Blog

14
December
2011

Top 3 Benefits of After School Programs

As more after school programs crop up across the country, and more schools and program directors are seeking funding to cover these programs, it is important to question the benefits of after school programs. Do kids really benefit from involvement in an after school program? Are these benefits even measurable?

Several researchers have studied after school programs to determine the true effectiveness, and most would agree on three main benefits.

Keep kids out of trouble. In her study on after school progams published by the University of Michigan, LaDonna Moore cites Gottfredson, Gerstenblith, Soule, Womer, and Lu, who say that “Children and adolescents who are not supervised by an adult for extended periods of time are at elevated risk for engaging in problem behavior.” After school programs provide additional supervision for kids during a time of day when parents and caregivers are often still at work.

Help kids improve study habits and grades. In her dissertation at University of Pennsylvania, “Assessing the benefits of an after-school program for urban youth: An impact and process evaluation,” Sherrie Christine Lauver, Ph.D. found that after school programs have a significant impact on the time program participants spend doing homework. She also found that after school programs tend to have a positive effect on the educational aspirations of participants.

Likewise, Moore found that children involved in after school programs are given the opportunity to expand on what they learn in school.

Encourage a healthy lifestyle. Studies have found that students involved in after school programs spend more time exercising and have better eating habits. Many after school programs include recreational activities, and some are primarily focused on exercise and athletic development. Lauver states that children who are participants in after school programs spend more time in strength training exercises at fitness centers than students who are not participants in an after school program.

Our goal with the Coop’s Life Skills program is to teach kids healthy habits, encourage exercise and help them form strong study skills. In addition, we work to improve student moral to boost school attendance and confidence and educate students on decision-making skills, character development and environmental awareness.

Support us in our efforts by spreading the word about our fundraising campaign, Help Build Skills. Our goal is to raise the funds necessary to start five new CLS programs in different communities.

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7
December
2011

Help Us Spread the Word About Help Build Skills!

Help Build Skills is well under way, and we need your help to spread the word.

Help Build Skills is our 3-month campaign to raise awareness about the Coop’s Life Skills programs and funds we need to bring our programs to more communities.

There are 3 ways you can be involved with our efforts.

Give! If we reach our goal of raising $250,000, we will have the financial support necessary to bring 5 fully funded programs to surrounding communities — programs that provide at-risk kids with the chance to build strong life skills that will set them up for a lifetime of success. A gift of just $25 will provide everything needed for one child to be a part of the Coop’s Life Skills program for one month.

Bid! Our campaign includes a celebrity memorabilia auction hosted by Michael Cooper’s celebrity eBay page. Each week we have a new set of authentic, autographed professional sports memorabilia. Money raised from this auction will bring us closer to our goal.

Share! Tell your friends about Help Build Skills (http://www.helpbuildskills.com) on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, by email or even phone! The more people share our mission and our goals, the closer we will be to reaching our end goal of bringing Coop’s Life Skills to more communities. Use the Share tool on the right-hand side of the Help Build Skills homepage to easily share it with your friends online.

Follow our progress right here on our blog, or by following us on the Coop’s Life Skills https://www.facebook.com/CoopsLifeSkillsFacebook and Twitter pages.

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30
November
2011

Anti-Bullying Legislation Passed in California Gives Protection for Students and Tools for Educators to Stop Bullying

New California law empowers kids to learn in a safe environment free from intolerance.

Bullying in schools has made its way to the forefront of discussion and now even legislation regarding education. Not only are many kids being bullied while at school but several young students have resorted to taking their own lives in an effort to end the torment. Many educators and even parents have simply been at a loss as to the solution to this growing problem.

In September, California Governor, Jerry Brown signed a law into action that protects students from bullying. The new law, AB9 (also known as Seth’s Law) is named after Seth Walsh, a 13-year-old who committed suicide last year as a result of constant bullying at school. Seth was an openly gay student who was tormented at school, even to the point of physical abuse. When his mother complained to school officials about the bullying, the school took no action. Following his death, Seth’s family filed a wrongful death suit against his California school district.

Seth’s Law is one step in the right direction toward ending bullying and school violence. It is a mutually beneficial law, providing tools for California schools, and protection for students, empowering them to learn in a safe environment free from intolerance. The law ensures that every school in California implements anti-harassment and antidiscrimination policies. Many schools don’t have the tools needed to recognize and deal with red flags they see every day among both bullies and their victims. Seth’s Law is aimed at saving lives by ending bullying and preventing bullied kids from going to such extreme measures as suicide.

You can be a part of saving lives by ending bullying. If you live in California, call your local school and encourage them to be one among the first schools to become compliant with the new law. If you do not live in California, call your state representative or senator and advocate for a similar law protecting students in your state.

