Greentrike OSTI

Serving as the Out-of-School Time Intermediary for Pierce County, Washington

Powering Expanded Learning Opportunities

Greentrike Out-of-School Time Intermediary (OSTI) connects Pierce County’s array of child and youth-focused programs, services, community partnerships, and curriculum-based efforts, to provide pathways to success for children and youth. Greentrike OSTI’s method is driven by research that demonstrates how an Expanded Learning Opportunities (ELO) program improves student success and equips students to reach future goals.

Greentrike OSTI offers Pierce County’s youth development community tools and expertise needed to lift up young people in marginalized communities and broaden access to hands-on learning opportunities. Greentrike OSTI’s strong community and organizational partnerships ensure that children, youth, and families in Pierce County have equitable access to culturally responsive, play-based, and enriching ELO programs.

Why Expanded Learning Matters

Greentrike OSTI recognizes that learning doesn’t stop when the school day ends, or when summer break begins. Caring adults and youth development professionals in ELO programs provide time, space, and enriching environments that students need to develop critical skills, make meaningful connections, and discover their passions.

Identifying barriers that affect children and youth is essential to improve learning. Recognizing and addressing those barriers are an integral part of ELO programs.

Children and youth experiencing poverty, and who are furthest removed from opportunity, experience higher deficits in learning compared to their middle-class peers. A deficit that has grown as large as 6,000 hours by the time students reach the sixth grade. This is in small part due to less time in the classroom (during the pre-k years). The bulk of deficit is a result of a scarcity of enriched learning that occurs beyond the traditional school day.

Enriching learning comes in such forms as visiting a museum or aquarium, attending a symphony or play, or by being surrounded by caring adults. For some youth in marginalized communities, such enriching activities do not exist. As a result, such youth have less learning experiences and have more narrowed horizons than their more affluent peers.

Greentrike seeks to improve access to enriching learning by providing more expanded learning opportunities programming for students.

Greentrike OSTI Theory of Action and Long Term intended Impact rests under four critical levers

Awareness: Build awareness about expanded learning opportunities across multiple stakeholder groups through knowledge sharing and advocacy.

Access: Increase equitable access to a robust set ELO programs for students and families by mobilizing stakeholders and supporting program implementation.

Continuous Improvement: Provide capacity building, professional development, and training. Greentrike OSTI fosters continuous improvement in the ecosystem by setting the vision for expanded learning and facilitating opportunities for professional growth.

Enabling Conditions: Create the enabling conditions for the work to flourish by strategically aligning resources, funding, and data.

School Impact

Out-of-school learning and enrichment experiences impact achievement gaps as much as in-school learning.
Regular participation in ELO programs lead to youth success in school and life.
ELO programs support school retention, graduation, college enrollment, and career readiness.
Summer programs prevent learning loss over summer break—improving student performance.
ELO connects youth to caring adults who can support them in their journey of fulfilling their dreams.

Expertise and support

Logistical Support
Greentrike OSTI streamlines readiness for community partners and providers to be ready to safely serve children and youth in school spaces by ensuring: background checks are completed, Certificate of Insurance adequately covers school and provider liability, Covid-19 mandates are in compliance, and providers complete safe schools training, orientation, and onboarding.

On Site Coordination
Greentrike OSTI ensures providers and school staff have a consistent and trusted liaison or site lead at schools who supports school staff with program updates, attendance and engagement tracking, opportunities sourcing, and recruitment. Site leads support providers at the site level to ensure providers engage in pre/post program huddles, SEL spotlights, and support student behavior issue and parent engagement and program showcases, professional development, and training.

A team of committed program providers
Over 80 part-time instructors from 40 organizations are part of the Greentrike OSTI team that provides ELO programming. This team offers programs two to four times a week at both the elementary and middle school spaces.

Continuous Improvement
Greentrike OSTI sets high standards and offers professional development to ensure that team members are making an impact on 2,000 youth served every year.
Leverage resources
Greentrike OSTI connects providers to funding opportunities in Pierce County through advocacy and awareness programs. Greentrike OSTI gathers philanthropic, school, city, county, and federal partnerships that create sustainability for ELO programming.

Equity Statement

Greentrike OSTI purposefully strives to identify and challenge the impact of race, color, and ethnicity that affect children, youth, and community outcomes to address issues of racism and bias. We believe all youth should have access to equitable, high-quality, fun, culturally responsive ELO programs, starting with those furthest removed from opportunities. Many types of institutions bring valuable advocacy, awareness, and resources to a mission like this. Pierce County children and youth need a variety of learning enrichment opportunities and mentors to help them discover play and spark as a way of reaching their full potential.