Our array of SMART Programs develop young people’s capacity to engage in positive behaviors that nurture their own well-being, set personal goals and live successfully as self-sufficient adults.

SMART Moves Goal:
To help young people resist the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and postpone sexual activity.

Program:

• SMART Kids, ages 6-9, provides youth with the knowledge, skills and self- esteem to help them make healthy choices, practice healthy behaviors and avoid risky behaviors and situations, including involvement with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.
• Start SMART, ages 10-12, provides young people with the knowledge, skills, self-esteem and peer support to help them make healthy choices, practice responsible behaviors, avoid using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and postpone sexual activity and practice abstinence first.
• Stay SMART, ages 13-15, provides young people with the knowledge, skills, self-esteem and peer support to help them make healthy choices, practice responsible behaviors, avoid using alcohol, tobacco and other drugs and postpone sexual activity.

SMART Leaders Goal:
To help teens become positive role models for their peers and keep them involved in SMART Moves after they complete the Stay SMART component of the program.

Program:

• SMART Leaders is a two-year peer leader/booster program for Boys and Girls Club members who have completed the Stay SMART component of SMART Moves. It is designed to prepare teens to become leaders in their Club and community. Participants engage in educational discussions about alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs and are encouraged to recruit other youth for the program. Components include:
• SMART Leaders I: is a five-session, small-group program followed by a prevention involvement component in which the SMART Leaders youth participate as peer leaders and positive role models in prevention-related and other general activities in the organization.
• SMART Leaders II: is a flexible small-group discussion program plus involvement component for youth who have completed SMART Leaders I.

SMART Girls Goal:
To help girls develop and adopt a healthy attitude and lifestyle, as well as acquire and maintain a positive self-concept, sound decision-making skills and mentor relationships

Program:

• SMART Girls is a health, fitness, prevention/education and self-esteem enhancement program for female Club members ages 8 to17. The program is designed to encourage healthy attitudes and lifestyles that will enable adolescent/teen girls to develop to their full potential. SMART Girls offers a module for girls ages 8-12 years and a module for girls ages 13-17 years. Each module consists of two components:
• Part One: It’s your Body examines media influences on attitudes about females, personal values in dating relationships, date violence, date rape and sexual harassment, sexually transmitted diseases, sexual myths and truths, getting regular gynecological care, and the physical and emotional changes girls experience.
• Part Two: Take Care of your Body identifies ways to attain healthy eating habits, meet specific nutritional needs, develop basic cooking skills and become physically fit and active. It also emphasizes the importance of knowing how to use the health care delivery system.

Date SMART Goal:
To allow Club members to examine their feelings about dating and relationships, as well as encourage teens to become community advocates for relationships based on equality and mutual respect.

Program:

• Date SMART is for 13- to 18-year-olds and is intended to increase young people’s understanding and build the skills they need to achieve healthy relationships free of violence and abuse. Club members increase their ability to help friends and family members who may be experiencing dating, sexual or domestic violence.
• The Date SMART program includes 10 fun, engaging and easy-to-use sessions:
  o Friendship and More
  o True Love
  o Abuse and Respect
  o Strong Men and Strong Women
  o Meeting of the Minds
  o What is sexual assault?
  o Going Out, Breaking Up and Good Communication
  o Speaking Up for Violence-Free Relationships
  o Dating Jeopardy
  o Celebrating New Relationships and Building Support

Boys and Girls Club members ages 6-17.

Free.

Goal:
To improve Club members' knowledge of healthy habits, good nutrition and physical fitness: increase the numbers of hours per day they participate in physical activities; and strengthen their ability to interact positively with others and engage in healthy relationships

Program:
The Triple Play experience challenges members to become healthy and active by learning new ways to eat nutritionally, manage stress, maintain physical fitness and form positive relationships with peers.

• MIND: The Healthy Habits program is designed to incorporate healthy living and active learning in every part of the Club experience, from the gym to the learning center to the arts and crafts room.
• BODY: This component boosts Clubs’ physical activities to a higher level by providing sports and fitness programs, activities and sports competitions for all boys and girls, whether they are athletically inclined or not.
• SOUL: Club youth are able to develop and sustain positive relationships with others, acquire a healthy self-concept and a strong belief in their self-worth and cope well with positive and adverse situations.

Boys and Girls Club members ages 6-18.

Free.

Refugee School Impact provides after-school tutoring to refugee children to support academic success and promotion to the next grade level. 

