When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Barbara Couto Sipe and her team at NextUp had no virtual programming. Within two weeks, they brought their after-school offerings online to Richmond middle schoolers when these students needed them the most.
Created in 2013, NextUp is a network of individuals and small businesses holding after-school enrichment classes for middle schoolers. Kids can take classes in things such as the culinary arts or robotics or yoga and wellness.
“We think of ourselves as a system,” says Couto, president and CEO. “We aren’t a direct-service provider. We do the marketing and the outreach and the data collection. ... [The instructors] really do the magical work of touching kids and inspiring them.”
NextUp is now in five middle schools across the city, and it’s had more than 1,800 participants. Over seven years, Sipe and her team have found that NextUp participants also have improved school attendance, behavior and grades. “Ultimately, we want to influence students’ ability to graduate on time and to thrive.”
While dealing with the limitations set by the pandemic, Sipe and her team began to notice that more students were joining their programs virtually. Some students were logged in all day last summer. “It provided a real unexpected connection for the kids,” she says. Some kids began to comment that they now had friends all over the city.
In looking toward the future, Sipe says that NextUp is readying for what students are going to need. “We know that there is going to be a sizable learning loss from this last year. We know that the emotional health and the social health for students is going to be really important to help kids rebound.”
