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Chrysalis After School If you give a girl a voice, you give her a future… The Chrysalis After-School program is the signature program for school age girls created by the Chrysalis Foundation. Encompassing a comprehensive curriculum including academics, life skills, volunteerism, health, and women's history, Chrysalis After-School also emphasizes financial literacy and career options to prepare girls for future educational opportunities, nontraditional careers, and leadership opportunities. Created by the Foundation in 1998, Chrysalis After-School has now served over 4,500 girls during weekly meetings at school sites. Provided at no charge to participants, Chrysalis After-School provides leadership development, economic empowerment, and resilience skills. The Foundation has invested nearly $1.6 million in the program to assure girls healthy development and life success. All programs are based at the school and include a nonprofit partner; agency partners include Des Moines Schools SUCCESS Program, Children and Families of Iowa, ISU Extension/Polk County, Young Women's Resource Center, Employee and Family Resources, PACE Program at Orchard Place, and FutureNet.
Why Are After School Programs important? Keeps kids safe (focus on crime, juvenile justice, substance abuse, pregnancy)
Helps working families (focus on economic development, employee performance, job retention)
Supports student learning (focus on graduation, job performance, economic independence)
The Real Impact: A Student’s story: Dear Chrysalis Foundation, We should have the Chrysalis After School young women’s groups because it helps girls in many, many ways. Without it, I have nothing to look forward to during the week. It’s one more reason to show up for school. Twice last year, after I’d transferred and failed to make friends, it stopped me from suicide. The after-school group prevents that from happening because it gives them friends and safe adults to talk to. They aren’t judged or betrayed by their peers. Without it, people like myself would have nothing to look forward to . A Teacher’s story: Jennifer is a beautiful Hispanic girl. When she joined our girl’s club last year she was very quiet and shy. Initially, she never volunteered to share her thoughts or feelings. She always chose to sit by my volunteer or me. Each week one of us causally checked in with her to see how she was doing or how she felt about something. Most often she quietly replied but did not choose to get overly involved in group. About mid way through the year our group adopted a silly mascot for our group leader. The girls felt less embarrassed addressing questions to the mascot and this lead the way to some fantastic group conversation. Jennifer was excited one day to share with my volunteer and me that she too had the same mascot. From that time on we often asked her about her other mascot. She would act like she was embarrassed that we asked, but with time she started opening up and talking more in group. By the end of the year, she was showing true leadership qualities, was admired by peers and actively participated in conversations. This behavior was noticed by teachers as well. Jennifer recently came back to our school and shared with me that she is receiving all A’s and is actively involved in a leadership group at her middle school. She was chosen to speak at a youth summit and did very well. She has volunteered to come to our current girl’s club group and talk with them about their anxieties regarding middle school. Her self confidence speaks volumes!!
2008-2009 CHRYSALIS AFTER-SCHOOL FUNDING NOTIFICATION The Chrysalis Foundation is pleased to begin its second decade of funding for Chrysalis After-School programs serving middle school girls. This year marks a new opportunity to expand the program to serve girls in Polk, Warren, and Dallas Counties in central Iowa through a competitive application process to provide core funding support.
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