March 1, 2021
Hello Flipside Youth, Families, Partners and Staff!
It is so hard to believe that nearly a year ago the country began to shut down due to the pandemic and none of us had any idea what to expect. Since then, we have learned to operate in work and community very differently. I could not be prouder of our Flipside team for their efforts to learn, problem-solve, be creative, flexible and patient while continuing to serve the youth and families throughout this incredible year. It is with great pride that we share the highlights of our Fall program with staff, families and community partners. -Deb Campobasso, Flipside Program Manager
Fall 2020 Programs by the Numbers
Participants
567
Sites
6
Hands-on Learning Kits Delivered
631
Positive Staff Role Models
65
Learning Opportunities
87
What people are saying about Flipside 2020
83% Coming to Flipside has helped me learn new things. (Youth Experience Survey)
72% Flipside has helped me learn skills that I can use in a future. (Youth Experience Survey)
87% Most teachers at Flipside are interested in me as a person. (Youth Experience Survey)
92% Overall, Flipside has been a positive experience. (Youth Experience Survey)
7th grader Arsema Yohanes, from Ramsey Middle School, shares her experience and work from her Flipside Art Class.
5th grader from Farnsworth Aerospace Upper “Everything is better, it’s the opposite of boredom.” (Daily Class Reflection Form)
Partner - Urban Boatbuilder Instructor
"In a year defined by uncertainty, Urban Boatbuilders' partnership with Flipside has felt remarkable in its consistency and adaptability. We have piloted two different remote woodworking programs with Flipside, and it's been a blast to hear about students' excitement at being able to craft folding chairs and folding desks at home. As we've worked to create a space where students can explore design concepts, work with tools and experience a variety of building materials, I'm grateful for the hard work and flexibility Flipside staff have shown in getting these programs up and running - it's certainly paid off!" (Program Impact Story Form)
Parents
"My daughter was reluctant to take the coding class, but I signed her up anyway. She loved it! I could hear her laughing and participating. It was the best thing for her during these crazy times."

"My 7th grader *loves* Flipside D&D! He looks forward to each and every session and is so engaged during those sessions. There are so few ways to connect with friends due to the pandemic, and I really appreciate this chance for him to have fun with school buddies."

(Program Impact Story Form)
Please use our form to share your story!
Game Club Class @AIMS
Dog Party Game
Designed and created by Tahjon Davis, 6th grade AIMS student using Scratch software.
Taught by Nicolette Rykhus
Program Impact Stories
See many more program impact stories on our website!
Program Impact Area:
Sense of Belonging
Indigenous Art

7 American Indian Magnet School scholars participated in Indigenous Art during the Fall 2020 session. Flipside partnered with Interfaith Action and their American Indian Youth Enrichment program to provide this afterschool class. Scholars painted and sketched with professional artists around St. Paul and received art supply deliveries in collaboration with SPPS Transportation. They are exhibiting their paintings in a show at the Minneapolis U.S. District Court Building. We are so proud of the work that they have done!

Exhibit:
“THIS IS ME: Indigenous in 2020”
Program Impact Area:
Skill Building
Woodworking: Folding Camp Chair
Flipside has partnered with Urban Boat Builders for many years to offer classes that have included building canoes, kayaks and longboard skateboards. This fall created a unique situation in figuring out how to continue to partner with UBB in a virtual setting. After brainstorming various ideas, we landed on offering a Folding Camp Chair class to 11 SPPS students. UBB put together the chair kits and they were delivered to students utilizing SPPS transportation services. Students met virtually for 10 sessions and built functional folding camp chairs that can be used in a variety of settings!

