Project Report
| Mar 10, 2023
We Make Robots
By Shondra Muhammad | Deputy Executive Director
SHAPE's youth program robotics class is progressing quickly! We currently have 25 children from ages 5-13 enrolled in the after-school enrichment program and 100% are taking the robotics class. The children are learning to build, code, and program their own robots. The program is still new, but we hope to have a team ready to compete in the 2024 robotics league.
We have recently faced some challenges that may impact enrollment. Some of the parents were able to subsidize child care costs because of programs established as a result of the coronavirus. Many of these programs have ended or will soon end. Although SHAPE does not turn away children because of an inability to pay, some families have children in different locations because of multiple age levels, and any subsidy loss can cause a hardship. We will continue to work with families who are committed to self-help through education, and do everything we can to help families stay enrolled. We will not have a spring break program this year, but we will use the time to gear up for increased enrollment during our summer program.
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Nov 15, 2022
A Little More Attention Can Make Such A Difference
By Shondra Muhammad | Deputy Executive Director
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Our after-school program kicked off in late August and enrollment has been steadily increasing. We started at 16 and now have 22 students from area schools, with 7 pending applications. Our enrollment goal is 40 students this school year. Our outreach efforts seek children and families who most benefit from a little extra attention and face higher degrees of challenges from social inequality. We’ve hired 1 new permanent group leader, bringing the total to 3, which helps us work with the children in smaller groups to provide more individualized attention.
Parent program engagement goes up and down between 70%-90% participation. We are focusing more effort on retaining parent participation because it helps boost the children’s experiences and the overall strengthening of the family unit.
Classes continue to include Robotics, Gardening, CAD/3d Printing, African Dance, Leadership, and Capoeira. Mental health professionals continue to counsel students and parents in group and individual settings.
One of our students was selected as the subject for a powerful mural on the face of a skyscraper in downtown Houston. The mural is an “ode to social equity, to breaking boundaries and to accessing new opportunities for all.” The mural is in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to “Reduced Inequalities”.
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Jul 25, 2022
Happy Healthy Summer
By Shondra Muhammad | Deputy Executive Director
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Mental health and wellness continue to be a core part of our youth programming. We now have counseling embedded in our summer program where children and their parents are working with a licensed psychologist and social worker.
We currently have 75-minute group sessions for parents once a month with 24 participants. We also have 60-minute group sessions for the children, once a month, and sessions are adjusted for age appropriateness. Additionally, we have individual sessions for 8 children and 6 families. Therapists provide referral services for needs that extend beyond our program capacity.
There are 44 children enrolled in the summer program from ages 5-13. Our new programming this summer is a Lego Robotics class from which we are hoping to build a competitive robotics team. Some of the other classes are Gardening, CAD/3d Printing, African Dance, Leadership, and Capoeira.
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