After Zones will offer mini-courses ranging from cooking to break dancing to robotics to students in Bridgham, Perry, Springfield and Gilbert Stuart schools.

01:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, September 28, 2005

BY LINDA BORG
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- A broad menu of after-school programs for middle school students will be offered in the Olneyville and West End neighborhoods starting Oct. 21.

They are the first of five After Zones planned by the Providence After School Alliance, part of the Education Partnership. The zones aim to connect students with activities in schools, libraries, city recreation centers and nonprofit community groups.

The After Zones build on programs that exist by creating a series of connected campuses. For instance, a student could participate in a chess club at middle school, then go to the library for help in reading and writing. The programs will be run at no cost to the parents or the city.

The After School Alliance wants to serve at least 300 children this fall. Next year, when the program expands to five After Zones, the organization hopes to reach 500 children, half of them students who had not been previously involved in any after-school activities.

The first two zones will serve students from Bridgham, Perry, Springfield and Gilbert Stuart middle schools. For four weeks, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, mini-courses will be offered ranging from cooking, break dancing, flag football, art, science and chemistry, engineering and robotics, computers and martial arts.

The After-School Alliance will offer a full semester of classes starting in January. The pilot programs will be used as a foundation on which to build next year's larger offering of activities.

Three more After Zones will open next year -- in the South Side, Smith Hill and the North End-East Side. Each zone will have a budget of $400,000 over three years for a fulltime coordinator, busing, training and technology.

Funding for the zones comes from a five-year, $5-million grant from the Wallace Foundation, and $1 million from Bank of America. The Nellie Mae Education Foundation donated $100,000 to help get the zones off the ground.

The organizations that have agreed to collaborate include the Boys & Girls Clubs, CityArts, Curse Breakers, Federal Hill House, John Hope Settlement House, Junior Achievement, Olneyville Community School, the Providence School Department, and the public libraries.

The Providence After School Alliance recently announced that $200,000 is available to develop new activities for middle school children. A request for proposals is available online at www.mypasa.org.

Students who want to register for classes should contact Jill Benitez at jbenitez [at] edpartnership.org.