 

 

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22
November
2011

Help Build Skills Fundraising Campaign Update

Last week, we launched our auction of sports memorabilia, raising money to help support our after school programs. At Coop’s Life Skills, our goal is to teach kids life skills that will help them build a foundation for a healthy and successful life. Your support is much needed and greatly appreciated.

Our first six auction items were sold last week, raising more than $1,100. We are so grateful for your support!

We now have the following 2 new items listed for auction this week:

Authentic, autographed Raiders Tim Brown Helmet with certificate of authenticity. Click here to view this item.  

Authentic, autographed Bears Devin Hester jersey with certificate of authenticity. Click here to view this item.

To bid in our auction, track our fundraising progress or donate, visit HelpBuildSkills.com.

 

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15
November
2011

Reaching Goals Can Be a Challenge – Follow These Guidelines for Success

We occasionally want to share with our readers the kinds of lessons they might hear if they were in attendance at some of our Coop’s Life Skills classes.  Here is one of those lessons…

Setting and achieving goals is an important part of improving our lives. Making goals is easy for most people, keeping them can be more difficult.

When setting goals, here are a few things you should keep in mind to help you along the way:

Make your goals realistic. Setting achievable goals and allowing enough time to achieve those goals is most important. Whether you want to improve your grades or lose weight, know what is realistic. When it comes to grades, it may take small improvements over the course of several months to improve your GPA. If you are trying to lose weight, determining to lose 25 pounds in one month isn’t healthy or realistic. A healthy goal is to lose about 3 pounds each week.

Break your goals into parts. Tackle one part at a time. For example, getting fit is about more than just working out. It’s also about eating a healthy diet and spending less time sitting watching TV or playing video games. Make small changes to your diet first, like cutting out soda and fast food. Secondly, make a change to your lifestyle by being more active and spending less time in front of the TV. Then plan to spend a little bit of time a day exercising, gradually increasing the amount of time you spend working out. Over time you are sure to reach your fitness goals.

Stay positive. It’s important to remember that it’s ok to mess up or get off track. If you do, don’t give up on your goals, pick yourself up and keep going. Overcoming obstacles along the way is part of the learning process.

Stay motivated. Surround yourself with people who will encourage you as you work toward your reaching your goals. Celebrate small successes along the way. If your goal is to raise your grades from C’s and D’s to A’s and B’s, celebrate every small improvement along the way, even if it’s just a few points. If your goal is to lose 15 pounds, give yourself a pat on the back when you lose 5, and again when you lose 10.

Periodically review your progress and reassess your plan. If you find you are struggling to meet your benchmarks and overall goals, it might be necessary to take a look at your plan and make some changes. Remember that it’s ok if you do need to make changes.

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10
November
2011

What You Should Know About The Negative Effects of Sugar

Halloween has come and gone, ushering in the holiday season. This no doubt means candy and sweet treats are readily available to you and your kids.

While allowing yourself a little something sweet every now and then isn’t bad, sugar intake should carefully monitored. There are a number of negative effects sugar can have on the body, especially for children.

Most Americans get 20% of their daily calories from sugar alone — double the recommended amount of sugar.  While it’s obvious sugar is found in candy, cookies and other sweets, what many people are less aware of is the amount of sugar that is used in processed foods and even simple foods like bread.

A common misconception is that sugar causes hyperactivity, when in reality sugar has a negative effect on energy levels. Sugar causes the body to produce insulin, which causes a drop in blood sugar that often results in fatigue or nausea. The body requires water to absorb, so eating large amounts of sugar can lead to dehydration.

While sugar can cause a sudden burst of energy, as soon as the insulin is produced, we often experience a sharp drop in energy and even become lethargic. If you find that your child disassociates, or is easily fatigued, it may be due to the amount of sugar in his or her diet.

Obesity, diabetes and heart disease also have direct links to sugar.  Cutting down the amount of sugar kids eat is a big part of fighting childhood obesity.  Sugar products have also been to be linked to some forms of cancer and immune disorders. Bacteria and yeast need sugar to grow. The more sugar you put into your body, the more you feed the bacteria that can make you sick.

Monitoring sugar intake can be difficult, as often times, “sugar” doesn’t appear on nutrition labels. Look for other names for sugar, including sucrose, fructose, maltose, barley malt, sorbitol, corn sweetener, glucose, dextrose, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup and fruit juice concentrate.

Stash that Halloween candy in a place where your children don’t have easy access to it. Carefully monitor how much sugar your and your family eat each day. Only 10% of your daily calories should be from sugar. This Christmas, consider stuffing your kids’ stockings with toys and necessities like toothbrushes and maybe even a piece of fruit, rather than filling it with candy.

