Southie After School (SAS)
In 2020, senior counselors and directors from the South Boston Outreach Summer program recognized the need to provide free and accessible educational programming to the residents of South Boston's public housing developments during the academic year. To address this need, they revitalized the Southie Afterschool program (SAS) after a gap in student leadership from 2014 to 2020 using the "Developmental Assets Framework," which encourages SAS volunteers and directors to teach valuable interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to their students to benefit their youth.
Currently, SAS provides free, arts-based after-school literacy programming during the school year at the James F. Condon Elementary School every weekday from 3:00 PM to 5:30 PM in the South Boston neighborhood (also known as Southie). Our students and high-school junior counselors come from low-income households in public housing developments around Southie. Most, if not all, of our students come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups.
Since the pandemic, we have focused on building meaningful connections with the South Boston neighborhood and supporting approximately 15 young students (ages six to 11) through interactive activities such as one-on-one homework help, occasional enriching volunteer-led projects, and field trips. We could not help but notice that our students enjoyed the interactive projects designed by our student volunteers. Our most well-liked projects amongst the students are our arts and crafts projects, where they (for example) drew out their plans for the summer, created a Mother's Day appreciation card for their mom, and made friendship bracelets with their classmates.
Current Schedule
2:30-3:00 PM: Travel to the Condon Community Center
3:00 PM: Arrive at the Condon Community Center
3:00-3:30 PM: Recess time
3:30-3:45 PM: Wash hands, bathroom, get water
3:45-4:00 PM: Opening check-in/Circle
4:00-4:30 PM: Literacy (Pass out snacks during this time)
4:30-5:00 PM: Homework
5:00-5:20 PM: Volunteer-led activity
5:20-5:30 PM: Closing check-out/Circle
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Southie After School does NOT have a comp process, and all our necessary trainings align with PBHA's mandatory training curriculum for new volunteers and directors. We only operate during the semester and accept volunteers at any time throughout (but volunteers need to confirm that they have or will soon complete PBHA's volunteer training sessions). We currently do not accept non-college volunteers (only JC's).
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A client/student can enroll in Southie After School through the online PBHA application that comes out every semester.
Contact Us
Contact Information
Student Director: southieafterschool@pbha.org