Inner City is a nonprofit, community based organization that responds to emergency, educational, and recreational needs of the neighborhood on the near Westside of San Antonio.

Our extensive summer recreation program is provided free of charge for over 300 children in the immediate neighborhood.

Free of Charge.

Communities In Schools programs surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each community’s unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Basic Needs: A student cannot focus in the classroom if he or she is hungry, cold or tired, or cannot see the board. Site coordinators see to it that students' basic needs are met each day.

Enrichment: Our Site coordinators enroll students in a wide variety of after-school and summer programs, field trips and youth conferences to help them gain experience that is essential to meeting college and career goals.

Academic Assistance: Our site coordinators work hard to ensure that students have the resources to progress academically. From providing students with tutors to finding and creating quiet spaces where students can study, we do whatever it takes to create an optimal learning environment for our students.

Life Skills: Through one-on-one workshops, team building, and guest speakers, we work with students to develop social-emotional learning, character education, social skills building, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Interventions: Many of our students face and overcome difficult obstacles in their lives. However, their survival skills aren’t always effective in the classroom or in the workplace. Our program teaches students positive ways to cope with anger, conflict resolution, and other strategies to keep them focused on school.

Family Engagement: Site coordinators connect families with counselors and social workers to make sure that home is a healthy, nurturing environment where a student can feel safe.

This program is for students at Green Elementary.

Being mentally healthy in childhood means reaching developmental and emotional milestones, learning healthy social skills, and how to cope when problems arise. When there is a concern that a child might not be meeting these milestones, The Center offers an array of services that can help.

Our goal is to strengthen and support families by providing services for an array of issues, including, sadness or depression, fear or anxiety, persistent nightmares, low self-esteem, social isolation, harming self or others, behavioral problems, academic problems, running away, and truancy, school bullying, parenting support, child abuse/assault, divorce, grief/loss and a history of trauma.

Children’s mental health treatment is for Bexar County youth ages 3 – 17 with a DSM-V Diagnosis, and includes the following services:

• skills training
• counseling
• medication training and support
• psychiatric evaluation and medication monitoring
• family partner support

Serving children and their caregivers with behavioral intervention services, training, case management, counseling, and support.

Serving youth ages 0-5.

For more than 30 years, St. Paul Child Development Center has been helping children thrive. The secret to our success is the combination of our dedicated, caring staff and the high standards of NAEYC accreditation. The result is a loving atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else in San Antonio. We invite you to see the center and learn more.

• State licensed
• Low teacher-to-student ratios
• Interactive, outdoor play areas
• Texas School Ready and a 4-star rating from Texas Rising Star
• Full-day care: 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Affordable tuition; meals included

The best way to determine if St Paul is right for your child is to take a tour. Call today to make an appointment.

Ages: 6 weeks - PreK

Grades 3-5:

Girls on the Run inspires girls of all abilities to recognize their individual strengths, while building a sense of connection in a team setting. At the end of the season, the team completes a 5K together, which provides a tangible sense of accomplishment and sets a confident mindset into motion.

St. Paul's Episcopal Montessori School is committed to providing an educational experience that nurtures each student's unique gifts and character. Whether students begin with us in toddler, primary, or elementary, they will have opportunities to explore the world and to experience and develop compassion, empathy, and creativity as they build a foundation for a life-long love of learning. Our faculty and staff seek to guide the children through discovery to achieve these goals, and we ask you to join us on this journey. 

St. Paul's is a private Montessori school fully accredited by the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools (SAES) and a member of the American Montessori Society and the Texas Private Schools Association. 

St. Paul's Episcopal Montessori School offers seven programs:

• Toddler Program
• Primary Program
• Lower Elementary
• Upper Elementary
• Music Program
• After School Enrichment
• Summer Program

For more information, including tuition rates and need-based financial aid policy, please visit our website or call us.

The YMCA is more than a gym. When you join the YMCA, you belong to a place where:

• parents find a safe, positive environment for children;
• families spend quality time together;
• children and teens learn what they can achieve;
• adults connect with friends and learn how to live healthier lives;
• communities thrive because neighbors support each other and give back;
• and we all build relationships that further our sense of belonging.

Click here to learn about everything that is provided at this location.

Click here to learn about Excel After the Bell, the YMCA's after-school program for children and teens.

Membership is open to the entire community—regardless of age, income, or fitness level.

Membership includes access to all Greater San Antonio YMCA's.

Click here for membership information.

Head Start is a federally funded program provided at no cost for qualifying families.

