Winter Play to Learn Expo

On January 30th, Dallas AfterSchool Network hosted its first PLAY TO LEARN Expo - a half-day of training for afterschool staff to ensure they have the background, techniques and confidence to better deliver quality programming to children enrolled in their afterschool programs. By leveraging the resources in our community, we were able to offer 25 different workshops in a single day. And what an impact we made.

• 528 afterschool staff attended from 37 different agencies.
• Assuming conservatively that each staff trained works with 10 students in their program, that makes 5,280 afterschool participants whose experiences will be improved by this day.
• Participants each earned 4 hours of continuing education credit for a total 2,112 hours of training delivered!
• In one day in January, Dallas AfterSchool Network trained more than half of the number of afterschool staff we served in all of 2009. And almost double the number we trained in 2008!

All participants were surveyed and returned very positive ratings. Comments included:

• "We could never have assembled such a variety of trainers and topics without the leadership of DASN."
• "We are definitely coming back to future DASN events."
• "The professionalism of the DASN staff is very refreshing."

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so please drop by the event site and check out all the fun!

We extend special thanks to the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, Salesmanship Club, Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center and many more wonderful organizations for making this day possible. Future Play to Learn Expos are scheduled for June 4th with a focus on new, summer program staff and September 11th for new, school-year staff.

One of the major goals of the Dallas AfterSchool Network is to improve the quality of afterschool programs. Afterschool staff is traditionally poorly compensated and not adequately trained. Dallas AfterSchool Network, since its inception, has had more than 2,000 training registrations. That training is making a difference in the lives of thousands of kids and your donations are allowing it to happen. Thank you!