Beyond School Bells, Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Middle Childhood team has had a busy, productive, and transformative year. This initiative has long promoted our mission to create a Nebraska where all children, youth, and families thrive – through quality afterschool and summer programs.
Find out what Beyond School Bells has in store this spring and summer, including a Tree-A-Thon and more!
Five communities previously considered “Afterschool Deserts” without existing afterschool programs, were selected to participate in the ELO Design Challenge. These communities include Auburn Public Schools, Beatrice Public Schools, Boone Central Public Schools, Centura Public School, Grand Island Public Schools. Anna Wishart, Beyond School Bells’ Director of Partnerships, also pointed out that each location was unique in terms of location and demographic. Recent results contain MANY stories and stats of success.
When the coalition of 8 ELO communities launched in 2013, Jennifer Jones was there to help them develop and grow partnerships. Since then the communities have grown their partners, presence, and promotional strategies. Jennifer describes her experience working directly with those communities.
Outfitted with all kinds of STEM-rich materials, games, tools, pop-up tables and awning, BSB’s Think Make Create (TMC) Labs ® are 7-by-12-foot mobile makerspaces that become instant platforms for hands on learning for kids attending afterschool and summer programs.
On February 10-11, Beyond School Bells hosted a meeting of 30 afterschool and summer program professionals from across Nebraska to discuss emerging trends and opportunities in our field. This annual meeting once again provided opportunities for Nebraska’s ELO leaders to come together and learn from one another and meet with their elected representatives at an informal breakfast event.
Language and literacy development Words are thoughts. The more words your child hears in his first years, the better positioned he will be to understand more advanced concepts in school. This does NOT mean that you need to do word…
Earlier this spring, a handful of Omaha middle schoolers earned the opportunity to travel to California to attend Facebook’s Engineer for the Week Achievement Summit at the company’s headquarters. The team of three students came from the Boys & Girls…
Trying to track down Jeff Cole, Network Lead for Beyond School Bells, is not an easy task at the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation office in Lincoln. But when you look at everything the Beyond School Bells initiative has been…
Over the past few weeks, Nebraska Children has been sharing Anna Wishart’s Field Journal highlighting the experiences she oversaw as a one of two mentors participating in Nebraska Children’s Conservation Management Summer Internship program. Building on the past two installments,…
Over the next several weeks, Nebraska Children is sharing Anna Wishart’s Field Journal highlighting the experiences she oversaw as a one of two mentors participating in Nebraska Children’s Conservation Management Summer Internship program. Building on last week’s blog, we pick…
Growing the Good Life 