Communities In Schools programs surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each community’s unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Basic Needs: A student cannot focus in the classroom if he or she is hungry, cold or tired, or cannot see the board. Site coordinators see to it that students' basic needs are met each day.

Enrichment: Our Site coordinators enroll students in a wide variety of after-school and summer programs, field trips and youth conferences to help them gain experience that is essential to meeting college and career goals.

Academic Assistance: Our site coordinators work hard to ensure that students have the resources to progress academically. From providing students with tutors to finding and creating quiet spaces where students can study, we do whatever it takes to create an optimal learning environment for our students.

Life Skills: Through one-on-one workshops, team building, and guest speakers, we work with students to develop social-emotional learning, character education, social skills building, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Interventions: Many of our students face and overcome difficult obstacles in their lives. However, their survival skills aren’t always effective in the classroom or in the workplace. Our program teaches students positive ways to cope with anger, conflict resolution, and other strategies to keep them focused on school.

Family Engagement: Site coordinators connect families with counselors and social workers to make sure that home is a healthy, nurturing environment where a student can feel safe.

This program is for students at De Zavala Elementary School.

Communities In Schools programs surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each community’s unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Basic Needs: A student cannot focus in the classroom if he or she is hungry, cold or tired, or cannot see the board. Site coordinators see to it that students' basic needs are met each day.

Enrichment: Our Site coordinators enroll students in a wide variety of after-school and summer programs, field trips and youth conferences to help them gain experience that is essential to meeting college and career goals.

Academic Assistance: Our site coordinators work hard to ensure that students have the resources to progress academically. From providing students with tutors to finding and creating quiet spaces where students can study, we do whatever it takes to create an optimal learning environment for our students.

Life Skills: Through one-on-one workshops, team building, and guest speakers, we work with students to develop social-emotional learning, character education, social skills building, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Interventions: Many of our students face and overcome difficult obstacles in their lives. However, their survival skills aren’t always effective in the classroom or in the workplace. Our program teaches students positive ways to cope with anger, conflict resolution, and other strategies to keep them focused on school.

Family Engagement: Site coordinators connect families with counselors and social workers to make sure that home is a healthy, nurturing environment where a student can feel safe.

This program is for students at Joel C Harris Middle School.

Project Transformation (PT) is a summer out-of-school program that brings together the 3 Cs: Children, College Students, and Churches.

Click here for registration and volunteer information.

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.

¡Vamos Ya! is a Divine Redeemer Presbyterian Church ministry that serves at-risk youth in the near-Westside community of San Antonio, Texas. ¡Vamos Ya! guides our neighborhood youth to realize their full potential and grow into productive people through holistic support and caring relationships.

What started with community youth at Teen Night expressing the need for a safe place to develop their life skills and nurture their passions grew into House of Teens in 2003. As the program grew and connected to more families, it became evident that a program for community children was needed; this awareness brought about Peace Pals. In 2010, Multi-Level Educational Youth Outreach (MEYO) was created, encompassing Peace Pals, House of Teens, the Rivera Scholarship Fund, and supporting partnerships with other area organizations. 2012, our summer program Peace Camp began, and in 2018, MEYO became ¡Vamos Ya!

Kid’s Place Child Development and Treatment Center improves the social-emotional, physical, and intellectual development of children enrolled in its multi-age classes. Kid's Place is a "Three Star" approved Child Care Service (CCS) "Quality Care Provider".

For information about our Kid’s Place childcare program for children ages 14 months to 5 years, click here.

As part of our intake process, we assess not only the child’s level of developmental functioning but also the degree of stress in the family. This allows us to develop individualized plans of care.

We love being an intergenerational space! We engage local seniors to read with Kid’s Place students once a week. Intergenerational activities can improve children’s motor and cognitive skills, as well as social and emotional competencies like empathy, patience, and problem-solving.

Thanks to generous support from foundation partners and individual donors, we are able to provide tuition assistance for our students.

Peace Pals is a free after-school program for children ages 5 to 12. Peace Pals provides enriching experiences that support and reinforce academic goals through activities not readily available to these students. Activities use the arts, nature, history, and culture as springboards to new ways of learning. Students enrolled in Peace Pals receive a light meal.

For information about Peace Pals after-school program for children ages 5 to 12, click here.

The program’s design incorporates science, math, language arts, geography, and other subject area disciplines into the "hands-on" gardening based activities. Service learning and community service is part of the program.

