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Working with Diverse Populations

High-quality summer programs are critical in making sure that Georgia’s youth have a safe, enriching place to go when school is out. Low-income students often lack opportunities during the summer and actually start the school year off in a worse position than where they finished the previous school year. This is often referred to as the summer slide and accounts for about two-thirds of the achievement gap in ninth grade reading. Quality summer programs can drastically help mitigate these effects for low-income youth. Check out the resources below to support Georgia’s youth during the summer.

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 English Language Learners

The Effect of Afterschool Program Participation on English Language Acquisition

This Afterschool Matters paper examines the importance of non-academic settings in helping English Learner students learn English.

English Learners and Out-of-School Time Programs

This Afterschool Matters paper explores the potential of out-of-school time programs to foster English Learner success.

Children of Latino Immigrants and Out-of-School Time Programs

This brief identifies reasons that it is important to focus on children of Latino immigrants, discussed what out-of-school time programs can do for these children, and provides advice on how to attract and retain children of immigrants in these programs.

English Language Learners in Out-of-School Time, Boston Children’s Museum

Strategies to Support English Language Learners, Edutopia

English Language Learners in Out-of-School Time

This resource was developed to help you think about ways your program can improve its services for children and families who are learning English.

Strategies to Support English Language Learners

This resource provides a list of strategies to support students who are learning English.

 Students with Special Needs

Including Students with Disabilities in Afterschool

Inclusion Tool Kit: For Afterschool Programs

This tool kit contains the information and practical strategies you need to create a nurturing and welcoming environment for all children in your after school program.

Inclusive Practices Tip Sheets, Special Needs Inclusion Project

Promoting Diversity, Access, Equity and Inclusion, San Francisco Expanded Learning Collaborative

Afterschool Supporting Students with Disabilities and Other Special Needs 

This brief highlights the role that afterschool programs can play in the learning experiences of students with or without disabilities and how afterschool programs can help students gain acceptance, confidence and strength to succeed in school, graduate from school, and thrive in their career and life.

Inclusion of Children with Special Needs in After School and Summer Programs

Learn about the laws that impact afterschool and best practice guidelines for managing children with special needs.

 LGBTQ+

Love has no labels: Educator’s Guide

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) developed this Educator’s Guide to Love Has No Labels to help you facilitate discussions about bias and discrimination. The guide includes key words, discussion questions, extension activities by grade level (grades 3–12), tips for rethinking bias and additional resources.

Safe Spaces. Safe Places: Creating Welcoming and Inclusive Environments for Traumatized LGBTQ Youth

This video introduces the viewer to the needs of LGBTQ youth who have experienced trauma. Included with the video are a resource guide and training tool.

Trevor Project’s Lifeguard Workshop

Sexuality and Relationship Resources

Promoting Diversity

Religious Diversity in the Classroom: Fostering a Culture of Respect

Tanenbaum and Teaching Tolerance have partnered to create a series of webinars about the importance of including religious diversity in classroom content. Learn ways to create and modify lessons plans so they address religious diversity and be prepared to facilitate classroom discussions about religious diversity and beliefs.

  1. Fostering a Culture of Respect
  2. Applications for Elementary School Educators
  3. Applications for Middle Level Educators
  4. Applications for High School Educators

Diversity Discussion Starters

This publication from the National Mentoring Partnership is designed to help facilitate discussion about diversity among youth and adults. Diversity is discussed through a variety of stories and poems that each includes a brief discussion and several thought-provoking questions.

My Brother’s Keeper Alliance Webinar Series

The National Mentoring Partnership has partnered with My Brother’s Keeper Alliance to provide some high-level technical assistance around best practices for designing effective mentoring services for boys and young men of color. Below are the past recorded webinars. To view future webinars, view our events.

  1. Cultural and Class Conflicts in Mentor-Mentee Matches
  2. Knowing Thyself- Must Know Me to Build an Effective We
  3. Overview of Mentoring Boys and Men of Color and Pathways to the Mentoring Effect

Promoting Diversity, Access, Equity and Inclusion

This resource will help program staff take the time to explore the following issues and uncover and share how their perspectives play out in their interactions with youth: biases and misconceptions about youth with learning differences, from different countries, cultures, or religious backgrounds, and from varying socio-economic situations.

10 Tips for Affirming Diversity and Supporting Equity in New After School Programs, California Tomorrow

Make a World of Difference: 50 Asset-Building Activities to Help Teens Explore Diversity (Book) 

A wide range of cultural competences are addressed in this creative resource for raising diversity awareness in teenagers. The book incorporates a variety of learning styles and skill levels in three sections that include personal-awareness activities, building cultural awareness around a particular topic, and practice activities for trying out new relationship-building methods.

Teaching Tolerance (Resources & Curriculum)

Self-reflection is crucial to teaching and learning. These self-directed activities and readings will help providers explore, refine and improve classroom methods. Topics include racism and white privilege, and teaching tolerance’s Anti-bias Framework.

Promoting Diversity, Access, Equity and Inclusion

This resource will help program staff take the time to explore the following issues and uncover and share how their perspectives play out in their interactions with youth: biases and misconceptions about youth with learning differences, from different countries, cultures, or religious backgrounds, and from varying socio-economic situations.