2024 Afterschool Excellence Awards
The awards honor individuals/organizations for going above and beyond in support of the out-of-school time profession.
Community Engagement Award - Resurgence/Bridge Street Ministries
Bridge Street Ministries’ Resurgence program is taking an innovative approach to urban youth development by created beautiful and inspiring, place-based youth centers that are located in the heart of the communities of the kids that we serve. These spaces help to create beautiful and safe spaces for kids after school, located right in their own communities.
Resurgence is a community development effort that understand that the high-potential youth of our urban communities are the future of our city, and we want to help equip and empower them to be the future leaders in their communities.
Impact Award -Beverlee Wenzell, The Rock Center for Youth Development
The ROCK Center for Youth Development, aims to instill hope and resilience in youth through acceptance, support, and respect.
They have after-school programs that students eagerly anticipate attending. Parents have praised them for providing a safe and comfortable place for their children to spend time after school, encouraging them to become more involved in their studies, and improving attendance. They offer academic support by providing specific content related to science, math, literacy, and homework assistance. Last school year, students completed over 6,500 hours of homework.
Beverlee Wenzel is an accomplished business leader, president, and CEO of The ROCK and Discover You™. She has over 20 years of experience in non-profits that make a positive impact.
Mary Sutton Leadership Award- Lorraine Thoreson
Lorraine Thoreson exemplifies a deep understanding of the value of quality out-of-school time (OST) programs and the developmental needs of youth through a series of impactful initiatives. Working closely with key entities such as HighScope, Weikart, MSU Outreach and Engagement, and the MASP, Lorraine has helped build statewide frameworks that facilitate and promote communication, collaboration, and idea-sharing across Michigan’s OST field and beyond. She advocates for processes that promote compliance and uphold the standards of quality programming which contribute to the overall improvement of OST initiatives and ensure that established processes not only meet but exceed reporting requirements.
Rising Star (New Staff) Award- Taylor James
Taylor started working at Umoja in January 2023 as a Debate Coach. Using her innovative coaching approach, she led her students to victory twice, becoming a two-time championship debate coach in her first season. Her success during the regular season earned her a spot as the Lead Debate Coach for Umoja's 2023 summer camp. Her skills in curriculum development, nonprofit strategy, grant procurement, and program development earned Taylor a promotion to Grants & Operations Manager in September 2023, just 9 months after she started with the organization. During her three-month tenure, she has already successfully secured, as the lead grant writer, strategist, and grant manager, over $750,000 in grants from the City of Detroit, Michigan Department of Education, and United Way. Her grant procurement and updated strategic plan for the organization allowed them to expand to 20 fully funded sites in 2024, up from 4 sites in 2023 and 1 site in 2022.