Activating the Power of Afterschool

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly present in young people's lives, after school programs have an opportunity to help students engage with AI tools thoughtfully and critically. In this workshop, participants will tinker with and explore AI tools like chatbots, image generators, and machine learning models. We will examine how these tools can be integrated across subjects and leveraged to build student confidence, engagement, creativity, and critical thinking skills. We will also address essential considerations around bias and privacy, discussing what educators need to understand about these issues and practical strategies for helping students recognize, question, and navigate them on their own. Participants will leave with concrete integration strategies and resources for empowering students as thoughtful technology creators and critics. 

Youth Development is full of big feelings — and not just from the kids. In this interactive workshop, participants will explore how they can build their own emotional toolkit to better support themselves, their teams, and the young people they serve. This session offers real-world strategies to bring emotional wellness into everyday practice — no therapy license required. Participants will try out easy-to-use tools like staff check-ins, debrief prompts, and co-regulation techniques that fit right into program flow. Whether you’re a group leader, site director, or just someone trying to hold it together during snack time, you’ll leave with a mini action plan to make your site feel a little more human — and a lot more supported. 

Now more than ever, schools and youth-serving organizations are being called to ensure all students graduate with the skills, confidence, and experiences needed to navigate life after high school. Career-connected learning is no longer optional—it’s essential. But how can you integrate it without overhauling your program? This interactive session will introduce six practical, flexible strategies to infuse career readiness into your existing Out-of-School Time activities. You’ll explore ways to build youth voice, align with real-world skills, and create meaningful entry points for students to explore future pathways—all without starting from scratch. Participants will leave with concrete ideas and adaptable tools to begin embedding career readiness into their programming right away.  

Having difficulty connecting with students who speak a language other than English? Are you trying to better engage all students so that their afterschool experiences are more meaningful? In this session, we will explore basic strategies that will help engage new English speakers. The highlighted strategies are easy to access and can be applied to any classroom setting. Participants will engage with other afterschool providers to discuss challenges they face and will brainstorm how to best implement strategies that are introduced so that attendees will be able to immediately implement a strategy in any afterschool setting following the conference. We will also compare and contrast an afterschool session with and without key strategies for English language learners and will identify the benefits of using new approaches. The session will conclude with participants’ reflection on new strategies learned. 

What happens when we position young people as experts on their own experiences? This interactive workshop, co-facilitated by 6th-8th grade YPAR researchers from Children's Aid College Prep Charter School, demonstrates how Youth Participatory Action Research transforms traditional power dynamics while fostering socio-emotional development for all participants. Attendees will experience collaborative, arts-based data collection and analysis methods that the student team used to investigate wellbeing at their school. Through guided activities, participants will explore how centering youth voice in educational decision-making creates more equitable learning environments where questions of power, identity, and voice become integral to authentic SEL practice, and how preparing adults to authentically receive and act on youth perspectives is critical to this work. This ground-up approach to social-emotional learning empowers both youth and adults to co-define wellbeing and collaboratively transform program practices. 

Afterschool spaces offer safe haven for young people to learn, grow, find community and be exposed to new opportunities.  In a time of heightened political tension and uncertainty, educators and afterschool providers are uniquely positioned to offer stability, consistency, and connection.  This workshop will support after school staff to help students and each other navigate uncertainty due to changing federal policies, particularly within immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.  With a focus on understanding the effects of stress on our minds and bodies, this workshop will support staff in thinking through clear and effective communication, explicit support to affected communities, and strategies for self and community care.  Educators and providers do not hold all the answers, but this workshop will help them think about what they can do to support their students. 

Amid growing demand and financial strain, nonprofit leaders face mounting uncertainty, particularly in response to shifting federal priorities. Many are now asking, “How can we best mitigate harm to our mission?” This session will explore how nonprofits can maintain strategic clarity during times of heightened risk and instability. Drawing on SeaChange’s experience supporting nonprofits at critical inflection points, we’ll examine how flexible capital—including grants to support collaborations, mergers, restructurings, and responsible wind-downs, as well as loans to address emergency working capital needs — can enable thoughtful adaptation. The session will offer practical approaches to risk management and scenario planning to help leaders act decisively in service of their missions.

This workshop is part of a conference track designed specifically for nonprofit Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers.

