Co-Creating the Future of Social-Emotional Health in Out-of-School Time

For more than a decade, Healthier Generation has worked across sectors to create healthier environments for millions of children. Central to these efforts is our strong partnerships—with schools, community organizations, businesses and other like-minded organizations. Together with these partners, we’re committed to meeting children’s comprehensive health needs wherever they live, learn and play. 

As a member of the Healthy Out-of-School Time Coalition, we’ve partnered with organizations like the Afterschool Alliance, National AfterSchool Association, National Institute on Out-of-School Time, National Recreation and Park Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide professional development to support out-of-school leaders in adopting national standards for healthy eating and physical activity. 

On August 27, Healthier Generation and Harmony SEL convened 25 youth development and social-emotional learning influencers to discuss how we can build on this work collectively to integrate physical health and social-emotional health in out-of-school time. 

The meeting, held at the Clinton Foundation in New York City, builds on key findings from our recent social-emotional health market research study and Twitter chat, “Healthy Body, Healthy Mind,” co-hosted by America’s Promise and Harmony on August 21. 

Over the course of the 6-hour event, through a series of conversations in large and small groups, attendees identified common opportunities, actionable steps, and key challenges, including: 

1. Engaging local voices, including families and youth in program planning and design 
2. Identifying opportunities to ensure all interactions between youth and adults build protective and supportive factors, especially those that involve physical activity and food 
3. Fostering staff well-being through organizational culture, training, and policy in a culturally responsive way 
4. Leveraging existing resources and celebrating “hot spots” of success 
5. Building momentum by engaging summer learning, outdoor play and camping experiences 
6. Understanding how the built environment supports optimal learning 

Healthier Generation will continue to engage this powerful group of leaders to further develop a vision for fully integrating physical health and social-emotional health in out-of-school time, inclusive of school and non-school based afterschool, before school programming, and summer camps. 

Join the conversation: how do you integrate physical health and social-emotional health? Tag your thoughts with #SEHealthChat on Twitter.  

Healthier Generation and Harmony thank the following participating organizations and partners: 

Afterschool Alliance 
After-School All-Stars 
American Camp Association 
America’s Promise 
Boys and Girls Clubs of America 
CASEL 
Collaborative Communications 
Communities in Schools 
Forum for Youth Investment 
LA’s BEST 
Laureus Foundation 
National AfterSchool Association 
National Recreation and Park Association 
National Summer Learning Association 
Turnaround for Children 
US Soccer Foundation 
Wallace Foundation 
Wings for Kids 

To learn more, please contact Daniel Hatcher, Director of Community Partnerships, at [email protected].