Out of School Time Programs

Griffin Center programming is focused on breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty for children in East St. Louis Public Housing through a multi-faceted approach that includes:

• Out of School Time Programming and Summer Camps serving six public housing sites;
• Advocacy and academic monitoring of participants in collaboration with their respective schools;
• Second Step method Violence prevention training.

Griffin Center serves more than 300 children each year. At the highest level, the Center defines success in terms of the number of children in the program performing academically at grade level and exhibiting good social skills.

As a member of East Side Aligned’s network of out-of-school time providers, Griffin Center participates in the comprehensive Survey of Academic and Youth Outcomes evaluation process. Here’s a glimpse at what our participants are saying about their experiences at Griffin Center.

• 85% feel their peers are friendly with one another;
• 90% feel they have a lot of good friends at the center;
• 80% feel listened to by their peers;
• 94% report that they like coming;
• 83% report learning new things;
• 93% report having an adult they can talk to when they are upset.

Their Success is Our Success

Watch List
The Griffin Center watch list program was created to help Center staff keep track of children who have GPA’s of 2.0 and below. Students on the watch list are given extra academic and social-emotional support need to help improve attendance at school and overall academic performance.

Academic Performance
Over the past five years, Griffin Center participants achieved the following results: Honor Roll attainment rose from 34% to 44% and watch list placements decreased from 34% to 16%, resulting in more on-grade promotions.