Community Schools

• Tuesday/Thursday (2 days a week)
• Monday/Wednesday/Friday (3 days a week)
• Monday through Friday (5 days a week)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Not all families who are offered a seat at a DHSP Community Schools Afterschool Program accept the seat. As openings become available at each grade level, DHSP offers a seat to the next child in the waiting pool. You will be notified by email and through the Viewpoint platform if an opening becomes available for your child.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Applications submitted after the lottery deadline will be automatically added to the waiting pool.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.