from a parent
"My son has loved Flipside and has really benefited from having these extra activities to do during this hard time at home. Our family looks forward to the kits each month and we are very grateful for your hard work."
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Program Impact Area:
Social Skills & Peer Relationships
Film Appreciation
Film Appreciation has always been a popular class. Students enjoy learning about the origins of movies starting with early silent films, to how they evolved to talkies, and then to color. The instructor’s goal is to explore films of every genre and era, study iconic filmmakers and to teach students to watch movies with a more critical eye. How would it work to virtually watch a movie with others? As it turns out, it works great! The instructor has noted that engagement amongst the 10-15 students that participated in the class this fall was higher than the in person class because of the chat function while virtually watching the films together. The engagement has even expanded to the families of the students in Film Appreciation.
Program Impact Area:
Academic: Literacy
Ramsey Newspaper
5 Ramsey students participated consistently in the Newspaper Class in the Fall of 2020. The class was able to publish 3 editions of the Newspaper and sent it out to students and families in the Ramsey Community. We love that this flipside class connects Flipside to the school. A quote from the teacher, " I love giving the students the opportunity to take the lead in this class. The Newspaper is completely driven by what the students want to write about and what they think their classmates will enjoy reading." "Its been a lot of fun being part of the process"
Activity Kit Program
November Baking Kits
208 Baking kits delivered for young people to make lemon poppy seed bread. Click above to watch Hilary Yang from
December Game Kits
211 Game Kits delivered for families to play board games and learn over the holiday break.
January Book Kits
212 Book Kits delivered to flipside participants for some inspiration to read during as well as supporting home libraries.
Academic Support
Saint Paul Public Schools and Flipside partner with the Saint Paul Public Library to expand access to valuable resources. Flipside works together with Library staff to teach on how the use of the electronic Library Card to access literacy and job training resources to improve skills among youth, families, and staff along with building awareness and access to these valuable resources.

Library Go Cards for Youth, Families and Staff
Library Go is a virtual library card. Library Go is a virtual library card that provides access to check out books, e-books, audiobooks, DVDs, and more. Library Go also provides access to online databases including online homework help, research databases, language learning, and tons of learning resources for adults too.

Every student in SPPS has an account automatically generated. This provides access to St. Paul Public Library (SPPL) resources. Students numbers are: 22091600 + Student Lunch#. When you login, sometimes a database will ask for a Personal Identification Number. The Personal Identification Number is student birthdate. The format for the birthday is MMDDYYYY. There are many online digital resources you can access using your card! To get started visit https://sppl.org/library-go
Library Go Cards for Staff - Request your account by completing this form:
E-Books
Use your Library Go card to check out and download ebooks and audiobooks through Libby. Libby is an application that connects students to a database of ebooks. Students Select MELSA E-Library, Saint Paul Public Library.
FREE Online Courses
There are many opportunities for adults to continue learning for fun or to learn a new job skill. St. Paul Public Library provides youth, families, and staff access to Lynda.com, a leading online video library of engaging, top-quality courses taught by recognized industry experts. Courses help anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals.
Brainfuse Online Homework Help
All students can benefit this crazy year from online homework help. Take advantage of this excellent resource for much-needed support. This service pairs students with tutors that are subject matter expert. It is live, online tutoring and is available every day, 1-11 p.m. Available in English and Spanish. www.lynda.com

Many more resources are available at St. Paul Public Library. What are you looking for?
Continuous Process Improvement
Flipside is committed to high-quality programming. To that end, we engage in a continuous improvement process by gathering data, making-meaning of the information, and implementing changes to our program.

At the beginning of each session, we ask our staff to complete a reflection tool called the Staff Self Study Survey, adapted from the Youth Program Quality Assessment. Not only does this allow staff to reflect on their daily practice, but it provides us with an overview of staff strengths for celebration and highlights areas of growth. We then tailor our staff meetings to provide opportunities to grow, practice, and share knowledge with one another based on the results of the survey.

In addition to ongoing job-embedded professional development, we offered over 6 hours of content-specific training to our staff in response to both staff needs and community needs. Our training topics included Land Acknowledgment, LGBTQ+ Essentials, Building Classroom Community, Anti-Racist Programming, Fostering Youth Leadership, and Advancing Program Quality.