CULTIVATION is our in-house and outreach education program in music, dance and media for youth, senior, and special needs populations, especially those who otherwise would not be able to afford, access nor participate in the arts.

CULTIVATION is a process that nurtures artistic excellence through sequential steps, beginning with exposure to the craft; participation in classes in that craft; and, finally, execution of materials as a completed production.

This is a year-round program, with URBAN-15 arts professionals in the schools, classes and workshops in our studio, and major city-wide concerts. Our programs have served over 10,000 students from 41 schools and community centers.

For more information on YOUTH classes, please click here.

For more information on SENIOR classes, please click here.

Head Start children receive specialized quality education and comprehensive social services that provide opportunities for our children to learn and succeed when they enter kindergarten.

Education and disability:

• Individualized teaching
• Low child/staff ratios
• Structured routines and schedules
• School readiness skills
• Culturally diverse
• Services for children with disabilities
• Screenings and ongoing assessments
• Individualized activities
• Inclusive classrooms
• Parent advocacy and training

Health:

• Medical and dental case management
• Staff certified in first aid and CPR
• Clean and safe environments
• On-site dental exams and fluoride varnish
• Hearing and vision screenings
• Indoor/outdoor physical development

Nutrition:

• Healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks
• Menus developed by registered dietitians

Family support:

• Parent engagement activities and leadership opportunities
• Supporting families to meet their needs and achieve goals
• Community resources and services
• School district transportation may be available

Communities In Schools programs surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each community’s unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Basic Needs: A student cannot focus in the classroom if he or she is hungry, cold or tired, or cannot see the board. Site coordinators see to it that students' basic needs are met each day.

Enrichment: Our Site coordinators enroll students in a wide variety of after-school and summer programs, field trips and youth conferences to help them gain experience that is essential to meeting college and career goals.

Academic Assistance: Our site coordinators work hard to ensure that students have the resources to progress academically. From providing students with tutors to finding and creating quiet spaces where students can study, we do whatever it takes to create an optimal learning environment for our students.

Life Skills: Through one-on-one workshops, team building, and guest speakers, we work with students to develop social-emotional learning, character education, social skills building, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Interventions: Many of our students face and overcome difficult obstacles in their lives. However, their survival skills aren’t always effective in the classroom or in the workplace. Our program teaches students positive ways to cope with anger, conflict resolution, and other strategies to keep them focused on school.

Family Engagement: Site coordinators connect families with counselors and social workers to make sure that home is a healthy, nurturing environment where a student can feel safe.

This program is for students at Barkley-Ruiz Elementary.

Head Start children receive specialized quality education and comprehensive social services that provide opportunities for our children to learn and succeed when they enter kindergarten.

Education and disability:

• Individualized teaching
• Low child/staff ratios
• Structured routines and schedules
• School readiness skills
• Culturally diverse
• Services for children with disabilities
• Screenings and ongoing assessments
• Individualized activities
• Inclusive classrooms
• Parent advocacy and training

Health:

• Medical and dental case management
• Staff certified in first aid and CPR
• Clean and safe environments
• On-site dental exams and fluoride varnish
• Hearing and vision screenings
• Indoor/outdoor physical development

Nutrition:

• Healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks
• Menus developed by registered dietitians

Family support:

• Parent engagement activities and leadership opportunities
• Supporting families to meet their needs and achieve goals
• Community resources and services
• School district transportation may be available

The age requirement for our Head Start Prekindergarten Program is three years old on or before September 1.

Head Start is a federally funded program provided at no cost for qualifying families.

Communities In Schools programs surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Our evidence-based approach, adapted to meet each community’s unique needs, is the basis for our success.

Basic Needs: A student cannot focus in the classroom if he or she is hungry, cold or tired, or cannot see the board. Site coordinators see to it that students' basic needs are met each day.

Enrichment: Our Site coordinators enroll students in a wide variety of after-school and summer programs, field trips and youth conferences to help them gain experience that is essential to meeting college and career goals.

Academic Assistance: Our site coordinators work hard to ensure that students have the resources to progress academically. From providing students with tutors to finding and creating quiet spaces where students can study, we do whatever it takes to create an optimal learning environment for our students.

Life Skills: Through one-on-one workshops, team building, and guest speakers, we work with students to develop social-emotional learning, character education, social skills building, and conflict resolution.

