school adventure program based on Barbara Lewis' What Do You Stand For: A Kid's Guide to Character. The program used adventure activities and nontraditional sports to emphasize character traits such as honesty, communication and accountability. It also contained an emphasis on inclusion. All activities were developed to meet the needs of Indianapolis' diverse after school population.

"When we started looking at areas where we could best supplement the schools' activities, we felt character education was the one area that had the longest ranging effects on all aspects of the students' lives," Aguilera says. "But when we started developing the program, we felt something was missing from the core of the curriculum. That something was the R.I.C.H.E.R. principles."

Character Discovery Challenge

In the summer of 2001, Indy Parks approached the Citizens Through Sports Alliance (CTSA) and the NCAA Hall of Champions about a partnership that would combine the CTSA's Stay in Bounds youth sportsmanship program for athletes and sports leagues with Aguilera's character enrichment-driven after-school program concept. Finding the programs to be an excellent match, Indy Parks assumed the lead role in developing a program based on the previous adventure-oriented outline and the CTSA's R.I.C.H.E.R. principle format, which adapts the six R.I.C.H.E.R. principles of the sportsmanship program (respect, integrity, caring, harmony, excellence and responsibility). The result was the Character Discovery Challenge (CDC), which is now an integral component of Indy Parks' day camp and after-school programs.

The goal of the Character Discovery Challenge is to help youth understand themselves better by figuring out what they stand for, and to encourage the attributes of good sportsmanship in all areas of their lives. Objectives begin with a self awareness of character traits, and build upon these traits to improve their life; improve their techniques for working in group and team settings; develop leadership skills and better identify positive role models within the community; express themselves in a nonrestrictive environment; and learn the importance of education and improve skills which will benefit them in the classroom.