CBOs can improve programming by collecting and using data. However, there is limited time and capacity to plan and implement elaborate evaluations. This session is designed for CBO staff and others that do not have evaluation expertise. Participants will leave with an action plan and practical strategies for collecting information they need for planning. The session will begin with a discussion of a simple tool and process for planning data collection and data use, along with promising strategies and examples. Next, participants will be supported in identifying a current question they need answered and developing an action plan using the tool. Then, the group will dive deeper into strategies for the meaningful use of data, helping to strengthen their action plan and ensure it produces actionable data. Throughout this interactive session, participants will be able to discuss their data challenges and ask questions. 

Staff turnover is increasingly common across all sectors—but in youth development, where trusted relationships are foundational, frequent transitions can pose real challenges. How can organizations continue to center and support young people when the adults they rely on change? In this session, leadership from New 42’s award-winning Youth Corps program will share strategies for navigating staff transitions while keeping youth at the heart of the work. Drawing from real experience and a practical change management framework, participants will explore tools and mindsets to lead through change with intention, consistency, and care for both young people and staff. 

New York City has set an ambitious goal: by 2035, every school-aged child will be able to read, write, listen, and speak in ways that allow them to thrive. Achieving this vision requires bold, coordinated action—not just during the school day, but also in the 80% of time young people spend outside of it.  Research shows that disconnected learning experiences across school and OST settings can slow student growth. By contrast, aligned, enriched, and evidence-informed literacy experiences can accelerate progress and foster lifelong learning.  This interactive session invites OST professionals to explore their essential role in NYC Reads, the city’s evidence-based literacy initiative grounded in the Science of Reading. Participants will learn how after-school and community programs can embed literacy into OST experiences—through art, STEM, mentorship, and more—without duplicating classroom instruction. Walk away with tools, ideas, and renewed clarity for integrating literacy in meaningful, developmentally appropriate ways. 

This interactive workshop will show how creative arts therapy—rooted in music, visual arts, and movement—can enrich afterschool programs as a tool for social-emotional growth and inclusion. Drawing on the expertise of the Center for All Abilities (CAA), which has extensive experience with neurodiverse youth and English Language Learner (ELL) families, we’ll share adaptable strategies for weaving creative expression into afterschool routines, fostering safe, supportive, and culturally responsive spaces. Participants will engage in hands-on activities and gain practical approaches they can use in their programs. This workshop addresses critical gaps in afterschool programming—specifically, the lack of therapeutic services and culturally relevant arts experiences for neurodiverse and immigrant communities. Centering these populations, the workshop champions equity and provides practical pathways to create more inclusive, holistic afterschool environments. 

In order for organizations and programs to thrive, it is important to maximize each team member’s strengths as a leader, yet too often we lack a shared language for how to even talk about leadership. This session aims to build that shared language using the Leadership Compass framework, so that ultimately you can improve your team’s collaboration and communication and drive towards positive outcomes for students at each of your individual programs. During this interactive session, we will first explore your own leadership style and how it affects the way that you collaborate with others. Then we will consider ways to use this framework to support others’ leadership development, enhance an organizational culture of collaborative learning and problem-solving, and finally set tangible leadership goals that will position you in a positive direction for the future.  

In this interactive workshop, participants will discover how play can serve as a powerful tool to engage youth in conversations about social identity, power, social justice, and allyship in educational settings. Participants will gain practical strategies for fostering inquiry-driven, safe spaces where young people can explore real-world issues and be empowered to become agents of change, as well as cultivate a culture of curiosity and critical thinking.  Rooted in the belief that young people are already deeply aware of the world around them, this session equips educators, youth workers, and facilitators with the tools to meet youth where they are—through joy, imagination, and creativity 

Join senior leaders from Grantmakers for Education, the nation’s leading network of over 300 education philanthropies, to discuss key trends shaping the field. This session will present an overview of the network, share highlights from a recent Benchmarking report highlighting historical trends in education philanthropy, and explore emerging shifts in funding priorities and philanthropic strategy. The session will include an interactive discussion with Executive Directors to reflect on how these trends are influencing both grantmaking and grant seeking in today’s landscape.

This workshop is part of a conference track designed specifically for nonprofit Executive Directors and Chief Executive Officers.