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7
November
2011

Announcing: Help Build Skills

Coop’s Life Skills is pleased to announce the start of “Help Build Skills”

Help Build Skills is a three month campaign that will attempt to raise awareness for the Coop’s Life Skills programs and funds to bring more of our programs to communities.  Visit www.helpbuildskills.com and see the different ways that you can get involved over the coming  months.

YOU CAN GIVE! – Coop’s life Skills has set a $250,000 financial goal for this campaign.  These funds are enough to bring 5 additional fully funded campaigns to surrounding communicates, providing at-risk kids with the chance to build strong life skills that can carry them into the future.  Your first gift of $25 will help provide everything a single child needs to be part of the Coops Life Skills programs that will be run in conjunction with the Boys and Girls Clubs in theLos Angeles Alliance.

YOU CAN BID! —  Part of this campaign includes a celebrity memorabilia auction, hosted by Michael Cooper’s celebrity eBay page, that will be hosted throughout the next three months.  WE have started with 12 fabulous signed, authenticated items from across the spectrum of professional sports.  Check here throughout the campaign to see the new list of auction items that will be currently up for your bids.  The more your bid, the closer we get to our goal!

YOU CAN SHARE! – We would love for you to help us spread the word about this campaign.  Please share the http://www.helpbuildskills.com link on your facebook, twitter, linkedin an other social media profiles.  We’ve put a handy little tool right on the front page of the helpbuildskills.com web site, and we hope you’ll share our mission and our cause with all your online friends.

3 Ways to Help Build Skills

We will be posting periodic updates of campaing progress over the next three months.
We hope you’ll check back in of ten and share the updates as well.
For many of you, following the progress on the CLS twittter feed or the CLS facebook page will be easier, and we invite you to do just that!

Michael Cooper will also be using his twitter page to let people know about the latest auctions too.

Thanks everyone,
– The CLS Communication Team

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30
October
2011

The Case for Candy and Consumption

Happy Halloween, Everybody!

As advocates for healthy childhood fitness and nutrition, we would be at fault or us not to address all the candy consumption that will take place over the next few hours.  We understand it’s an uphill battle, but here are a handful of practical suggestions we hope you would consider.

Control the consumption rate.  There is no reason for 7 or 8-year-old children should be given the ability to determine this on their own.  Use the occasion to discuss moderation with your kids.  Present your kids with a plan that you control.

Set an example.  Your choice to avoid pigging out on the yearly haul can speak volumes to your child.

Give instead of receive.  Perhaps your child would be encouraged by the responsibility of handing out candy.  Many life skills should be taught on the threshold of your front door.  Perhaps your decision to be givers will become a big opportunity to cut down on your collecting and consuming.

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23
October
2011

A Story from Coach Kat

Coop’s Life Skills operates in a variety of venues to deliver a variety of programs to kids in need.  At times, our focus is in delivering programs that help kids recognize the benefit of healthy eating habits or fitness routines or a variety of practical life skills.  Our counselors do a great job of training and teach the programs that have been developed.

One of those counselors is Kat.  Coach Kat, as the kids call her, worked this summer with one particular young girl who had very aggressive tendencies when we first met her.  Her aggressive behavior toward other children in the program was noticeably disruptive from the beginning of our camp program.

Coach Kat picture with one of her many campers from this last summer of CLS programs

Coach Kat’s approach to this camper was a great example of the work of caring, trained counselors who love their job and love the kids we’re serving.  Because of her ability to build trust, Kat was pleased that the camper quickly opened up to her about some of the reasons that her behavior was so disruptive.  Children of the inner cities of our communities will commonly have extremely difficult home situations and all the stories and behaviors that are associated with those sad circumstances.

Instead of standing in judgment, Coach Kat’s caring spirit and her ability to communicate and adjust the lesson schedule for their time together made a big difference for that camper.  It also made a big difference for all the children in the group she was learning with.  Coach Kat did the practical and loving things that each of our CLS counselors do each time they run a program.

We are so glad to have a team that allows us to teach these life skills in a way that honors the CLS mission, grows the CLS family, and loves the kids and families who we serve.

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15
October
2011

Hello People of the Bloggernet!

We have taken time to start this blog because we wanted to start sharing.  We have stories from our programs and camps that are challenging, inspiring, and always worth sharing.  We have a variety of points of view to share.  Don’t be surprised if you hear stories from students, counselors, the CLS staff, and perhaps an occasional guest voice.

 

We won’t always use this blog to just talk about our news.  There are lots of great organizations out there that have a mission that supports our work.  When we news or interesting topics surrounding any part of our mission, we’ll share it.

 

We’d love to interact with you as well.  We’d be happy to find who is reading by having you leave a comment when you have something to say.  We’d like each of these blog posts to be the beginning of a conversation, so plan to join in.

 

Thanks! We are glad we’re here.

 

-The CLS Communication Team

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