After School Initiative
 For the past five years, the Hartford Foundation has partnered with Hartford Public Schools to provide sixth, seventh and eight graders in five city schools with a safe, educational and fun way to spend their afternoons.
Through the After-School Initiative, three community-based organizations receive grants to coordinate programs ranging from the Floetry Poetry Club to the We are Hip Hop dance program at each school site. The agencies are Catholic Charities, Inc., COMPASS Youth Collaborative, and The Village for Families & Children, Inc.
ASI offers participants what all parents want for their adolescent kids - tutoring and academic support, as well as ways to develop life skills, explore new interests, contribute to their communities, and have good, safe fun.
According to an independent evaluation conducted throughout the project, participants in ASI were more likely than their classmates to help people they don’t know, be interested in what happens in the community, volunteer, and be a leader of a group. They were also more likely to have helped resolve a conflict, disagreed with others without becoming angry, solved problems by talking with others, and been willing to meet others halfway when there was a problem. Skills that will serve them well in adolescence and throughout their lives.
In 2007, the Foundation made $375,000 in new grants, bringing the total investment in ASI since its launch in 1994 to $9.3 million. |