Out-of-School Time Project

The following documents have been provided by Boys & Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area.

“Supporting Middle Years  Out-of-School Time Activities Through Approaches Enhanced by Natural Supports: Policy & Practice Framework” was completed in December 2020. This focus was on the shifting needs of a larger community, recognizing the barriers that exist for children’s Out of school time (OST) programing, specifically the ages of 6-13. The framework focuses on key principles that work together to create overall sustainability and provides illustrative policy and practice responses that can be applied to stakeholders involved in critical functions of OST policy development and funding, program planning, collaboration, and coordination and program design and delivery.

“Building Natural Supports for Children 6-13 in Out-of-School-Time Contexts: A Pilot Project” describes the findings, conclusions, and recommendation of an evaluation of the Natural Supports Pilot Project carried out in the West Club of Boys and Girls Club Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area from 2022 to 2023.

“Natural Supports Resource Guide” was the resource guide developed over the course of the pilot project. The focus of this document is to provide information and sample strategies for implementing a principle-focused approach to enabling natural supports in 6-13 year-olds within an OST environment. Supporting staff and volunteers in this contexts, it hopes to enhance the capacity and commitment of program staff, volunteers and the community partners who collaborate with them.

“Unpacking a Principle-based Approach to Enabling Natural Supports” is a work book for staff and volunteers. This is a supplemental resource and tool designed to accompany the resource guide.