Fall 2021 afterschool classes
September 27 - November 19
Our Fall 2021 afterschool program includes classes and clubs for youth (ages 8-14) and teenagers (ages 13+). In response to the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic, students and teachers will follow safety procedures and public health guidelines.
Our Youth Afterschool Program (ages 8-14) includes our Tuesday Roots & Rebels Garden Club, Wednesday Media Club, and a bi-weekly Hiking Club for youth ages 10+.
Our Teen Programs (ages 13+) engage and employ teenagers during out-of-school-time hours in community organizing, education, urban gardening, regenerative business design, and personal and collective healing.
Enrollment and cost: These programs are free. Given the limited size of our current program offerings, priority for these afterschool programs will be given to students currently enrolled in the Hudson City School District and residents of Bliss Towers, Schuyler Court, Hudson Terraces, and Providence Hall. If you’re interested in participating or learning more, apply by August 6.
ROOTS & REBELS GARDEN CLUB
Tuesdays | 3pm-6pm | Ages 8-14
Get your hands dirty at the River City Garden—with Sharece Johnson and Heylan Tsumagari
Join us every Tuesday afternoon for the Roots & Rebels Garden Club! We’ll meet each week at our River City Garden to plant seeds and grow plants, prepare and eat delicious meals, and tend to our shared plots. We’ll examine the bugs and microbes in our healthy soil, learn to grow herbs and medicines, and practice making our own soil and compost. We’ll draw and observe what’s happening in our raised beds, create garden art projects, and of course play our favorite games outside. Join us!
This program is free. If you would like to make a donation to support the program, we suggest $100-$400.
Media Club
Wednesdays | 3pm-6pm | Ages 8-14+
What’s your story? Calling all young creatives looking to practice media-making!—with Sharece Johnson
Our Media Club supports youth to produce innovative stories about how they see and experience the world, and to analyze pop culture and media representation. On any given week we might be writing and producing our own Buzzfeed videos, conducting vox pop interviews in the neighborhood, creating community news stories for the Register Star, or developing a multimedia theater piece. From journalistic stories to hilarious videos to creative audio and visual art pieces, our goal is to tell stories that matter to us in our own voices.
This program is free. If you would like to make a donation to support the program, we suggest $100-$400.
ReGen Teens
Mondays & Wednesdays | Ages 13+
Hands-on gardening & creative entrepreneurship for teen leaders—with Briggin Scharf and Suanny Upegui
Join us to work as a community garden steward and creative entrepreneur! ReGen Teens take care of the River City Garden— building beds, planting, weeding, harvesting, educating, and launching a new greenhouse. ReGen Teens are also designing and running their own creative businesses as part of a youth cooperative, including a city-wide compost business, a youth-run greenhouse, bike-powered smoothie sales, pop-up food markets, a dog-walking business and more—while learning together about regenerative economics, urban agriculture, and environmental justice. The ReGen Teens are part of the JAM collective, a network of youth in urban agriculture throughout the Hudson Valley. T
his is a youth employment and fellowship program.
Social Justice Leadership Academy
Fridays | Ages 13+
Transformative youth organizing, arts, and healing to build a more just world. What’s your role in the movement?—with Donnay Edmund, Sharece Johnson, and Jalal Sabur
Our afterschool Social Justice Leadership Academy (SJLA) is a weekly space for teens to gather, connect, grieve, heal, learn, play and organize. SJLA combines political education, hands-on arts programming, and land-based healing to support the creative power, collective leadership and joy of young people in our community, including youth of color, immigrant youth, queer youth, low-income and court-involved youth. SJLA Afterschool focuses on building core skills for organizing youth-led campaigns, direct actions, and creative resistance. We’ll develop our personal and collective theories of change, and learn how to broaden and deepen our base in Hudson.
This program is free. If you would like to make a donation to support the program, click here.
Hiking Club
Weekends | Ages 10+
Twice-a-month outdoor hikes & creative adventures—with Heylan Tsumagari
Coined by one of the teens as “wellness walks,” our Hiking Club meets twice-a-month to head out on creative outdoor adventures throughout the Hudson Valley. Together we explore waterfalls, find incredible views at the top of big hills, sled downhill in the snow, and connect with each other and our surroundings.
This program is free. If you would like to make a donation to support the program, we suggest $50-$200.