Behavioral Interventions: Many of our students face and overcome difficult obstacles in their lives. However, their survival skills aren’t always effective in the classroom or in the workplace. Our program teaches students positive ways to cope with anger, conflict resolution, and other strategies to keep them focused on school.

Family Engagement: Site coordinators connect families with counselors and social workers to make sure that home is a healthy, nurturing environment where a student can feel safe.

This program is for students at Washington Elementary.

Dream Kids offers a large variety of themes from object lessons, to plays, to skits, and games in order to teach children valuable lessons to help them grow.

Metro Kids is the community-based portion of the children's program that meets every Saturday during Adopt-A-Block, giving kids a taste of what Dream Kids is all about, but right in their own neighborhood!

Dream Kids held on Saturdays, please call our office for program times and registration information.

Being a Reader™ provides comprehensive reading instruction, systematically developing both foundational skills and comprehension. This research-based program integrates rich literacy experiences with explicit social skills instruction and activities that foster students’ growth as responsible, caring, and collaborative people. 

Through an engaging combination of whole-class, small-group, and individualized instruction—including daily independent reading with teacher conferring—the Being a Reader program not only develops students’ reading proficiency, but also their love for reading and talking about books.

Being a Reader can be implemented as powerful, stand-alone Tier 1 instruction for grades K–2 or serve as a seamlessly integrated program within our comprehensive K–5 English Language Arts curriculum, Collaborative Literacy.

How It Works:
Being a Reader follows a continuum of reading development to meet each student at their instructional point of need and guide them to their next level of literacy through an engaging combination of whole-class, small-group, and individualized approaches. 

Each grade level includes either seven or eight instructional units organized around two instructional strands: Reading and Word Study.

The strands work together to develop comprehension, fluency, decoding strategies, word analysis, spelling, vocabulary, and independent reading. Progress monitoring and other assessment tools help teachers make informed, targeted instructional decisions to ensure reading success for every child.

Click here for more information.

Comprehensive Writing Instruction

Create a classroom culture of writing and collaboration.

Whether implemented as a standalone program or seamlessly integrated as a module in our comprehensive ELA curriculum, Collaborative Literacy, Being a Writer is a proven, research-based writing curriculum for grades K–5.

Combining a writing process approach with guided instruction, Being a Writer is student-centered, rigorous writing instruction for students in grades K–5. The program’s dual goals – fostering students’ growth as capable, skilled writers and caring, respectful members of their classroom community – make Being a Writer unique among writing curricula.

Grades: K-5

Click here for more information.

Collaborative Classroom Book Clubs for Grades 3-6.

Support Student Literacy, Strengthen Independent Reading, and Empower Small Group Learning.

When students love books, they can’t put them down and can’t resist talking about them. Inspire a love of literacy and explore a whole new way for readers to learn together through Collaborative Classroom Book Clubs.

Utilizing research-based best practices for small-group reading, Collaborative Classroom Book Clubs provide the foundational lessons for setting up independent, student-led book clubs and a variety of mini-lessons that can be used to support and deepen book discussions.

Great for use as either a companion to Collaborative Literacy or as a stand-alone program, Collaborative Classroom Book Clubs for grades 3-6 combines great books, differentiated small-group and individualized reading, and social skills development.

What’s Included:

• A Teacher’s Manual containing lessons for Small-group Reading and Book Clubs
• Sets of carefully selected, grade-appropriate fiction and nonfiction texts used during the lessons
• Digital resources including articles, assessment forms, and images

Grades: 3-6.

Click here for more information.

Discover the transformative power of Collaborative Literacy—a comprehensive K–5 curriculum that builds strong and knowledgeable readers and writers, creates vibrant and caring classroom communities and empowers teachers to deepen their knowledge and expertise. 

Comprehensive, research-based reading instruction that systematically develops both foundational skills and comprehension

High-quality, high-interest fiction and nonfiction texts selected not only to support the instructional focus of each lesson but also for equitable representation

Knowledge building through the integration of reading and writing experiences. Students actively foster their curiosity, build their knowledge, and become experts on topics that truly matter to them.

English learner pre-teaching, extension, and point-of-need supports that help teachers provide scaffolding and prepare English learners to participate confidently in lessons

Integrated social-skills development that creates a caring, supportive classroom community and nurtures students’ sense of responsibility for their own learning and behavior

Embedded, continuous professional learning that empowers teachers to expand their content knowledge and deepen their pedagogical expertise as they teach

Formative and summative assessments that support instructional decision-making for the class, groups of students with similar points of need, and individual students

Click here for more information.