We received a Delaware Department of Education Quality Improvement Award, as well as a second grant from the Royal Bank of Canada.

During the week of spring break, we hosted activities for our students including Painting in the Park (at Battery Park in New Castle), skating at Christiana Skating Rink, a tour of the Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore followed by lunch in Aberdeen, MD, and a visit to the Delaware Children’s Museum.

As with each summer, the children went on several amazing trips including Sky Zone (Newark, DE), Adventure Aquarium (Camden, NJ), Skating (Christiana, DE), Killens Pond (Felton, DE), Main Event (Newark, DE), Cape May Zoo (Cape May, NJ), Jungle Jim’s (Rehoboth, DE), and swimming each Tuesday afternoon.

This was our 4th year hosting the Summer Reading Program sponsored by the State of Delaware/United Way. This year the program was renamed “Get Delaware Reading.” We hired 4 high school students who primarily served as BookNook guides. Instead of being called Governor’s Fellows, they are now called GDR Interns.

We hosted a “Mom’s in Action” Wear Orange Anti-Gun Violence Event with Arts & Crafts. Our children painted a mural.

In September, several boys attended a special “Take Flight with AVI” event facilitated by Aviation Influence, held at the Wilmington Airport.

We received a very substantial book donation from BookSmiles.org, a non-profit organization based in Camden, NJ. Approximately 700 gently used children’s books were delivered covering all reading levels. We turned this into the opportunity to host a book fair so that our children could either start or add to their home libraries.

This was our 3rd year participating in the Toys for Tots program. Gifts donated were distributed to our children on 12/23/25.

We partnered with United Way to implement the NBA Math Hoops Program. We are looking forward to continuing to develop the students in this program so that they may be eligible to compete in local and regional competitions.

We began discussions with Wilmington PAL about partnering in social and athletic activities such as Field Day events.

United Way of Delaware asked if our Summer Enrichment Program could be extended by three weeks to support the Wilmington Learning Collaborative’s ambition to keep Wilmington students engaged in BookNook until the start of the school year. We agreed to extend it for two weeks.

United Way of Delaware representatives (including Board Members) toured our Youth Development Department in recognition of our allegiance and success with BookNook. They observed how we utilize BookNook and interviewed both Beverly Beckles and Alison Windle. It was an honor to host them.

“Lights on Afterschool,” an annual initiative by the Afterschool Alliance to promote awareness, was celebrated on October 23, 2025. The older children went through the neighborhood delivering treats and passing out flyers about our program to adults. The younger children did a special crafts activity. All children reflected on what Afterschool means to them and created a collage of lightbulbs with their thoughts expressed on the image.

We launched the Siamese Kung Fu & Self Defense training with Master Bobby Godwin & his martial arts team.

Two-day Staff Development Training — “No Such Thing as a Bad Kid,” facilitator Charlie Applestein. The first day was for all staff, the second was a half-day training for the leadership team. This was extremely impactful!

This was the 4th year of our partnership with Summer Collab Reading Buddies (for younger children grades K-3rd).

Continued partnership with the Delaware Nature Society.

Through partnership with United Way of Delaware (UWDE), children ages 9 and older participated in a Developmental Assessments Survey. Generally, the results indicate that our children are strong and thriving as compared with national data results.

City of Wilmington events/partnerships: Youth Workforce, Food Program, Juneteenth Parade; we hosted Play Streets (Rasheema Dixon Foundation, co-sponsor), Movie Night at Rodney Square; the Carter family and the Romero-Corona family (2nd year) were blessed with holiday give-away baskets courtesy of Parks and Recreation.

Like every year, we provided book bags and school supplies for our children. This year we received donations from several sources including The STEM Queen, Women of Newark United Methodist Church, and private donors.

We received a very substantial book donation from BookSmiles.org, a non-profit organization based in Camden, NJ. Approximately 700 gently used children’s books were delivered covering all reading levels. We turned this into the opportunity to host a book fair so that our children could either start or add to their home libraries.

Several girls attended the Raising Queens Conference sponsored by One Village Alliance in October. The theme was “Girls Can Do Anything.” The day consisted of workshops, activities and lunch.

We launched our first Humanities Project (DE Humanities Grant). The project is a “Stance on Culture by Community.” The theme is “You Can’t Erase Us!” The children are studying African American Heritage in the areas of Literature, Education & Language; Family Traditions & Food; Music & Dance; Fashion Art & Style; and Faith/Spirituality.

Continued partnership with Pastor Kevin Benjamin and the Wellness grant to provide the disciplines of canvas painting, African drums, drama, dance, choir and keyboards to our students.

Our Summer Enrichment Program (SEP) was a huge success; we were at capacity for the second year in a row. As usual, we partnered with 4H, offered weekly trips, and an overnight camp experience at Camp Pecometh for one week. Special programs included Career Awareness, Gardening (special thanks to Mr. Wayne Marshall and Ms. Cindy Green), Community Service, College Awareness, Mindfulness and the MindBody Connection, Culinary Arts, STEM, and Arts & Crafts.

This was our second year partnering with the New Castle County Youth Workforce Program for Summer Enrichment; we hired three teens. Two of the three teens continued to work with us into the Academic School Year.

Partnership with Ezion-Faire continues. We use their gym for recreational/sports activities weekly.

Our Youth Department staff participated in an SEL training with the Flourish Lab, enabling us individually to recognize our SEL “Superpower” and appreciate how each type balances the others.

Three 2-hour staff development training sessions were facilitated by The Flourish Lab: “Restorative Practices” (held at NHI), “Empathy & Self Empathy,” and “Values, De-escalation, Re-thinking Behavior Management, and Relationship Building” (held at the New Castle Library & Innovation Center). All three were highly interactive and well worth the investment.

Our Royal Bank of Canada grant provided monies for us to attend a 2-day virtual training offered by the Zero Abuse Project on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma Informed Care.