Children's Program (After-school and Summer Camp)

Provided by
Vera Court Neighborhood Center, Inc

The Children’s Program provides free after-school programming to youth ages 6-11 Monday through Friday during the academic school year. The Children's Program provides 1 hour of academic and literacy support to all program participants as well as daily enrichment programs in the areas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), arts, health and fitness, nutrition education, outdoor education and computer technology.  The Children's program offers a healthy snack 5 days per week and ends the program with a home cooked meal every Mon, Wed and Fri. 

During the summer months the Children's Program offers a free 8 week summer camp program for 55 youth ages 6-11 years old. Components of the Children's Summer Camp program include swim lessons, health and fitness, group games, STEM, weekly field trips, enrichment clubs, gardening, and twice weekly reading buddies to aid in literacy support. The center provides daily breakfast, lunch and snack to all summer camp participants. The Vera Court Neighborhood Center uses a priority system to register youth for summer camp programming. Please call the center between April 1st and May 15th to find out more about our summer camp priority list and how to register for summer camp programming.

The Children's Program provides after-school programming Monday-Thursday from 2:30-5:30 pm and on Friday from 2:30-5:00pm. After-school programming is available on all regular MMSD school days. Occasional drop-in programming is provided for registered participants on no school and early release days. Parents/guardians are notified of no school and early release schedules. 

Summer Camp Programming is offered for 8 weeks each summer. The program runs from 9:00-4:00pm Monday-Friday. 

The Children's program requires all participants to register for programming with the centers Elementary School Coordinator. At the time of registration the Coordinator will let parents/guardians know if there is a slot available in the program or if the child will need to be placed on the waiting list. The Children's Program registers 55 youth with a restriction on the number of 6 year olds that are allowed in the program. The center allows only three 6 years olds to be registered at on time.
The Vera Court Neighborhood Center has wheelchair access on the West side of the building. The centers public playground also has wheelchair access to all play structures. At this time the center does not have wheelchair accessible transportation.
Vera Court does not offer specific services for individuals with special needs or disabilities but does work with families on a case by case basis to see if the general services we offer work for the individual or family. Accommodations can be made on a case by case basis, please call the Elementary Coordinator Alison Stauffacher to discuss how the center can work with your family.
The Vera Court Neighborhood Center has 3 Spanish/English Bi-Lingual staff available Monday - Friday 9:00-5:30 pm to provide communication and translation services to families. The Children's program is taught in English only but all registration materials, permission slips and general program communication is available in Spanish.