City Meeting on Universal Afterschool: this Wed, 5/1, 3-5p (Zoom)
Email or come tell City Council and DHSP what families need from an afterschool program
This Wednesday, May 1, 3-5p, City Council’s “Human Services & Veterans” Committee (which oversees DHSP) is holding a public meeting.
The agenda is "to discuss the progress being made to bring universal afterschool to Cambridge." We absolutely support universal programming (ie: every child who wants a spot is eligible for one).
Write in or sign up to speak:
Email — Email the City Manager, City Council, and Head of DHSP by copy/pasting these addresses: citymanager@cambridgema.gov, CityCouncil@cambridgema.gov, esemonoff@cambridgema.gov.
For most impact: Tell a personal story (you can repeat one you’ve told before).
Super short is A-Ok.
Issues you might mention: IEP students being excluded/facing stressful and arbitrary hurdles, DHSP misrepresenting the actual transportation policy, the effect of not getting placement on your ability to earn a living/mental state.
Make public comment (most impactful) — Sign up here.
You’ll have 3 minutes, but shorter is fine.
Last time, public comment was at the start of the meeting, and doesn’t last more than ~15 minutes. So hopefully, you can get this done if you’re free right at 3pm.
Other afterschool things:
Brand new incumbency policy(!): From a DHSP email to one parent, “Re-enrollment applicants are only guaranteed a seat if applying to the same site and program they are currently enrolled in.”
Don’t forget that the afterschool lottery closes Friday, May 17.
Our take on what is missing from the latest data dump from DHSP.
For anyone not yet on this list, here’s the link to subscribe for afterschool updates.
Thanks!
Eugenia Schraa & Amanda Beatty