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Next week begins the annual weeklong "Lights on Afterschool" celebration

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Lights On Afterschool 2020 begins next Monday. Afterschool is center stage all next week: from billboards across the nation elevating afterschool above our highways to iconic landmarks shining bright, from parades to outdoor festivals, and from worldwide social media challenges to virtual events at home. 

We will be celebrating keeping our kids safe, inspiring them to learn and grow, and giving working parents peace of mind — even in a year of enormous uncertainty and disruption. All of the usual bright spots are here, including the #LightbulbChallenge and afterschool fun online and on the ground.

There will also be virtual events (highlighting everything from STEM to mindfulness to our youth town hall) all designed with amazing partners.

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Every Lights On Afterschool seems to shine bigger and brighter than the one before, thanks to you and the millions of supporters of afterschool and summer learning programs.

Have a wonderful Lights On!

Carver's Novelette Peterkin to participate in a Five Frogs convening on equity and justice

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On Thursday, November 12, 2020, at 2:00pm-3:15pm, Novelette will be the featured leader in a statewide convening moderated by  Fahd Vahidy, Philanthropic Advisor & Strategist for the Graustein Family Office.

This virtual gathering is one in a series of Brave, Bold Leadership for a Better Connecticut: October-November 2020 Leader Convenings.  

Register here for the free 75-minute convening when Novelette will share her insights in a group conversation about equity and justice and advancing innovative change. Registration is limited to 20 people. 

Five Frogs is a Connecticut nonprofit organization “building a powerful movement of diverse, representative leaders working together for an equitable Connecticut.” The Five Frogs mission is to build a powerful movement of diverse, representative leaders with the competencies, mindset, drive and relationships necessary to create lasting, positive change for an equitable Connecticut. Their signature program is a coaching program called the Leadership Development Roundtable, which Novelette has supported through the years.

Carver's Aisha Miles is a psychological counselor for Achievement First

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See all our alumni stories here.

After graduating Summa Cum Laude from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, Aisha Miles has been working for the past year at Achievement First as a Behavior Specialist. As a psychological counselor, Aisha helps those with disabilities or problems that impair learning or social functions to succeed in school and in life. 

Achievement First is a growing network of non-profit, high-performing, college-preparatory, K to 12 public charter schools in Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island. The mission of Achievement First is to deliver on the promise of equal educational opportunity for all of America's children.

During her years at Howard University, Aisha was a member of the Psi Chi International Honor Society, Beta Kappa Chi National Scientific Honor Society, The National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. She also served as secretary of a college-prep mentor organization called CHILL (acronym for College Has Its Life Lessons) that was based on the Howard campus. 

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Aisha also volunteered at Thrive DC, a local charity that works to prevent and end homelessness by providing vulnerable individuals with a comprehensive range of services to help stabilize their lives. During Aisha’s summer breaks at Howard University, she worked at the Children's Learning Centers of Fairfield County as a substitute teacher. The year prior to beginning her studies at Howard, Aisha worked locally as a substitute teacher at Bright Minds Daycare.

Howard University is a highly regarded HBCU school in Carver’s world. This is a culturally diverse, comprehensive, research intensive and historically Black private university that provides an educational experience of exceptional quality at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels to students of high academic standing and potential, with particular emphasis upon educational opportunities for Black students.

There are many ways for a student to become a lifelong and beloved member of the Carver community. Aisha served as a Carver volunteer during her high school years. She helped our younger students after school at the Carver Community Center with their homework and tutored others. She also helped organize special events. Being close to Carver program leaders and as a peer with many of our young people at the time, Carver programs like our overnight College Bootcamp experience helped to shape Aisha’s college aspirations. “I believe Carver is what ultimately pushed me further into the ‘college-bound’ mindset and motivated me to attend an HBCU,” Aisha recently shared with us.

