After School Program
3:00pm to 7:30pm | Monday to Friday
The Brotherhood/Sister Sol’s After School Program (ASP) provides a creative and safe learning environment supervised by skilled, caring staff. ASP offers a diverse range of classes on a rotating schedule. These classes include acting, cooking, photography, visual arts, poetry, percussion and drumming, karate, and computer/video technology. Various sports activities are held at nearby facilities.
During ASP, our younger members (ages 7 to 12) receive tutoring and academic assistance and participate in enrichment classes. In addition to the traditional chapter-based program, which follows all of these stages over four to six years, we have also initiated Young Sisters and Young Brothers groups for our elementary-aged children. Each group has about ten members, and is designed to begin the process of education, exploration, and empowerment that will ultimately occur when the youth are old enough to join the traditional chapter program.
Through two-hour weekly meetings, the Young Sisters and Young Brothers participate in a similar sequence of activities as traditional Brotherhood/Sister Sol chapters, but tailored for their age and comprehension level. Every Thursday from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm, mentors provide an additional network of support for our members. Through fun activities, group projects and special outings, these adults become an additional network of support for our members.
Our older members (ages 13 to 19) also receive academic support and participate in enrichment activities during ASP. These activities include web design, dance, cooking, and beading. In addition, the teens are paid program assistants: They tutor younger peers to build reading skills and help them reflect in order to achieve personal development. Guest speakers also provide our teens with an inside look at their professional career interests.
Lyrical Circle (LC) began as an initiative of a few teen members to have a space to write: a group of poets needed a place that would support the development of their craft. Three dedicated staff members helped out and Lyrical Circle took flight. The poets met every Friday night in the Brownstone for three to four hours over the course of four years. They have entered slams in NYC and across the country, performed in venues and colleges throughout the East Coast. They wrote a play entitled Off the Subject, which is also the name of a recently published collection of their poetry.
I believe so deeply in the life-saving work that The Brotherhood/Sister Sol is dedicated to: values and skills building that empower young people and keep them on course; helping young people to see and develop the extraordinary within themselves; ensuring their safe passage to adulthood. It is surely one of the most incredible organizations in the nation. Their work is catalytic! Their leadership, their services and outcomes are without peer. Simply put, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol does the work that few others will or even know how to do…. They have answered the call to repair the village, to secure the children. It’s our responsibility to ensure they have all they need to do God’s work.
[The Brotherhood/Sister Sol] is using their passion to uplift and inspire a next generation through extraordinary work that creates leaders and a sanctuary for children…. where their members can develop a higher vision of themselves.
