This page includes important information and resources for youth-serving programs, afterschool and third space, and childcare providers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Quick Links
- Licensed Afterschool Programs. If you are a licensed afterschool or child care program, see the Child Development Division’s COVID-19 page here for information relating to programs, families, and children’s integrated services.
- Health and Safety. The Vermont Department of Health works with partner agencies to support the health and wellness of children and their families during this time. Visit their page for the latest information relating to health and safety guidance for schools, childcare programs, and summer camps.
- Testing. COVID-19 testing is available to all Vermonters. For information on testing, visit here.
- Food. Our friends at Hunger Free Vermont have an excellent resource center on how Vermonters can access healthy food during this time.
- Travel. Interstate travel and quarantine recommendations from the State of Vermont.
Use of Spaces
- MAUSD Essential Childcare Program — These videos (one short and one long) covers the logistics as well as story of how the MAUSD Expanded Learning Program did the work of running Essential Childcare this spring for districts around the Bristol area.
- Upper Valley summer camp provides training ground for return to school — This WCAX news story shows how the One Planet summer program in Bethel ran. It can help people visualize what the spaces could look like under the COVID health and safety recommendations.
Working with Partners
- Importance of Including Afterschool in School Reopening Plans — This webinar from Afterschool Alliance you will hear from afterschool programs and statewide afterschool networks on how they are working to ensure afterschool programs are included in any reopening guidance. Learn how you can play a role in the process in your community.
- A School Year Like No Other Demands a New Learning Day: A Blueprint for How Afterschool Programs & Community Partners Can Help — This document was created by the Afterschool Alliance to give advice on and show models of how to partner with schools in the process of reopening.
- Stronger Together: A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California’s Public Schools: Expanded Learning — A document created through the Reopening Schools Task Force that fostered a collaborative process for educators and stakeholders to lend their important voices.
- Recognizing the Role of Afterschool and Summer Programs and Systems in Reopening and Rebuilding — This resource from The American Institutes for Research describes the role that afterschool and summer programs and systems can play and offers strategies for afterschool and summer programs and school leaders to work together in support of youth, families, and the community.
- Afterschool and Summer Learning Programs Are Essential for COVID-19 Recovery — This document shows how the afterschool and third space field is an essential part of the nationwide community response to the coronavirus pandemic, and how programs can continue to play a critical role throughout recovery as states reopen for business.
- CCDF Frequently Asked Questions in Response to COVID-19 — This FAQ is helpful for those looking for information about childcare subsidies.
Health and Safety
- MAUSD ELP summer program (what to expect) — This comprehensive video covers what parents can expect from a summer program and also address many space, and health and safety questions they may have.
- King Street summer program — A short video highlighting how the King Street program for children and youth has adapted and evolved during COVID.
- Vermont Department of Health information for Schools, Childcare and Summer Programs — This is the general landing page for many different documents outline policies and guidance regarding health and safety in working with children and youth during COVID.
- Verry Merry Theatre Summer Camp Safety Guidelines 2020 — These two videos were created by the youth staff of Very Merry Theater to give campers a view of what to expect at camp. They made one for each site and it’s a quick, fun way to show what the day will look like and some of the rules/norms around safety.
Social and Emotional Learning
- Team Building in the Virtual World — A recorded video training presented by Adam Kullberg and the Denver Afterschool Alliance/Denver Quality Afterschool Connection
- DQUAC Connection Stories: Infusing Positive Youth Development and Continuous Quality Improvement Into Virtual Offerings with Youth — A recorded video training covering how to best work with youth across a digital platform while still keeping in mind best practices.
- Mitigating ongoing stress of a pandemic: A toolkit for caregivers — This article provides a short summary of a toolkit from the Center for Youth Wellness.
- Coming soon: Philly School District families will have access to grief counseling, coronavirus support — This model from Philadelphia is a possible way to support families during the school year.
- The Role Social-Emotional Learning Plays in Teaching White Children About Race — This opinion piece makes a great case for valuing youths’ identity.
Virtual Programming
- Making Shapes in Zoom — This is a discussion about synchronous teaching via Zoom that includes many practical suggestions and tips.
- Supporting Quality Learning Experiences in Virtual OST from the PEAR Institute — Webinar recording and slides on how to imbed quality in virtual summer and afterschool programs with Gil Noam (director of The PEAR Institute), Georgia Hall (director of the National Institute on Out-of-School Time), and Kim Robinson (managing director of the David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality and executive vice president of the Forum for Youth Investment).
- Preparation, Interaction, Reflection and Logistics (PIRL) Tool — The Denver Afterschool Alliance (DAA) is providing technical support to help the out-of-school time (OST) provider community assess and improve the quality of the virtual delivery model. DAA offers the free Preparation, Interaction, Reflection and Logistics (PIRL) tool, which assesses various dimensions of quality for online learning and youth development sessions.
- Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality: Virtual Learning Supports — This webpage has numerous useful program supports in the form of recorded webinars on various topics related to virtual and remote learning.
- Using Video to Assess Student Attention in Virtual Class Meetings — This infographic presents some of the considerations that should be made around requiring young people to have video on when connecting remotely.
Vicarious Trauma and Burnout
- Trauma-Resilient Informed Practices in Expanded Learning Programs: A Snapshot of Trends in the Field — This report provides a snapshot of some current approaches, information about gaps and needs, examples from the field, and recommendations for programs and the field to effectively integrate trauma-resilient informed practices into expanded learning programs.
- Compassion and Fighting the Good Fight — This short article gives the perspective of one third space practitioner around burnout and compassion fatigue.
- Developing Resilience: Preventing and Managing Vicarious Trauma and Burnout — This is a past field forum (August 2020) with Auburn Watersong, Director of Trauma Prevention and Resilience Development for the Agency of Human Services. Auburn shared about vicarious trauma and burnout, how trauma and prolonged stress affect the brain and body, and what to look for as signs and symptoms of burnout. Auburn also discussed how to help prevent burnout in the workplace – as leaders and as a workers, and gain valuable, practical tools and methods (beyond “self-care”) for managing the effects of prolonged stress and burnout at work and home.
Toolkits
- COVID-19 Summer Program Toolkit: A Resource for Denver’s Summer Program Providers — A wide-ranging resource discussing both virtual and online program offerings in a summer context. Could easily be adapted to school year programming.
