The B-SAFE program has wrapped up another summer of providing programming for elementary and middle-school aged kids, and paid jobs and internships to teens and young adults.
Across six Boston-area locations (South End, Lower Roxbury, Upham’s Corner-Dorchester, Codman Square-Dorchester, Mattapan and Chelsea) the program welcomed 615 children and teens, including 103 paid positions for teens. Nearly 1,000 people from 50 parishes volunteered their time to support B-SAFE by preparing meals, delivering breakfast food, reading with youth and planning and carrying out field trips.
In several ways it was the program’s most successful year to date, according to the Rev. Liz Steinhauser, Priest Associate and Director of Youth Programming at St. Stephen’s Church in Boston.
Cooling off at St. Mary's B-SAFE.
It was a great summer for the ninth grade Junior Counselor in Training (JCIT) program, which provides internships for incoming ninth graders who are not yet old enough to be hired as full counselors. Fifteen JCITs supported the B-SAFE staff, participated in community service and learned many valuable skills for life and employment. The JCITs went on a field trip to The Record Company, made possible by an Associated Grant Makers Cultural Day grant. They worked with engineers to record a song they had written, and created this video about B-SAFE.
B-SAFE’s academic programming, which helps ensure that kids don’t lose the progress they have made over the school year, was more engaging and project-based than ever before. Rotations in math, reading and arts were all part of the curriculum. Students learned a lot about health: how to keep their bodies and relationships healthy, how to be part of a healthy community and how to improve the health of the planet. Field trips to nature preserves, the Worcester Ecotarium and several state parks allowed students to connect what they were learning about plants and nutrition to their observations of the natural world.
Students from the St. Augustine & St. Martin meet some new friends.
A new peace and justice curriculum was added at three out of the six B-SAFE sites. Designed by students from Wellesley College, the peace and justice curriculum was adapted for each age group and incorporated into the literacy or arts programming. Themes included how to talk about feelings, dealing with feelings and how to be a peacemaker in daily life. This programming also helped serve the goals of the diocese's B-PEACE campaign.
The St. Stephen's Greenstone Project, a partner to B-SAFE, also enjoyed a highly successful year. The Greenstone Project helps teach kids about plants, agriculture and growing food. Thanks to a grant from the Barbara Lynch Foundation, the Greenstone Project was able to hire 12 teenagers to help lead the programming, as opposed to the four they hired last year. Together with the program coordinator, teens used the Blackstone School's garden and greenhouse to teach students about soil, growing cycles, harvesting and using the produce they have grown. The teens and program coordinator provided this curriculum for children from Boston Public Schools' multiple-disabilities extended school year program, Blackstone Community Center's Summer Academy program, and B-SAFE students.
Learning about planting at Greenstone.
B-SAFE extended the summer fun by bringing a larger group than ever before to the Barbara C. Harris Camp and Conference Center in Greenfield, NH. B-SAFE brought 113 youth, 33 teens and 30 adult staff to the Camp for a week of swimming, canoeing, arts and crafts, hiking, field games, creative writing, drama, and more. The week closed out with a water carnival that included stations for a dunk tank, a slip and slide, and many other fun ways to beat the heat.
Cooling off at the BCH Camp & Conference Center.
B-SAFE by the numbers:
- 83 middle schoolers and 378 elementary schoolers were served
- 103 teens had paid summer jobs for the summer at B-SAFE sites and the Greenstone Project, thanks in part to the Boston Youth Fund and the Chelsea Collaborative
- 15 Junior Counselors in Training had paid internships
- 15 teens received community service credit
- 21 older teens and young adults had paid jobs as junior leads, site assistants and recreation specialists
- Nearly 1000 volunteers from 50 churches
- 615 total youth and teens served by B-SAFE in 2013.
To hear from the counselors, interns, leaders and other members of the B-SAFE team, check out the B-SAFE 2013 blog.
--Ellen Stuart