Immigration and Afterschool

The harsh rhetoric surrounding immigration and the aggressive policies of this Presidential Administration has been very hard on the youth and communities we serve in afterschool. The Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS) Project has published several blog posts on this issue, including guest blog posts by youth and practitioners working to address these issues with young people. Below, we call your attention to several of these important posts. -------------- "I am not an illegal alien. I am not a terrorist nor lazy. And I am, most definitely, not uneducated." My name is Angie. In my infant years I didn't know who my mother was, for she had immigrated to the United States after I was born, leaving me and my brother under my grandmother’s wing. READ MORE --------------- Supporting Immigrant Families School officials report anxieties have reached new heights since Donald Trump’s inauguration, with possible consequences on young people’s ability to focus on school work, the willingness of parents to attend school events, or even to bring their children to school. READ MORE ------------ Practitioners Speak Out: Serving the Needs of Immigrant Youth Be aware of the joking and poking that happens in schools. Create a close to zero tolerance space for immigration jokes. For many students, it is not a joke. Also, be aware of the conclusions many undocumented students are coming up with through their time in the educational system. Residents and undocumented students with undocumented parents might conclude that higher education is not an option for them. READ MORE ------------ Collateral Damage: New Immigration Policies and Education in California California is home to the largest undocumented population in the country. Approximately 250,000 undocumented children are enrolled in California schools and an average of four students per classroom throughout the state have an undocumented parent. “Mixed status” children, children who have legal status but their parents do not, are as susceptible to the ramifications of enforcement as their undocumented peers. READ MORE ------------ Family Separation and Childhood Trauma In expanded learning programs, we are seeking to learn the effects of childhood trauma and design programs that integrate trauma informed practice. Thus, we were horrified by the Trump Administration’s practice of “zero tolerance” which inflicts trauma on children and youth. READ MORE ------------ Subscribe to our Learning in Afterschool & Summer (LIAS) Blog

SEL and Afterschool Are the Perfect Match: 5 Reasons Why

By Guest Blogger, Bridget Laird

Bridget Laird

Recently, I wrote a piece for Education Week regarding why SEL and after-school are a perfect match. Below I offer an excerpt from that article. 

Social and emotional skills are a critical part of every child's development. Likewise, after-school and out-of-school programming have a significant impact on young people and provide them with the opportunity to explore new ideas and develop important skills through real-world experiences and engaging activities.

After-school programs that incorporate social and emotional learning set kids up to succeed in the classroom, be prepared for the workplace, and thrive in life. Here are five reasons why social and emotional learning and after-school are the perfect match.

Photo Credit: Youth Institute, LBYMCA

1. Non-traditional learning environments help kids develop and practice social and emotional skills. Building kids' social and emotional skills can happen anywhere, from math class to the basketball court. But the energetic, flexible, and supportive nature of after-school programs creates a unique opportunity for kids to learn and practice these skills in ways that feel less like the classroom and more like real life.

2. Kids can prepare for successful careers before they leave elementary school. After-school programs provide kids with the opportunity to explore interests and develop skills that will lead to success in college and career. When students select the activities they're interested in, take on leadership roles in group projects, and participate in service learning, they build key skills like problem-solving, communicating clearly, and embracing differences that translate into competencies employers look for. 

Photo Credit: WINGS for Kids

3. After-school program leaders become role models and mentors. After-school program leaders are caring, trusted adults who can have a profound and positive influence on the kids they work with. When social and emotional learning is emphasized in both programming for kids and training for after-school leaders, adults are able to model their own skills and intentionally infuse them into every interaction with kids. 

4. Research shows the positive impact of high-quality after-school social and emotional programming. A growing body of evidence tells us that quality after-school social and emotional learning has far-reaching, positive effects on students. We see that kids with strong social and emotional skills are more likely to earn a high school diploma, attain a college degree, and have a full-time job. Studies also show that regular participation in these programs results in increased empathy and self-confidence, improved grades and test scores, positive behaviors, and an increased attachment to school. WINGS' recent randomized control trial (RCT) study provides firsthand examples: students who participated in WINGS for two years exhibited improved executive function and self-regulation, reduced hyperactivity and negative behavior, and improved quality of relationships with teachers.

Photo Credit: NHP Foundation

5. Social and emotional learning in after-school changes lives. Research reports can tell us a lot about the effects that we can see, but only those who participate in and lead these programs every day can truly share the impact they feel. For example, Jessica, a former program leader, used lessons that we teach in our program and our Words to Live By to help a student get through a difficult time after moving away from her home. 

Bridget Laird is Chief Executive Officer of WINGS for Kids, a nationwide after-school program focused solely on bringing SEL to at-risk kids. Follow WINGS on Twitter at @wingsforkids.

To view a guest blog post by Julia Rugg, Chief Strategy Officer at WINGS for Kids, click here. 

Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement


By Sam Piha

Photo Credit: Medium.com

Shawn Ginwright is a university professor, author, activist, and youth program leader. He is also a leading voice in the expanded learning field, deepening our understanding of new concepts and frameworks by bringing in the importance of context, culture, and race. 


Dr. Ginwright recently authored an article entitled Shifting From Trauma Informed Care to Healing Centered Engagement. Below we offer a few excerpts from his article and urge everyone to read it in its entirety.


“Practitioners and policy stakeholders have recognized the impact of trauma on learning, and healthy development. Trauma informed care broadly refers to a set of principles that guide and direct how we view the impact of severe harm on young people’s mental, physical and emotional health. Trauma informed care encourages support and treatment to the whole person, rather than focus on only treating individual symptoms or specific behaviors.

While trauma informed care offers an important lens to support young people who have been harmed and emotionally injured, it also has its limitations. For me, I realized the term slipped into the murky water of deficit based, rather than asset driven strategies to support young people who have been harmed. Without careful consideration of the terms we use, we can create blind spots in our efforts to support young people.”

Dr. Shawn Ginwright

He goes on to explain how current formulations of trauma informed care presumes that the trauma is an individual experience, rather than a collective one:

“To illustrate this point, researchers have shown that children in high violence neighborhoods all display behavioral and psychological elements of trauma…


Second, trauma informed care requires that we treat trauma in people but provides very little insight into how we might address the root causes of trauma in neighborhoods, families, and schools. If trauma is collectively experienced, this means that we also have to consider the environmental context that caused the harm in the first place. By only treating the individual we only address half of the equation leaving the toxic systems, policies and practices neatly intact.


Third, the term trauma informed care runs the risk of focusing on the treatment of pathology (trauma), rather than fostering the possibility (well-being). What is needed is an approach that allows practitioners to approach trauma with a fresh lens which promotes a holistic view of healing from traumatic experiences and environments. One approach is called healing centered, as opposed to trauma informed. A healing centered approach is holistic involving culture, spirituality, civic action and collective healing. A healing centered approach views trauma not simply as an individual isolated experience, but rather highlights the ways in which trauma and healing are experienced collectively.”


Dr. Ginwright goes on to offer some thoughts on practice and policy: “Shifting from trauma informed care or treatment to healing centered engagement requires youth development stakeholders to expand from a treatment based model which views trauma and harm as an isolated experience, to an engagement model which supports collective well-being. Here are a few notes to consider in building healing centered engagement.

• Start by building empathy.

Healing centered engagement begins by building empathy with young people who experience trauma... However, building empathy is critical to healing centered engagement. To create this empathy, I encourage adult staff to share their story first, and take an emotional risk by being more vulnerable, honest and open to young people. 


Fostering empathy allows for young people to feel safe sharing their experiences and emotions. The process ultimately restores their sense of well-being because they have the power name and respond to their emotional states.

• Encourage young people to dream and imagine!

An important ingredient in healing centered engagement is the ability to acknowledge the harm and injury, but not be defined by it. Perhaps one of the greatest tools available to us is the ability to see beyond the condition, event or situation that caused the trauma in the first place.

Research shows that the ability to dream and imagine is an important factor to foster hopefulness, and optimism both of which contributes to overall well-being. Daily survival and ongoing crisis management in young people’s lives make it difficult to see beyond the present. The greatest casualty of trauma is not only depression and emotional scares, but also the loss of the ability to dream and imagine another way of living.


By creating activities and opportunities for young people to play, reimagine, design and envision their lives this process strengthens their future goal orientation. These are practices of possibility that encourage young people to envision what they want to become, and who they want to be.

• Build critical reflection and take loving action.

Healing and well-being are fundamentally political not clinical. This means that we have to consider the ways in which the policies and practice and political decisions harm young people. Healing in this context also means that young people develop an analysis of these practices and policies that facilitated the trauma in the first place. Without an analysis of these issues, young people often internalize, and blame themselves for lack of confidence. Critical reflection provides a lens by which to filter, examine, and consider analytical and spiritual responses to trauma. 


The other key component, is taking loving action, by collectively responding to political decisions and practices that can exacerbate trauma. By taking action, (e.g. school walkouts, organizing peace march, or promoting access to healthy foods) it builds a sense of power and control over their lives. Research has demonstrated that building this sense of power and control among traumatized groups is perhaps one of the most significant features in restoring holistic well-being.”

Dr. Ginwright has spoken at three of our How Kids Learn conferences. You can view his presentations here: 


HKL 1, part 1

HKL 1, part 2

HKL 4

HKL 6 

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Dr. Shawn Ginwright is Associate Professor of Education, and African American Studies at San Francisco State University and the author of Hope and Healing in Urban Education: How Activists are Reclaiming Matters of the Heart.