1. /Communities-In-Schools-of-Jacksonville @CISJAX
TEAM UP:
Jacksonville’s After School Meals Program
Let’s team up to end low performance and learning retention in schools. Let’s team up to give
our children the confidence to become who they want to be. Let’s team up to nourish their
minds as well as their bodies. Let’s TEAM UP.
TEAM UP is a school-based meals program in Jacksonville, FL, which currently serves
forty-four schools. Headed by the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, TEAM UP is part of
a county-wide, four-year Wallace Foundation initiative to improve after school programs for
struggling children in urban cities. Its goal is to provide a safe environment in which students
are motivated to excel in academic and extra-curricular activities.
The program ultimately focuses on providing six key outlets to its students: academic
enrichment, sports and recreation, life skills, cultural enrichment, parental involvement,
and community service. Monday through Friday, kindergarten to eighth grade (ages 5-14)
students check in with the TEAM UP staff at their school, eat a well-balanced snack, work on
homework for seventy-five minutes, have fun with physical/hands-on exercises
(cheerleading, dance, arts and crafts, and sports), sit down to a healthy dinner, and finally are
picked up by a parent/approved guardian.
TEAM UP also strives to enhance students’ academic learning with music appreciation. It
partners with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra in Jump Start Strings Program, a course
in which more than 100 Jacksonville students learn how to play stringed instruments with
professional symphony musicians.
Funded entirely by the Jacksonville Children’s Commission and 21st
Century Learning
Center, TEAM UP is completely free to children and their families. Its actions, however, are
much louder than words. Since it began twelve years ago, participating students have
averaged a 96% promotion rate in school and had fewer than ten absences (2012-2013 school
year).
To learn more about this program, contact: Jax Kids Campus
1095 A Philip Randolph Boulevard
Jacksonville, FL 32206
(904) 630-3647
http://www.cisjax.org/our-work/team-up/