ASP Receives Simmons Luminary Award for Transformative Work with Inner-City Youth

Published by Christina DiChiara

On January 21, President and CEO Gabrielle Kurlander traveled to Dallas, Texas with a team of All Stars Project staff members and champions to accept the 2016 Simmons Luminary Award from the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University (SMU). Inspired by the power of learning to illuminate and improve society, the Luminary Award honors individuals and organizations which have shown extraordinary commitment to improving people’s lives through education. We were both honored and humbled to accept this award!

Said Ms. Kurlander, “Like our partners at the Simmons School, we challenge tradition.  We recognize that there needs to be a fundamental paradigm shift away from remedial approaches in Afterschool – that creativity and diversity are at the heart of Afterschool Development and what inner city young people and poor communities across the country need to experience growth and development.”

Presenting the award was David Chard, Dean of the Simmons School. As a thought leader at this prestigious American university, Dean Chard is the forefront of new kinds of inquiry, research and teaching. Dean Chard believes, as we do, that Afterschool Development should be foremost in transforming the lives of inner-city youth.  

“Oftentimes as educators we spend so much of our time trying to figure out how to get children to be successful in school, we forget about the other aspects of their lives – the development of confidence and resilience, and interests outside of school,” said Dean Chard. “The All Stars Project has the potential to change all of that. We are inspired by the All Stars Project’s innovative performance-based approach to Afterschool Development, and all that they do to help young people create new possibilities for themselves and their communities.”

For more information on the award recipients and the All Stars Project performance-based approach to Afterschool Development, read the Dallas Innovates article by Dan Kobler who covered the event!