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DHSP Community Schools Afterschool Programs offer a range of educational and recreational activities in a safe environment where all are welcome. Activities are designed to develop children’s social and emotional growth and build healthy relationships.
November 2022
Since the opening of programs in September, we have continued to make additional offers to families from the waiting pool as some families declined or made changes to their offered seats. While we will continue to manage our waiting pool and any available open seats that may occur, we believe this process has significantly slowed down and that the majority of the seats in Community Schools Afterschool Program are actively occupied. If a seat does open up, we will offer the seat to the next child on the lottery list who meets the criteria of the open seat.
View October Data for the 2022-2023 Community Schools Afterschool Programs Lottery (PDF)
September 2022
Since our communication to families at the end of August, we received additional applications to our waiting pool. During the past month, many families who were offered seats declined their seats or requested a reduction of days. This has allowed us to offer full or partial afterschool programming to families in our waiting pool. We also continue to reserve seats at each site for priority applicants from households with 65% or less of HUD Area Median Income.
View September Data for the 2022-2023 Community Schools Afterschool Programs Lottery (PDF)
We continue to maintain a waiting pool for each Community Schools site. When an opening becomes available at a program, the seat is offered to the next child on the lottery list who meets the open seat’s grade level and requested days of the week. Staffing continues to be a significant challenge. We are actively recruiting for our open staff positions in order to fully staff programs currently in operation, and we are working toward modest expansion at select sites.
August 2022
DHSP Community Schools Afterschool Programs offer educational and fun activities in a safe environment where all are welcome. Programs are open to children in Junior Kindergarten through 5th grade and run September 2022 – June 2023. Participation is determined by lottery.
The 2022-2023 application for the DHSP Community Schools Afterschool Programs Lottery is closed.
If you have questions, please contact DHSP at 617-349-6200 or askdhsp@cambridgema.gov
Applications submitted after the lottery deadline will be automatically added to the waiting pool.
Families pay tuition for an entire year of programming, broken into monthly payments. Monthly tuition rates are based on household size, family income and the number of days your child(ren) will attend programming.
After families accept their child’s seat and confirm the days their child will enroll, they will receive their monthly tuition, based on income and family size. Payment can be made by personal check or money order to the City of Cambridge. Vouchers are not accepted as a form of payment.
No, vouchers are not accepted as a form of payment for Community Schools Afterschool Programs.
Families pay tuition for an entire year of programming, broken into monthly payments. Monthly tuition rates are based on household size, family income and the number of days your child(ren) will attend programming.
You do not need to provide income verification until your child is offered and accepts a seat at a Community Schools Afterschool program. DHSP Community Schools tuition rates are based on income and family size. All families with a Gross Family Income below $315,500 will be asked to provide verification of income by uploading their documents (2021 Tax return and 4 consecutive pay stubs (or last 30 days) OR current award letters for any benefits you are receiving (TANF, SSI, SNAP, WIC, etc.) to their Viewpoint account.
Families with income above $315,500 do not need to provide documentation because they will be paying the top tuition rate.
This is an impossible question to answer with 100% certainty, as it depends on applicant priority status and how many applications DHSP receives for each grade level, days of the week, and site location.
The more sites you select on your child’s application, the better your chances are for getting a seat. You can select up to 3 schools on your child’s application. Please only select sites that your child will be able to attend.
Not all families who are offered a seat at a DHSP Community Schools Afterschool Program accept the seat. If an opening becomes available at a program, the seat will be offered to the next child on the lottery list who meets the open seat's grade level, and requested days of the week.
You will be notified by email and through the Viewpoint platform if an opening becomes available for your child.
Yes. Community Schools offer programming on CPS early release days, as well as full-day programming during February and April vacations. Early release day programming does not have an additional cost. Vacation week programming will incur an additional cost for participation, and the process for registering will be shared with families who are offered enrollment in September. A full schedule will be provided for enrolled families in September.
You can reduce the number of days your child attends a program during the year by providing notice to the Program Director. The ability to change enrollment days or increase the number of days your child will attend a program each week will depend on program capacity.
DHSP does not provide transportation to Community Schools sites. Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) provides transportation between schools and some Community Schools sites. If your child chooses to attend a Community School and CPS does not provide transportation between your child’s school and the Community School site, you will be responsible for transporting your child to afterschool.
For more information, view information about transportation provided by CPS to Community Schools Sites. This information is subject to finalization by CPS in September 2022.
Yes. All Community Schools afterschool programs provide daily snacks for children in attendance. If a child has specific nutritional needs, families are encouraged to pack an individual snack for their child.
No, but DHSP does not provide transportation to Community Schools sites. Cambridge Public Schools (CPS) provides transportation between schools and some Community Schools sites. If your child chooses to attend a Community School and CPS does not provide transportation between your child’s school and the Community School site, you will be responsible for transporting your child to the afterschool program. See below for more information.
Priority is based on income. Applicants with a household income of 65% or less than HUD Area Median Income (AMI) are given priority in the lottery.
There is a sibling preference for Community Schools placements. When one child’s lottery number is selected and they are placed in a program, their sibling(s) get preference to be placed at the same site (provided that the family indicated the same sites for all children). However, sibling placement depends on seat availability for the child’s age group and is not guaranteed.
The deadline to apply was Friday, June 3, 2022. Any eligible applications received after June 3 will be automatically added to the Community Schools Afterschool Program waiting pool. Click here to apply.
Programming for all of DHSP’s afterschool programs, including Community Schools, will operate through June 2023. There will not be a need to register for another session during the 2022-2023 school year.
We use a unified enrollment system to make placements across many schools. You will fill out the common application and put in rank-order the schools you are interested in. First, we try to place children (in each grade) in their first-choice site for the days/sessions requested. If there are more applicants than seats available (for that grade), we admit students in order of their priority ranking. We determine priority ranking based on priority categories and your lottery number. We continue the process until the site reaches capacity.
If there are no seats available for your first choice, your child will be considered for their second choice. We continue the process until your child has been place in a Community School program. No student receives a seat in more than one school.
Each Community School site determines the number of seats available based on the program’s enrollment capacity. For the school year, enrollment is based on days of the week. We reserve 30% of the spots in each program for children from low-income households. These are our Priority seats. We hold a Priority Lottery and a General Lottery to fill the seats in our programs.
Each applicant receives a random number generated from a program that automates numbers. DHSP staff will place children into available seats for their age group according to their lottery number. When possible, we will place siblings together. Once all available seats are filled, the remaining applicants are put in our waiting pool in order of their original lottery number. As families decline seats offered to them, we will offer the next eligible applicant the placement.
Our top priority is the health and safety of our children, families, and staff. We will follow the guidance of the Cambridge Public Health Department and the Cambridge Public Schools. Families will be notified of the latest COVID-19 guidelines at afterschool programs prior to their start in September.
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