Casa Chirilagua

Kids Club - From January to June of 2024, Kids Club offered in-person afterschool programming for 36 students in grades 1st through 5th, providing academic support and extracurricular activities three times per week. Our program included reading and math tutoring three times a week, with a focus on helping students improve in areas where they faced learning deficits. Students engaged in social-emotional learning (SEL) activities twice a week, equipping them with essential skills for managing emotions, building healthy relationships, and making responsible decisions. Kids Club also prioritized physical activity and creativity by offering a variety of activities such as physical movement, arts, dance, and team-building exercises through partnerships with Inspira Dance and HEARD Nova. From July 8th to July 26th, 2024, Kids Club hosted its STEM Code Rising Summer Camp, which operated five days a week. An average of 15 students participated in the camp, where they engaged in hands-on learning focused on coding and decoding micro-bots. Field trips included visits to NASA Headquarters, the Amazon Office Space, and the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. These visits allowed students to witness real-world applications of STEM concepts, inspiring them to think about their futures and the broad range of career paths available to them.

eens Club is a program offered to create a safe environment for middle school youth to develop stronger academic, social, and leadership skills. From January to May 2024, the middle school after school program, Teens Club, was offered to 18 students in 6th-8th grade. Once a week, the students were welcomed to Casa Chirilagua for Teens Club on Tuesday evenings for structured activities. This weekly session for 1.5 hours would include a study hall, group trust building games and choice time activities. From June through July 2024, the middle schoolers were invited to SB2W summer camp for a week, taking 7 out of the 25 camper spots. After that there were a few informal connection opportunities over the summer that included the tradition of getting a free Slurpee at 7-11. From August to December 2024, Teens Club started again with the school year, offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45p-5:30p. The program had 24 students enrolled. During their program time included community building, academic support and a Social Emotional Lesson once a week and a Bible Study lesson once a week. This fall began the second year of a three-year rotating curriculum for the experience of the students in grades 6-8 at Casa Chirilagua, which would be 1. Self, 2. Others, 3. Our community. In the Fall, Casa Chirilagua partnered with Move2Learn for 6 weeks and they provided exercise, yoga, and other health related activities to the students during the Tuesday session.

Mentoring - Casa Chirilagua's Mentoring Program is continually expanding and creating more quality-based mentorship. From January to December 2024, 7 new mentors were added to the program. The Mentoring Program had a total of 44 active participants in the year 2024. At the end of 2024, it was estimated that mentors contributed over 3,432 hours of service in the fiscal year. Additionally, the Mentoring Program held a 63% retention rate among mentorships by the end of 2024. Mentors were able to dive deeper in their relationships with mentees and other mentors in the program.

Casa to College - Casa to College is a program created for high school students to build an awareness of post-high school opportunities and access to college application support through targeted programming, building the leadership capacity of this population in Chirilagua. From January to May 2024, the high-school after- school program, Casa to College, was offered to 16 students in 9th-12th grade from 5:30pm-7:00pm. Once a week, the students come for structured activities. This weekly session for 1.5 hours includes academic support, group community building games, and participation in SMART goal writing/tracking and engaging in tools for graduating and for their post high school plan. From September to December 2024, Tuesday night programming was offered to the 19 students enrolled in Casa to College for the 2024-2025 school year from 5:30pm-7:15pm for 1.75 hours. On Tuesday evenings students came for structured activities including community building time, developmental assets lessons, a focus on the topic of Commitment to Learning, homework tutoring and sessions for students based on their career interests, which included guest speakers and workshops.

Local Leaders - From January to August 2024, the Local Leader program employed four Local Leaders who played a pivotal role in supporting students across elementary, middle, and high school levels. Throughout the year, Local Leaders provided academic and emotional support to students through programs like Kids Club, Teens Club, and Casa to College. Their responsibilities included overseeing volunteers, organizing homework tutoring sessions and academic activities, planning Bible Study lessons, leading field trips, and creating content to expose students to new hobbies as well as college and career opportunities. Local Leaders also conducted home visits to check in on students and provide personalized support. In Spring 2024, Local Leaders continued their development through the Holistic Program, which focused on promoting professional development and implementing spiritual formation lessons. Over the course of the year, Local Leaders participated in more than six workshop sessions, accumulating a total of 12 instructional hours.

Volunteers - Volunteer engagement is a program that encompasses all organizational volunteers (excluding mentor volunteers) which offers the opportunity for new individuals and organizations to learn about Casa, connect to the programs and serve at Casa Chirilagua. Volunteer engagement spans a breadth of activities with the goal of building new relationships with Casa. This includes volunteer training and appreciation events, networking activities with current or new church/organization partners, and a college summer internship program. In 2024, Casa had 191 volunteers supporting the community during 2496 hours of volunteering. The breakdown of the 191 volunteers was 38 in Kids Club, 16 in Teens Club, 18 in Casa to College, 11 in the high school Bible Study, 24 in summer programs, and 84 in Community events. In 2024, we have 7 board members who contributed 90 volunteer hours through board meetings and committee responsibilities.