Aisha attended New Canaan Country School from kindergarten to ninth grade. She then attended Trinity Catholic High School from her sophomore to senior year and graduated with a 3.91 overall GPA.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the United States has measured its impact in terms of the many thousands of lives lost, the number of hospital beds in use, the millions of jobs that have vanished or businesses that have closed. Meanwhile, Aisha is addressing the toll that the crisis is exacting on our youth, particularly the most vulnerable. This is a transformative and disruptive moment in education that threatens the success of a generation. Aisha’s work is more critical now than ever. As sobering as these times are, Aisha’s energizing example of excellence mirrors Carver mission and brings help and hope to the students she is reaching today with her skills and caring. 

Carver alumna Kimberly Duhart is teaching 3rd grade in East Hartford

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See all our alumni stories here.

Kimberly Duhart is a 3rd grade teacher in East Hartford. She received her M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction this past May. She received her B.S. in Elementary Education at UConn last year. She was awarded the Degnan Family Scholarship, Irene P. and Emanuel A. Makiaris Scholarship, Cohen Student Leadership Scholarship, and numerous Carver scholarships.

During her years at UConn, Kimberly served as President of UConn’s Leadership in Diversity, a student-led mentoring program that helps maintain and encourage confidence and success in students of color as they pursue careers in education. She also served as a member of UConn Student Support Services (SSS), mentoring students who were first-generation to college, from low-income families, and/or from populations underrepresented in higher education with access to the university; she provided these students with services to support their goal of graduation, and their academic, professional, and personal growth at UConn and beyond.

Kimberly graduated at the top of the McMahon High School Class of 2015. She also worked for Carver for four years, at first as a Summer Camp Counselor and then as a Summer Camp Supervisor for some 200 children, following years as an after school Carver kid herself.

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Kimberly is now putting into practice the purpose and ideals of education that she embraced with remarkable clarity and conviction during her college years. As an education leader, Kimberly is a light to her students and a role model for Carver young people considering their own careers and life goals.

Her lively, sincere, and open-minded commitment to learning helped Kimberly to find her voice at UConn as an individual who advocates for equity and diversity in education. In a letter to Connecticut State Senator McCroy, Representative Sanchez, and members of the state Education Committee, she wrote, “…It is important that we are bringing in and retaining educators of color. In the state of Connecticut over 40% of students are of color, while only about 8% of teachers are of color. This shows huge discrepancies in the representation of students of color.”

When asked by a UConn journalist about her favorite professors, she had this to share.

My favorite professor is Grace Player because she teaches from the perspective of all of her students’ identities (anti-racist feminist of color pedagogy). She is able to lean into discomfort to allow her students to learn, sometimes in ways we were not always exposed to at UConn, which have been very beneficial to us all as future educators. This type of pedagogy is important for giving students voice in the classroom and teaching us that, as educators, we also need to think about students’ multiple identities when we engage with them. My favorite classes were the history courses that I have taken that were taught with an intersectional lens (African American History, Women Gender Studies). Through these courses I was introduced to the histories of so many people that I have never been introduced to prior to taking those courses, all of whom are very important to the history of the U.S. and people and events that we should all be knowledgeable about.

Kimberly also shared what her college experience has meant to her.

UConn has shaped me as a person by exposing me to so many different support systems and loving relationships. Being exposed to so many lights has inspired me to keep pushing forward and use the strong people around me as motivation and inspiration. I have also experienced challenging moments that have contributed to my overall academic and personal growth and success. Overall, I have used every experience as one where I have learned something that has been important to my overall growth.

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Many public school districts such as East Hartford and Norwalk are experiencing rapid growth in the number of students of color, culturally and linguistically diverse students, and students from low-income families. These can be places of vibrant opportunity—places that call us to meaningful and exciting work. The global community shows up in these classrooms every day, inviting us—even requiring us—to grow as we learn from and with our students and their families. Kimberly is now among those professionals who create inclusive, equitable, and excellent schools.

The work is complex. When diversity comes to our towns, we are all challenged to grow. We are grateful that Kimberly is helping us to see more clearly how best to reach all students with the excellent education and opportunities they deserve.

