Adventures in the Southwest

Taking time off, exploring new lands and finding new adventures with my partner was all I wanted to happen for myself this year. I am grateful all this still happened even though it was not the grand adventure to Iceland we had planned. I had the opportunity to extend my time here at CalSAC and I knew I would need time away from work and my life here in Oakland to get the rest and recovery my heart and body still needed. Staying true to CalSAC’s personality, my partner and I leaned into our adaptability and embarked on a three week cross country camping trip to Utah and Colorado. 

Capitol Reef National Park

We rented a campervan (I would highly recommend) and visited the deserts of eastern Utah and the mountains of western Colorado. Each day was filled with hikes to explore the national parks or forests and swimming to keep cool from the desert heat. The time to sit at our campground, enjoy the quiet noises of our surroundings and to read many books on my list was the break I needed.

We felt fortunate to have the opportunity to safely travel to these places, which were less crowded than any other summer season due to the pandemic. Our favorite spots we visited were Canyonlands National Park in Utah and San Juan National Forest in Colorado, which is home to an exhausting but beautiful hike to Ice Lake. The time away off the grid and the time with my partner is what I needed to feel rested and rejuvenated.

Ice Lake Hike in San Juan National Forest

I am thankful to have a home to come back to, and a job that I enjoy at an organization committed to supporting out-of-school time staff in navigating through these challenging and uncertain times. I returned feeling rested, energized and ready to show up for the team and the field. I hope all of us in the field create space to take a break, even for a short time, to ensure we can continue to engage in this challenging and fulfilling work together. 

This blog post was written by Selena Levy, CalSAC’s Co-Director of Programs.

Isabelle Mussard's Farewell

As many of you know, I have been on leave for the past month. This time away has gifted me with the opportunity to reflect on my time with all of you and the work we are privileged to lead. It has also gifted me with undivided time and attention for my own children and family. Now on the other side of this month of reflection, I have come to the clarity that I must step aside as the ED of CalSAC. 

I believe that our field is on the cusp of leading a transformative movement to redefine what education can and should look like in order to holistically support all of our children. As an organization that is rooted in actively anti-racist and anti-classist principles, CalSAC remains committed to our partnerships and will continue to dig deep and get to the root of what (re)creates cycles and systems of dehumanization. Through and after this transition, the CalSAC team and Board will continue to strive to both sow the ways of being and build the supporting structures that will manifest the qualities of grace, love, learning and joy that I know we each want for ourselves, one another, our families, our communities and in our programs.

As for me, I will be developing a small school as I homeschool my own preschooler twins by creating a nature-based environment and Afrocentric Montessori curriculum infused with radical liberatory principles that support Black Boy joy! I wish you each and all your own meaningful joy and am deeply grateful for the transformative life lessons I have culled from our time together. 

Isabelle Mussard

Update on CA Governor Newsom's Revised Budget Proposal

The Governor released his updated budget proposal today and there is no mention of any increased funding for ASES. This is disappointing, but we are still hopeful. When we secured the $50 million in 2017, it also wasn't included in the Governor's budget proposal. It was funded because legislators made it a high priority. This is why it’s imperative that we continue to act and make sure our legislators know about the importance of afterschool.

Here is the official statement from the California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) Steering Committee:

CA Budget: Statement on Missing Afterschool Funding from Youth & Family Advocates

May 9, 2019 — Today, California Governor Gavin Newsom released his revised state budget proposal. The California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance issued this joint statement in response:

“This budget, meant to support working families, has a disappointing and harmful blind spot: the underfunded afterschool programs that nearly 400,000 working parents already depend on for child care. If we don’t protect afterschool programs by adequately funding them, we are taking a step backward in our state’s effort to make sure children get quality child care and parents get the help they need.

“Afterschool programs have endured years of underfunding by cutting their services and the number of students they serve. Without action this year, many programs will be forced to close their doors. We call on the legislature to act and support low-income, working families by saving our state’s afterschool programs.”

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Background

• Championed by leaders in both parties, including Gov. Newsom during his term as mayor of San Francisco and during his gubernatorial campaign, California’s publicly funded afterschool programs serve hundreds of thousands of students daily.

• Publicly funded afterschool programs operate in communities with the highest levels of poverty. They improve school attendance and graduation rates, develop workforce skills, prevent crime and substance abuse, and enable low-income parents to work by filling a critical child care need.

• Afterschool programs are stretched to their breaking point after years of rising costs. Each time the state minimum wage increases without additional funding from the state, afterschool programs sink deeper into deficit. Since 2007, the state minimum wage has increased 50 percent, but funding for afterschool has only increased 9 percent.

• A $112.8 million budget request to sustain afterschool programs is before the legislature, as well as two bills: AB 1725 (Carrillo) and AB 1085 (McCarty).

About the California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance

California Afterschool Advocacy Alliance (CA3) is the statewide voice for expanded learning (afterschool and summer) programs. It is the coalition behind the Save Afterschool Campaign and represents the interests of the half a million children, youth, and their families that rely on publicly funded expanded learning programs throughout California each day. www.saveafterschool.com

CA3 Steering Committee Members

After-School All-Stars, Los Angeles; arc; Bay Area Community Resources; Boys & Girls Clubs of Carson; California School-Age Consortium; The Children's Initiative; California Teaching Fellow Foundation; EduCare Foundation; Heart of Los Angeles; LA's BEST Afterschool Enrichment Program; Partnership for Children & Youth; Think Together; Woodcraft Rangers; YMCA of San Diego County