At this program, students spend time with old friends and develop new friendships, spend ample time outdoors, engage in a variety of engaging, hands-on STEAM activities, and participate in field trips. Parents often describe USES in feedback surveys and listening sessions as “second family” and “community”. Children form secure and healthy attachments with their teachers, who are deeply committed to children’s development and success.
The program is diverse racially and economically, and students learn from one another. A critical part of club48’s impact is its placement within a Two-Gen approach, where the organization also supports children’s parents with a set of programs through its Family Mobility Department. The Two-Gen model is a research-backed framework that supports families as a whole thrive. Through community and skill-building engagement events and workshops, access to a Coach, resources, and information to increase income, families are aided in their stabilization and growth. Students who are historically or systemically disadvantaged and/or growing up in poverty are more likely to break out of poverty as adults because of skills picked up in club48 and because their parents are increasing their income, resources, and skills. The combination of youth and parenting programming together have been shown to have the greatest impact on disrupting generational poverty.
(Note that in the previous page, only club48 staff and programming costs were included, not Family Mobility)