 

 

Carver in the news: Norwalk learning pods ease child care burden amid hybrid learning

Norwalk Public School students including Sheldon Thomas, 10, join their learning pod at the Carver Community Center, October 2, 2020, in Norwalk, Conn.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

Norwalk Public School students including Sheldon Thomas, 10, join their learning pod at the Carver Community Center, October 2, 2020, in Norwalk, Conn.Photo: Erik Trautmann / Hearst Connecticut Media

See the entire article in The Hour here.

NORWALK — When Norwalk Public Schools announced their plans to have middle and high school students return to school in a hybrid model this fall, many working families were left wondering what to do with their children on days they weren’t in the classroom.

Last week, some found a solution: The district, in partnership with the Norwalk Public Library and the Carver Foundation, launched “learning pods,” where students can go on their virtual learning days to remain under the supervision of a paraprofessional during the school day.

Superintendent Alexandra Estrella said the learning pods were designed to serve families of essential workers and those who don’t have the means for private tutors or child care during the work day. The learning pods aim to provide that care, as well as tech and academic support for students…

Some 200 families applied for the learning pods before the district closed applications, of which about 115 are for middle school students. Families of essential workers are prioritized, and those in need of child care and those who were economically disadvantaged. The district hired specialized paraeducators to help the students during their time in the pods and to serve as an IT help desk for parents when the students are home.

Parents who would like to enroll their children in the pods, and in new pods being developed elsewhere, should contact their child’s school principal for more information.

International competition results in Carver receiving major grant for teaching robotics

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 FIRST®, an international robotics community, awarded twelve grants to address inequities in access to science and technology. Carver was one of three grantees to receive the largest financial award of $50,000.

Carver’s FIRST robotics program will operate in nine Norwalk elementary schools and the Carver Community Center over eight weeks during the 2020-2021 school year. There will be six to eight third and fourth graders per team. Certified teachers and volunteer mentors will assist each team. Carver after-school students have participated in FIRST Lego League competitions for many years.

The other FIRST STEM Equity Community Innovation Grant award winners include the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Generator Makerspace (this project supported by the University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Science will serve the nearly two thirds of the state that live and work in rural, low-technology communities).

A Carver robotics team at West Rocks Middle School competes in a regional FIRST Lego League competition

A Carver robotics team at West Rocks Middle School competes in a regional FIRST Lego League competition

FIRST launched its STEM Equity Community Innovation Grants program in 2016 to provide diverse students and disadvantaged communities with hands-on learning opportunities and outlets to creative problem solving. Grants range from $5,000 to $50,000, with an average of $35,000, and evaluation criteria include community need, demographics, increases in diversity, execution strength, track record of reaching targeted students, and the value of the activities proposed. To date, FIRST has awarded 49 grants totaling $1.9M across the United States and Canada.

The grant is made possible as part of the FIRST® Equity, Diversity & Inclusion initiative, sponsored by The 3M Company, Apple, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bosch, Caterpillar, Inc., Cognizant Technology Solutions, Dow, Polaris Inc., Qualcomm Incorporated®, Raytheon Technologies, The Walt Disney Company, individuals, and anonymous donors. 

With support from over 200 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than $80 million in college scholarships, the not-for-profit FIRST organization hosts the FIRST® Robotics Competition for students in Grades 9-12; FIRST® Tech Challenge for Grades 7-12; and FIRST® LEGO® League Discover, Explore and Challenge for Grades K-8. Gracious Professionalism® is a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. To learn more about FIRST, go to: www.firstinspires.org.

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“Thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, FIRST is proud to continue its commitment to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion in STEM education. For a fourth consecutive year, we can offer FIRST STEM Equity Community Innovation Grants to several communities across the country, making STEM enrichment opportunities available to thousands of students from underserved and underrepresented communities,” said Nancy Boyer, Director of Evaluation and Impact and Interim Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at FIRST. “Now more than ever, we need to empower students of all different backgrounds and social circumstances to help solve the world’s biggest problems. We hope these resources will help so many more students build the self-confidence to do remarkable things for the greater good.”