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LINK Club brings high-quality afterschool programs to ACPS students city-wide at no cost to families.
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With funding from U.S. Department of Education 21st Century Community Learning Center grants and the support of Alexandria community partners, ACPS currently offers free high-quality afterschool programming to 550 students at nine sites across Alexandria. Services include tutoring and homework help offered by ACPS school-day teachers, a variety of enrichment opportunities and family engagement activities that are designed to support the families of students served.
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LINK to Learning
A primary focus of LINK Club is “linking” the instructional services received during the school day to the support provided during afterschool program hours. At each of our nine sites, ACPS certified teachers facilitate “Power Hour” in small grade-level groups daily. During Power Hour, students benefit from homework help, academic coaching and remedial supports. ACPS teachers focus on the concepts covered during the school day in order to help build student competencies, especially in reading and mathematics.
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1st grade students at Community Lodgings LINK Club work on site words with their teacher.
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Students at Francis C. Hammond LINK Club benefit from additional small group remediation support.
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tudents at Jefferson-Houston LINK Club work on multiplication facts and chart their progress.
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Enrichment
Beyond academic support, LINK Club is designed to foster positive growth through social interactions and enriching intellectual opportunities. A variety of enrichment clubs are offered to promote physical, social, emotional and cognitive development, communication skills, imagination and creative expression. LINK enrichment clubs help to nurture students’ natural talents while also teaching important life skills and improving students’ self-esteem.
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Ferdinand T. Day LINK Club teaches girls how to code in the Boolean Coding Club.
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Students at Community Lodgings LINK Club participate in Video Club Design Club.
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Kindergarten students at Brent Place LINK Club explore phases of matter in Slime Adventures Club.
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Youth Development
LINK Club recognizes the importance of providing a nurturing environment where positive relationships and communication is central. During Community Circles, staff facilitate open, direct communication and provide a safe, supportive space to help enhance students' understanding of self and relationships with their peers. Gender-based mentoring clubs also provide students with psycho-social support and guidance that helps them to make good decisions at school and in life.
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Community Circles at Jefferson-Houston LINK Club focus on social justice issues.
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At Brent Place LINK Club, the game of chess is used in a boys mentoring club to teach students to think before they move.
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Students reflect on who they are in "All about Me" activities in Girls Mentoring Club.
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Health & Nutrition
The health of ACPS students is vital to LINK Club and so various enrichment clubs engage students in activities focused on health and nutrition. To counter food shortage within the community, nutritious snacks and dinner are provided daily to students and weekly food bags are also provided to families each Friday at sites to ensure students have enough to eat through the weekend.
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Snack and dinner are provided for students every day through the ACPS Office of Nutrition Services and the Capital Area Food Bank and ALIVE provides weekend food bag
s
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INOVA Health Systems teaches students to love fruits and veggies through Healthy Plate Club at Brent Place LINK Club.
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Master Gardeners teach students to grow their own vegetables during the Gardening Club Jefferson Houston LINK Club.
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Sports and Recreation
Inclusion of regular sports and fitness activities not only helps students maintain physical health and wellness but promotes physiological well-being, reduces feelings of anxiety/depression and improves self-esteem while promoting team work, discipline and social skills essential to success in school and life. Students have the opportunity to participate in weekly recreational activities with their peers that support their healthy development.
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Middle school students at Jefferson-Houston LINK Club participate in Soccer Club.
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At Brent Place LINK Club, students jump leaps and bounds in
Parkour Club.
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Ferdinand T. Day LINK Club students embrace the moment in Yoga and Mindfulness Club.
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Family Engagement
To further promote optimal student development, LINK Club is grounded in respectful and reciprocal relationships with the families of students they serve. Opportunities for families include workshops geared at supporting student learning and development through hand on activities as well as opportunities to eliminate barriers to participation and improve their families' overall quality of life.
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Community Lodgings LINK Club offers twice weekly English classes to adult family members of students served through a partnership with Literacy Council of Northern Virginia.
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Principal Berkowitz engages Jefferson-Houston LINK families at a "Navigating the School System" workshop offered in partnership with FACE at an ARHA community site.
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Through a partnership with SCAN of Northern Virginia, Hammond LINK Club families participate with their students in a weekly Strengthening Families program.
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Community Partnerships
LINK Club also engages the larger community in the opportunity to support Alexandria's students afterschool and is grateful for its many community partners. LINK Club would not, in fact, be possible without the generous support of the following co-applicants who offer w
rap-around support, coordination and program services at each of the nine LINK Club sites
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- City of Alexandria Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities serves as the co-applicant for our two school-based LINK Clubs that take place at Ferdinand T. Day Elementary School and Francis C. Hammond Middle School. Over 100 students from each school attend these sites.
- Alexandria Redevelopment & Housing Authority (ARHA) is the co-applicant for the Jefferson-Houston LINK Club which serves 100 Jefferson-Houston students at three sites, including Jefferson-Houston PreK-8 School and two ARHA community sites.
- Homes for America, the property owner of Brent Place affordable housing hi-rise in Alexandria's west-end, is the co-applicant of Brent Place LINK Club which serves 55 Samuel Tucker and Patrick Henry Elementary School students. The program takes place onsite at Brent Place where the students and their families reside.
- Community Lodgings, Inc., a non-profit serving the immigrant community in Arlandria, is the co-applicant for the CLI LINK Club. CLI LINK Club serves 160 students who attend Mt Vernon Community School, George Mason Elementary, G.W. Middle School and T.C. Williams High School across three community sites within the Arlandria neighborhood.
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ACPS LINK Club | 703-619-8055 |
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ww.acps.k12.va.us
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