Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.Seven new after-school sites will open across Detroit this school year using $2.2 million in city funding, Mayor Mary Sheffield announced Thursday.As part of Sheffield’s initiative to improve life for the city’s youth, the funding will allow the existing after-school program Get On And Learn, or GOAL Line Detroit, to expand to parts of the city lacking access to affordable out-of-school opportunities. The free program also will provide transportation for K-8 students from city schools to the new sites.The program currently has 33 sites and serves more than 2,700 students, according to the city. With the expansion, it will serve around 1,000 more children in the city, Sheffield said at a press conference Thursday at the Northwest Activities Center.For the first time in the program’s history, there will be sites in all seven City Council districts, Ricky Fountain, executive director of the Community Education Commission, said at the press conference.“Our parents now can finish their workday knowing their children are safe and engaged, instead of having to leave work early or arrange transportation every afternoon,” Sheffield said. At Thursday’s press conference, Sloan Gibson, the father of a fourth grader at Foreign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies School, said GOAL Line has helped his son grow as a student. The program also made his work schedule more manageable, he added.“Those few extra hours, you know, it gives us a chance to get work done, just take a deep breath,” he said.Out-of-school programs can have a number of benefits for kids, including improvements in schoolday attendance, academic performance, and behavior.But parents in Detroit and southeast Michigan have long lacked access to high-quality, affordable after-school programs. Nikolai Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, said at the press conference that transportation is a barrier for families trying to get their kids to such programs.“Our families are struggling,” he said. “They’re working. They’ve got multiple jobs. Their kids are coming home and maybe just watching TV or sitting on a phone.”GOAL Line also expanded this school year to offer after-school programming at four more DPSCD elementary-middle schools, Vitti said.The nonprofit was created in 2018 through the city’s Community Education Commission under former Mayor Mike Duggan as an incentive for parents to keep students in Detroit schools. Since then, it has expanded with philanthropic and state funding. It now offers 57 different enrichment activities, including robotics, athletics, tutoring, financial literacy, and coding.Sheffield said the expansion is a first step toward her goal of having an after-school program within 2 miles of every Detroit school.The new GOAL Line sites will be located at:Helen Moore Community CenterColeman A. Young Recreation Center Joseph Walker Williams Recreation CenterCommunity Center at A.B. Ford ParkDetroit Public Library, Conley branchDetroit Public Library, Lincoln BranchDetroit Public Library, Chaney BranchExisting GOAL Line sites are located at:Northwest Activities CenterHeilmann Recreation CenterPatton Recreation CenterEngaged DetroitAssociation for the Advancement of Deaf/Hard of HearingCass Community Services CenterDetroit Public Library - Hubbard BranchDetroit Public Library, Edison BranchDetroit Public Library, Parkman BranchDetroit Public Library, Redford BranchDetroit Public Library, Sherwood Forest BranchDetroit Academy of Arts and SciencesBagley Elementary School of Journalism and TechnologyBow Elementary-Middle SchoolBunche Preparatory AcademyDetroit Achievement AcademyCornerstone Adams-Young Elementary AcademyCornerstone Adams-Young Middle AcademyForeign Language Immersion and Cultural Studies SchoolJohn R. King Academic and Performing Arts AcademyPalmer Park Preparatory AcademyPasteur Elementary SchoolSchulze Academy for Technology and ArtsThe School at MarygroveVernor Elementary SchoolWarrendale Charter AcademyFisher Magnet AcademyDurfee Elementary-Middle SchoolThirkell Elementary-Middle SchoolMunger Elementary-Middle SchoolPaul Robeson Malcolm X AcademyNolan Elementary-Middle SchoolEdison Elementary SchoolHannah Dellinger covers Detroit schools for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
