Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services in Springfield is offering various summer programs for the city's youth. Activities include summer camps, drop-in events and evening programs for teenagers.
There are a wide range of offerings, from a day camp for children aged 5-13, to free evening programs for teenagers and young adults. Activities include educational field trips, workshops about social and emotional wellbeing, and classes on a variety of subjects, from creative arts to digital literacy.
"It's designed to keep our kids engaged during critical evening hours in the summer, providing positive alternatives that encourage a healthy holistic development," says MLK Family Services executive director Shannon Rudder.
The purpose of this programming is to give young people structure they might not otherwise have in the summer, and to prevent the so-called "summer slide," a phenomenon where students regress in their learning during the summer.
"If students are not engaged, they will go back, and they will slide back and forget all that rich learning that they learned through the school year," says assistant superintendent of Springfield Public Schools, Terry Powe.
MLK Family Services is also partnering with the Urban League of Greater Springfield. The Urban League owns and operates Camp Atwater in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, the oldest Black-owned summer camp in America.
"We want to be a part of your village this summer," says Rudder.
