Nonprofits donate $100K for after-school programs

PROVIDENCE – The Urban Social Empowerment Collective has been awarded a $100,000 grant to begin developing a system of high quality after-school programming for Providence’s high school students.
The system will build upon the Providence After School Alliance’s “AfterZones,” an initiative of Mayor David N. Cicilline’s that serves nearly 2,000 middle school students throughout the capital city.
The collective consists of 10 local nonprofit organizations coordinated by youth advocates Jonny Skye Njie and Michelle Duso. The partner organizations are AS220’s Broad Street Studio, College Visions, Everett Dance Theater’s Carriage House School, Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence, New Urban Arts, Providence Youth Student Movement, Steel Yard, Young Voices, Youth In Action and Youth Pride.
Over the course of the next 10 months, the collective will conduct research, arrange site visits to schools and seek input from youth, parents, providers and other stakeholders in the community. The 10-month planning process will be overseen by an advisory group consisting of representatives from the mayor’s office, Providence schools, the city’s Department of Art, Culture & Tourism, Rhode Island Kids Count and the Providence After School Alliance.